Sequelae of Acute Pulmonary Embolism: From Post-Pulmonary Embolism Functional Impairment to Chronic Thromboembolic Disease.

Among survivors of acute pulmonary embolism (PE), roughly half report persistent dyspnea, impaired functional status, and decreased quality of life. Post-pulmonary embolism syndrome (PPES) is a broad condition which has been increasingly recognized in recent years and may be due to post-pulmonary embolism functional impairment, chronic thromboembolic disease, or the most severe long-term complication of PE, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Despite guideline recommendations for appropriate follow-up for post-pulmonary embolism patients, PPES remains underrecognized and diagnostic testing underutilized.

infective endocarditis after lung transplantation: a case report and review of the literature.

infective endocarditis is rarely reported. In this report, we present a case of infective endocarditis secondary to in a lung-transplant recipient and review the relevant literature. A 65-year-old man was hospitalized with hypoxemic respiratory failure and underwent left-sided single lung transplantation.

Latent Class Analysis Reveals COVID-19-related Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Subgroups with Differential Responses to Corticosteroids.

Two distinct subphenotypes have been identified in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), but the presence of subgroups in ARDS associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is unknown. To identify clinically relevant, novel subgroups in COVID-19-related ARDS and compare them with previously described ARDS subphenotypes. Eligible participants were adults with COVID-19 and ARDS at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Fatal Toxicity Indices for Medicine-Related Deaths in New Zealand, 2008-2013.

Introduction: The fatal toxicity index (FTI) is a measure for assessing the relative risks of death due to the medicines prescribed in a population. This knowledge is useful for prescribers and informs medicine safety initiatives. This study aimed to calculate FTIs for the New Zealand population using three methodologies.

Deaths by poisoning in New Zealand, 2008-2013.

While a number of developed countries have witnessed a decline in carbon monoxide (CO) deaths and increasing numbers of opioid-related fatalities, it is not known whether these or other trends have occurred in New Zealand. The aim of this study was, therefore, to review deaths due to poisoning in New Zealand, describe the causative substances, and identify any trends. Retrospective study reviewing New Zealand's poison-related death findings recorded in the National Coronial Information System (NCIS) database over the 6-year period 2008-2013.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticle exposure alters metabolic homeostasis in a cell culture model of the intestinal epithelium and Drosophila melanogaster.

Nanosized titanium dioxide (TiO) is a common additive in food and cosmetic products. The goal of this study was to investigate if TiO nanoparticles affect intestinal epithelial tissues, normal intestinal function, or metabolic homeostasis using in vitro and in vivo methods. An in vitro model of intestinal epithelial tissue was created by seeding co-cultures of Caco-2 and HT29-MTX cells on a Transwell permeable support.

A Pharmacoepidemiology Database System for Monitoring Risk Due to the Use of Medicines by New Zealand Primary Care Patients.

Introduction: The use of large record-linked healthcare databases for drug safety research and surveillance is now accepted practice. New Zealand's standardized national healthcare datasets provide the potential to automate the conduct of pharmacoepidemiological studies to provide rapid validation of medicine safety signals.

Objectives: Our objectives were to describe the methodology undertaken by a semi-automated computer system developed to rapidly assess risk due to drug exposure in New Zealand's population of primary care patients and to compare results from three studies with previously published findings.

TOXINZ, the New Zealand Internet poisons information database: The first decade.

Objective: The New Zealand National Poisons Centre has, over a number of years, developed an electronic poisons information database. In 2002, this was released as toxinz™ (University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand), an Internet accessible version. The objective of this study is to describe New Zealand subscriber utilisation of TOXINZ with an emphasis on pharmaceutical monographs viewed.

Availability of antidotes, antivenoms, and antitoxins in New Zealand hospital pharmacies.

Aim: To assess the adequacy of the types and quantities of antidotes, antivenoms and antitoxins held by New Zealand hospital pharmacies.

Methods: A list of 61 antidotes, antivenoms, antitoxins and their various forms was developed following literature review and consideration of national pharmaceutical listings. An Internet-accessible survey was then developed, validated and, during the period 28 February to 7 April 2014, sent to 24 hospital pharmacies nationally for completion.

Awareness, acceptability and application of paracetamol overdose management guidelines in a New Zealand emergency department.

Aim: To measure emergency physicians' awareness, acceptance, access to and application of the Australasian Paracetamol Overdose Guidelines.

Methods: A retrospective record review of 100 consecutive presentations with the complaint of paracetamol overdose to the Dunedin Hospital Emergency Department, New Zealand, from 1 December 2011 to 31 December 2012, with: comparison of management to that recommended by the Guidelines, analysis of access to both an Internet poisons information resource and the New Zealand National Poisons Centre, survey of clinical staff opinion of the Guidelines and, comparison of actual and recommended management costs at commercial laboratory rates and with application of the WHO-CHOICE unit cost estimates for service delivery.

Results: Response rate to the survey was 92.

Use of poisons information resources and satisfaction with electronic products by Victorian emergency department staff.

Objective: ED staff use a range of poisons information resources of varying type and quality. The present study aims to identify those resources utilised in the state of Victoria, Australia, and assess opinion of the most used electronic products.

Methods: A previously validated self-administered survey was conducted in 15 EDs, with 10 questionnaires sent to each.

Improving clinician-patient communication of health risks when diagnostic test information is imprecise.

Both clinicians and patients experience difficulty with the statistical reasoning required to make inferences about health states on the basis of information derived from diagnostic tests. This problem will grow in importance as we move into the era of personalised medicine where an increasing supply of imprecise diagnostic tests meets an increasing demand to use such tests on the part of intelligent but statistically innumerate clinicians and patients. We describe a user-friendly, interactive, graphical interface for calculating, visualising, and communicating accurate inferences about uncertain health states when diagnostic information (test sensitivity and specificity, and health state prevalence) is imprecise and ambiguous in its application to a specific patient.

Nitrate contamination in groundwater on an urbanized dairy farm.

Urbanization of rural farmland is a pervasive trend around the globe, and maintaining and protecting adequate water supplies in suburban areas is a growing problem. Identification of the sources of groundwater contamination in urbanized areas is problematic, but will become important in areas of rapid population growth and development. The isotopic composition of NO3 (delta15N(NO3) and delta18O NO3), NH4 (delta15N(NH4)), groundwater (delta2H(wt) and delta18O(wt)) and chloride/bromide ratios were used to determine the source of nitrate contamination in drinking water wells in a housing development that was built on the site of a dairy farm in the North Carolina Piedmont, U.

Guidelines for the management of paracetamol poisoning in Australia and New Zealand--explanation and elaboration. A consensus statement from clinical toxicologists consulting to the Australasian poisons information centres.

Paracetamol is involved in a large proportion of accidental paediatric exposures and deliberate self-poisoning cases, although subsequent hepatic failure and death are both uncommon outcomes. The optimal management of most patients with paracetamol overdose is usually straightforward. However, several differing nomograms and varying recommendations regarding potential risk factors for hepatic injury introduce complexity.

Veratrum poisoning.

Several species of the Veratrum genus are associated with toxicity in humans and animals. The principal toxins are steroid alkaloids; some have a modified steroid template, whereas others differ in their esterified acid moieties. These alkaloids act by increasing the permeability of the sodium channels of nerve cells, causing them to fire continuously.

The effect of changes in surface wettability on two-phase saturated flow in horizontal replicas of single natural fractures.

By using translucent epoxy replicas of natural single fractures, it is possible to optically measure aperture distribution and directly observe NAPL flow. However, detailed characterization of epoxy reveals that it is not a sufficiently good analogue to natural rock for many two-phase flow studies. The surface properties of epoxy, which is hydrophobic, are quite unlike those of natural rock, which is generally assumed to be hydrophilic.

Inhalant abuse in New Zealand.

Aim: To describe patterns of inhalant abuse in New Zealand and discuss management.

Methods: Calls to the National Poisons Centre (NPC) from January 1 2003 to December 31 2004 were analysed. In addition, deaths following inhalational abuse were identified from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR) database for 2001 and 2002 and available data for 2003.