Effectiveness of iPad apps on visual-motor skills among children with special needs between 4y0m-7y11m.

Aims: The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to assess the effectiveness of interventions using iPad applications compared to traditional occupational therapy on visual-motor integration (VMI) in school-aged children with poor VMI skills.

Methods: Twenty children aged 4y0m to 7y11m with poor VMI skills were randomly assigned to the experimental group (interventions using iPad apps targeting VMI skills) or control group (traditional occupational therapy intervention sessions targeting VMI skills). The intervention phase consisted of two 40-min sessions per week, over a period of 10 weeks.

Primary cardiac pleomorphic sarcoma presenting as back pain in an 18-year-old man.

Soft-tissue sarcoma is the most prevalent primary malignant cardiac tumor. This sarcoma usually presents with cardiac manifestations secondary to local obstruction or arrhythmias; very rarely does it present with initial symptoms of distant metastasis. We discuss the unusual case of an 18-year-old man who emergently presented with acute-on-chronic back pain.

Catheter-tip embolectomy in the management of acute massive pulmonary embolism.

Three catheter interventional techniques are currently available for removing or fragmenting pulmonary emboli: aspiration thrombectomy, fragmentation, and rheolytic thrombectomy. The investigators systematically reviewed all available published research related to the use of catheter-tip devices in patients with pulmonary emboli. Pooled data showed that clinical success with the Greenfield catheter occurred in 72 of 89 patients (81%) when used alone and in 19 of 19 patients (100%) when used in combination with thrombolytic agents.

Pulmonary embolism as a cause of death in adults who died with heart failure.

Although heart failure (HF) is a known risk factor for pulmonary embolism (PE), little is known about the frequency of death from PE in patients who die with HF. This investigation was undertaken to determine the frequency of PE as the cause of death in patients who died with HF on the basis of data from death certificates, as listed by the United States Census Bureau. Among adults with HF who died over the 19-year period of study, PE was the listed cause of death in 20,387 of 755,807 (2.