Safety and predictors of the success of lumbar punctures performed by a medicine procedure service.

Background: Medicine procedure services (MPS) increasingly perform bedside procedures, including lumbar punctures (LPs). Success rates and factors associated with LP success performed by MPS have not been well described.

Objective: We identified patients undergoing LP by an MPS September 2015 to December 2020.

A wearable sensor for the detection of sodium and potassium in human sweat during exercise.

The SwEatch platform, a wearable sensor for sampling and measuring the concentration of electrolytes in human sweat in real time, has been improved in order to allow the sensing of two analytes. The solid contact ion-sensitive electrodes (ISEs) for the detection of Na and K have been developed in two alternative formulations, containing either poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) or poly(3-octylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (POT) as a conductive polymer transducing component. The solution-processable POT formulation simplifies the fabrication process, and sensor to sensor reproducibility has been improved via partial automation using an Opentron® automated pipetting robot.

Fabrication of Rugged and Reliable Fluidic Chips for Autonomous Environmental Analyzers Using Combined Thermal and Pressure Bonding of Polymethyl Methacrylate Layers.

The fabrication of highly reliable and rugged fluidic chips designed for use in autonomous analyses for nutrient monitoring is described. The chips are based on a two-layer configuration with the fluidic channels produced in one layer using precision micromilling. The second capping layer contains through holes for sample/standard and reagent addition and waste removal post-analysis.

Things We Do For No Reason: Echocardiogram in Unselected Patients with Syncope.

Syncope is a common cause of emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Echocardiogram is frequently used as a diagnostic tool in the evaluation of syncope, performed in 39% to 91% of patients. The diagnostic yield of echocardiogram for detecting clinically important abnormalities in patients with a normal history, physical examination, and electrocardiogram (ECG), however, is extremely low.