A five-year retrospective study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in a north-east Italian urban area.

Background: The reporting and analysing of data of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests encourages the quality improvement of the emergency medical services. For this reason, the establishment of a sufficiently large patient database is intended to allow analysis of resuscitation treatments for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and performances of different emergency medical services.

Aims: The aim of this study was to describe the demographics, characteristics, outcomes and determinant factors of survival for patients who suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Association of high serum vitamin D concentrations with active pulmonary TB in an HIV co-endemic setting, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Background: There is paucity data on the association of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and active tuberculosis (TB) in southern Africa where the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is co-endemic. We examined the association of serum vitamin D concentrations with active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in HIV-infected (n = 284) and uninfected (n = 267) Black Zimbabweans, in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 551 participants comprising 145 HIV/PTB , 139 HIV/PTB, 134 HIV/PTB and 133 HIV/PTB.

Hot-wire anemometry for superfluid turbulent coflows.

We report the first evidence of an enhancement of the heat transfer from a heated wire to an external turbulent coflow of superfluid helium. We used a standard Pt-Rh hot-wire anemometer and overheat it up to 21 K in a pressurized liquid helium turbulent round jet at temperatures between 1.9 K and 2.

Household social determinants of ascariasis and trichuriasis in North Central Venezuela.

Ascariasis and trichuriasis are highly prevalent parasitoses in tropical countries caused by Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura, respectively. Their prevalence is associated with poor sanitation and hygiene, among other biological and social factors. In this study, the associations of household social determinants with these soil-transmitted helminthiases in North Central Venezuela was assessed in the context of a National Study on Human Growth and Development (SENACREDH).

Liquid helium inertial jet for comparative study of classical and quantum turbulence.

We present a new cryogenic wind tunnel facility developed to study the high Reynolds number developed classical or quantum turbulence in liquid (4)He. A stable inertial round jet flow with a Reynolds number of 4 × 10(6) can be sustained in both He I and He II down to a minimum temperature of 1.7 K.

A misleading trismus.

We report the case of a 73-year-old women admitted to ICU with a diagnosis of tetanum supported by a mild trismus and treated with potentially unsafe drugs until the correct diagnosis was made.

Old patients in intensive care unit (ICU): what decisions to make?

This report is aimed at identifying and suggesting a decision-making approach to handle old patients in ICUs in the light of current epidemiological findings and literature. We reviewed the data provided by the GIVITI network on 107,459 patients admitted to 150 Italian ICUs between 2000 and 2005; patients were divided into age groups (18-65 years: group I; 66-75 years: group II; 76-85 years: group III; > or =85 years: group IV). Comorbidities were recorded on admission in all groups [I (62.

Compensatory dilatation of the Azygos Venous system Secondary To Superior Vena Cava Occlusion.

Superior vena cava (SVC) occlusion can be clinically recognized in the acute setting when the stenosing process does not allow the development of collateral venous channels, which guarantee the venous drainage to the right heart. On the contrary, when the obstruction develops progressively, the diagnosis of SVC obstruction may remain undiagnosed. In the present case, the presence of SVC thrombosis was purely coincidental.