Evaluating the ability to measure pork fat quality for the production of commercial bacon.

This study was conducted to evaluate three fat quality measures to characterize the suitability of pork bellies for commercial bacon production. Bellies from six sources (A to F) and two weight ranges (4.5/5.

Biochemical characterization of AMG 102: a neutralizing, fully human monoclonal antibody to human and nonhuman primate hepatocyte growth factor.

AMG 102 is a fully human monoclonal antibody that selectively targets and neutralizes hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF). A detailed biochemical and functional characterization of AMG 102 was done to support its clinical development for the treatment of cancers dependent on signaling through the HGF/SF:c-Met pathway. In competitive equilibrium binding experiments, AMG 102 bound to human and cynomolgus monkey HGF with affinities of approximately 19 pmol/L and 41 pmol/L, respectively.

Reducing hyperglycemia hospitalwide: the basal-bolus concept.

Background: Hyperglycemia has been identified as potent and independent risk factor for adverse outcomes for patients. An initiative was undertaken to reduce hyperglycemia hospitalwide in adults.

Methods: In a multistep process, insulin protocols were implemented hospitalwide via an electronic provider order entry system.

Implementing computerized provider order entry with an existing clinical information system.

Background: There are numerous barriers to successfully implementing computerized provider order entry (CPOE), and it is not entirely clear to what degree the proposed benefits extend to older, commercially available systems in place at most hospitals.

Methods: In 2000, Loyola University Health System leadership chartered a project to implement CPOE for hospitalized patients' medications. The impact of CPOE on workflow was analyzed before implementation.

Validation of an ELISA method for screening methadone in postmortem blood.

In this study, we evaluate Venture Labs' enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of methadone in postmortem specimens. Sixty-one postmortem specimens that previously screened positive for methadone along with 59 specimens which screened negative for methadone were included. All specimens were screened using the Venture Labs methadone assay in conjunction with a liquid-liquid basic extraction and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis.

Critical success factors for performance improvement programs.

Background: Most health care organizations struggle with the design and implementation of effective, systemwide improvement programs. In 2000, the University HealthSystem Consortium initiated a benchmarking project to identify the organizational elements that predict a successful perfermance improvement (PI) program and that are best suited to support change initiatives.

Methods: Forty-one organizations completed a survey about the presence of critical components, processes used to improve performance, and organizational PI structures.

Unanticipated harm to patients: deciding when to disclose outcomes.

Background: Patient safety standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations require that "patients and, when appropriate, their families are informed about the outcomes of care, including unanticipated outcomes."

What Outcomes Should Trigger Disclosure: Given that all medical treatments have an array of possible outcomes, how do we confidently say that an outcome is unanticipated? It is proposed that an adverse outcome meet one of two criteria to be considered unanticipated: (1) It would not be included in a reasonable informed consent process for treatment of the patient's condition(s) and/or would not be expected during the usual course of treatment; and (2) it may have been caused by human or systemic error--that is, it is not immediately possible to clearly and decisively rule out error. This definition requires less judgment because it represents an extension of the existing norms of communication that are expressed through the process of informed consent.

Reducing unnecessary coagulation testing in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Objective: To estimate the magnitude of laboratory testing for hypertension in pregnancy and determine whether abnormalities in prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and fibrinogen can be predicted by results of common, less expensive tests.

Materials And Methods: Laboratory records were searched and charts were reviewed to identify gravidas tested for hypertension and to exclude conditions producing coagulopathy. Contingency tables were constructed to assess the ability of the platelet count, lactate dehydrogenase, and transaminases to predict coagulation test results.

Experimental deposition of environmental tobacco smoke submicrometer particulate matter in the human respiratory tract.

Measurements of 15 nonsmokers and 3 smokers breathing environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), were conducted to study particle deposition within the human respiratory tract. The subjects inhaled ETS of count median diameter (CMD) of about 0.2 micron and geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 1.

Effect of food on the absorption of frusemide and bumetanide in man.

1. The influence of food on the absorption of frusemide and bumetanide was compared in two separate randomized crossover studies. 2.

Continuous intrathecal baclofen infusion for symptomatic generalized dystonia.

Five patients with generalized dystonia who were refractory to oral medications were treated by continuous intrathecal baclofen infusion. Dystonia was related to cerebral palsy in three patients and to Hallervorden-Spatz disease in two. Responsiveness to intrathecally administered baclofen was evaluated after bolus injections in one patient and during continuous infusions via an external micropump in four.

Effect of oral protein loading on renal hemodynamics in human pregnancy.

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and ERPF increase approximately 50% in human pregnancy. To determine if pregnant women have additional "renal reserve," inulin and p-aminohippurate clearances (Cin, CPAH) were measured in maximally hydrated women before and after a 300-g steak meal, once during late gestation, and again > or = 3 mo postpartum. Protein loading increased Cin [106 +/- 5 (SE) to 119 +/- 4 ml/min, P < 0.

The use of in vitro DNA adduct formation to estimate the genotoxicity of residues at contaminated sites.

Genotoxic carcinogens such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) covalently bind to the bases in DNA to form adducts. The formation of DNA adducts is significant with respect to chemical carcinogenesis. Many contaminated sites contain quantities of carcinogens such as PAHs, and the evaluation of the genotoxicity of these soils has important implications for human risk assessment.

Effect of autonomic blockade on pressor responses to vasopressin in pregnant rats.

Objective: We tested the hypothesis that gestational changes in reflex neural control of the heart and vasculature contribute to altered cardiovascular responses to vasopressin during pregnancy.

Study Design: Changes in mean arterial pressure, cardiac output, total peripheral resistance, and heart rate were measured in response to constant infusion of arginine vasopressin (0.15 to 2.

Prior feeding alters the response to the 50-g glucose challenge test in pregnancy. The Staub-Traugott effect revisited.

Objective: To examine the effect of prior meal ingestion on the glucose, insulin, and C-peptide response to a 50-g glucose challenge test in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Research Design And Methods: Ten pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and 12 nondiabetic pregnant control subjects matched for age and weight underwent a 50-g glucose challenge test on three occasions within a 2-wk period, in random order. On one occasion the test was administered in the fasting state (fasting glucose challenge test), on a second occasion the test was administered 1 h after ingestion of a standard mixed meal (1-h postprandial study), and on a third occasion the test was administered 2 h after ingestion of a standard mixed meal (2-h postprandial study).

Total autonomic blockade eliminates the attenuated pressor response to angiotensin II in pregnant rats.

Pressor responses to angiotensin II (ANG II) are markedly attenuated in reflex-intact pregnant animals, a phenomenon widely attributed to intrinsic changes in vascular reactivity. To test the hypothesis that gestational augmentation of neural reflex activity contributes importantly to this phenomenon, changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac output (CO), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were compared during constant infusion (25-400 ng.kg-1.

Continuous intrathecal baclofen infusion for spasticity of cerebral origin.

Objective: To determine if continuous intrathecal baclofen infusion (CIBI) would provide continuous relief of spasticity in patients with spasticity of cerebral origin, especially children with cerebral palsy.

Design: Prospective, unblinded trial, before and after CIBI.

Setting: Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (Pa).

Metabolic clearance of vasopressin and an analogue resistant to vasopressinase in human pregnancy.

The metabolic clearance rate (MCR) of arginine vasopressin (AVP) increases fourfold during human pregnancy. To explore whether circulating vasopressinase may play a role in this change, six women underwent a three-tier infusion clearance study, twice, in random order, to determine the MCRs of either AVP or 1-deamino-8-D-AVP (dDAVP, an analogue resistant to degradation by vasopressinase). Volunteers were tested in late pregnancy (LP), 24-48 h postdelivery (PD), and 5-6 (PP1) and 10-12 (PP2) wk postpartum, thus examining MCRs when vasopressinase levels were high, before and after removal of the placenta (LP and PD), and when plasma enzyme activity was becoming (PP1) and became (PP2) undetectable.

The syndrome of preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia has traditionally been viewed as one of several forms of hypertension complicating pregnancy. More recently, the multisystem nature of this unique gestational disorder has been emphasized. Pathophysiologic events, including abnormal placentation and heightened vascular reactivity, may occur weeks or months prior to clinical recognition of the disease.

Indirect blood pressure measurement in pregnancy: Korotkoff phase 4 versus phase 5.

Controversy exists regarding which Korotkoff phase should be used to estimate diastolic blood pressure during pregnancy, some authorities recommending phase 5 (disappearance of sounds) and others suggesting phase 4 (muffling). Available data indicate that Korotkoff phase 5 more closely approximates true intraarterial diastolic pressure in pregnant women. Nonetheless, it has been suggested that phase 5 is unmeasurable in a significant number of gravid women, making this end point less desirable.