The acoustic features of inhalation can be used to quantify aerosol delivery from a Diskus™ dry powder inhaler.

Purpose: Some patients are unable to generate the peak inspiratory flow rate (PIFR) necessary to de-agglomerate drug particles from dry powder inhalers (DPIs). In this study we tested the hypothesis that the acoustic parameters of an inhalation are related to the PIFR and hence reflect drug delivery.

Methods: A sensitivity analysis of the relationship of the acoustics of inhalation to simultaneously recorded airflow, in a cohort of volunteers (n = 92) was performed.

Structured sedation programs in the emergency department, hospital and other acute settings: protocol for systematic review of effects and events.

Background: The use of procedural sedation outside the operating theatre has increased in hospital settings and has gained popularity among non-anesthesiologists. Sedative agents used for procedural pain, although effective, also pose significant risks to the patient if used incorrectly. There is currently no universally accepted program of education for practitioners using or introducing procedural sedation into their practice.

A study into the automation of cognitive assessment tasks for delivery via the telephone: lessons for developing remote monitoring applications for the elderly.

Background: Cognitive assessments are valuable tools in assessing neurological conditions. They are critical in measuring deficits in cognitive function in an array of neurological disorders and during the ageing process. Automation of cognitive assessments is one way to address the increasing burden on medical resources for an ever increasing ageing population.

A method of estimating inspiratory flow rate and volume from an inhaler using acoustic measurements.

Inhalers are devices employed to deliver medication to the airways in the treatment of respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A dry powder inhaler (DPI) is a breath actuated inhaler that delivers medication in dry powder form. When used correctly, DPIs improve patients' clinical outcomes.

Single dose oral dexamethasone versus multi-dose prednisolone in the treatment of acute exacerbations of asthma in children who attend the emergency department: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Asthma is a major cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality. In acute exacerbations of asthma, corticosteroids reduce relapses, subsequent hospital admission and the need for ß₂-agonist therapy. Prednisolone is relatively short-acting with a half-life of 12 to 36 hours, thereby requiring daily dosing.

Improved late survival and disability after stroke with therapeutic anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation: a population study.

Background And Purpose: Although therapeutic anticoagulation improves early (within 1 month) outcomes after ischemic stroke in hospital-admitted patients with atrial fibrillation, no information exists on late outcomes in unselected population-based studies, including patients with all stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic).

Methods: We identified patients with atrial fibrillation and stroke in a prospective, population-based study in North Dublin. Clinical characteristics, stroke subtype, stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale), prestroke antithrombotic medication, and International Normalized Ratio (INR) at onset were documented.

Stroke subtype classification to mechanism-specific and undetermined categories by TOAST, A-S-C-O, and causative classification system: direct comparison in the North Dublin population stroke study.

Background And Purpose: Reliable etiologic classification of ischemic stroke may enhance clinical trial design and identification of subtype-specific environmental and genetic risk factors. Although new classification systems (Causative Classification System [CCS] and ASCO [A for atherosclerosis, S for small vessel disease, C for cardiac source, O for other cause]) have been developed to improve subtype assignment, few comparative data exist from large studies. We hypothesized that both CCS and ASCO would reduce the proportion of patients classified as cause undetermined compared with the Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) scheme in a large population-based stroke study.