Management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the elderly: physician practices in the community hospital setting.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death and sixth most common reason that Medicare patients are hospitalized. We performed retrospective chart review on a statewide random sample of 409 Medicare patients discharged from October 1, 2000, through January 31, 2001, with a diagnosis of COPD. The most commonly performed diagnostic tests were chest radiography (96.

Screening mammography for Oklahoma Medicare beneficiaries: a national priority for quality improvement.

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies diagnosed in women in the United States. It is estimated that more than 2,700 new cases of female breast cancer will be diagnosed in Oklahoma this year. Using the Medicare mammography denominator file and Medicare claims data (October 1999 through September 2001), we assessed the utilization of mammography for this population.

Smoking in the elderly--it's never too late to quit.

Approximately 3.5 million persons aged 65 years and older smoke cigarettes in the United States--10.9% of this age group in Oklahoma smokes.

Care of acute myocardial infarction in Oklahoma: an update from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project.

Acute myocardial infarction remains a common cause of morbidity and mortality in Oklahoma. Nearly 6,000 Oklahoma Medicare beneficiaries are admitted to the hospital with an acute myocardial infarction each year. The death rate from coronary heart disease in Oklahoma is one of the highest in the nation.

The Cooperative Cardiovascular Project in Oklahoma.

Background And Objectives: Acute myocardial infarction is the leading cause of death in the United States and a common cause for admission of Oklahoma Medicare beneficiaries. Based on guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction published by a joint committee of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project was developed by the Health Care Financing Administration to measure performance on quality indicators that describe care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. The objective of the project is to use those performance measures to assist hospitals in the development of quality improvement efforts for acute myocardial infarction care.

Accreditation: who's counting?

Active physician involvement and leadership in their accreditation process can produce a cubic win for patients, payors, and providers. For health care quality to improve and everyone win, physicians need to understand the accountability system, the what and why of data collection, and be involved in short- and long-term performance assessments.

Carotid endarterectomy in Oklahoma Medicare beneficiaries: patient characteristics and outcomes.

Background And Objectives: Ischemic stroke represents the third leading cause of death and the most common cause of permanent disability in the United States. Carotid endarterectomy has been widely utilized as a procedure to reduce the risk of stroke and represents the most commonly performed peripheral arterial surgery. This cooperative project was initiated to assess the appropriateness of carotid endarterectomies performed on Medicare beneficiaries and the postoperative outcomes (mortality and stroke) in these patients.

Standard clinical protocols are important to your survival.

Standard clinical protocols will allow busy physicians to meet the increasing demands made on them to evaluate and perform, if appropriate, in a given manner for a particular problem. When tracked, standard clinical protocols allow the demonstration that the right thing was done every time at the right time and place.

The effect of endotoxin on preirradiated mice.

Adult male mice were given a whole body irradiation with non-lethal doses of 2.5 or 5 Gy. Unirradiated animals served as controls.

A simple and rapid method for the detection of RNA in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues by PCR amplification.

A simple and rapid method for the extraction, reverse transcription and PCR amplification of RNA from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue is described. The procedure can be completed within 24 hours. In a first application of this method we detect human albumin mRNA in liver tissue, demonstrating the feasibility to retrospectively analyze gene expression and RNA viruses in fixed tissue.

Prolonged radioprotective activity of WR-2721 linked to dextran.

The radioprotective agent WR-2721 was linked to dextran and poly(glutamic acid) respectively, to obtain a prolonged radioprotective ability. Male mice were administered these water soluble polymer conjugates one to 72 hours prior to a whole body irradiation with X-rays. A prolongation of radioprotective efficiency was achieved with two dextran-(WR-2721)-conjugates.

An evaluation of gastric dysplasia in the years 1986 and 1987.

Since the fate and significance of gastric mucosal dysplasia is still largely unknown we have started a follow-up study for patients with dysplasia in the years 1986 and 1987. In this paper the short term results are reported. Dysplasia grade II was found in 2% of all patients and dysplasia grade III in 0.

Prevalence of Campylobacter pylori as demonstrated by histology or CLO-test in different types of gastritis. A study in 5 clinically predefined groups of patients.

The prevalence of Campylobacter pylori infection as detected by histology was studied in 5 predefined groups of patients. The associated histologic and endoscopic findings were registered. Validity of CLO-test was tested against the histologic detection.

Light microscopic quantitative investigation on the effects of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) on the lectin binding pattern in rat gastric mucosa injured by ethanol or sodium taurocholate.

We have used quantitative lectin histochemistry to study the cellular binding of peanut agglutinin (PNA) and soybean agglutinin (SBA) at the rat gastric corpus mucosa that has been injured experimentally by either ethanol or sodium-taurocholate and was protected by pretreatment of a cytoprotective dosage of the natural prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). The investigation was carried out in order to get access to possible differences in the amounts of intracellular secretory glycoproteins, associated with the prostaglandin-administration. The stomachs of rats injured by either ethanol or taurocholate revealed significantly reduced intramucosal amounts of glycoproteins with specific affinity for PNA and SBA, whereas in the stomachs of rats equally injured by the necrotizing agents, but pretreated by prostaglandin E2, the amounts of these glycoproteins remained close to the data observed in the control animals.