Four-stage teaching technique and chest compression performance of medical students compared to conventional technique.

Aim: To compare the 2-stage and 4-stage basic life support teaching technique. The second aim was to test if students' self-evaluated knowledge was in accordance with their actual knowledge.

Methods: A total of 126 first-year students of the Faculty of Medicine in Ljubljana were involved in this parallel study conducted in the academic year 2009/2010.

A study of midazolam plasma concentrations in patients undergoing conscious sedation.

We studied midazolam plasma concentrations in patients undergoing middle ear surgery (MES) in local anesthesia and sedation. This study was based on the clinical measurement of the level of sedation and determination of the sedation dose of midazolam. For optimal level of sedation for this type of surgery we suggest the midazolam plasma concentrations with median of 0.

[Peridural application of ropivacaine and clonidine for pain therapy after prostatectomy].

Objective: The aim of this study was to find out if ropivacaine with clonidine can be successfully used after radical retropubic prostatectomy.

Material And Methods: A total of 86 patients were randomized into two groups each consisting of 43 patients. Patients in group 1 received epidural bupivacaine/morphine/clonidine and those in group 2 ropivacaine and clonidine.

Experimental study of the heat transport processes in dusty plasma fluid.

The results are given of an experimental investigation of heat transport processes in fluid dusty structures in rf-discharge plasmas under different conditions: for discharge in argon, and for discharge in air under an action of electron beam. The analysis of steady-state and unsteady-state heat transfer is used to obtain the coefficients of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity under the assumption that the observed heat transport is associated with a thermal conduction in the dusty component of plasmas. The temperature dependence of these coefficients is obtained, which agrees qualitatively with the results of numerical simulation for simple monatomic liquids.

Important physical principles in anaesthesiology.

The aim of this Review is to introduce anaesthesiologists to the basic physical principles that are important for their work. A better understanding of the underlying processes during anaesthesia is required for greater safety and efficiency. Relevant physical quantities are presented along with the area of anaesthesiology where they are used.

Estimation of arterial CO2 partial pressure by measurement of tracheal CO2 during high-frequency jet ventilation in patients with a laryngectomy.

Tracheal and arterial CO2 partial pressures were measured simultaneously in 27 laryngectomized patients both while they were awake and during high-frequency jet ventilation. Tracheal gas was sampled during brief interruptions of high-frequency jet ventilation. Agreement between tracheal and arterial CO2 partial pressures was assessed using the Bland-Altman method.