Obstetric anaesthesia manpower and service provision issues (introduction and European perspective).

Global health is an important and far-reaching concept in which health and access to surgical and anaesthetic care is crucial. Universal access to anaesthesia is a challenge in many countries. Manpower shortages are an important cause of difficulties and each European country has found different ways of facing a lack of healthcare professionals.

Peripartum anesthetic management of women with SARS-CoV-2 infection in eight medical centers across three European countries: prospective cohort observation study.

Objective: Several reports of obstetric anesthesia management have been published since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to collect high-quality broad and detailed data from different university medical centers in several European Society of Anesthesiologist countries.

Methods: This prospective observational survey was performed in eight medical centers in Spain, Israel and Portugal from 1 April to 31 July 2020.

Comparison of Caudal Block vs. Penile Block vs. Intravenous Fentanyl Only in Children Undergoing Penile Surgery: A Prospective, Randomized, Double Blind Study.

Penile surgery is commonly performed in pediatric surgical centers. There is no consensus regarding which analgesic method is most effective in controlling pain in these children. Consecutive children between 4 months and 16 years of age who underwent elective penile surgery were recruited.

The Effect of Priority Given to Donor Card Holders on the Allocation of Livers for Transplant-Evidence From 7 Years of the Israeli Priority Program.

Background: The Israeli Transplant Law grants priority in organ allocation to patients signing a donor card. Liver transplant candidates get additional 2 points on their Model for End Stage Liver Disease score for signing a donor card, 0.1 points for a relative holding a card, and 5 points if a relative donated an organ.

The Older Adults With Rectal Cancer-Does Age Matter?: A Single-center Experience.

Objectives: Oncological treatments of older patients have many unresolved questions mainly because of the fact that these patients were not eligible to be included in most clinical trials. The aim of this study was to evaluate the treatment approach to localized rectal cancer in the older population, including complication rates and overall survival in patients treated with curative intent.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review of patients older than 80 years old (group A) who were treated for clinical stages II to III rectal cancer.

Reduced bile acid excretion is an independent risk factor for stroke and mortality: A prospective follow-up study.

Background And Aims: Hypercholesterolemia is a major risk factor for atherosclerosis, which is a cornerstone of coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, peripheral vascular disease, aortic aneurysm and renal artery stenosis. This study investigated the association of bile acid excretion (BAE) with stroke incidence and mortality.

Methods: Patients admitted to Internal Medicine due to chest pain and suspected CAD were enrolled and followed from 1/1998 to 12/2018.

Intraoperative factors associated with postoperative complications in body contouring surgery.

Background: Several preoperative factors have been shown to influence outcome of body contouring surgeries. The effect of intraoperative features, including fluid volume administered, hemodynamic and respiratory parameters, and body temperature on postoperative complication, has not been reported to date.

Materials And Methods: All subsequent patients undergoing body contouring surgery in the Tel Aviv Medical Center between 2007 and 2012 were enrolled.

Respiratory events with sugammadex vs. neostigmine following laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: a prospective pilot study assessing neuromuscular reversal strategies.

Unlabelled: Abdominal surgery in obese patients may be associated with pulmonary morbidity, and mortality. Some patients may arrive in the PACU with residual paralysis. was to find out if there was an association between the type of muscle relaxant reversal agent and the development of postoperative respiratory events in patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy surgery.

Ivacaftor for the p.Ser549Arg (S549R) gating mutation - The Israeli experience.

Background: Ivacaftor is a drug that increases the probability of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride channel remaining open. Information about the efficacy of ivacaftor in patients carrying the rare p.Ser549Arg (S549R) CFTR mutation is sparse.

Cigarette smoking and hormones.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose is to provide a summary of the effects of cigarette smoking on steroid hormone metabolism and how it affects female fertility.

Recent Findings: Components of tobacco smoke such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons lead to transcriptional upregulation of a number of genes, including members of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) family, in particular CYP1B1 and CYP1A1. In humans, CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 are the primary enzymes catalyzing the 2-hydroxylation of estradiol.

Perioperative acute kidney injury.

Perioperative acute kidney injury (AKI) is not uncommon and is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Recently, several definition systems for AKI were proposed, incorporating both small changes of serum creatinine and urinary output reduction as diagnostic criteria. Novel biomarkers are under investigation as fast and accurate predictors of AKI.

Do Intraocular Pressure Measurements Under Anesthesia Reflect the Awake Condition?

Background: Anesthesia or sedation is needed when intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement is required in certain circumstances. The effect of different anesthetic regimens on the IOP is still debatable. We aimed to evaluate alterations in the IOP under anesthesia with either propofol or different end-tidal concentrations of sevoflurane, when compared with the awake state.

Smart marketing may improve public understanding of the anesthesia profession.

Background: A 2005 survey led by the Israeli Society of Anesthesiologists (ISA) found that large parts of the Israeli public are not familiar with the profession of anesthesia. The ISA has subsequently been conducting a public campaign for several years with the aim to enhance community knowledge regarding the anesthesiologists' training and their critical role in the perioperative period.

Objective: The present study sought to evaluate the value of a campaign aiming to enhance public understanding of the importance of a medical profession; more specifically, a campaign to promote awareness of the community regarding the anesthesia profession.

Aged erythrocytes: a fine wine or sour grapes?

Blood transfusion saves many lives but carries significant risk of injury. Currently, red blood cell (RBC) concentrates can be stored up to 42 days. Concerns have recently been raised about the safety and efficacy of transfusing stored RBCs.

Forced expiratory decay in asthmatic preschool children--is it adult type?

Background: The forced expiratory decay in healthy preschool children portrays a convex shape that differs from the linear decay in the older healthy population. The "adult-type" expiratory decay during airway obstruction is concave. The study objective was to determine if the expiratory decay in young asthmatic children is "adult-type".

Posterior pelvic floor disorders and obstructed defecation syndrome: clinical and therapeutic approach.

There are no clear recommended imaging guidelines for the assessment of patients presenting primarily with obstructed defecation syndrome and defecation difficulty. The gold standard has always been the defecating proctogram which may require a rather poorly tolerated extended technique involving high-radiation exposure in young women which includes cystography, vaginography, small bowel opacification, and occasional peritoneography. The development of dynamic magnetic resonance imaging has obviated many of these extended techniques and may be supplemented by novel ultrasonographic methods including dynamic transperineal sonography, real-time 3D translabial ultrasound and 3D dynamic echodefecography.

Postoperative analgesia with tramadol and indomethacin for diagnostic curettage and early termination of pregnancy.

Background: The postoperative analgesic effects of rectal indomethacin and tramadol were compared in patients undergoing elective termination of first trimester pregnancy and diagnostic dilatation and curettage.

Methods: Eighty-one American Society of Anesthesiologists class I and II women undergoing first trimester termination of pregnancy or diagnostic dilation and curettage were randomly allocated to receive rectal suppositories of either tramadol 100 mg (n=41) or indomethacin 100 mg (n=40) 90 min before induction of anesthesia. Pain scores and side effects were evaluated until discharge.

Prenatal diagnosis of pericentric inversion in homologues of chromosome 9: a decision dilemma.

Pericentric inversion of one chromosome 9 [inv(9)] is considered a polymorphic variation and is one of the most common forms of autosomal inversion diagnosed prenatally in amniocytes. Yet its clinical significance remains uncertain. Most publications suggest that this finding is insignificant.