Prevalence of Hyperkalaemia in Chronic Haemodialysis Patients

Haemodialysis patients are more likely to suffer from hyperkalaemia than the general population. It puts them at danger of a fatal accident. In haemodialysis, it is not part of the standard examinations. The purpose of our study was to find out how common it was among individuals on long-term dialysis. Our research was cross-sectional in nature. Participants had to have been on haemodialysis for at least two months and be willing to participate in the research. Before the start of their first and second weekly dialysis sessions, we did a clinical examination, blood potassium, sodium, and ionized calcium tests, and an electrocardiogram in each of them. 88 patients were chosen for the study. Before the first dialysis session began, 38.7 percent of patients had hyperkalaemia, and 17 percent had it before the second. In three cases, the blood potassium level was determined to be at least 7.5 mEq / l, indicating that the patient was suffering from a condition known as paresis. Hyperkalaemia is associated with a tall T wave on the ECG in two circumstances. Although hyperkalaemia is widespread in our dialysis patients, its clinical and electrocardiographic symptoms are less so

The accuracy and completeness for receipt of colorectal cancer care using Veterans Health Administration administrative data.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Society of Clinical Oncology have established guidelines for the treatment and surveillance of colorectal cancer (CRC), respectively. Considering these guidelines, an accurate and efficient method is needed to measure receipt of care

Drifting Identity Formation : A Disaggregation of Indo-Fijian Ethnic Labels

Approximately 37.6% of Fiji’s population is comprised of individuals that have Indian descent (2007 census). This is primarily due to the recruitment of Indian indentured servants to work on the sugar plantations of Fiji during British colonial rule in the 1880s. Many descendants of these servants have since moved to industrialized nations including the United States of America. The ethnic identity of this immigrant population and their children is hard to distinguish when taking into consideration the cross-cultural influences of both Indian and Fijian culture and there residence in the US. Factors that contribute to ethnic identity formation, such as: parent-child relationship, gender, language assimilation, co-ethnic members in community, and location of birth. A survey was conducted in order to learn about the variety of ethnic labels used by these individuals and assess their identity formation. A total of 14 different ethnic labels were provided, with the majority of individuals using ‘Indian’, ‘Asian’, or ‘Indo-’, to provide their ethnic identity. This thesis contributes to the general knowledge of Indo-Fijian identity

Words are monuments: Patterns in US national park place names perpetuate settler colonial mythologies including white supremacy

1. Ecologists, outdoor professionals and the public work and play in lands with complex histories. Part of decolonizing our professional and recreational practices is to expose settler colonial biases and recognize the histories of colonized lands and the peoples who have stewarded these lands for millennia prior to colonization. 2. To provide a quantitative example of settler colonial biases in a familiar context, we examined the origins of over 2,200 place names in 16 national parks in the United States (US; 26% of the parks). Through iterative thematic analysis of place name origins and meanings, we constructed a decision tree for classifying place names according to emergent categories, which enabled the quantification and spatial analysis of place name meanings. 3. All national parks examined have place names that tacitly endorse racist or, more specifically, anti-Indigenous ideologies, thus perpetuating settler colonialism and white supremacy at the system scale for future generations. 4. Looking east to west across the US, the proportion of place names per national park that appropriated Indigenous names increased in parallel with the westward expansion and evolution of US settler colonialism. 5. This examination of place names, name origins and their consequences is an opportunity to make everyday complicity in systemic oppression more visible and to more actively advance decolonizing practices for land and language

Pilot phase III immunotherapy study in early-stage breast cancer patients using oxidized mannan-MUC1 [ISRCTN71711835]

INTRODUCTION: Mucin 1 (MUC1) is a high molecular weight glycoprotein overexpressed on adenocarcinoma cells and is a target for immunotherapy protocols. To date, clinical trials against MUC1 have included advanced cancer patients. Herein, we report a trial using early stage breast cancer patients and injection of oxidized mannan-MUC1. METHOD: In a randomized, double-blind study, 31 patients with stage II breast cancer and with no evidence of disease received subcutaneous injections of either placebo or oxidized mannan-MUC1, to immunize against MUC1 and prevent cancer reoccurrence/metastases. Twenty-eight patients received the full course of injections of either oxidized mannan-MUC1 or placebo. Survival and immunological assays were assessed. RESULTS: After more than 5.5 years had elapsed since the last patient began treatment (8.5 years from the start of treatment of the first patient), the recurrence rate in patients receiving the placebo was 27% (4/15; the expected rate of recurrence in stage II breast cancer); those receiving immunotherapy had no recurrences (0/16), and this finding was statistically significant (P = 0.0292). Of the patients receiving oxidized mannan-MUC1, nine out of 13 had measurable antibodies to MUC1 and four out of 10 had MUC1-specific T cell responses; none of the placebo-treated patients exhibited an immune response to MUC1. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that, in early breast cancer, MUC1 immunotherapy is beneficial, and that a larger phase III study should be undertaken

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

Inhabiting Indianness: Colonial Culs-de-Sac

This article outlines original research on the scale and scope of Indian-themed street names in white residential spaces across the United States, and theorizes how these forms of spatial production are implicated in contemporary forms of colonization and occupation. Given that place is crucial to indigenous identity, this research reveals how Indian-themed street names participate in the abstraction and incorporation of Indianness, and further dis-locate contemporary American Indian identity, presence, and claims to sovereignty. The study also contrasts these 'Indian’ spatial markers with those used for other racialized peoples (African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos), noting how street names referencing Native people are unique in that they have historically functioned to mark demographically white places, and to discursively reproduce white residential space