Hands-free Femoral Traction Using the Bookwalter Retractor System During Anterior Approaches to the Acetabulum.

Displaced acetabular fractures with medial and cranial displacement of the femoral head commonly require an anterior approach for reduction and stabilization. Restoration of the femoral head to its native position under the reduced acetabular dome is a primary goal of surgery. We present a surgical technique for applying traction to the proximal femur using the Bookwalter retractor system during the repair of acetabular fractures when using an anterior approach.

Patient safety and interactive medical devices: Realigning work as imagined and work as done.

Medical devices are essential tools for modern healthcare delivery. However, significant issues can arise if medical devices are designed for 'work as imagined' when this is misaligned with 'work as done'. This problem can be compounded as the details of device design, in terms of usability and the way a device supports or changes working practices, often receives limited attention.

Infusion device standardisation and dose error reduction software.

In 2004, the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) released a safety alert relating to the management and use of infusion devices in England and Wales. The alert called for the standardisation of infusion devices and a consideration of using centralised equipment systems to manage device storage. There has also been growing interest in smart-pump technology, such as dose error reduction software (DERS) as a way to reduce IV medication errors.

Contraceptive methods and informed consent among women receiving medications with potential for adverse fetal effects: a Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho (WWAMI) region study.

Background: Increasing diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia rates expose some young women to medications with potential adverse fetal effects, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-Is), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), and statins. This study examined whether quality improvement (QI) interventions promote informed consent and contraception to minimize risks with use of ACE-I/ARB/statins.

Methods: This longitudinal cohort study at 7 clinics abstracted medical records of 328 women aged 18 to 44 with ≥1 prescription for ACE-I/ARB/statins and ≥1 visit for hypertension, diabetes, or hypercholesterolemia during the previous year.

PDA usage and training: targeting curriculum for residents and faculty.

Background And Objectives: Utilization of personal digital assistants (PDAs) in residency education is common, but information about their use and how residents are trained to use them is limited. Better understanding of resident and faculty PDA use and training is needed.

Methods: We used a cross-sectional survey of 598 residents and faculty from the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho) Family Medicine Residency Network regarding PDA usage and training.

Cone excitation ratios correlate with color discrimination performance in the horse (Equus caballus).

Six horses (Equus caballus) were trained to discriminate color from grays in a counterbalanced sequence in which lightness cues were irrelevant. Subsequently, the pretrained colors were presented in a different sequence. Two sets of novel colors paired with novel grays were also tested.

Processing of first-order motion in marmoset visual cortex is influenced by second-order motion.

We measured the responses of single neurons in marmoset visual cortex (V1, V2, and the third visual complex) to moving first-order stimuli and to combined first- and second-order stimuli in order to determine whether first-order motion processing was influenced by second-order motion. Beat stimuli were made by summing two gratings of similar spatial frequency, one of which was static and the other was moving. The beat is the product of a moving sinusoidal carrier (first-order motion) and a moving low-frequency contrast envelope (second-order motion).

Does duration of donor brain injury affect outcome after orthotopic pediatric heart transplantation?

Objective: We tested the hypothesis that duration of donor brain injury and death would have an adverse effect on recipient rejection and mortality in pediatric heart transplantation.

Methods: Ninety-three cardiac transplants were performed at our center from July 1, 1997, through June 30, 2003. The primary study end points were the number of rejection episodes and the time to first rejection.

Documenting procedures and deliveries during family practice residency: a survey of graduates' experiences, preferences, and recommendations.

Background And Objectives: The University of Washington Family Practice Residency Network (UW Network) is in the process of implementing a Palm Pilot-based procedure and delivery documentation system throughout 16 residency programs. Our study examined the experiences of past UW Network graduates in obtaining hospital privileges and in documenting procedures and deliveries.

Methods: A survey was mailed to 201 1999 and 2000 UW Network graduates, asking them questions about their experiences obtaining hospital privileges after graduation and documenting procedures and deliveries during their training.

The nature of V1 neural responses to 2D moving patterns depends on receptive-field structure in the marmoset monkey.

A plaid pattern is formed when two sinusoidal gratings of different orientations are added together. Previous work has shown that V1 neurons selectively encode the direction and orientation of the component gratings in a moving plaid but not the direction of the plaid itself (Movshon et al. 1985).