Predictors of readmission for postpartum preeclampsia.

Objective: To develop a predictive model for re-admission for postpartum preeclampsia (PPEC).Methods: A case-control study; cases were patients re-admitted for PPEC; controls were not re-admitted. Mixed linear modelling was used to develop a predictive model on the training set, then validated on the validation set.Results: Two-hundred-sixty-nine patients were readmitted, and matched to 538 controls. A risk calculator was developed and yielded a sensitivity and specificity for readmission of 80.9% and 53.5%, respectively.Conclusion: A predictive model using age, race, discharge blood pressures, and preeclampsia was able to predict re-admission for PPEC with a high level of sensitivity.

Influence of albumin on mineralization of PMMA-based/glass composites.

PURPOSE: The formation of a calcium phosphate layer on the surface of bone tissue engineering biomaterials is crucial for their integration in bone. Simulated biological fluids used to study the in vitro formation of those layers do not usually contain important organic components present in vivo-notably proteins. In this work the influence of bovine serum albumin on the mineralization process of poly(methylmethacrylate)-based composite was studied in vitro. METHODS: The effect of protein on calcium phosphate formation was followed by ion concentration analyses (ICP), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy coupled with x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results showed the precipitation of a calcium phosphate layer on the surface of composites immersed in SBF and SBFA. Further transformation and crystallization of this layer, initially amorphous, appears to be influenced by the presence of albumin.