Screening for Deep Vein Thrombosis in Persons With COVID-19 Upon Admission to an Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of deep venous thrombosis detected by duplex screening and risk factors associated with deep venous thrombosis in patients with COVID-19 upon admission to an inpatient rehabilitation hospital.

Design: This is a retrospective review.

Setting: The setting is three freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospitals operating as one system.

Screening Testing for SARS-CoV-2 upon Admission to Rehabilitation Hospitals in a High COVID-19 Prevalence Community.

Background: While planning for the care of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients during the pandemic crisis has dominated the focus of leaders of inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), patients with injuries/illnesses unrelated to COVID-19 continue to need inpatient rehabilitation admission. To maintain a safe environment for all patients and staff, we established an admission screening plan of testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to determine the presence of asymptomatic patients who were infected with the virus upon admission.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of patients who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 but were presumed to be COVID-19 negative at the time of admission to IRF in New Jersey.

Prosthetics and orthotics for the older adult with a physical disability.

Prosthetics and orthotics serve many functions for the elderly and disabled. Assessment of patients in need of such devices is discussed. Prosthetic and orthotic devices are described with attention to their components, biomechanical effects, and potential value to patients.

Dalteparin vs. enoxaparin as prophylaxis for deep-vein thrombosis after total hip or knee arthroplasty: a retrospective analysis.

Objective: To assess the clinical and economic consequences of a formulary switch from enoxaparin to dalteparin as first-line prophylaxis for deep-vein thrombosis in patients undergoing inpatient rehabilitation after total hip arthroplasty or total knee arthroplasty.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Results: There were 461 patients eligible for the study.

Assessment of physiatrists' knowledge and perspectives on the use of opioids: review of basic concepts for managing chronic pain.

Previous studies of physicians have elucidated knowledge gaps and misconceptions about the use of opioids for the treatment of chronic pain. The recent approval of a pain management subspecialty certification for physiatrists will create higher expectations of the field regarding the treatment of chronic pain. Five hundred randomly chosen physiatrists were surveyed with a 50.

The sympathomimetic agent, 6-hydroxydopamine, accelerates cutaneous wound healing.

Using pharmacological stimulation of sympathetic terminals, the present study examines the role of sympathetic post-ganglionic neurons in cutaneous wound healing. Effects of local stimulation of sympathetic post-ganglionic neurons with 0.2 mg/kg 6-hydroxydopamine were studied on the healing of full-thickness skin incisions in rats.

Sympathetic denervation impairs epidermal healing in cutaneous wounds.

The involvement of peripheral nerves in dermal wound healing, particularly in the inflammatory response has not been extensively studied. Therefore, this study was performed to examine the role of peripheral nerves in the healing of rat skin linear incisions. We report that chemical sympathectomy with 6-hydroxydopamine significantly impaired wound healing as measured on days 7, 11, and 14 postsurgery (by day 14, 48% of the sympathectomized rats were healed in contrast with 84% of the controls; p = 0.

Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies.

Objective: To estimate the incidence of serious and fatal adverse drug reactions (ADR) in hospital patients.

Data Sources: Four electronic databases were searched from 1966 to 1996.

Study Selection: Of 153, we selected 39 prospective studies from US hospitals.

Surgical wound healing monitored repeatedly in vivo using electrical resistance of the epidermis.

We describe a new transcutaneous electrical resistance method for measuring surgical wound healing which permits repeated measurements in vivo throughout the healing period. A saline-filled silver electrode was used to monitor the increasing ohmic resistance which accompanied the healing. Two validation studies were carried out.

Weak electric current accelerates motoneuron regeneration in the sciatic nerve of ten-month-old rats.

When a weak direct current (DC) of 10 microA driven by an implantable device was applied to a crushed sciatic nerve in 9-10-month-old rats, regeneration was accelerated as assessed electrophysiologically. Rats underwent a sciatic nerve crush of the right leg and were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (i) Cathode Distal (CD); (ii) Sham Implant (SI); or (iii) No Implant (NI). On post-operative days 25-39 each rat received a measurement of evoked electromyograms (EMG) in the foot.

A new method to study motoneuron regeneration using electromyograms shows that regeneration slows with age in rat sciatic nerve.

We developed a novel method for measuring motoneuron regeneration using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to evoke electromyograms (EMGs). Using this technique we found that functional regeneration of the motoneurons of the rat sciatic nerve was significantly slower in 9-10-month-old rats (10 mo) than in 10-12 week old rats (3 mo). All rats received crush injuries of the sciatic nerve and were analyzed for reinnervation of the muscles in the foot by the novel EMG method on days 25, 29 and 33 post-surgery.

Alterations in electrical pain thresholds by use of acupuncture-like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in pain-free subjects.

Acupuncture-like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (ALTENS) was compared with a placebo treatment in altering acute electrical pain thresholds. Ten pain-free subjects underwent, on different days, an acclimatization session, an ALTENS treatment, and a placebo treatment in a cross-over design. Electrical sensation and pain thresholds were measured from the tip of the index finger bilaterally at 15-minute intervals twice before, once during, and three times after a 30-minute treatment session.

Acupuncture-like stimulation with codetron for rehabilitation of patients with chronic pain syndrome and osteoarthritis.

Acupuncture is one of the oldest healing methods which is used in traditional medicine. In the modern medicine, we are witnessing a renaissance of this ancient treatment applied mainly in the management of chronic pain. A number of modern technological changes are being applied to replace, or modify, the classical needle treatment.

Spinal sensory and motor tract activation after epidural electrical stimulation in the cat.

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) after peripheral nerve stimulation and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) after transcranial stimulation have been routinely used as monitors of the viability of pathways in the posterior and anterior spinal cord, respectively, in patients undergoing spinal cord surgery. To assess total spinal cord function, both of these procedures must be performed simultaneously, which is both cumbersome and technically difficult. The objectives of this study were to demonstrate both sensory and motor spinal tract activation after epidural electrical stimulation of the cat spinal cord.

Human basophil degranulation triggered by very dilute antiserum against IgE.

When human polymorphonuclear basophils, a type of white blood cell with antibodies of the immunoglobulin E (IgE) type on its surface, are exposed to anti-IgE antibodies, they release histamine from their intracellular granules and change their staining properties. The latter can be demonstrated at dilutions of anti-IgE that range from 1 x 10(2) to 1 x 10(120); over that range, there are successive peaks of degranulation from 40 to 60% of the basophils, despite the calculated absence of any anti-IgE molecules at the highest dilutions. Since dilutions need to be accompanied by vigorous shaking for the effects to be observed, transmission of the biological information could be related to the molecular organization of water.

Electroacupuncture suppression of a nociceptive reflex is potentiated by two repeated electroacupuncture treatments: the first opioid effect potentiates a second non-opioid effect.

Electroacupuncture (EA) produces suppression of the nociceptive tail flick reflex in rats. Two 10 min treatments given 90 min apart, cause a potentiation of the EA effect produced by the second treatment. This potentiation can be prevented by giving naltrexone before the first and second treatments (either intravenously or intrathecally administered).

Electroacupuncture suppresses a nociceptive reflex: naltrexone prevents but does not reverse this effect.

Rats were anesthetized with a continuous infusion of pentobarbital. First we showed that electroacupuncture (EA) suppressed the tail flick nociceptive reflex. Naltrexone (a long acting opiate antagonist) was given either intravenously or intrathecally to attempt to block this EA effect.

Application of weak electric field to the hindpaw enhances sciatic motor nerve regeneration in the adult rat.

Direct current (DC) electrical stimulation of the hindpaw is shown to enhance sciatic motor nerve regeneration in the adult rat. Cathodal stimulation, using weak currents (10 microA/cm2; field strength approximately 100 mV/cm) increased the reinnervation of the hindpaw muscles as measured by evoked electromyograms. This enhanced regeneration only occurred after cut-and-suture lesions, but not after crushing injury of the sciatic nerve.

Studies in suppression of nocifensive reflexes measured with tail flick electromyograms and using intrathecal drugs in barbiturate anesthetized rats.

We report on the effects of somatic conditioning stimuli on the reflexive nocifensive tail flick electromyograms (TFEMGs) in the rat anesthetized with continuous pentobarbital infusions. Rather than using a reflexive tail movement as a measure of noxious responses, TFEMGs were recorded from the base of the rat's tail as this gave more reliable results in the anesthetized state. In order to demonstrate the compatibility of this model with previous tail flick studies, we demonstrated an inhibition of TFEMGs by intrathecal morphine which was reversed by intravenous naloxone.

Saphenous has weak ineffective synapses in sciatic territory of rat spinal cord: electrical stimulation of the saphenous or application of drugs reveal these somatotopically inappropriate synapses.

In a previous paper, we showed that chronic denervation of the sciatic nerve for more than 21 days in adult rats caused expansion of the saphenous nerve into sciatic territory in the spinal cord (medial L4, L5 and L6). To try to explain this expansion in the present paper, we tested the hypothesis that weak ineffective synapses of saphenous terminals are always present in sciatic territory. For this purpose the sciatic nerve was acutely denervated, the cord mapped with microelectrodes and responses evoked in single cells with natural (mechanical cutaneous) or electrical (pulses to saphenous nerve) stimulation.