Perforation Rates for Nonsterile Examination Gloves in Routine Dermatologic Procedures

BACKGROUND: Low cost, nonsterile examination gloves are used routinely to perform various dermatologic procedures. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the perforation rate of nonsterile examination gloves in routine dermatologic procedures. METHODS: Three hundred fifty nonsterile latex examination gloves used to perform shave biopsies were evaluated for perforations using an air inflation/water submersion method. Ninety gloves, which were intentionally perforated with a 30-gauge needle, were used as controls to assess our evaluation method. RESULTS: Eight of the 350 gloves were found to have a perforation, which corresponds to a 2.3% perforation rate. Seven of the eight perforations were found in the web space between the second and third finger sleeves, with one being an obvious manufacturing error. All 90 perforations of the control group were correctly identified. CONCLUSION: There appears to be a very low risk of glove perforation when nonsterile examination gloves are used in routine dermatologic procedures.     

Guide to Developing an Industrial Disaster Medical Service

Three unanesthetized rhesus monkeys, seated upright, were exposed to graded hypercarbia (30% carbon dioxide per hour) after 72 hours at 4 ± 0.5% CO₂ in an environmental chamber with ambient pressure (4,300-foot elevation), oxygen tension, and temperature. Narcotic and lethal levels of CO₂ were compared to those in three monkeys exposed to 30% CO₂ per hour after 72 hours at ambient air in the same chamber. No significant difference was found between the two groups. When these data were compared to those in three monkeys from a previous study, restrained in the supine position, differences were significant for both narcosis and death, with upright animals more tolerant to CO₂. These findings indicate that CO₂ adaptation fails to extend tolerance to acute exposures to CO₂; however, the upright position affords more protection than does the supine position.     

Simplified Scaling for Life Change Events

Abstract

A relatively simple interval scaling method for adjustment to life change events was compared to the original, more difficult, proportionate scaling method. Ranking of life events by both methods was extremely similar. Evidence also was found that today Americans scale several minor life change events as requiring greater adjustment than that estimated for these events a decade earlier.     

Transient right bundle branch block following blunt chest trauma

A 38 year old man with previously normal electrocardiograms suffered a direct blow to the chest which resulted in electrocardiographic changes consistent with transient right bundle branch block. Serial enzyme determinations documented a rise in fraction 5 of serum lactic dehydrogenase. Evaluation subsequent to the injury were all within normal limits. An unexplained finding of paradoxical splitting of the pulmonic component of the second heart sound is noted.     

Correlation between regional changes in the distributions of GABA-containing neurons and unit response properties in the medial geniculate body of the cat

A consistent change in the distribution of single units as a function of several of their properties of response to clicks, noise and tone bursts was observed along the rostro-caudal axis in the ventral division of the medial geniculate body (vMGB). From posterior to anterior, the proportion of inhibitory response patterns and non-monotonic intensity functions progressively decreased; response latencies were progressively shorter and less dispersed from caudal to rostral. This functional heterogeneity is consistent with the segregation of the thalamocortical interconnections: the anterior part of vMGB projects to the anterior and primary auditory cortical fields, whereas the posterior part of vMGB projects mainly to the posterior auditory cortical field. Changes in the distribution of response properties from posterior to anterior in vMGB were found to be correlated with a progressive decrease of the density of GABA-immunoreactive neurons from caudal to rostral. Since GABAergic neurons in sensory thalamic nuclei are believed to be interneurons, these data suggest that interneurons might contribute to regional changes in the distribution of some response properties along the rostro-caudal axis in vMGB. In particular, the high proportion of inhibitory response patterns and non-monotonic intensity functions in the posterior vMGB might well be related to the high density of GABA-containing neurons caudally, where they exert a strong inhibitory influence on principal cells. Intrinsic neurons might contribute to the segregation of the acoustic information transferred from vMGB to the various auditory cortical fields. In contrast, no clear and systematic change in the distribution of response properties along the rostro-caudal axis was observed in the medial division of the MGB, in which the GABA-immunoreactive neurons were evenly distributed.