Total joint replacement is becoming a clinical commonplace. The hip is now often replaced, the knee and finger joints on a smaller but increasing scale, and widening interest is being shown in designs of implants for the total replacement of the elbow and shoulder joints. The largest experience (considering both numbers of patients and lengths of service) has been obtained with the hip, in whic...

Rising healthcare costs are unlikely to be sustainable in the current healthcare environment. Reducing costs is a major effort of governments and policymakers (1). One component of these costs is the wide range and overwhelming number of diagnostic tests (2). Laboratory testing of hospitalized patients can be redundant when multiple providers order the same or similar tests for the same patient...

BACKGROUND Presently the necessity of fasting time for coagulation tests is not standardized. Our hypothesis is that this can harm patient safety. This study is aimed at evaluating whether a light meal (i.e. breakfast) can jeopardize laboratory coagulation tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS A blood sample was firstly collected from 17 fasting volunteers (12 h). Immediately after blood collection, t...

Laboratory tests, including blood tests and urine analysis, are frequently performed in the dermatology outpatient clinic, but doctors often do not consider the cognitive or psychological effect of the examinations. Based on terror management theory, we hypothesized that performing laboratory tests increases the patient's fear of mortality, and therefore has a positive effect on the patient's a...

Owing to limitations of pump-and-treat, several technologies are being investigated for groundwater treatment. One of the most promising is the treatment of contaminants through the use of reactive barriers installed in situ, especially in the case of aquifers contaminated with chlorinated solvents. This work presents results of batch and column tests with metallic iron and some chlorinated sol...

OBJECTIVES To detect malarial parasites using the peripheral blood smear (PBS) and to compare the PBS with the immunochromatographic antigen test (i.e. OptiMAL and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)). METHODS Six ml of blood was collected from each of 170 patients clinically suspected of having malaria. These samples were used to perform PBS examination, the OptiMAL test and PCR by standard prot...

Laboratory liver tests are broadly defined as tests useful in the evaluation and treatment of patients with hepatic dysfunction. The liver carries out metabolism of carbohydrate, protein and fats. Some of the enzymes and the end products of the metabolic pathway which are very sensitive for the abnormality occurred may be considered as biochemical marker of liver dysfunction. Some of the bioche...