BACKGROUND Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are sporadic, acute worsening of symptoms. Identifying predictors of exacerbation frequency may facilitate medical interventions that reduce exacerbation frequency and severity. The objective of this study was to determine predictors of exacerbation frequency and mortality. METHODS A total of 227 COPD patients were enrol...

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year as a result of medical errors. The IOM report further states, ‘‘given current knowledge about the magnitude of the problem, the committee believes it would be irresponsible to expect anything less than a 50% reduction in errors over five years’’ (Kohn, Corrigan, &Donaldson, 2000, p. 4). Ten ye...

late spring chilling in spring is largely the cause for limiting almond production, so finding ways to reduce the loss is a priority in horticultural research. the government in iran established sahand horticultural research station in 1968 to invest in some late flowering almond cultivars, and this resulted in seven new cultivars in 1994, which can survive the late chillings that might occur i...

The relationship between hospital caseload or volume and the outcome of various surgical procedures has been well documented. However, such hospital caseload-outcome relationship (HCOR) has been seldom addressed in rare medical conditions, such as pleural infection, which is usually associated with pneumonia and may progress to systemic inflammation and severe sepsis. Pleural infection can be t...

INTRODUCTION While epilepsy is a well-characterized disease, the majority of emergency department (ED) visits for "seizure" involve patients without known epilepsy. The epidemiology of seizure presentations and national patterns of management are unclear. The aim of this investigation was to characterize ED visits for seizure in a large representative US sample and investigate any potential imp...