Over a 13 year period, 544 chemical lumbar sympathetic blocks with phenol in 489 patients were performed by the author with the aid of X-ray image intensification. There was objective and subjective improvement in the signs and symptoms of limb ischaemia in 72%, judged by relief of rest pain, improvement in skin blood flow or healing of ischaemic ulcers. Of patients treated in the years 1990-19...

BACKGROUND The Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with intellectual disabilities in England was commissioned to provide evidence about contributory factors to avoidable and premature deaths in this population. METHODS The population-based Confidential Inquiry reviewed the deaths of people with intellectual disabilities aged 4 years and older who had been registered with a ge...

OBJECTIVES: To examine the frequency and reasons for potentially avoidable hospitalizations of nursing home (NH) residents. DESIGN: Medical records were reviewed as a component of a project designed to develop and pilot test clinical practice tools for reducing potentially avoidable hospitalization. SETTING: NHs in Georgia. PARTICIPANTS: In 10 NHs with high and 10 with low hospitalization rates...

We exhibit an algorithm to decide if the fixed-points of a morphism avoid (long) abelian repetitions and we use it to show that long abelian squares are avoidable over the ternary alphabet. This gives a partial answer to one of Mäkelä's questions. Our algorithm can also decide if a morphism avoids additive repetitions or k-abelian repetitions and we use it to show that long 2-abelian square are...

Continuity of care (COC) has a proven relationship with health care outcomes. However, evidence regarding an association between COC and avoidable hospitalization for elderly patients with asthma is insufficient.A retrospective cohort study was performed using Taiwanese National Health Insurance claim data from 2004 to 2013. Patients were retrospectively followed for 2 years; the COC index (COC...

Eclampsia is the commonest direct cause of maternal death in South Africa. The latest Saving Mothers Report (2005-2007) indicates that there were 622 maternal deaths due to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Of these, 334 (55.3%) were due to eclampsia; of the eclamptic deaths, 50 were over the age of 35 years and 83 were under 20 years old. Avoidable factors involved patient related factors (...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) - an abrupt deterioration in renal function - causes a rise in serum creatinine (SCr) or fall in urine output. It is common, occurring in up to 20% of hospital admissions. Importantly, even small rises in SCr are associated with increased risk of death and longer hospital stays. A 2009 National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death report found that a pro...