503 research outputs found
Positive patient experience of wide awake local anaesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) hand surgery in the government setting : a prospective descriptive study
BACKGROUND:
The purpose of this study was to establish a subjective patient experience with wide awake local
anaesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) procedures performed in the institution from May 2019
to March 2020. WALANT surgery was initiated to improve standard operating procedure and to
decrease theatre burden.
METHODS:
This prospective, descriptive study included 100 patients with a mean age of 59 years who
required either a carpal tunnel or trigger finger release. The patients’ pain experience was
documented on the visual analogue scale (VAS) for the local anaesthetic injection and the
surgical procedure. Overall experience was assessed on the patient’s preference to have the
procedure performed by the WALANT method or the conventional method.
RESULTS:
One hundred patients were included, of which 67 had medical comorbidities. The mean VAS
score was 1.5 (SD±1.6) with pain on injection. The mean VAS pain score during the surgical
procedure was 0.2 (SD±0.7). One hundred per cent of patients (100/100) felt they would do the
WALANT outpatient procedure again instead of admission to hospital and surgery in the theatre.
Two complications occurred related to wound care problems, and were successfully managed.
None of the patients required reoperations for incomplete release of the carpal tunnel or trigger
finger surgery.
CONCLUSION:
The results of this study suggest that minor hand surgery using the WALANT protocol can be
performed effectively and with high patient satisfaction rates in the orthopaedic outpatient clinic,
and is a useful tool in the skillset of a hand surgeon.https://www.saoj.org.zaOrthopaedic Surger
Macroscopic resonant tunneling of magnetic flux
We have developed a quantitative theory of resonant tunneling of magnetic
flux between discrete macroscopically distinct quantum states in SQUID systems.
The theory is based on the standard density-matrix approach. Its new elements
include the discussion of the two different relaxation mechanisms that exist
for the double-well potential, and description of the ``photon-assisted''
tunneling driven by external rf radiation. It is shown that in the case of
coherent flux dynamics, rf radiation should lead to splitting of the peaks of
resonant flux tunneling, indicating that the resonant tunneling is a convenient
tool for studying macroscopic quantum coherence of flux.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
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Brookhaven Fastbus/Unibus Interface
A typical high energy physics experiment requires both a high speed data acquisition and processing system, for data collection and reduction; and a general purpose computer to handle further reduction, bookkeeping and mass storage. Broad differences in architecture, format or technology, will often exist between these two systems, and interface design can become a formidable task. The PDP-11 series minicomputer is widely used in physics research, and the Brookhaven FASTBUS is the only standard high speed data acquisition system which is fully implemented in a current high energy physics experiment. This paper will describe the design and operation of an interface between these two systems. The major issues are elucidated by a preliminary discussion on the basic principles of Bus Systems, and their application to Brookhaven FASTBUS and UNIBUS
Timing of risk reducing mastectomy in breast cancer patients carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation: retrospective data from the Dutch HEBON study
It is expected that rapid genetic counseling and testing (RGCT) will lead to increasing numbers of breast cancer (BC) patients knowing their BRCA1/2 carrier status before primary surgery. Considering the potential impact of knowing one’s status on uptake and timing of risk-reducing contralateral mastectomy (RRCM), we aimed to evaluate trends over time in RRCM, and differences between carriers identified either before (predictively) or after (diagnostically) diagnosis. We collected data from female BRCA1/2 mutation carriers diagnosed with BC between 1995 and 2009 from four Dutch university hospitals. We compared the timing of genetic testing and RRCM in relation to diagnosis in 1995–2000 versus 2001–2009 for all patients, and predictively and diagnostically tested patients separately. Of 287 patients, 219 (76 %) had a diagnostic BRCA1/2 test. In this cohort, the median time from diagnosis to DNA testing decreased from 28 months for those diagnosed between 1995 and 2000 to 14 months for those diagnosed between 2001 and 2009 (p < 0.001). Similarly, over time women in this cohort underwent RRCM sooner after diagnosis (median of 77 vs. 27 months, p = 0.05). Predictively tested women who subsequently developed BC underwent an immediate RRCM significantly more often than women who had a diagnostic test (21/61, 34 %, vs. 13/170, 7.6 %, p < 0.001). Knowledge of carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation when diagnosed with BC influenced decisions concerning primary surgery. Additionally, in more recent years, women who had not undergone predictive testing were more likely to undergo diagnostic DNA testing and RRCM sooner after diagnosis. This suggests the need for RGCT to guide treatment decisions
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Brookhaven Segment Interconnect
We have performed a high energy physics experiment using a multisegment Brookhaven FASTBUS system. The system was composed of three crate segments and two cable segments. We discuss the segment interconnect module which permits communication between the various segments
Cerebral haemodynamic changes during propofol-remifentanil or sevoflurane anaesthesia: transcranial Doppler study under bispectral index monitoring.
INTRODUCTION: Transcranial Doppler (TCD) can detect the cerebral circulation arrest (CCA) in brain death. TCD is highly specific, but less sensitive because of false-negatives accounting for up to 10%. The aim of the study was to explore the diagnostic accuracy of TCD and to determine whether it can be augmented by strategies such as the insonation of the extracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) and sequential examinations. METHODS: Data of 184 patients, who met clinical criteria of brain death, observed from 1998 through 2006, were retrospectively reviewed. The study of cerebral arteries was performed through the transtemporal approach, suboccipital insonation of the vertebro-basilar system, transorbital insonation of the ICA and ophthalmic artery, and transcervical insonation of the extracranial ICA. Repeated exams were performed in cases of persistent diastolic flow. RESULTS: The specificity of the testing was 100%, no false-positive cases were recorded. The sensitivity of conventional TCD examination was 82.1%. The insonation of the extracranial ICA increased sensitivity to 88% allowing the detection of CCA in those patients lacking temporal windows; serial examinations further increased sensitivity to 95.6%. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of insonation of the cervical ICA and of the siphon increased sensitivity of TCD. Nevertheless, a CCA flow patterns may appear later on those segments. Serial examinations, may be needed in those cases
Generalized Contact Formalism Analysis of the He Reaction
Measurements of short-range correlations in exclusive He
reactions are analyzed using the Generalized Contact Formalism (GCF). We
consider both instant-form and light-cone formulations with both the AV18 and
local N2LO(1.0) nucleon-nucleon () potentials. We find that kinematic
distributions, such as the reconstructed pair opening angle, recoil neutron
momentum distribution, and pair center of mass motion, as well as the measured
missing energy, missing mass distributions, are all well reproduced by GCF
calculations. The missing momentum dependence of the measured He
/ He cross-section ratios, sensitive to nature of the
interaction at short-distacnes, are also well reproduced by GCF calculations
using either interaction and formulation. This gives credence to the GCF
scale-separated factorized description of the short-distance many-body nuclear
wave-function.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physics Letters B. 8 pages, 4 figures and
online supplementary material
Cosmological distance indicators
We review three distance measurement techniques beyond the local universe:
(1) gravitational lens time delays, (2) baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and
(3) HI intensity mapping. We describe the principles and theory behind each
method, the ingredients needed for measuring such distances, the current
observational results, and future prospects. Time delays from strongly lensed
quasars currently provide constraints on with < 4% uncertainty, and with
1% within reach from ongoing surveys and efforts. Recent exciting discoveries
of strongly lensed supernovae hold great promise for time-delay cosmography.
BAO features have been detected in redshift surveys up to z <~ 0.8 with
galaxies and z ~ 2 with Ly- forest, providing precise distance
measurements and with < 2% uncertainty in flat CDM. Future BAO
surveys will probe the distance scale with percent-level precision. HI
intensity mapping has great potential to map BAO distances at z ~ 0.8 and
beyond with precisions of a few percent. The next years ahead will be exciting
as various cosmological probes reach 1% uncertainty in determining , to
assess the current tension in measurements that could indicate new
physics.Comment: Review article accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews
(Springer), 45 pages, 10 figures. Chapter of a special collection resulting
from the May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in
the Space Ag
Metal enrichment processes
There are many processes that can transport gas from the galaxies to their
environment and enrich the environment in this way with metals. These metal
enrichment processes have a large influence on the evolution of both the
galaxies and their environment. Various processes can contribute to the gas
transfer: ram-pressure stripping, galactic winds, AGN outflows, galaxy-galaxy
interactions and others. We review their observational evidence, corresponding
simulations, their efficiencies, and their time scales as far as they are known
to date. It seems that all processes can contribute to the enrichment. There is
not a single process that always dominates the enrichment, because the
efficiencies of the processes vary strongly with galaxy and environmental
properties.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Space Science
Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view",
Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 17; work done by an international team at the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S.
Kaastra, A.M. Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeke
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