Efficacy of polyethylene glycol adhesion barrier after gynecological laparoscopic surgery: Results of a randomized controlled pilot study

Postoperative adhesions are the most frequent complication of peritoneal surgery, causing small bowel obstruction, female infertility and chronic pain. This pilot study assessed the efficacy of a sprayable polyethylene glycol (PEG) barrier in the prevention of de novo adhesions. 16 patients undergoing laparoscopic gynecological surgery were randomly assigned by shuffled sealed envelopes to receive either the adhesion barrier or no adhesion prevention. Incidence and severity of adhesions were scored at eight sites in the pelvis and reassessed by second look laparoscopy. Adhesion prevention was considered successful if no de novo adhesion were found at second look laparoscopy. One patient was excluded before randomization. Nine patients were randomized to treatment and six patients to control group. De novo adhesions were found in 0/9 patients who received the PEG barrier compared to 4/6 without adhesion prevention (0% vs. 67%, P = 0.01). Reduction in adhesion score was significantly greater in patients receiving PEG barrier (−2.6 vs. −0.06, P = 0.03). Meta-analysis of three randomized trials demonstrated that PEG barrier reduces the incidence of adhesions (odds ratio [OR] = 0.27; 95% CI 0.11–0.67). From this study, PEG barrier seems effective in reducing postoperative formation of de novo adhesions

Developing and testing a nurse-led intervention to support bereavement in relatives in the intensive care (BRIC study): a protocol of a pre-post intervention study

BACKGROUND: When a patient is approaching death in the intensive care unit (ICU), patients' relatives must make a rapid transition from focusing on their beloved one's recovery to preparation for their unavoidable death. Bereaved relatives may develop complicated grief as a consequence of this burdensome situation; however, little is known about appropriate options in quality care supporting bereaved relatives and the prevalence and predictors of complicated grief in bereaved relatives of deceased ICU patients in the Net

Emissions from Diesel and Gasoline Vehicles Fuelled by Fischer-Tropsch Fuels and Similar Fuels

The described investigation was carried out under the umbrella of IEA Advanced Motor Fuels Agreement. The purpose was to evaluate the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from vehicles fuelled by Fischer Tropsch (FT) based diesel and gasoline fuel, compared to the emissions from ordinary diesel and gasoline. The comparison for diesel fuels was based on a literature review, whereas the gasoline comparison had to be based on our own experiments, since almost no references were found in this field. In this context measurement according to the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) and the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) were carried out on a chassis dynamometer with a directly injected gasoline vehicle. Experiments were carried out with a reference fuel, a fuel based 70% on FT and an alkylate fuel (Aspen), which was taken to be the ultimate formula of FT gasoline. FT based diesel generally showed good emission performance, whereas the FT based gasoline not necessary lead to lower emissions. On the other hand, the Aspen fuel did show many advantages for the emissions from the gasoline vehicle