Diagnosis and treatment of effusive-constrictive pericarditis: a case report.

Background: Effusive-constrictive pericarditis (ECP) is a rare syndrome involving pericardial effusion and concomitant constrictive pericarditis. The hallmark is a persistently elevated right atrial pressure of >10 mmHg or reduction of less than 50% from baseline despite pericardiocentesis. Aetiologies include radiation, infection, malignancy, and autoimmune disease.

Referral practice, reporting standards, and the impact of dopamine transporter scans done in a tertiary hospital.

Aims: We studied the referral practice, reporting standards, and the impact of 123 ioflupane single photon emission computed tomogram dopamine transporters (DAT-SPECT) scans conducted for the diagnosis and clinical management of patients.

Settings And Designs: The present study was a retrospective, non-interventional study.

Materials And Methods: We assessed the DAT scan referral and the official reports available from the Nuclear Medicine Department of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital over 1 year (2013).

The effect of an active arm action on heart rate and predicted VO(2max) during the Chester step test.

This study examined whether the predictive outcomes of the Chester step test (CST) would be influenced by arm dynamics. Participants completed the CST on two separate occasions, once using active arms and once using passive arms. Results revealed that when compared to the passive arm protocol, the use of active arms led to a mean increase in heart rate of approximately 7 beats per minute across all of the incremental stages.