Making it possible to measure knowledge, experience and intuition in diagnosing lung injury severity: a fuzzy logic vision based on the Murray score.

Background: Murray score is the result of an equation that gives all its variables the same linear contribution and weight and makes use of consented cut-offs. Everyday physicians' vocabulary is full of terms (adjectives) like: little, small, low, high, etc. that they handle in an intuitive and not always linear way to make therapeutic decisions.

[Variability of breathing pattern during inspiratory elastic load].

In humans, lung ventilation exhibits breath-to-breath variability and dynamics that are nonlinear, complex and chaotic. Our objective was to characterize the breathing pattern variational activity in anesthetized dogs (n: 8) breathing through threshold inspiratory elastic load (7 to 50 cm H2O). Starting from flow signal and tracheal and esophageal pressures, we analyzed inspiratory time (Ti), timing (expiratory time, Te; total time, Ttot; and Ti/Ttot) and central drive (Vt/Ti) and variables related to it (tidal volume, Vt and pulmonary ventilation, Ve).

Circadian analysis of myocardial infarction incidence in an Argentine and Uruguayan population.

Background: The occurrence of variations in the spectrum of cardiovascular disease between different regions of the world and ethnic groups have been the subject of great interest. This study report the 24-h variation of myocardial infarction (MI) occurrence in patients recruited from CCU located in Argentina and Uruguay.

Method: A cohort of 1063 patients admitted to the CCU within 24 h of the onset of symptoms of an acute MI was examined.

Circadian periodicity of heart rate variability in hospitalized angor patients.

The relationship between unstable angor (angina) and circadian periodicity of heart rate variability (HRV) was explored in a group of patients hospitalized in a coronary care unit (CCU). Patients were classified as normal (whose symptoms had non-cardiovascular origin, n=8), moderate angor (n=13) and severe angor (n=11). A fourth group of ambulatory healthy volunteers (n=12) was included.