Ictal Electroencephalogram Visual Pattern Recognition of Seizure Adequacy During Electroconvulsive Therapy Treatment: A Step-by-Step Approach.

Background: The NEURON (Neuropsychiatry and Neuromodulation Unit) electroconvulsive therapy electroencephalogram (ECT-EEG) Algorithmic Rating Scale (NEARS) is a step-by-step approach to ictal electroencephalogram visual pattern recognition of seizure adequacy based on recruitment, amplitude, symmetry, duration and degree of post-ictal suppression. The objectives of this clinical audit were to determine the degree of agreement on the NEARS operational criteria between two neuropsychiatrists, the reliability of electroconvulsive therapy practitioners' administration of NEARS during ECT procedures and the correlation of NEARS scores with Clinical Global Impression scale scores after each ECT treatment session.

Methods: Systematic random sampling was conducted.

Appendicitis following capsule endoscopy.

A 19-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with abdominal pain 10 h after ingesting a capsule endoscope. The pain subsequently localised to the right iliac fossa with guarding and cough/percussion tenderness. Follow-up pelvic ultrasound showed a tender non-compressible appendix consistent with appendicitis.

ABG needle study: a randomised control study comparing 23G versus 25G needle success and pain scores.

Objective: To determine whether a narrower gauge needle used in ABG sampling is associated with lower pain scores and complication rates without increasing the level of difficulty of the procedure.

Methods: We performed a prospective single-blinded randomised control study of patients from a tertiary-level emergency department in Sydney who required an ABG analysis over the period of June 2010-July 2012. Patients were randomised to either a 23G or 25G needle and the primary outcome that included pain experienced by these patient were recorded as pain scores on a 10 cm hatched visual analogue scale.

Mild Plasmodium falciparum malaria following an episode of severe malaria is associated with induction of the interferon pathway in Malawian children.

Infection with Plasmodium falciparum can lead to a range of severe to minimal symptoms, occasionally resulting in death in young children or nonimmune adults. In areas of high transmission, older children and adults generally suffer only mild or asymptomatic malaria infections and rarely develop severe disease. The immune features underlying this apparent immunity to severe disease remain elusive.