Thermographic evaluation of primary closure and second intention healing in dairy calves.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the suitability of infrared thermography in assessing healing of surgically created wounds that are managed by primary closure or second intention in neonatal dairy calves during a 3-week period. STUDY DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial. ANIMALS: Six Jersey bull calves. METHODS: Two skin patches approximately 10 cm2 were shaved on each hind limb of all calves. The dorsal patch was designated the wound creation site, and the ventral patch was the control. The wound creation sites were randomly assigned for either primary closure or healing by second intention. Wounds were created by using an 8-mm biopsy punch. Thermographic imaging was performed prior to wound creation and at 0 minutes; 15 minutes; 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours; and 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 14, and 21 days postwounding. RESULTS: There were no differences in skin temperature changes observed between wounds that were managed by primary closure or second intention (P = .9934) at any time. Time after wound creation had an effect on the skin temperature (P < .0001), with skin temperature consistently warmer (P < .05) 2, 4, and 8 hours after creation of wounds compared with subsequent times. CONCLUSION: Infrared thermography was unable to detect differences in wound healing by primary closure or second intention in this model. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Thermographic monitoring to detect differences in wound healing was not evident in this model. This model might be useful in monitoring temporal changes during early wound repair.

The effect of bronchodilators and oxygen alone and in combination on self-paced exercise performance in stable COPD.

Both oxygen therapy and bronchodilators reduce exertional breathlessness and improve exercise tolerance in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However their relative effectiveness and the value of their combined use on exercise performance has not been assessed. The effects of 5 mg of salbutamol plus 500 microg ipratropium bromide nebulisation followed by a 6-min walking test while breathing O(2) were studied in a randomised, single-blind, placebo controlled, crossover trial in 28 patients with severe or very severe COPD, breathless on exertion and with oxygen saturation < or = 89% at rest or on exercise. Bronchodilator reversibility was minimal. The 6-min walking distance increased from 356 (128)m to 377 (117)m after the bronchodilator (P<0.05), to 406 (109)m after supplementary oxygen but without bronchodilators (P 0.011 versus bronchodilators/air and 0.001 versus placebo/air), and to 430 (109)m after the combination of oxygen and the bronchodilators (P<0.0001 versus placebo/air and bronchodilators/air; P=0.014 versus placebo/oxygen). End-exercise dyspnea only fell significantly when oxygen and bronchodilator were combined. In severe or very severe COPD patients with relatively fixed airway obstruction bronchodilators enhance exercise performance obtained with oxygen. Clinically relevant improvement is possible when therapies with a different mechanism of action are combined.

Prevalência e análise da hipertensäo arterial em clínicas de fisioterapia de Presidente Prudente-SP / Prevalence and analysis of arterial hypertension in physiotherapy clinics of Presidente Prudente-SP

Este trabalho teve por objetivo determinar a prevalência de hipertensäo arterial em Clínicas de Fisioterapia de Presidente Prudente-SP e relacioná-la com graus de hipertensäo, idade, sexo e conhecimento da condiçäo de hipertenso. Os resultados mostraram uma prevalência de hipertensäo arterial da ordem de 34,29 por cento . Desse total 70,77 por cento eram portadores de hipertensäo arterial leve, e as maiores porcentagens de hipertensos foram encontradas nas faixas etárias a partir de 46 anos. Näo foi encontrada diferença significativa entre hipertensäo arterial e sexo, e 91,67 por cento dos pacientes hipertensos sabiam da sua condiçäo de hipertenso. Entretanto, apenas 1 em cada 9,72 mantinha a sua pressäo arterial controlada