Severe pain at the end of life: a population-level observational study.

Background: Pain is a prevalent symptom at the end of life and negatively impacts quality of life. Despite this, little population level data exist that describe pain frequency and associated factors at the end of life. The purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence of clinically significant pain at the end of life and identify predictors of increased pain.

Rapid prenatal diagnosis of chromosome abnormalities.

The aim of the present work was to examine the efficacy of using FISH for the rapid prenatal diagnosis of common chromosome aneuploidies. A total of 100 analyses over a six month period were included in the study. Diagnosis was possible in all cases.

Rapid karyotyping of spontaneous abortions with trophoblastic villi.

24-hour short term culture of trophoblastic villi provided rapid and accurate karyotypes in spontaneous first trimester abortions. Good quality metaphases were obtained in 60.0% of villous cultures if these were set up within 8 hours of uterine evacuation, in contrast to the 10.