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Background Increasing chest compression rate during cardiopulmonary resuscitation can affect the workload and, ultimately, the quality of chest compression. This study examines the effects of compression at the rate of as-fast-as-you-can on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) performance. Methods A crossover, randomized-to-order design was used. Each participant performed chest compressions without ventilation on a manikin with 2 compression rates: 100 per minute (100-cpm) and “push as-fast-as you-can” (PF). The participants performed chest compressions at a rate of either 100-cpm or PF and subsequently switched to the other after a 50-minute rest. Results Forty-two CPR-qualified nonprofessionals voluntarily participated in the study. During the PF session, the rescuers performed CPR with higher compression rates (156.8 vs 101.6 cpm), more compressions (787.2 vs 510.8 per 5 minutes), and more duty cycles (51.0% vs 41.7%), but a lower percentage of effective compressions (47.7% vs 57.9%) and a lower compression depth (35.6 vs 38.0 mm) than they did during the 100-cpm session. The CPR quality deteriorated in numbers and percentile of effective compression since the third minute in the PF session and the fourth minute in the 100-cpm session. The percentile of compressions with adequate depth in the 100-cpm sessions was higher than that in the PF sessions during the second, third, and fourth minutes of CPR. Conclusion Push-fast technique showed a significant decrease in the percentile of effective chest compression compared with the 100-cpm technique during the 5-minute hand-only CPR. The PF technique exhibited a trend toward increased fatigue in the rescuers, which can result in early decay of CPR quality.

The objective was to compare the clinical characteristics of elderly and young adult patients with dengue in the emergency department (ED).Demographic characteristics, clinical presentation, disease severity, laboratory characteristics, and outcomes were analyzed prospectively as a case-control study.Of the 193 adults with serologically confirmed dengue disease in 2007, 31 (16.1%) were elderly patients (aged ≥65) and 162 were young adults (aged65). More dengue hemorrhagic fever (12.9% vs 2.5%, P = .02), a longer ED stay (13.3 vs 8.6 hours, P = .004), a longer hospital stay (7.4 vs 3.4 days, P.001), a higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II in the ED (29.7 vs 17.4, P.001), and a higher rate of at least 1 comorbidity (61.8 vs 22.8%, P.001) were found in the elderly. However, the length of the intensive care unit stay (elderly 0.7 vs young adults 0.3 day, P = .47) and the 14-day mortality rate (0% vs 0.6%, P = 1.00) were similar. Of note, in terms of clinical presentations of dengue in the ED, there were more elderly patients with isolated fever (41.9% vs 17.9%, P = .003) and fewer with typical presentation (41.9% vs 75.9%, P =.001) than there were young adults.The present study found a higher number of atypical presentations, a longer hospitalization, and a higher degree of clinical illness in elderly patients with dengue.

Outcome prediction for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is of medical, ethical, and socioeconomic importance. We hypothesized that blood ammonia may reflect tissue hypoxia in OHCA patients and conducted this study to evaluate the prognostic value of ammonia for the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC).This prospective, observational study was conducted in a tertiary university hospital between January 2008 and December 2008. The subjects consisted of OHCA patients who were sent to the emergency department (ED). The primary outcome was ROSC. The prognostic values were calculated for ammonia levels and the partial pressure of ammonia (pNH(3)), and the results were depicted as a receiver operating characteristics curve with an area under the curve.Among 119 patients enrolled in this study, 28 patients (23.5%) achieved ROSC. Ammonia levels and pNH(3) in the non-ROSC group were significantly higher than those in the ROSC group (167.0 μmol/L vs 80.0 μmol/L, P.05; 2.61 × 10(-5) vs 1.67 × 10(-5) mm Hg, P.05, respectively). The predictive capacity of area under the curve for ammonia and pNH(3) for non-ROSC was 0.85 (95% confidence interval, 0.75-0.95) and 0.73 (95% confidence interval, 0.61-0.84), respectively. The multivariate analysis confirmed that ammonia and pNH(3) are independent predictors of non-ROSC. The prognostic value of ammonia was better than that of pNH(3). The cutoff level for ammonia of 84 μmol/L was 94.5% sensitive and 75.0% specific for predicting non-ROSC with a diagnostic accuracy of 89.9%.Hyperammonemia on ED arrival is independently predictive of non-ROSC for OHCA patients. The findings may offer useful information for clinical management.

The Diels–Alder cycloadditions of facially dissymmetric sesquibicyclo[2.2.2]octadiene-fused maleic anhydride 1 with exocyclic 1,3-butadienes have been studied. The reactions proceeded via syn-side (relative to the etheno-bridge in 1) attack of the diene upon 1.