Intensive care management of children intubated for croup: a retrospective analysis.

Croup remains the commonest reason for acute upper airway obstruction in children, yet there are scarce contemporary data of airway management in those requiring intubation. We performed a retrospective analysis of the intensive care management of children intubated for croup in two quaternary Paediatric Intensive Care Units: Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Australia and Alberta Children's Hospital Calgary, Canada. Patients intubated for less than three days were compared with those intubated for greater than three days.

Transcutaneous intraluminal impedance measurement for minimally invasive monitoring of gastric motility: validation in acute canine models.

Transcutaneous intraluminal impedance measurement (TIIM) is a new method to cutaneously measure gastric contractions by assessing the attenuation dynamics of a small oscillating voltage emitted by a battery-powered ingestible capsule retained in the stomach. In the present study, we investigated whether TIIM can reliably assess gastric motility in acute canine models. Methods.

Real-time gastric motility monitoring using transcutaneous intraluminal impedance measurements (TIIM).

The stomach plays a critical role in digestion, processing ingested food mechanically and breaking it up into particles, which can be effectively and efficiently processed by the intestines. When the motility of the stomach is compromised, digestion is adversely affected. This can lead to a variety of disorders.

Relationship between DNA repair capacity and resistance to genotoxins in four human cell lines.

We have developed fast, reliable and simple fluorescent method to assess and compare repair capacity of cells. To this end plasmid pEGFP containing the gene for the enhanced green fluorescent protein was damaged in vitro by genotoxic agents and introduced into cells by transfection. The repair capacity of the cells was determined from the number of fluorescent cells counted with a fluorescent microscope 24 h after transfection.

Iron(II)-mimosine catalyzed cleavage of DNA.

Mimosine, DNA breaKs, Free Radicals, Fenton Reaction Supercoiled plasmid DNA was treated in vitro with H2O2, DTT and either Fe (II), Fe (II)-EDTA or Fe (II)-mimosine. The rate of DNA break formation was followed by the conversion of the supercoiled form into relaxed-circular and linear forms. In the concentration interval of 0-4 microM Fe (II), Fe (II)-EDTA slowed-down the formation of DNA breaks, while Fe (II)-mimosine enhanced the rate of break formation up to several times.

Automated phonocardiographic screening for heart disease in children.

Mass screening for heart disease in children can be accomplished by automatic analysis of phonocardiograms (PCG) obtained from five routine auscultation points. An ECG signal serves as reference. PCG signals exceeding 20% of the amplitude of the first heart sound S1 in the diastolic interval and 40% of S1 in the systolic interval are considered as abnormal.