We describe our experience with blowgun dart aspiration via an illustrative case series and review the resources available to teach children how to construct these objects. A 15-year-old boy presented with cough, wheeze, and eventually admitted to aspiration of a homemade blowgun dart. This instance heightened the awareness of our experience with blowgun dart aspiration as 3 cases presented wit...

OBJECTIVE To assess clinical and epidemiologic data of 7 infants diagnosed with acquired methemoglobinemia at the pediatric emergency department between 1993 and 1998. All cases were attributed to the consumption of mixed vegetables. METHODS Medical records were reviewed to collect anamnestic data; history of food ingestion; and results of physical examination, pulse oximetry, gasometry, coox...

OBJECTIVE Previous studies have established that acculturation is associated with dietary intake among Mexican immigrants and their offspring, but few studies have investigated whether food purchasing, food preparation or food-related values act as mechanisms of dietary acculturation. We examine the relationship between language use and a wide range of food behaviours and food-related values am...

INTRODUCTION In high stage vaginal prolapse, recurrence risk patients, anterior and apical defects need to be addressed in the same procedure. The pre-molded commercial mesh kits are expensive and not always available. Alternative effective and safe treatment ways, with lower costs are desirable. OBJECTIVE To present long term follow-up of patients treated with a homemade mesh shape to correc...

Volatiles from aqueous extract of peppermint commercial sachets were investigated through gas chromatography/flame ionization detection (GC/FID) and GC/mass spectrometry (MS). Samples were prepared under similar conditions as in homemade tea. Volatiles were isolated using solid phase extraction method (SPE) with Porapak Q trap followed by desorption with acetone. Estimated mean values for short...

The aim of this study was to measure the gas permeability of edible films using a homemade experimental apparatus and to determine the respiration rate of tomatoes (L. esculentun var. Cerasiforme) without (NC) and with (CC) edible coating at different temperatures. Permeability was determined using an experimental device according to the ASTM D1434 method and the apparatus was validated using p...

The determination of the accurate immune status of pregnant women is crucial in order to prevent congenital toxoplasmosis. Equivocal results with conventional serological techniques are not uncommon when IgG titers are close to the cut-off value of the test, so that a confirmatory technique is needed. For this purpose, we developed a homemade immunoblot (IB) using soluble extract of Toxoplasma ...

Recent research has shown that adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty interpreting others' emotional responses, in order to work out what actually happened to them. It is unclear what underlies this difficulty; important cues may be missed from fast paced dynamic stimuli, or spontaneous emotional responses may be too complex for those with ASD to successfully recognise. To ...