Examination of Driver Visual and Cognitive Responses to Billboard Elicited Passive Distraction Using Eye-Fixation Related Potential.

Distractions external to a vehicle contribute to visual attention diversion that may cause traffic accidents. As a low-cost and efficient advertising solution, billboards are widely installed on side of the road, especially the motorway. However, the effect of billboards on driver distraction, eye gaze, and cognition has not been fully investigated.

Design of a novel photosensitive phantom for the accurate calibration of the temporal response of electroencephalography systems.

This paper describes a novel method to measure the temporal latency of electroencephalography (EEG) systems using a customized photosensitive phantom. The system was evaluated with three different EEG devices, a medical grade (g.Tec), a consumer grade (Emotiv), and a low-cost device (Arduino SpikerShield).

Analysis of glottal source parameters in Parkinsonian speech.

Diagnosis and monitoring of Parkinson's disease has a number of challenges as there is no definitive biomarker despite the broad range of symptoms. Research is ongoing to produce objective measures that can either diagnose Parkinson's or act as an objective decision support tool. Recent research on speech based measures have demonstrated promising results.

An evaluation of ciprofloxacin pharmacokinetics in critically ill patients undergoing continuous veno-venous haemodiafiltration.

Background: The study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetics of intravenous ciprofloxacin and the adequacy of 400 mg every 12 hours in critically ill Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients on continuous veno-venous haemodiafiltration (CVVHDF) with particular reference to the effect of achieved flow rates on drug clearance.

Methods: This was an open prospective study conducted in the intensive care unit and research unit of a university teaching hospital. The study population was seven critically ill patients with sepsis requiring CVVHDF.

Anesthetic technique and the cytokine and matrix metalloproteinase response to primary breast cancer surgery.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. Surgery remains the most effective treatment. Several perioperative factors, including the surgical stress response, many anesthetics and opioids, adversely affect immune function.

Amitriptyline poisoning in a 2-year old.

We describe a case of a 2-year-old boy who ingested 35 mg.kg(-1) of amitriptyline. He developed central nervous system toxicity, as demonstrated by coma and seizures and cardiac toxicity (cardiac arrest) within 1 h of ingestion.

Design and implementation of an end tidal CO2 simulator for the evaluation of clinical gas analysers.

This paper presents a new technique to determine the dynamic and frequency response of capnographs using a custom built 'EtCO2 simulator system'. Capnographs are devices that use CO2 from a patients' expired breath to monitor the cardiopulmonary status during anaesthesia and mechanical ventilation. Capnographs at present are routinely calibrated via a static calibration method only.