Wearing ambidextrous vinyl gloves does not impair manual dexterity.

Universal precautions mandate that health care workers wear gloves to prevent the unintended spread of bloodborne pathogens. Gloves may affect manual dexterity, generally delaying task completion. Our previous study showed that wearing the wrong size latex surgical glove degraded manual dexterity.

Prediction of blood loss during surgery on the lumbar spine with the patient supported prone on the Jackson table.

Background Context: To date, many studies have examined the effects of one or several factors on blood loss during lumbar spine surgery. The nature and extent of the operation, patient position, blood pressure, and a variety of factors related to patient size have been touted as predictors of blood loss.

Purpose: To measure multiple factors implicated as determinants of blood loss and develop a multivariable statistical model capable of predicting blood loss.

Direct connections between the spinal epidural space and the venous circulation in humans.

Background And Objectives: Our previous studies in pigs indicate that direct connections exist between the spinal epidural space and the venous circulation. We wondered if similar connections occur in humans and have extended our investigations to human cadavers awaiting autopsy.

Methods: We studied 10 recently dead human bodies.

A macromolecular tracer indicates that the spinal epidural space connects directly to the venous circulation in pigs.

Background And Objectives: Air injected into the epidural space of the spine reaches the heart within 15 secs, suggesting easy access to the bloodstream. We wished to quantify the washout of a macromolecular tracer (albumin labeled with Evans blue) from the thoracic epidural space.

Methods: Eleven juvenile pigs were anesthetized with isoflurane and positioned on their sides.

Wearing the wrong size latex surgical gloves impairs manual dexterity.

Universal precautions mandate that health care workers wear gloves when dealing with patients, often in situations requiring a high level of technical skill. Although it seems obvious that wearing the wrong size gloves could impair or prolong tasks involving manual dexterity, the issue has not been formally studied. We tested the hypothesis that wearing the wrong size gloves impairs manual dexterity.

Hydrodynamics of the spinal epidural space in pigs: effects of death and exsanguinations.

Background And Objectives: We have investigated how the vascular components of the spine determine the resistance and capacitance of the spinal epidural space and determined the magnitude of the longitudinal pressure gradient in the space during fluid infusion.

Methods: Pigs were studied during isoflurane anesthesia. Tuohy needles were inserted into midthoracic spine at adjacent interspaces, one to measure pressure in the epidural space and one for fluid infusion.

Concentrations of isoflurane exceeding those used clinically slightly increase the affinity of methane, but not toluene, for water.

Background: Inhaled anesthetics may affect proteins at the interface between membrane lipids and the surrounding aqueous phase. The underlying solution chemistry is not known. Because the hydrophobicity of nonpolar protein components importantly influences their conformation, we tested the hypothesis that isoflurane affects the solubility of two nonpolar compounds, methane and toluene, in saline.

Vein occlusion by upper versus forearm tourniquets in humans.

Study Objective: To determine the optimal location for a tourniquet applied to the arm during cannulation of a hand vein.

Design: Experimental study.

Setting: Operating room of a university hospital.

Human plasma ATP concentration.

Background: Human plasma ATP concentration is reported in many studies as roughly 1000 nmol/L. The present study tested the hypothesis that the measured plasma ATP concentration is lower if ATP release from formed blood elements is inhibited during blood sample processing. A second hypothesis was that pretreatment with aspirin to inhibit platelets would reduce the measured plasma concentration of ATP.

Body position affects manual dexterity.

To evaluate the relationship between posture and psychomotor efficiency, 20 anesthesia providers performed a test requiring manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination while seated, kneeling, and standing bent forward at the waist. Performance on the Grooved Pegboard Test improved 6%-10% (P < 0.005) when subjects were seated compared to kneeling and standing bent at the waist, positions that the subjects rated as more painful and less comfortable than sitting.

Hydrodynamics of the spinal epidural space in pigs determined by constant-flow methods.

Background And Objectives: Impressive quantities of fluid can be infused into the epidural space of the spine without causing dramatic or sustained increases in pressure. The epidural space is considered "leaky," but questions remain about how fluid leaves the epidural space. We used constant-flow infusions of saline to gain insight into the hydrodynamics involved.

High-frequency jet ventilation: utility in posterior left atrial catheter ablation.

Background: Percutaneous catheter ablation in the posterior left atrium (LA) is a technically demanding procedure that in our experience is best accomplished using general anesthesia, including endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. However, using conventional intermittent positive-pressure ventilation (IPPV) technique, we were dissatisfied with motion of the posterior LA. This occurred during changes in lung volume, which destabilized ablation electrode-endocardial contact.

Brand and size matter when choosing a syringe to relieve pressure in a tracheal tube cuff.

We studied the use of an inline syringe as a pressure relief valve for tracheal tube cuffs during exposure to nitrous oxide to see if the technique works. Bench testing was done to determine the stick and slip characteristics of syringes of different brands and sizes. Cuffs were inflated with 20 mL of air, producing a cuff pressure of 100-120 mm Hg.

Neither the accuracy nor the precision of thermal dilution cardiac output measurements is altered by acute tricuspid regurgitation in pigs.

Unlabelled: Whether measurement of cardiac output using the thermal dilution technique (TDCO) is valid in the presence of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is controversial. We assessed the accuracy and precision of the technique in pigs by comparison with data from an electromagnetic flowmeter on the aorta (EMCO). TR was created with sutures that immobilized the free-wall leaflets of the tricuspid valve, and cardiac output was adjusted with dobutamine to give values comparable to control measurements.