Prognostic value of gastric intramucosal pH in critically ill children.

Objective: To determine the association of tonometrically measured gastric intramucosal pH (pHi) to the occurrence of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and death in critically ill children.

Design: Prospective, observational study.

Setting: Pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) of a teaching children's hospital.

Clinicoepidemiologic characteristics, prognostic factors, and survival analysis of patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus and Leishmania in an area of Madrid, Spain.

From 1987 to 1995, a retrospective case study was conducted at the Ramon y Cajal Hospital in Madrid, Spain, a public teaching hospital with 1,100 beds, to determine the clinicoepidemiologic characteristics, survival, and prognostic factors of patients with visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The prevalence of VL in HIV+ patients compared with HIV- patients was studied. Epidemiologic, clinical, and parasitologic characteristics, as well as the effects of treatment, prognosis, and survival in 54 HIV+ patients (90 episodes) with VL were defined.

Evaluation of agreement among dermatologists in the assessment of the color of port wine stains and their clearance after treatment with the flashlamp-pumped dye laser.

Background: Color classification and its subjective clearance evaluation in response to treatment are essential in the management of patients with port wine stains (PWS). But color perception by physicians is not an objective measurement so that it can change among observers. Agreement among physicians is essential for the reliability of the color classification and the clinical assessment of the response to laser treatment.

Autoperception and satisfaction with health: two medical care markers in elderly hospitalized patients. Quality of life as an outcome estimate of clinical practice.

This paper reports a prospective study, carried out in elderly patients hospitalized for acute illness, designed to evaluate the effectiveness of medical treatment from the point of view of quality of life (QoL). Patient's autoperception and satisfaction with health, the most relevant subjective estimates of QoL, were assessed on admission to hospital and at check-up after discharge. A comprehensive functional evaluation of the patients was made.

[The hypolipemic effect of concentrated salmon oil rich in n-3 fatty acids].

The lipid-lowering effect of a concentrated salmon oil, rich in n-3 fatty acids was tested as a supplement to the normal diet of 27 patients with high levels of cholesterol and/or triglycerides, during 2 months. The results of the study confirmed that addition of n-3 fatty acid to diets produced a reduction of plasma levels of lipids. The most significant reduction of plasma levels of lipids.