Comparison Study of Braden Scale and Time-to-Erythema Measures in Long-term Care.

Purpose: The Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Sore Risk is used to assess risk, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid guidelines suggest the use of a tissue tolerance procedure that detects time-to-erythema (TTE) to further refine tissue tolerance, a component of the Braden Scale. The aim of this study was to compare the Braden Scale and TTE as risk classification methods and their utility in identifying care planning interventions.

Design: Descriptive study using retrospective chart review.

A case of soft tissue metastasis from glioblastoma and review of the literature.

Despite recent advances, glioblastoma (GBM) remains incurable but is typically characterized by local tumor recurrence in the brain. Soft tissue metastases from GBM are extremely rare, with only eight reported cases in the literature. It has been postulated that this type of metastases rarely occurs due to inability of tumor cells to survive outside the brain milieu, physical barriers preventing tumor spread, and/or early patient death from this aggressive tumor.

Novel predictors of acute coronary syndrome outcomes.

Morbidity and mortality rates among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remain high, and it is difficult to determine which patients will progress satisfactorily and which patients will have poor outcomes. Research has indicated that the inflammatory process is involved in coronary disease. There is great interest within the research community in determining if inflammatory markers could be used to determine the severity of the disease process and therefore serve as a prognostic tool for clinicians.