Effect of Cuff Design on Auscultatory and Oscillometric Blood Pressure Measurements.

BACKGROUND: Two-piece blood pressure (BP) cuffs are the historical cuff standard. Use of 1-piece cuffs is increasing. Substituting 1-piece for 2-piece cuffs has an unknown effect on measurement accuracy. We compared these cuff types in a 2-phase study using auscultatory and oscillometric techniques. METHODS: Consenting subjects (aged ≥18 years) with BP levels between 80 and 220mm Hg/50 and 120mm Hg and arm circumferences between 25 and 43cm were studied using the International Standards Organization (ISO) 2013 protocol (modified). A Baum 2-piece cuff was used as the reference standard. A 1-piece Welch Allyn cuff was the comparator. In phase 1 (2-observer auscultation with a mercury sphygmomanometer), 88 subjects were required to obtain 255 paired BP determinations. In phase 2 (oscillometric measurement with a Spacelabs 90207 device), 85 subjects were studied. Each phase was analyzed separately using paired t-tests. RESULTS: Phase 1 mean age was 54.2±20.5 years, mean arm circumference was 29.9±3.7cm, 60% were female, and 32% had hypertension. One-piece cuff mean BPs were lower than the 2-piece cuff means (115.5±15.5/66.4±9.3 vs. 117.8±15.2/67.9±9.2; difference of -2.4±3.6/-1.5±2.4; P values <0.0001 for systolic and diastolic comparisons). Phase 2 mean age was 52.8±20.8 years, mean arm circumference was 29.4±3.9cm, 67% were female, and 38% had hypertension. Mean BPs were lower for the 1-piece compared to the 2-piece cuff (116.5±12.8/67.1±8.1 vs. 120.8±13.5/70.4±8.5; difference of -4.4±3.6/-3.3±2.7; P values <0.0001 for both). CONCLUSIONS: Mean BP is lower with 1-piece cuffs vs. 2-piece cuffs. Differences are greater with oscillometry. When performing validation studies and measurements for clinical purposes, cuff type should be taken into account.

Improving residents' handovers through just-in-time training for structured communication.

In a recent quality assurance project we learned that nearly half of the handovers we examined were characterized as unsatisfactory by our residents, who provided examples in which their anxiety had been piqued and patient care had been affected. These reports substantiated a growing body of literature on the relationship between the quality of handover and the quality of patient care, so we sought to improve the quality and consistency of the in-hosptial handovers undertaken by our internal medicine residents. Senior residents attended morning report for three consecutive month long blocks and evaluated the quality of the handovers using an observational protocol comprised of 16 aspects of effective handover. During the first block, the resident observed a median of eight of the 16 practices occurring across the 46 handovers, and a large amount of variability. At the beginning of the subsequent block we presented a concise introduction to a structured handover procedure (SBARR). The median quality of the subsequent 33 handovers rose to 11, and the variability decreased considerably. In the next block we refined the SBARR orientation to focus on the errors observed in the previous blocks, and the improvement in the quality and variability was sustained. The minor change, which requires few resources to sustain, had a favourable impact on the quality of our residents' in-hospital handovers.

Comparison of complication rates, types, and average tube patency between jejunostomy tubes and percutaneous gastrostomy tubes in a regional home enteral nutrition support program.

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tubes are common enteral access devices for long-term enteral nutrition. Jejunostomy tubes (J-tubes) are able to provide postpyloric enteral access in patients who are not PEG tube candidates. There is a scarcity of literature comparing complication rates of J-tubes to PEG tubes. OBJECTIVE: To compare and characterize J-tube and PEG tube complications requiring tube replacement. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed on 560 patients discharged from the Northern Alberta Home Enteral Nutrition Support Program (NAHENSP) from January 2010 to December 2011. Patients were followed for 3 years from initial tube insertion or until discharge from the NAHENSP, whichever was earliest. Comparisons were made in terms of complications requiring tube replacement, tube patency to first replacement, and indications for tube replacement. RESULTS: A total of 64 J-tube patients were identified and compared with 65 PEG tube patients. Tube replacement rates for the J-tube group included 3.2 cases per 1000 patient days compared with 0.86 cases per 1000 patient days in the PEG group (P < .001). The mean ± SEM duration to first tube replacement for J-tube and PEG tube patients was 160 ± 26.3 days and 331 ± 53.6 days, respectively (P = .010). The most common causes for tube replacement in J-tube patients were dislodgement (35.6%) and obstruction (22.2%) compared with routine replacement (54.5%) and dislodgement (27.2%) in the PEG tube group. CONCLUSION: J-tubes are associated with higher complication rates requiring tube replacement compared with PEG tubes. The main causes of J-tube replacement are dislodgement and obstruction.

Different effects of FK506, rapamycin, and mycophenolate mofetil on glucose-stimulated insulin release and apoptosis in human islets.

Pancreatic islet transplantation has the potential to be an effective treatment for type 1 diabetes mellitus. While recent improvements have improved 1-year outcomes, follow-up studies show a persistent loss of graft function/survival over 5 years. One possible cause of islet transplant failure is the immunosuppressant regimen required to prevent alloimmune graft rejection. Although there is evidence from separate studies, mostly in rodents and cell lines, that FK506 (tacrolimus), rapamycin (sirolimus), and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF; CellCept) can damage pancreatic beta-cells, there have been few side-by-side, multiparameter comparisons of the effects of these drugs on human islets. In the present study, we show that 24-h exposure to FK506 or MMF impairs glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in human islets. FK506 had acute and direct effects on insulin exocytosis, whereas MMF did not. FK506, but not MMF, impaired human islet graft function in diabetic NOD*scid mice. All of the immunosuppressants tested in vitro increased caspase-3 cleavage and caspase-3 activity, whereas MMF induced ER-stress to the greatest degree. Treating human islets with the GLP-1 agonist exenatide ameliorated the immunosuppressant-induced defects in glucose-stimulated insulin release. Together, our results demonstrate that immunosuppressants impair human beta-cell function and survival, and that these defects can be circumvented to a certain extent with exenatide treatment.

Voltage-gated Ca(2+) influx and insulin secretion in human and mouse beta-cells are impaired by the mitochondrial Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchange inhibitor CGP-37157.

Glucose-induced insulin release from pancreatic beta-cells relies largely on glucose metabolism and mitochondrial ATP synthesis. Inhibiting the mitochondrial Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger (mNCE) using 7-Chloro-5-(2-chlorophenyl)-1,5-dihydro-4,1-benzothiazepin-2(3H)-one (CGP-37157) has been suggested to enhance ATP synthesis and insulin secretion from rat islets by promoting mitochondrial Ca(2+) accumulation. In this study we examined the effects of CGP-37157 on human and mouse islet cells. Surprisingly, we found that insulin secretion from perifused islets was reduced by CGP-37157. Cytosolic Ca(2+) measurements revealed that CGP-37157 dose-dependently blocked glucose- and KCl-stimulated Ca(2+) signals in both human and mouse beta-cells. Conversely, CGP-37157 induced mitochondrial hyperpolarization, NAD(P)H rises, and triggered diazoxide- and nifedipine-sensitive cytosolic Ca(2+) transients in a subset of quiescent cells bathed in sub-stimulatory glucose, which is in accord with metabolic activation by the compound. Hence, while blocking mNCE with CGP-37157 may augment metabolism of human and mouse beta-cells, the propagation of metabolic signals is hampered by simultaneous inhibition of voltage-gated Ca(2+) influx, and ultimately insulin secretion. Efforts to use CGP-37157 or design related compounds for therapeutic purposes should take these competing effects into account.