Hazard Assessment and Remediation Tool for Simulation-Based Healthcare Facility Design Testing.

Objectives: To develop an objective, structured observational tool to enable identification and measurement of hazards in the built environment when applied to audiovisual recordings of simulations by trained raters.

Background: Simulation-based facility design testing is increasingly used to optimize safety of healthcare environments, often relying on participant debriefing or direct observation by human factors experts.

Methods: Hazard categories were defined through participant debriefing and detailed review of pediatric intensive care unit in situ simulation videos.

Diminished perception of ambient light: a symptom of clinical depression?

Objective: In a non-randomized, uncontrolled pilot study, the authors investigated whether depressed patients were more likely to perceive the lighting in their environment as being dimmer than usual.

Method: 120 patients (46 males, 74 females) who presented for possible admission for depression at a psychiatric facility were administered a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of disorders (DSM-IV) based questionnaire and underwent psychiatric evaluation. A question asking whether 'the lights in my surroundings seem dimmer than usual' was included in the 15-point question survey.

Production of monoclonal antibodies to Sp2/O-Ag 14 myeloma cells.

The hybridoma technology developed by Kohler and Milstein allows the obtention of antibodies of a single specificity (i.e. monoclonal antibodies).

Detection and quantification of laryngotracheopulmonary aspiration with scintigraphy.

Aspiration is analyzed by a new scintigraphic technique and standard videofluoroscopy in 78 patients with head and neck pathology and neurologic disorders. When both methods are compared to clinical aspiration and a positive x-ray film of pneumonia, they appear to complement each other and provide a very accurate evaluation. Scintigraphy is a more sensitive method for detecting aspiration below the vocal cords and also provides for flow dynamics and a method of quantifying the amount of aspirated material.