BACKGROUND Sevoflurane and remifentanil are commonly combined to produce the hypnotic and analgesic effects required for clinical anaesthesia. Previous studies have characterized interactions between several i.v. drugs and inhalation agents. Aiming to extend this effort, we developed two new mathematical models to characterize the interactions manner and strength between sevoflurane and remifen...

A L T H O U G H tilt table procedures have been used extensively in the study of the circulatory system, most studies have been with subjects in the feet-down position. 1,2 The tilt table provides a means of studying the influence of g force upon the circulatory system. When an individual is strapped to the tilt table, feet down, in the vertical position r he is exposed to + 1 g. When tilted to...

BACKGROUND Duplex real-time PCR assays have been widely used to determine amounts and concentrations of free circulating DNA in human blood plasma samples. Circulatory plasma DNA is highly fragmented and hence a PCR-based determination of DNA concentration may be affected by the limited availability of full-length targets in the DNA sample. This leads to inaccuracies when counting PCR target co...

The aim of this study was to determine, in a group of medical students, whether the acquired knowledge in Pathophysiology was comparable when assessed using a concept map based test, with MCQ’s embedded (CM test) or a traditional context-free MCQ test (MCQ test) and to evaluate the feasibility of implementing CM test as an assessment tool. CM tests consisted of incomplete concept maps, with con...

The development of durable mechanical circulatory support systems paralleled the expansion of cardiac transplantation. The National Institutes of Health sponsored grants in the 1980s to develop implantable left heart assist systems; 20 years later, they contracted for a national registry, the Interagency Registry for Mechanical Assisted Circulatory Support, to track the clinical evolution of th...