Measuring population health: costs of alternative survey approaches in the Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance System in rural Burkina Faso.

Background: There are more than 40 Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) sites in 19 different countries. The running costs of HDSS sites are high. The financing of HDSS activities is of major importance, and adding external health surveys to the HDSS is challenging.

Health insurance and child mortality in rural Burkina Faso.

Background: Micro health insurance schemes have been implemented across developing countries as a means of facilitating access to modern medical care, with the ultimate aim of improving health. This effect, however, has not been explored sufficiently.

Objective: We investigated the effect of enrolment into community-based health insurance on mortality in children under 5 years of age in a health and demographic surveillance system in Nouna, Burkina Faso.

Tolerance of a standing tilt table protocol by patients an inpatient stroke unit setting: a pilot study.

Background And Purpose: To describe and examine physiologic and self-reported indices of tolerance to a standing tilt table protocol (STTP) among patients following an acute stroke.

Methods: We undertook a prospective, observational pilot study of patients admitted to a stroke unit of a single academic medical center. A clinical protocol for the use of the tilt table was developed and applied to subjects in the acute phase following a stroke.

Special considerations for mobilizing patients in the neurointensive care unit.

Patients with neurologic illness or injury benefit from early interventions to increase physical activity and mobility, but they also have special needs related to hemodynamic stability and intracranial pressure dynamics. After brain injury, moving paralyzed limbs--even passively--helps promote neural plasticity, "rerouting" signals around the injured area and forming new connections, resulting in improved functional recovery. Neurologic deficits may impede a patient's functional and language abilities, so a mobility program must take into account the need for assistive devices, communication strategies, and additional personnel.

Differential effects of clivarin and heparin in patients undergoing hip and knee surgery for the generation of anti-heparin-platelet factor 4 antibodies.

The pathophysiology of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) syndrome is mediated via a heterogeneous group of heparin(s)-platelet factor 4 (H-PF4) complexes bound to their antibodies. These anti-H-PF4 (AHPF4) antibodies that are capable of binding to the FcgammaRIIA receptor [cluster of differentiation (CD) 32] on platelets, resulting in platelet activation, widely vary in their specific activities as platelet activation (functionality). Predisposing factors related to specific pathologic conditions may also contribute to the generation of these antibodies and their relative functionality during HIT syndrome.