Diagnostic performance of dobutamine stress echocardiography: A South African experience.

Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) is a well-established modality for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, but there are no reported diagnostic data in southern Africa. Objectives. To compare the safety, sensitivity and specificity of a South African (SA) DSE programme with larger, international series.

Importance of Scar Prevention and Treatment-An Approach From Wound Care Principles.

Background: The increased number of cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures has led to a greater demand to achieve aesthetically acceptable scars. Silicone gel (SG) dressings were evaluated in these cases following the principles of wound care and also minimizing abnormal scar formation.

Patients And Methods: A newly developed solution in wound care in the form of a SG has proven to be a highly effective treatment for a series of 4 clinically challenging cases presented in this article: postprocedure healing after a laser treatment, nonhealing scalp wounds, chronic relapsing xerotic eczematous cheilitis, and the treatment of scars caused by third degree burns.

Entomopathogenic nematodes for the control of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella L.) in field and laboratory trials.

Three commercially available entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) strains (Steinernema feltiae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Hb1 and Hb2) and two local species (S. jeffreyense and S. yirgalemense) were evaluated for the control of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella).

Management of psoriasis in Africa and the Middle East: a review of current opinion, practice and opportunities for improvement.

Psoriasis is a common, chronic, systemic, inflammatory disease of the skin that is often associated with inflammatory musculoskeletal disease. Psoriasis impacts on affected individuals and on society at many levels, being associated with considerable economic burden and impaired quality of life. This article aims to provide dermatologists and their allied healthcare professionals, particularly those practicing in Africa and the Middle East, with a review of the current understanding of psoriasis, its treatment and impact, as a backdrop for further discussion of the management of psoriasis in these regions.

Physiologic decrease of ventilatory response to exercise in the second decade of life in healthy children.

Background: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is increasingly used in children with congenital heart defects. Because of changes related to growth, the interpretation of exercise test results heavily relies on the presence of normative data. There is growing interest in the assessment of the ventilatory response to exercise in children with congenital heart disease, but normative data are lacking.

Comparison of 6-min walk test distance and cardiopulmonary exercise test performance in children with pulmonary hypertension.

Objective: To assess the relationship between 6-min walk test (6MWT) distance and variables of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary hospital.

Effect of altering pathologic right ventricular loading conditions by percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation on exercise capacity.

The data describing the change in exercise capacity after surgical or interventional management of the patient with right ventricular (RV) outflow tract (OT) dysfunction are conflicting. The pathophysiologic consequences of RVOT interventions and the subsequent change in exercise performance are still poorly understood. We sought to assess the effect of percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation (PPVI) on exercise capacity in (1) patients with predominantly pulmonary stenosis (PS) and (2) in patients with predominantly pulmonary regurgitation (PR).

The EPICure study: maximal exercise and physical activity in school children born extremely preterm.

Rationale: Evidence regarding exercise capacity and physical activity in children born extremely preterm (EP) is limited. Since survivors remain at high risk for developing bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and long-term pulmonary sequelae, reductions in exercise capacity and activity levels may be present.

Objectives: To compare maximal exercise ventilation characteristics and physical activity levels at 11 years of age in children born EP (<25 completed weeks gestation) with those of full-term controls.

Ventilatory efficiency and aerobic capacity predict event-free survival in adults with atrial repair for complete transposition of the great arteries.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to assess the prognostic value of the cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) in patients who received a Mustard and Senning (M/S) operation.

Background: Patients who received an M/S operation have increased long-term risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Limited information is available on how to stratify risk in this population.

The use of a pour-on and spray dip containing Amitraz to control ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on cattle.

Knockdown and persistence efficacies of a pour-on containing Amitraz 1% and Cypermethrin 1% and a spray dip containing 12.5% Amitraz were compared. Knock-down and persistence efficacies of the Amitraz spray dip against Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus and Amblyomma hebraeum were significantly higher for the duration of the trial than those of the pour-on.