The role of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in predicting hospital mortality for percutaneous coronary interventions in the Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program.

Published mortality models for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), including the Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program (COAP) model, have not considered the effect of out-ofhospital cardiac arrest. The primary objective of this study was to determine if the inclusion of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest altered the COAP mortality model for PCI. The COAP PCI database contains extensive demographic, clinical, procedural and outcome information, including out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which was added to the data collection form in 2006.

Geographic and occupational risk factors for ventricular septal defects: Washington State, 1987-2003.

Objective: Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is currently the most common congenital cardiac malformation in the United States, but little is known about its etiology. The objective of this study was to address the hypothesis that parents' residence in eastern Washington, a region heavily dominated by the agricultural industry, and employment in agriculturally related occupations can influence the presence of a VSD in their offspring.

Design: Population-based case-control study.

Effects of a statewide physician-led quality-improvement program on the quality of cardiac care.

Background: Several states have implemented mandatory public reporting of outcomes of cardiac revascularization procedures. Washington is the first to develop a nonmandatory, physician-led reporting program with public accountability and universal hospital participation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether quality improvement interventions resulted in the correction of data deficiencies and performance outliers for cardiac revascularization procedures.

Structure and Properties of a New Electride, Rb(cryptand[2.2.2])e.

This is the sixth electride whose crystal structure has been determined and the fourth to show polymorphism. Crystals of the title electride prepared from mixed solvents have a structure similar to that of Li(cryptand[2.1.