Operating time for total knee arthroplasty in public versus private sectors: where does the efficiency lie?

Background: Efforts to improve theatre efficiency aim to reduce health costs and maximize productivity. Operating lists in the private sector typically contain more cases than the public sector but it is unclear if this is a result of shorter operative times or reduced times between cases. We aimed to answer the question: Are operating times from skin incision to skin closure shorter in private compared to the public sector for total knee arthroplasty (TKA)?

Method: The New Zealand Joint Registry was used to compare operating times for primary TKA performed for a diagnosis of osteoarthritis between the public and private sectors.

The Role of Semantic Context in Early Morphological Processing.

There is extensive evidence pointing to an early, automatic segmentation of written words into their constituent units (); however, less is known about the potential role of contextual information in modulating this analysis. We adapted the standard masked priming paradigm to include an overt semantic prime in order to examine whether semantic context influences morpho-orthographic segmentation of complex words. In particular, we asked how the context will affect processing of semantically opaque forms (), where the embedded stem () is incompatible with the meaning of the whole form.

Formalin dab for treatment of haemorrhagic radiation proctitis.

The authors present a case of a 75-year-old man who underwent 2 months of radiotherapy for prostate cancer. He developed rectal bleeding 6 months later. A colonoscopy showed radiation proctitis with no other abnormalities up to the caecum.

Regional tissue oxygenation during hemorrhage: can near infrared spectroscopy be used to monitor blood loss?

We investigated whether near infrared spectroscopy could be used to monitor regional tissue oxygenation during uncompensated hemorrhage in man. A Somanetics INVOS 4100 oximeter was used to measure regional hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the cerebral cortex (CsO2, left frontal area) and from the left calf muscle (PsO2) in 40 volunteers donating 470 mL of the whole blood. A Critikon 2001 Cerebral Redox Instrument was used to monitor total (tHb), oxygenated (O2Hb), and deoxygenated (HHb) hemoglobin in the right calf muscle.

The severity of muscle ischemia during intermittent claudication.

Purpose: The degree of ischemia during intermittent claudication is difficult to quantify. We evaluated calf muscle ischemia during exercise in patients with claudication with near infrared spectroscopy.

Methods: A Critikon Cerebral Redox Model 2001 (Johnson & Johnson Medical, Newport, Gwent, United Kingdom) was used to measure calf muscle deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb), oxygenated hemoglobin (O(2)Hb), and total hemoglobin levels and oxygenation index (HbD; HbD = O(2)Hb - HHb) in 16 patients with claudication and in 14 control subjects before, during, and after walking on a treadmill for 1 minute (submaximal exercise).

Monitoring blood loss with near infrared spectroscopy.

Experimental research has shown correlation between near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and blood loss, but these findings have not been validated in man. Ten blood donors were monitored before, during and for 10 min after blood collection (470 ml) with NIRS. A Somanetics INVOS 4100 oximeter monitored regional haemoglobin saturation in the cerebral cortex (cSO(2)-left frontal area) and from the left calf (pSO(2)).