Noise exposure among staff in intensive care units and the effects of unit-based noise management: a monocentric prospective longitudinal study.

Background: Intensive care units (ICUs) are often too noisy, exceeding 70-80 dBA, which can have negative effects on staff. The corresponding recommendation of the World Health Organization (average sound pressure level below 35 dBA) is often not achieved. To date there is a lack of intervention studies examining the extent to which unit-based noise management in ICUs contributes to a reduction in noise exposure for the staff.

[Unexplained anemia in the elderly, what advances?].

Prevalence of anemia in the elderly is high, increases with age and is most often mild. Etiological diagnosis is made in about 70 % of cases, leaving 30 % of unexplained anemia. The unexplained cases are probably multifactorial in relation to usual etiologies of anemia but not detected due to inappropriate diagnosis criteria for advanced age.

Nutritional support during the hospital stay is cost-effective for preventing adverse outcomes in patients with cancer.

Objective: Among patients with cancer, malnutrition remains common and is a key challenge in oncology practice today. A prior study from our group revealed that malnourished cancer inpatients who got nutritional treatment (intervention group) had lower mortality and improved functional and quality of life outcomes compared to inpatients without nutritional support (control group). Our present analysis aimed to determine whether the improved patient recovery by nutritional support was paralleled by cost-effectiveness of this nutritional care.

Economic Evaluation of Individualized Nutritional Support for Hospitalized Patients with Chronic Heart Failure.

Background Malnutrition is a highly prevalent risk factor in hospitalized patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). A recent randomized trial found lower mortality and improved health outcomes when CHF patients with nutritional risk received individualized nutritional treatment. Objective To estimate the cost-effectiveness of individualized nutritional support in hospitalized patients with CHF.

Transverse Relaxation Anisotropy of the Achilles and Patellar Tendon Studied by MR Microscopy.

Background: T * anisotropy affects the clinical assessment of tendons (magic-angle artifact) and may be a source of T *-misinterpretation.

Purpose: To analyze T *-anisotropy and T *-decay of Achilles and patellar tendons in vitro at microscopic resolution using a variable-echo-time (vTE) sequence.

Study Type: Prospective.