Peer review protection: Pish-Posh or pivotal policy?

The Healthcare Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) of 1986 is a pivotal federal mandate designed to enhance medical care quality through effective professional peer review. Importantly, it offers legal immunity to reviewers under specified conditions and mandates the reporting of adverse actions to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). This article explores the implementation of peer review processes in hospitals and the potentially severe ramifications of failure to report, using the scenario of a diagnostic radiologist performing high-end vascular interventional procedures, whose performance came under scrutiny, highlighting the intersection of federal and state laws, accreditation standards, hospital policies, and physician professionalism standards and reporting duties.

Endogenous dipeptidyl peptidase IV modulates skeletal muscle arteriolar diameter in rats.

The purpose of this study is to investigate that dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) released from skeletal and vascular smooth muscle can increase arteriolar diameter in a skeletal muscle vascular bed by reducing neuropeptide Y (NPY)-mediated vasoconstriction. We hypothesized that the effect of myokine DPP-IV would be greatest in the smallest and least in the largest arterioles. Eight male Sprague Dawley rats (age 7-9 weeks; mass, mean ± SD: 258 ± 41 g) were anesthetized and the gluteus maximus dissected in situ for intravital microscopy analysis of arteriolar diameter of the vascular network.

Perfluoroalkylphosphinic Acids in Northern Pike (Esox lucius), Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus), and Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Relation to Other Perfluoroalkyl Acids.

Perfluoroalkyl phosphinic acids (PFPIAs) are perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) that are used for their surfactant properties in a variety of applications, resulting in their presence in environmental waters; however, they have not been widely studied in biota. A survey of PFPIAs was conducted in fish, dolphins, and birds from various locations in North America. Northern pike (Esox lucius) were collected at two locations in 2011 near Montréal Island in the St.

Comprehensive In Situ Analysis of Arteriolar Network Geometry and Topology in Rat Gluteus Maximus Muscle.

Objectives: To provide detailed geometric and topological descriptions of the rat gluteus maximus arteriolar network, and to measure the distribution of diameters and lengths as well as their associated variability within and between networks.

Methods: Complete arteriolar networks arising from feed artery (inferior gluteal artery) to terminal branches were imaged under baseline conditions, using IVVM. Photomontages of complete networks were assembled and evaluated offline for measurements of geometry and topology.