Can ambulance telephone triage using NHS Pathways accurately identify paediatric cardiac arrest?

Background: Most out-of-hospital paediatric cardiac arrests (CA) are not identified until a call is made to the emergency medical services. Accurate identification increases overall survival by enabling immediate ambulance dispatch and delivery of bystander CPR. European ambulance services use a variety of didactic telephone scripts to interrogate the caller and rapidly identify paediatric CA.

Ambulance telephone triage using 'NHS Pathways' to identify adult cardiac arrest.

Background: UK ambulance services are called to 30 000 cardiac arrests (CAs) annually where resuscitation is attempted. Correct identification by the ambulance service trebles survival by facilitating bystander-cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and immediate ambulance dispatch. Identification of CA by telephone is challenging and involves algorithms to identify key features.

Bactericidal activity of the human skin fatty acid cis-6-hexadecanoic acid on Staphylococcus aureus.

Human skin fatty acids are a potent aspect of our innate defenses, giving surface protection against potentially invasive organisms. They provide an important parameter in determining the ecology of the skin microflora, and alterations can lead to increased colonization by pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus. Harnessing skin fatty acids may also give a new avenue of exploration in the generation of control measures against drug-resistant organisms.

Smarter running can keep buildings fit.

Simon England, director at Accenture Health UK, outlines the benefits of an "assessment-based" approach to creating "smarter" healthcare buildings with reduced running costs and a lower carbon footprint.

Base of coracoid process fracture with acromioclavicular dislocation in a child.

Fracture of the coracoid process is a rare injury. It can be easily missed when associated with other injuries to the shoulder girdle, for instance, acromioclavicular joint (ACJ) dislocation. Clinical attention is easily drawn to the more obvious ACJ dislocation, hence, the need for further radiological evaluation.

Retrograde popliteal approach to common femoral vein stenosis in an intravenous drug user with hostile groin: a case report.

Intravenous (IV) drug abuse is a common problem in our society. One complication of this practice is venous stenosis, endovascular management of which can be technically challenging especially in patients with a hostile groin. We describe an ipsilateral retrograde popliteal approach in a 26-year-old IV drug user presenting with swelling of the left leg secondary to common femoral vein stenosis.

Muscular metastasis, a rare presentation of non-small-cell lung cancer.

A 71-year-old man presented with a 2-week history of pain and swelling of his left arm. Subsequent investigations revealed an intramuscular lesion, suggestive of soft tissue sarcoma. Histologic analysis was surprisingly consistent with metastasis from a primary squamous cell lung cancer.