Evaluation of Cytopathological Techniques for the Diagnosis of Canine Visceral Leishmaniosis with Lymph Node Samples.

The identification of the parasite in cytological smears of lymph node aspirates is a widely applied technique for the direct diagnosis of Leishmania spp. infection, especially in endemic areas. Although very specific, this method has limited sensitivity, and improving the technique would be highly desirable.

Variation in use of buprenorphine and methadone treatment by racial, ethnic, and income characteristics of residential social areas in New York City.

National data indicate that patients treated with buprenorphine for opiate use disorders are more likely to be White, highly educated, and to have greater incomes than those receiving methadone, but patterns of buprenorphine dissemination across demographic areas have not been documented in major metropolitan areas where poverty, minority populations and injection heroin use are concentrated. Rates of buprenorphine and methadone treatment are compared among areas of New York City defined by their income and ethnic/racial composition. Residential social areas (hereinafter called social areas) were defined as aggregations of ZIP codes with similar race/ethnicity and income characteristics, and were formed based on clustering techniques.

Declining use of electroconvulsive therapy in United States general hospitals.

Background: Falling duration of psychiatric inpatient stays over the past 2 decades and recent recommendations to tighten federal regulation of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) devices have focused attention on trends in ECT use, but current national data have been unavailable.

Methods: We calculated the annual number of inpatient stays involving ECT and proportion of general hospitals conducting the procedure at least once in the calendar year with a national sample of discharges from 1993 to 2009. We estimated adjusted probabilities that inpatients with severe recurrent major depression (n = 465,646) were treated in a hospital that conducts ECT and, if so, received the procedure.

The intracavitary ECG method for positioning the tip of central venous catheters: results of an Italian multicenter study.

Purpose: The aim of this multicenter study was to assess the feasibility, safety, and accuracy of the intracavitary ECG method for real-time positioning of the tip of different types of central venous catheters.

Methods: A total of 1444 catheter insertions in adult patients were studied in eight Italian centers (539 ports, 245 PICCs, 325 tunneled CVCs, 335 non-tunneled CVCs). Patients with no visible P wave at the standard baseline ECG were excluded.