Why is implementing remote monitoring in virtual wards (Hospital at Home) for people living with frailty so hard? Qualitative interview study.

Background: There is relatively low uptake of remote monitoring on frailty virtual wards (Hospital at Home) compared to virtual wards caring for people with other medical conditions. However, reasons for low uptake are poorly understood.

Objectives: To explore the views and experiences of frailty virtual wards stakeholders involved in implementing remote monitoring.

Prospective to a randomized double-blind controlled trial to assess efficacy of double caudal analgesia in hypospadias repair.

Background/purpose: A prospective, randomised, double-blind, controlled trial to evaluate efficacy of double-caudal versus single-caudal injection for postoperative analgesia in hypospadias repair was performed.

Methods: Between October 1998 and September 2000, 160 boys underwent distal hypospadias repair. The first 80 boys were analyzed prospectively for postoperative analgesia after double-caudal bupivacaine, which involves the administration of a second bupivacaine injection into the caudal extradural space at the end of surgery.

The activity of an anti-allergic compound, proxicromil, on models of immunity and inflammation.

A tricyclic chromone, proxicromil (sodium 6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-5-hydroxy-4-oxo-10-propyl-naphtho (2,3-b) pyran-2-carboxylate), has been tested for activity against certain immunological and inflammatory reactions. When given parenterally it suppressed the development of delayed hypersensitivity reactions in sensitized mice and guinea-pigs but did not affect the rejection of skin allografts in mice. The compound had no activity against certain in vitro correlates of delayed hypersensitivity reactions (lymphocyte transformation and lymphokine activity), but did have an inhibitory effect on lymphokine (MIF) productions at 10(-4) M but not at 10(-5) M.

Oxygen-binding and immunological properties of complexes between dextran and animal haemoglobins.

Complexes of dextran 20 000 with haemoglobins of sheep, rabbit, dog, bovine and human origin were prepared through alkylation of haemoglobin by N-bromoacetylaminoethylamino-dextran. The yields were uniformly high. Complex-formation in each case was accompanied by the disappearance of reactive thiol groups on the haemoglobin, and by an increase in the affinity of the haemoglobin for oxygen.

Clinical dextrans lack mitogenic activity for normal human lymphocytes in vitro.

In vitro studies on mitogenic stimulation of lymphocytes from a panel of normal volunteers revealed no transformation in response to the presence of dextran 40, 70, 110 or 150 at concentrations ranging from 0.8 to 8,000 microgram/ml. High molecular weight native dextran B512 was mitogenic in 1 individual only.

Naturally-occurring double-stranded RNA and immune responses. IV. Influence of molecular size on antigenicity and adjuvant activity.

The immunological properties of a naturally-occurring double-stranded ribonucleic acid (ds-RNA), obtained from a mycophage of Penicillium chrysogenum, have been studied in relation to molecular size. Materials of reduced size, as reflected by molecular weight measurements, produced by ultrasonication of native ds-RNA, exhibited progressively lowered ability to induce an anti-ds-RNA response in mice. Adjuvant and immunosuppressive activities were of similar magnitude in both high and low molecular weight fractions.

Double-stranded RNA antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Antibodies to viral double-stranded RNA (ds RNA) have been found in 40% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 14-5% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. These antibodies were diagnostically more specific SLE than those directed against artificial polynucleotides, poly I:C and poly A:U. Although not disease specific, high titres of antibody to ds viral RNA were found almost exclusively in SLE.

Naturally occurring double-stranded RNA and immune responses. Effects on plaque-forming cells and antibody formation.

A highly purified preparation of double-stranded RNA, obtained from virus-like particles in Penicillium cultures, was found to affert humoral immune responses in mice differentially depending on its time of administration in realtion to antigen. Double-stranded RNA administered with antigen, or a few hours after antigen, produced a variable degree of enhancement of plaque-forming cell numbers or agglutinating antibody levels depending on the antigen involved. Administration of double-stranded RNA 24 hours before antigen invariably produced a suppressed response.

Protection against gram-negative infections with antiserum to lipid A from Salmonella minnesota R595.

The ability of antisera to lipid A, induced in rabbits by immunization with lipid A complexed to various carriers, to protect mice against gram-negative infection and to inhibit the fluid loss caused by an enteropathogenic strain of Escherichia coli in the piglet ligated gut was investigated. No significant protection was obtained in either case, although passive hemolysis and quantitative precipitation tests showed the presence of antilipid A antibodies in the sera. Fluorescent antibody studies suggest that the lipid A is in a cryptic position on the surface of smooth strains of gram-negative bacteria.