Safety and reliability of artificial CO2 augmentation method in comparison with standard apneic oxygenation method for brain death determination.

Introduction: The most commonly used apnea test for determination of brain death is the apneic oxygenation method. While all the commonly used apnea tests have associated complications, artificial CO augmentation has been reported to have fewer complications. However, data supporting the use of the latter method is limited.

Prone positioning for severe ARDS in a postpartum COVID-19 patient following caesarean section.

A 31-year-old pregnant woman presented with symptomatic COVID-19, which was complicated by progressive hypoxaemia requiring intensive care and emergent delivery by caesarean section. Afterward, she was successfully supported with mechanical ventilation and prone positioning and ultimately recovered. We review literature regarding complications of COVID-19 affecting pregnancy and evidence-based treatment strategies.

Anthropomorphism of Robots: Study of Appearance and Agency.

Background: As the prevalence of robots increases each year, understanding how we anthropomorphize and interact with them is extremely important. The three-factor theory of anthropomorphism, called the Sociality, Effectance, Elicited agent Knowledge model, guided this study. As anthropomorphism involves a person making attributions of human likeness toward a nonhuman object, this model implies that anthropomorphism can be influenced either by factors related to the person or the object.

Metabolic evaluation of urolithiasis and obesity in a midwestern pediatric population.

Purpose: The incidence of urolithiasis has been proved to be increasing in the adult population, and evidence to date suggests that the same holds true for the pediatric population. While adult urolithiasis is clearly linked to obesity, studies of pediatric patients have been less conclusive. We hypothesized that a population of otherwise healthy children with stones would have an increased body mass index compared to a control population, and that obese pediatric stone formers would have results on metabolic assessment that are distinct from nonobese stone formers.

Urolithiasis in patients on high dose felbamate.

Purpose: We report 4 cases of felbamate urolithiasis. We identified only 1 prior case report of a felbamate stone. Felbamate is an antiepileptic drug used to treat refractory seizures and has minor side effects when given in recommended doses.