Clinical management practices of life-threatening asthma: an audit of practices in intensive care.

Objective: Lack of management guidelines for lifethreatening asthma (LTA) risks practice variation. This study aims to elucidate management practices of LTA in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Sutures for inguinal herniorrhaphy--a comparison of monofilaments with PTFE.

Polybutester (Novafil, Davis & Geck) and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene PTFE (Gore-tex, W L Gore) were compared with nylon (Ethilon, Ethicon UK) for elective inguinal herniorrhaphy. PTFE had the best handling characteristics, but is expensive, and increased wound sepsis attended its use. Polybutester had significantly better handling characteristics, and is an attractive alternative to nylon for hernia repair.

The effect of oxpentifylline ('Trental') on fibrinolytic activity and plasma fibrinogen levels.

Twenty healthy volunteers were treated for 3 months with oxpenifylline (200 mg 3-times a day) or a placebo in a controlled double-blind randomized trial. The volunteers taking the oxpenifylline showed a significant increase in their fibrinolytic activity, as assessed by the dilute blood clot lysis time and fibrin plate lysis area, and a significant reduction in their plasma fibrinogen levels. No change was found in the control group.