Accuracy of pulse oximetry in pigmented patients

Objective. Prospective assessment of the accuracy of three pulse oximeters and  two probe sites in darkly pigmented critically·i11 patients under clinical conditions.Patients and methods. One hundred consecutive, darkly pigmented critically ill adutt patients with arterial lines in situ were studied. Patients were excluded if thehaemoglobin concentration was less than 7 g/dl and carboxyhaemoglobin or  methaemoglobin levels exceeded 2%. Pigmentation was objectively quantified with a portable EEL reflectance spectrophotometer (Evans E1ectroselenium Company, Diffusion Systems Limited. London). Reflectance was measured at nine wavelengths.Results. The degree of pigmentation as measured by percentage reflectance closely matched that of a control group of black Africans from a pigmentation study. The limits of agreement (2.6% to 5.8%), precision and bias values between pulse  oximeter and co-ox!meter readings fell within a narrow range. The 95% confidence intervals of the limits of agreement reflected a small variation in the difference between pulse oximeter and co-oximeter readings. These small differences were not clinically. significant in the pigmented patients who were enrolled in the study.Conclusion. The accuracy of pulse oximetry is not adversely affected by skin  pigmentation, and it remains a useful oxygenation monitoring device in darkly pigmented patients

Gas Chromatography Results Interpretation: Absolute Amounts Versus Relative Percentages

Geneeskunde en GesondheidswetenskappeChemiese PatologiePlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: [email protected]

Track D Social Science, Human Rights and Political Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138414/1/jia218442.pd

Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations.Peer reviewe

Assessment of Epstein-Barr virus in blood from patients with multiple sclerosis

Viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) which can establish latent infections in the central nervous system or the immune system have been associated with chronic neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis. Results vary, therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the presence of EBV using both viral DNA and antibody screening techniques, using PCR and ELISA assays respectively, to evaluate viral presence in blood from control subjects and patients with multiple sclerosis. Viral gene sequences for latent proteins EBNA-1 and LMP-1 and lytic gene BamH1- W were present equally in both patients and controls (99% of all study subjects, and anti-EBV-VCA IgG immune status ratio showed a near-significant positive correlation with the EDSS in patients with multiple sclerosis. In contrast, Anti- EBV-VCA IgM positive cases were significantly increased in patients (controls: 23.3%; patients; 41.9%; P00.046). The IgM to IgG immune status ratio was near-significantly higher in patients with relapse episodes in the year preceding blood sampling (P00.058). Results from this and previous studies have shown higher prevalence rates for EBV evaluating anti-EBV IgM positive cases against viral DNA positive cases. Also, IgM, an innate immune response, showed an association with relapse episodes, suggesting viral re-activation as a contributing factor to these relapses. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Solubilities of some new refrigerants in water

Solubility data for the refrigerants HFC23 (CHF3), HFC32 (CH2F2) and HFC125 (C2HF5) in water have been determined as a function of the temperature in the range of temperatures 288-303 K at atmospheric pressure. These hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are good substitutes of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have significant impact to stratospheric ozone depletion.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TG2-4177PK4-7/1/12019e8daebba6ccc7515753953406a