Assessing the impact of driver advisory systems on train driver workload, attention allocation and safety performance.

Netherlands Railways has developed driver advisory systems (DAS) to provide the train driver with route context information and coasting advice in order to benefit punctuality and energy efficiency. However, the impact of these DAS on human factors aspects and safety performance is unclear. The current study assesses the impact of two DAS levels (route context information and coasting advice) on mental workload, attention allocation and safety performance, using eye tracking, a subjective mental workload rating scale (RSME) and simulator data.

Radiation-associated angiosarcoma after breast cancer: high recurrence rate and poor survival despite surgical treatment with R0 resection.

Background: Secondary angiosarcoma of the breast is a rare but severe long-term complication of breast cancer treated with breast-conserving surgery and radiotherapy. We characterized a population-based cohort of patients with secondary angiosarcomas from two tertiary hospitals to investigate this complication with respect to surgical treatment and outcome.

Methods: We identified 35 patients with a history of radiation for breast cancer that developed angiosarcoma in the irradiated field from 1990 to 2009.

[Acute liver failure ascribed to nefazodone: importance of 'postmarketing surveillance' for recently introduced drugs].

A 50-year-old man developed acute liver failure 7 months after nefazodone treatment was initiated. There was no evidence of any aetiology apart from the exposure to the antidepressant drug nefazodone, while the results of repeated histological examinations of the liver were compatible with serious progressive drug-induced hepatitis. This diagnosis was initially disregarded because in the literature no patients with nefazodone-induced hepatitis were reported.

Effect of intravenous fluids on blood pressure course during hemodialysis in hypotensive-prone patients.

Hypertonic and hyperoncotic solutions are generally used as acute treatment for symptomatic hypotension during dialysis. Administration of hydroxyethylstarch (HES) was recently shown to be an effective substitution fluid in preserving blood volume (BV) and systolic BP (SBP) in a group of stable dialysis patients during dialysis. In this study, in nine cardiac-compromised dialysis patients with frequent symptomatic hypotensive episodes, the efficacy of three fluids (hypertonic saline [3%], albumin [20%], and HES [10%]) was assessed during three treatment sessions with combined ultrafiltration and hemodialysis, which only differed in the type of fluid administered intravenously.

Efficacy and tolerance of three different calcium acetate formulations in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Calcium acetate (CaAc) is an effective phosphate binder in patients with chronic renal failure. However, an important side effect is gastro-intestinal discomfort. Phos-ex (Cablon, The Netherlands) is the only commercially available non-coated CaAc formulation in our country.