OBJECTIVES Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), is a painful, disabling disorder for which treatment is difficult. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of pamidronate in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. METHODS Patients referred to our regional multidisciplinary pain management center who fulfilled the I...

Amniotic fluid embolism is a rare peripartum complication with the sudden onset of haemodynamic instability, respiratory failure and coagulopathy during labour or soon after delivery. A 31-year-old woman with amniotic fluid embolism was treated with vasopressors, inotropes, intravenous fluid, tranexamic acid and ventilatory support. Assessment of respiratory impairment was made using convention...

The increase in accidents with dangerous chemicals makes it incumbent upon community and regional planners to deal systematically with this problem. The first step invariably involves the assessment of the likelihood and type of incident which may impact a given area so that disasters may be averted or, at least, their effects mitigated. This paper presents one such assessment scheme, the Commu...

Several methods have been used to measure left ventricular regional blood flow in humans. However, limitations and lack of validation in patients are major problems. A continuous thermodilution technique to measure regional left ventricular blood flow in patients with coronary disease was validated in vivo. This technique permits simultaneous assessment of venous blood flow draining predominant...

Background Non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) is a common cause of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and may be associated with myocardial fibrosis. Global LV systolic function may underestimate the impact of fibrosis on myocardial function and is insensitive to regional abnormalities in myocardial motion. Advances in cardiac MRI have enabled quantification of myocardial fibrosis through the ca...

there is a need to analyze and map rainfall erosivity to assess soil erosion at the regional scale. the objectives of this study were to develop a regional model to estimate seasonal erosivity from seasonal rainfall data and to study temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall erosivity for the gorganrood drainage basin in the northeast of iran. six gauging stations with a high temporal reso...

Computed tomography (CT) and spirometry are the mainstays of clinical pulmonary assessment. Spirometry is effort dependent and only provides a single global measure that is insensitive for regional disease, and as such, poor for capturing the early onset of lung disease, especially patchy disease such as cystic fibrosis lung disease. CT sensitively measures change in structure associated with a...

This paper raises questions about assessment and the knowledge or learning society. It focuses on the emergent field of alternative assessment and its links with practices usually described, by default, as traditional assessment. 1 This is a revised version of a paper discussed at the EDEN 2004 Annual Conference, New challenges and Partnerships in an enlarged European Union: Open, Distance and ...

E conomic integration among countries has continued to deepen over the past decade. This is especially visible at the regional level, with the escalation of Regional Integration Agreements (RIAs) ranging from Free Trade Areas (FTAs) to Customs Unions (CUs). Nowadays, many developing countries have entered a new regional integration agreement with developed and developing countries. S...

Background Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) with CMR is commonly assumed to represent myocardial fibrosis; however, comparative human histological data are limited, and there is no consensus on the most accurate method for LGE quantitation. We evaluated the relationship between CMR assessment of regional fibrosis and infarct size assessment using serial biomarkers after ST segment elevation my...