Procedures involving phlebotomy are critical for obtaining diagnostic blood specimens and represent a well known and recognized problem, probably among the most important issues in laboratory medicine. The aim of this report is to show spurious hyperkalemia and hypocalcemia due to inadequate phlebotomy procedure. The diagnostic blood specimens were collected from a male outpatient 45 years old,...

We describe receptive and distributive needle/syringe sharing among injection drug users (IDUs) in Kabul, Afghanistan. In this cross-sectional study, IDUs completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Logistic regression identified correlates of needle sharing in the last six months. Receptive and distributive sharing in the last six months were reported by 28.2% and 28.7% of participant...

Aim-To demonstrate the feasibility of studying specific gene expression in fine needle aspirates from clinical lesions. The reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique was used to demonstrate CD44 gene expression in cells from diagnostic fine needle aspirates taken from patients attending the outpatient clinic for breast diseases.Methods-Polyadenylated RNA was extracted f...

BACKGROUND Needle exchange programmes (NEP) provide injection drug users (IDU) with sterile injection equipment and receive used needles in exchange. In this paper we describe the use of new syringes and NEP by IDU and characteristics associated with using NEP in 1993. METHODS Street-recruited IDU were interviewed in five US locations: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City, and Los An...

In Canada and in many other countries, prisons have become incubators for the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Estimates of HIV and HCV prevalence in Canadian prisons are at least 10 and 20 times, respectively, the reported prevalence in the population as a whole--and prevalence rates have been reported to be significantly higher for people who inject drugs. Although people who ...

Im ages Seromas and hematomas are relatively common complications of a variety of surgical procedures. In plastic surgery, they may occur in the postoperative period of abdominoplasty or abdominal wall reconstruction, mastectomy or breast reconstruction, lymphadenectomy, or voluminous neoplasm excision. Furthermore, in our experience, seromas are particularly common in surgical procedures invol...

A micro-advancer device that positions a narrow-gauge needle within the vitreous humor of the rat eye is described. The device is compact, simple and inexpensive to manufacture. It consists of an outer guard needle and an inner injection needle that is advanced through the guard needle. With the rat held in a stereotaxic holder and the globe fixed to a stabilizing ring, the outer 25-gauge guard...