Discriminative Ability of Dye Injected Into a Meat Model to Determine Accuracy of Ultrasound-Guided Injection.

Introduction: The utility of using meat models for ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia simulation training has been well established. Feedback is considered the most important element of successful simulation-based education, and simulation offers an opportunity for evaluation. The objective of this study was to establish the discriminative ability of dye injected into a meat model to determine whether injectate is properly placed in the perineural (PN) space, thus providing an additional tool for learner feedback and evaluation.

Aromatherapy for the treatment of PONV in children: a pilot RCT.

Background: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is one of the most common postoperative complications of general anesthesia in pediatrics. Aromatherapy has been shown to be effective in treating PONV in adults. Given the encouraging results of the adult studies, we planned to determine feasibility of doing a large-scale study in the pediatric population.

Aspirin in the perioperative period: a review of the recent literature.

Purpose Of Review: The indications for aspirin (ASA) for both primary and secondary prevention of thrombotic events continue to evolve. We review some of these indications and the recent literature regarding the perioperative administration of ASA.

Recent Findings: ASA for primary prevention of cardiac ischemia, stroke, cancer, and death remains controversial.

Pharmacists as immunizers: a survey of community pharmacists' willingness to administer adult immunizations.

Background: Adult immunization rates worldwide fall below desired targets. Pharmacists are highly accessible healthcare providers with the potential to increase immunization rates among adults by administering vaccines in their practice setting.

Objective: To determine the attitudes of community-based Canadian pharmacists with respect to expanding their scope of practice to include administration of immunizations.

Lipid therapy for the treatment of a refractory amitriptyline overdose.

Tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) overdose is a leading cause of death among intentional overdoses. Intravenous lipid emulsion therapy is an emerging antidote for local anesthetic toxicity, and there is animal evidence that lipid therapy may be efficacious in TCA overdose. Furthermore, case reports in humans have described the use of lipid therapy to reverse the toxicity of other lipophilic drugs.

Pandemic influenza is a strong motivator for participation in vaccine clinical trials among HIV-positive Canadian adults.

Background: HIV-positive patients represent an immunosuppressed population at risk for severe influenza. In the event of a pandemic, such as 2009 H1N1, rapid implementation of vaccine clinical trials in target populations will be critical. In the present paper, knowledge and attitudes of HIV-positive adults regarding seasonal/pandemic influenza vaccination were evaluated, and facilitators and barriers to participation in vaccine clinical trials were explored.

New onset diabetes mellitus post-kidney transplantation.

The study explores the prevalence of unrecognized diabetes mellitus (DM), the incidence and risk factors new onset diabetes mellitus (NODM) and determines whether patient survival differs between patients with transient (NODM that resolves) compared with those with fixed NODM. This is a single center review of solitary kidney recipients transplanted from 1993 to 2003. Of the 381 patients without DM pre-transplant, 111 met criteria for DM post.

Treatment of hypercholesterolemia with ezetimibe in the kidney transplant population.

Background: Given the high incidence of lipid abnormalities, high burden of cardiovascular disease, and high proportion who do not achieve target levels despite therapy in the kidney transplant population, additional lipid lowering strategies are needed.

Methods: This was a nonrandomized, open-label, single-cohort evaluation of ezetimibe, a novel cholesterol absorption inhibitor, in 40 stable kidney transplant recipients with hypercholesterolemia.

Results: After 4 weeks of therapy total and LDL cholesterol were reduced by 23 +/- 13% (P < .

Basiliximab lowers the cyclosporine therapeutic threshold in the early post-kidney transplant period.

Early adequate cyclosporine exposure has been shown to predict low acute rejection rate in kidney transplantation. The aim of this study is to determine the importance of exceeding the early cyclosporine therapeutic exposure threshold with basiliximab induction. A retrospective analysis of 166 first cadaveric and non-identical live donor transplant recipients treated with or without basiliximab induction, Neoral, mycophenolate mofetil and prednisone, was performed.

Nursing attitudes towards organ donation, procurement, and transplantation.

This survey was carried out to examine the attitudes of nurses towards organ donation, transplantation, and procurement from the perspective of their nursing unit affiliation in a tertiary care center. Overall, 62% of nurses have already signed an organ donor card or driver's license. Those nurses willing to donate, compared with those not willing to donate, perceive renal transplants as cost effective (90% vs 38%, p less than 0.