Nurses' critical role in CPT code valuation.

Relative value units (RVUs) are a measurement of practice efficiency and patient complexity. RVUs are reviewed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through the Resource-Based Relative-Value Scale Update Committee, which determines recommendations regarding the Current Procedural Terminology code valuations for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. This article discusses the importance of nurses' participation in the accurate valuation of their work and in the process of developing and revising RVUs.

Fetal Growth Restriction in Hypertensive vs. Heavy Smoking Women-Placental Pathology, Ultrasound Findings, and Pregnancy Outcomes.

We compared placental pathology, ultrasonographic findings, and obstetric outcomes, in gestations complicated by fetal growth restriction (FGR) with either a background of hypertensive disorder or heavy tobacco cigarette smoking. The medical records and placental pathology reports of pregnancies complicated with FGR (birthweight < 10th percentile) between December 2008 and May 2018 from a single tertiary center were reviewed. Placental pathology, ultrasound findings, and pregnancy outcomes were compared between hypertensive patients (HTN) and heavy smokers (SMO).

Does macroscopic estimation of the extent of placental abruption correlate with pregnancy outcomes?

Introduction: We aimed to study the correlation between the extent of placental abruption (PA), as grossly estimated immediately after delivery, and pregnancy outcomes, in correlation with placental histopathology.

Materials And Methods: Pregnancy and placental reports of all pregnancies complicated by PA (clinically diagnosed) between 11/2008-12/2018 were reviewed. We compared maternal background, pregnancy outcomes, and placental histopathology between cases of PA divided into three groups according to the extent of abruption: Group 1-<30 %, Group 2-30-49 %, and Group 3->50 % of placental surface.

Placental Histopathology and Pregnancy Outcomes in "Early" vs. "Late" Placental Abruption.

Placenta-associated pregnancy complications (fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia) are traditionally classified as "early" and "late" due to their different pathophysiology, histopathology, and pregnancy outcomes. As placental abruption (PA) represents another placenta-associated complication, we aimed to study if this categorization can be applied to PA as well. Pregnancy and placental reports of all pregnancies complicated by PA between November 2008 and January 2019 were reviewed.

Placental pathology in pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction: recurrence vs. new onset.

Objective: In an attempt to shed new light on the pathogenesis of fetal growth restriction (FGR), we aimed to study pregnancy characteristics, neonatal outcomes, and placental histopathological lesions of FGR pregnancies in two different subgroups: when developed after appropriate for gestational age (AGA) pregnancy and when developed after previous pregnancy with FGR.

Study Design: Pregnancy and placental reports of all singleton pregnancies complicated by FGR (defined as actual birthweight below the 10th percentile according to local birthweight nomograms) between 2008 and 2018 were reviewed. Included were only cases with previous delivery.

Pregnancy outcomes in correlation with placental histopathology in subsequent pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia.

Objective: In attempt to deepen our understanding of the etiopathogenesis of preeclampsia we aimed to study the placental component and pregnancy outcomes in two consecutive pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia in the same patient.

Study Design: Pregnancy and placental reports of all pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia between 2008 and 2018 were reviewed. Included were only cases with recurrent preeclampsia in two consecutive pregnancies Neonatal outcomes and placental histopathology were compared between the first preeclampsia delivery (first preeclampsia group) and the subsequent preeclampsia delivery (subsequent preeclampsia group), thus each subject served as her own control in two consecutive pregnancies.

[Correlation of arterial pressure in the forearm with blood pressure in the ascending aorta].

Forearm blood pressures obtained by auscultation were compared with the data of pressure recording in the ascending aorta during diagnostic catheterization in 243 patients with coronary heart disease, arterial hypertension and some malformations of the heart. With indirect measurement, systolic blood pressure was shown to be sufficiently reliable and to characterize systolic pressure in the ascending aorta with assurance, the pressure in the aorta being slightly less (some 10%) in approximately half the cases. The regression equation for systolic pressure in the ascending aorta against forearm pressure is as follows: Y = 0.

Norepinephrine and TSH: effects on thyroidal radioiodine and thyroxine release.

Norepinephrine (NE) failed to increase thyroid hormone release in mice when endogenous TSH secretion had been greatly reduced by a variety of means. This was demonstrated by radioiodine release in mice pretreated with 131I and with thyroxine (T4) or 3,5,3' triiodothyronine (T3). by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in mice pretreated with 131I and T3, and in mice which had been hypophysectomized, or where TSH secretion had been decreased by prolonged administration of exogenous TSH.

Dopamine and L-dopa: inhibition of thyrotropin-stimulated thyroidal thyroxine release.

Previous studies had suggested that norepinephrine (NE) and its precursors dopamine (DA) and L-DOPA acted similarly on iodine metabolism of isolated thyroid cells. Present studies indicate that this similarity extends to the inhibition by catecholamines of TSH-stimulated T4 release by mouse thyroids incubated in vitro. DA (5 X 10(-4) M), like NE, shown previously, inhibits TSH-stimulated T4 release.

[Modification of a model of ventricular fibrillation by a combination of ligation of the interventricular artery and ultraviolet irradiation of autoblood].

The combination of interventricular artery ligation and extracorporeal intensive ultraviolet irradiation of autoblood enabled the researchers to bring down the threshold and to increase the frequency of ventricular fibrillations. The above finding has served as a basis for creating a new experimental model of delayed ventricular fibrillation with a higher possibility of its development.

[Long-term prognosis (survival) of myocardial infarct patients after clinical death as a result of ventricular fibrillation (results of a 16-year study)].

The occurrence of primary ventricular fibrillation in the acute period of myocardial infarction has little if any effect on the late survival rate of either the entire group of patients or different age subgroups. The primary fibrillation of the ventricle has no effect on the survival of patients with the first and recurrent myocardial infarction who have had repeated episodes of clinical death. The survival rate of patients resuscitated in the hospital does not differ from that seen in patients resuscitated at the pre-hospital stage.

Acetylcholine and norepinephrine: compared actions thyroid metabolism.

Acetylcholine (ACh; 5 X 10(-4) M), like norepinephrine (NE; 6 X 10(-6) M), as shown previously, stimulated iodide organification by mouse thyroids in vitro, while at the same time it inhibited TSH- or (Bu)2cAMP-induced T4 release. However, thyroid cAMP was not changed by ACh, suggesting that ACh, like NE, exerted its effects at a step beyond cAMP production. Also, while ACh increased cGMP concentrations, (Bu)2cGMP and 8-bromo-cGMP were not effective on thyroid function in this system.

Norepinephrine and thyrotropin effects on the thyroid in vitro: simultaneous stimulation of iodide organification and antagonism of thyroxine release.

Norepinephrine (NE), which has previously been shown to inhibit TSH-induced T4 release by mouse thyroids in vitro, was found to stimulate iodide organification. The concentration of NE (6 X 10(-7) M) necessary to stimulate organification of iodide was 10 times less than the concentration (6 X 10(-6) M) required for inhibition of TSH-induced T4 release. Both actions of NE were exerted through an alpha-adrenergic receptor, since they were inhibited by phentolamine but not by l-propranolol.

Thyroid uptake of 201thallium and its control by TSH.

Patients injected with 201Thallium (201Tl) for myocardial scanning present good thyroid visualization. Determinations in mice injected with 201Tl indicated a high thyroid/serum concentration ratio (T/S). The 201Tl biological half-life (t 1/2) in serum (30 - 135 s) was much shorter than in thyroid (53 - 55 h) for human subjects and experimental animals.

Calcium depletion stimulates thyroxine release from the thyroid.

Excised mouse thyroids incubated in Ca++-free medium were stimulated to release increased amounts of stable thyroxine. This stimulation of thyroxine release by incubated thyroid tissue was not additive with TSH or (Bu)2cAMP. It was reversed by norepinephrine through an alpha adrenergic receptor, similar to TSH or (Bu)2cAMP stimulation.

[New methods for the automatic detection and differentiation of extrasystoles].

Two new methods for automatic detection of extrasystoles are proposed: according to the area described by T wave and changes in the projection of the cardiac EMF vector on different ECG leads when the localization of the excitation focus is changed. Telemetry at an ultrashort distance and a device preventing the recording of extrasystoles when patients move increase the authenticity of the findings in automatic detection of extrasystoles.

[Effect of strophanthin and cytochrome C on myocardial contraction and the incidence of shock and ventricular fibrillation in experimental myocardial infarct].

High ligation of the interventricular artery caused ventricular fibrillation in the first 2--4 minutes in 20% of cats. In the remaining animals myocardial contractility diminished to half its initial value. After that, contractility increased gradually.

An in vitro procedure for the estimation of thyroid hormone releasing factors in sera of thyrotoxic patients.

LATS containing sera and a number of Graves' disease sera stimulated T4 release from mouse thyroids in vitro as determined by RIA, thus confirming the presence of a thyroid hormone releasing factor in sera of thyrotoxic patients. The pattern of stimulation was similar to that previously shown for TSH in terms of T4 release time sequence. cAMP increase and catecholamine inhibition via alpha-adrenergic receptors.