The emergency department medical director as supervisor of medical professionals.

The overall success of the ED in the eyes of its customers demands the successful performance of a complex operation involving a team of skilled professionals from various disciplines interacting with support staff and the public. The strong personalities, intelligence, and training of emergency physicians provides the medical director significant challenges as their supervisor. The ED medical staff provides a great impact on the culture and overall perceived performance of the department.

Feasibility of in-center staff-assisted cycler dialysis.

Many debilitated elderly patients are not currently considered for peritoneal dialysis because they cannot perform the procedure themselves and they lack adequate back-up support in the family or extended care facility. They often tolerate hemodialysis poorly, and may exhaust their vascular access sites. We have provided intermittent in-center staff-assisted cycler dialysis to two debilitated elderly patients for a total of 12 patient months.

Study of dose-dependence and urinary folate excretion produced by ethanol in humans and rats.

Acute ethanol ingestion by human alcoholic subjects produces a marked decrease in serum folate levels within 16 hr. A similar decrease occurs in rats and can be explained by a marked increase in urinary folate excretion following ethanol treatment. To assess the effects of acute ethanol ingestion on urinary folate excretion in healthy human volunteers, two studies were carried out at initial ethanol dose levels of 0.