Sideline Sports Concussion Assessment.

The sideline assessment of concussions is a complex multisystem assessment to detect whether an athlete shows signs or symptoms of concussion and should be removed from practice or competition to prevent greater neurologic compromise. Sideline concussion assessments are challenging given some of the environmental conditions, substitution rules of some sports, the possibility of athletes underreporting symptoms, and the difficulties of defining a concussion. The SCAT is the standard of care and is augmented with other procedures to enhance sensitivity and specificity.

Botulinum toxin A for chronic daily headache: a randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel design study.

Sixty patients with headaches of more than 15 days per month were recruited for this double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel study of botulinum toxin type A (BTX) for chronic tension type and chronic migraine headaches. The primary efficacy point was the number of headache-free days as assessed by diary for 12 weeks after BTX injection. Secondary efficacy points included global impressions, the use of abortive headache medications, and palpation.

Quality and liability issues with the Papanicolaou smear: lessons from the science of error prevention.

The pathologists and cytologists who study Papanicolaou smears perform a highly successful cancer screening test in a low-prevalence population. This leads to a mathematically inevitable false-negative error rate even in the most competent professional hands. The US judicial system supports a public expectation of perfect performance by civil and, recently, criminal punishment of error.

The pathology of regulation.

Clinical pathology officially began when inquisitive physicians in the nineteenth century sought explanations for the diseases they observed in their patients. The increasing application of the basic sciences to patients required physicians to spend more time and energy in the laboratory than with their patients. Methodology followed new technologic innovations that the profession began to critically review in the late 1940s.