Time-weighted vs. conventional quantification of 24-h average systolic and diastolic ambulatory blood pressures.

Background: Conventional calculation of mean 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (BP), SBP and DBP based on the average of all BP readings disregards the fact that a larger number of measurements is usually scheduled during the daytime than at night, an imbalance possibly leading to an overestimation of 24-h average BP. The aim of our study was to quantify this possible bias and to explore its determinants.

Methods: Four hundred and fifty untreated individuals were subdivided into three groups (150 individuals each) with three different ambulatory blood pressure measurement schedules for day/night: group I, four (day)/two (night) readings/h; group II, four (day)/three (night) readings/h; and group III, with BP readings every 30 min throughout 24 h.

Quality assurance in diagnostic radiology: practical outcomes.

Over the last four years, our Health Physics Department has implemented a quality control programme focusing on the performance of the diagnostic X-ray machines in use at our hospital. The results of the tests performed (X-ray and light field alignment, tube voltage reproducibility and accuracy, ) were used to compare the 1999 and 2002 findings by means of the chi squared and Fischer statistical tests. The comparison has demonstrated that the decrease in the number of non-conformities, also emerging from a simple comparative analysis on the experimental data, was statistically significant with a p<0.

Femoral shaft fracture after hip arthroplasty: a system for classification and treatment.

Twenty-one consecutive cases of femoral shaft fracture after hip arthroplasty treated at the University of Illinois affiliated hospitals were reviewed. Adequate follow-up and radiographs were available for 19 patients. The length of follow-up after fracture ranged from 2 to 13 years, with a mean of 3.

Comparison between intermittent (spring-loaded) and continuous closed suction drainage of orthopedic wounds: a controlled clinical trial.

A randomized prospective trial of a continuous vacuum system (VariDyne) and an intermittent spring type system (Hemovac) was conducted in 126 consecutive orthopedic surgical wounds between February 1988 and October 1988 in which postoperative suction drainage was required. Comparison between the two groups showed a statistically significant difference among total drainage removed by the vacuum units and wound drainage into the dressing following drain removal. Hip and knee arthroplasty patients receiving continuous vacuum suction experienced a greater average drainage volume and better wound healing than those receiving the spring-loaded device.