Sprays and diffusers as indoor air fresheners: Exposure and health risk assessment based on measurements under realistic indoor conditions.

Noncombustible air fresheners are indoor air emission sources of concern. The associated health risks should be better understood. Based on 15 products (4 sprays, 6 passive diffusers, and 5 active diffusers), the health risk assessment (HRA) approach was applied to a national use survey in France and to concentrations measured in an experimental house.

Sustained reduction of central line-associated bloodstream infections outside the intensive care unit with a multimodal intervention focusing on central line maintenance.

Background: Central venous catheter use is common outside the intensive care units (ICUs), but prevention in this setting is not well studied. We initiated surveillance for central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) outside the ICU setting and studied the impact of a multimodal intervention on the incidence of CLABSIs across multiple hospitals.

Methods: This project was constructed as a prospective preintervention-postintervention design.

Mycotic aneurysm of the popliteal artery secondary to Streptococus pneumoniae: a case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: Cases of true mycotic popliteal artery aneurysm are rare. Presentation is variable but invasive and non-invasive investigations collectively facilitate diagnosis and guide operative procedures. Definitive treatment generally utilizes surgical intervention with excision and reconstruction using autologous vein graft.

Canadian survey of clinical status at dialysis initiation 1998-1999: a multicenter prospective survey.

Aims: The current growth in end-stage kidney disease populations has led to increased efforts to understand the impact of status at dialysis initiation on long-term outcomes. Our main objective was to improve the understanding of current Canadian nephrology practice between October 1998 and December 1999.

Methods: Fifteen nephrology centers in 7 provinces participated in a prospective data collection survey.

Evidence-based medicine and the practicing clinician.

Objective: To assess the attitudes of practicing general internists toward evidence-based medicine (EBM-defined as the process of systematically finding, appraising, and using contemporaneous research findings as the basis for clinical decisions) and their perceived barriers to its use.

Design: Cross-sectional, self-administered mail questionnaire conducted between June and October 1997.

Setting: Canada.

HLA-Dr expression by tumor cells compared with survival in high grade astrocytomas.

Frozen samples from 78 high grade astrocytomas were reacted with a monoclonal antibody directed against HLA-Dr invariant chain. Survival data was obtained for all 78 cases. HLA-Dr was expressed by a proportion of tumor cells in 65/78 (83%).

Spinal cord compression due to thoracic disc herniation: results of microsurgical posterolateral costotransversectomy.

Fifteen consecutive patients with thoracic disc herniation treated by posterolateral microsurgical costotransversectomy are described. With appropriate modifications to the standard technique, costotransversectomy was found to be a suitable approach even for calcified central discs, and discs which had eroded intradurally. All patients had evidence of spinal cord compression preoperatively with varying degrees of leg weakness.

Two unusual pathological reactions to nitrofurantoin: case reports.

Idiosyncratic pulmonary reactions to nitrofurantoin are not unusual, often presenting as eosinophilic pneumonia. We report two cases of uncommon pathological reactions, one resembling a hypersensitivity pneumonitis and the other mimicking a giant cell interstitial pneumonia.

Marijuana-produced impairments in coordination. Experienced and nonexperienced subjects.

The effects of marijuana and a placebo on perceptual-motor coordination, motor ability, and visual perception were compared in cannabis-experienced and naïve subjects. Impairments in coordination were observed in both groups. However, the impairment was greater in the experienced than in the naïve group.

Marijuana-produced changes in pain tolerance. Experienced and non-experienced subjects.

The effect of marijuana and placebo on pain tolerance was compared in cannabis-experienced and naive subjects. A statistically significant increase in tolerance was observed after smoking marijuana. Although there was no statistically significant interaction between the drug effect and having had previous cannabis experience, there was a definite trend towards a greater increase for the experienced (16%) compared to the naive group(8%).

Protection against induction of supersensitivity to catecholamines by cocaine.

1. Adrenaline, noradrenaline, isoprenaline, tyramine, phentolamine, pronethalol, histamine and acetylcholine were each tested for their ability to prevent cocaine from causing supersensitivity to catecholamines in cat spleen strips in vitro. A high concentration of one of these drugs was added to the bath 5 min before cocaine hydrochloride (10 mug/ml).