OBJECTIVETo assess the factors that influence burn patients' perception in returning to work after discharge.

METHODSTwenty-four patients hospitalized from March 1, 2007 to February 28, 2009, older than 18 years, and with total burn surface area equal to or more than 10% TBSA were enrolled in the study. Data of physical and psychological health status (PPH) of in-patients including hand function, simple function abilities, heat sensitivity, treatment antipathy, body image, sexuality, interpersonal relationships, affect, and perception in returning to work at discharge and 3 and 6 months after discharge were collected using the brief version of Burns Specific Health Scale in the form of questionnaire, which were analyzed coordinately. The correlation between returning to work and demographic data of patients were analyzed too. Data were processed with t test or Pearson correlation test.

RESULTSRespectively 19 and 16 valid questionnaires were sent back 3 and 6 months after discharge. No statistical difference was found between at discharge and 3 months after discharge in each item concerning PPH of patients (with t values from -4.87 to -2.16, P values all above 0.05). The perception of returning to work scored significantly higher 6 months after discharge than at discharge [(9 ± 5) score vs. (6 ± 3) score, t = -4.87, P < 0.001], which was positively correlated with affect, treatment antipathy, body image, and heat sensitivity (with r value respectively 0.9256, 0.8891, 0.7502, 0.6022, P values all below 0.05), and negatively correlated with length of stay, total burn surface area, and amount of workers compensation (with r value respectively -0.7000, -0.6844, -0.8003, P values all below 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSPatients' perception in returning to work is correlated with heat sensitivity, treatment antipathy, body image, affect, length of stay, total burn surface area, and amount workers compensation. Health professionals need to provide patients with ongoing education and necessary information to help them return to work.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Burns ; psychology ; rehabilitation ; Employment ; Female ; Health Status ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Psychological Tests ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: Children born with single ventricle physiology demonstrate poor growth rate and suffer from malnutrition, which lead to increased morbidity and mortality in this population. We assume that an anabolic steroid, oxandrolone, will promote growth in these infants by improving myocardial energy utilization. The purpose of this paper is to study the efficacy of oxandrolone on myocardial energy consumption in these infants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We modeled single ventricle physiology in a lamb by prenatally shunting the aorta to the pulmonary artery and then postnatally, we monitored cardiac energy utilization by quantitatively measuring the first order reaction rate constant, kf of the creatine-kinase reaction in the heart using magnetization transfer 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy, home built 1H/31P transmit/receive double tuned coil, and transmit/receive switch. We also performed cine MRI to study the structure and dynamic function of the myocardium and the left ventricular chamber. The spectroscopy data were processed using home-developed python software, while cine data were analyzed using Argus software. RESULTS: We quantitatively measured both the first order reaction rate constant and ejection fraction in the control, shunted, and the oxandrolone-treated lambs. Both kf and ejection fraction were found to be more significantly reduced in the shunted lambs compared to the control lambs, and they are increased in oxandrolone-treated lambs. CONCLUSION: Some improvement was observed in both the first order reaction rate constant and ejection fraction for the lamb treated with oxandrolone in our preliminary study.
Aorta ; Boidae ; Child ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Heart ; Humans ; Infant ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Malnutrition ; Mortality ; Myocardium ; Oxandrolone ; Physiology ; Pulmonary Artery ; Spectrum Analysis

BACKGROUND: We aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Alere Triage Cardio3 Tropinin I (TnI) assay (Alere, Inc., USA) and the PathFast cTnI-II (Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corporation, Japan) against the central laboratory assay Singulex Erenna TnI assay (Singulex, USA). METHODS: Using the Markers in the Diagnosis of Acute Coronary Syndromes (MIDAS) study population, we evaluated the ability of three different assays to identify patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The MIDAS dataset, described elsewhere, is a prospective multicenter dataset of emergency department (ED) patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and a planned objective myocardial perfusion evaluation. Myocardial infarction (MI) was diagnosed by central adjudication. RESULTS: The C-statistic with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for diagnosing MI by using a common population (n=241) was 0.95 (0.91-0.99), 0.95 (0.91-0.99), and 0.93 (0.89-0.97) for the Triage, Singulex, and PathFast assays, respectively. Of samples with detectable troponin, the absolute values had high Pearson (R(P)) and Spearman (R(S)) correlations and were R(P)=0.94 and R(S)=0.94 for Triage vs Singulex, R(P)=0.93 and R(S)=0.85 for Triage vs PathFast, and R(P)=0.89 and R(S)=0.73 for PathFast vs Singulex. CONCLUSIONS: In a single comparative population of ED patients with suspected ACS, the Triage Cardio3 TnI, PathFast, and Singulex TnI assays provided similar diagnostic performance for MI.
Acute Coronary Syndrome/*diagnosis ; Biomarkers/analysis ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Humans ; Laboratories/standards ; Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis ; *Point-of-Care Systems ; Prospective Studies ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Troponin I/*analysis

Objective: To determine the utility of a highly sensitive troponin assay when utilized in the emergency department. Methods The FAST-TRAC study prospectively enrolled >1,500 emergency department patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome within 6 hours of symptom onset and 2 hours of emergency department presentation. It has several unique features that are not found in the majority of studies evaluating troponin. These include a very early presenting population in whom prospective data collection of risk score parameters and the physician’s clinical impression of the probability of acute coronary syndrome before any troponin data were available. Furthermore, two gold standard diagnostic definitions were determined by a pair of cardiologists reviewing two separate data sets; one that included all local troponin testing results and a second that excluded troponin testing so that diagnosis was based solely on clinical grounds. By this method, a statistically valid head-to-head comparison of contemporary and high sensitivity troponin testing is obtainable. Finally, because of a significant delay in sample processing, a unique ability to define the molecular stability of various troponin assays is possible.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00880802