The emergence of oseltamivir-resistant pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus amongst hospitalised immunocompromised patients in Scotland, November-December, 2009.

To investigate the frequency of oseltamivir resistance in circulating strains of the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic virus in Scotland, 1,802 samples from 1,608 infected hospitalised patients were screened by the H275Y discriminatory RT-PCR. Among these, we identified 10 patients who developed the H275Y mutation. All of them were immunocompromised and were under treatment or had been treated previously with oseltamivir.

Specialist team retrieval of head injured patients: fact, fiction, or formula?

Objective: This feasibility study aimed to determine the maximum theoretical distance the Edinburgh Paediatric Retrieval Team (EPRT) could travel to retrieve head injured children without additional delay in reaching definitive care.

Design: A prospective audit was conducted over 2 years to determine the current practice for paediatric head injury transfers (stabilisation, referral, and transfer time) undertaken by primary hospital staff, and the performance (mobilisation and travel time) of the EPRT. A novel formula was devised and used to determine the theoretical maximum radius within which the EPRT could reach a referring hospital during their stabilisation of head injured patients.

The effect of nitrous oxide on cerebral blood flow velocity in children anaesthetised with sevoflurane.

To determine the effects of nitrous oxide on middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity (CBFV) during sevoflurane anaesthesia in children, CBFV was measured using transcranial Doppler sonography in 16 ASA I or II children. Anaesthesia consisted of 1.0 MAC sevoflurane in 30% oxygen with intermittent positive pressure ventilation maintaining FEco2 at 38 mmHg (5.