Lung function after total intravenous anaesthesia or balanced anaesthesia with sevoflurane.

Background: We investigated the effects of total i.v. anaesthesia (TIVA) and balanced anaesthesia (BAL) with sevoflurane on postoperative lung function in patients undergoing surgery in the prone position.

Head-position angles in children for opening the upper airway.

Aims: Inexperienced health-care-providers may encounter severe problems to ventilate an unconscious child. Designing a ventilating device that could indicate how to open an upper airway correctly may be beneficial. Neutral position in young children and slight head extension in older children is recommended, although the optimal head angle is not clear.

Submission of clinical studies to ethics committees or clinical trials registers: the authors' point of view.

To evaluate the satisfaction of clinical scientists when submitting study drafts to an ethics committee/clinical trials register (CLINICALTRIALS, EUDRACT, ISRCTN) we conducted an online survey of 240 authors publishing in anesthesia/critical care medicine (A) or in major general medical (M) journals from January to December 2007. No statistical difference between groups A and M was seen with regard to the number of studies submitted to ethics committees or registered in various clinical trials registers. On a visual analogue scale (VAS -10 to +10), the subjective evaluation of the effort required to submit a study draft to an ethics committee or enter it in a clinical trials register produced almost only negative grades in both groups.