the overall rate of atrial pacing lead dislodgement is estimated to be about 3%. these leads are generally repositioned via a second operation through opening the pacemaker pocket. some operators have introduced percutaneous techniques using snare system or deflectable catheters for this purpose. in this article we present our experience with five cases of percutaneous lead repositioning. three...

BACKGROUND Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) offers a very promising therapy for medically intractable dystonia. However, little is known about the long-term benefit and safety of this procedure. We therefore performed a retrospective long-term analysis of 18 patients (age 12-78 years) suffering from primary generalized (9), segmental (6) or focal (3) dystonia (...

BACKGROUND The risk of infection following a visit to the emergency department is unknown. We explored this risk among elderly residents of long-term care facilities. METHODS We compared the rates of new respiratory and gastrointestinal infections among elderly residents aged 65 years and older of 22 long-term care facilities. We used standardized surveillance definitions. For each resident w...

BACKGROUND Projections of physician shortages, an aging population, and insurance expansions have increased interest in expanding the number of primary care nurse practitioners (PCNPs) in the United States. Although information about the number and distribution of nurse practitioners is known, there is little information about the practice characteristics of PCNPs. The purpose of this study was...

BACKGROUND Since 2002, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has invited all hospitals and long-term care facilities for elderly (LTCFs) to participate in two annual point-prevalence surveys covering the most frequent types of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). In a comprehensive evaluation we assessed how well the system operates to meet its objectives. METHODS Surveillance protocol...

Population aging and changing family patterns have made elder care an important issue. In 1994, German lawmakers enacted a major reform in the country’s long-term care policy, the Dependency Insurance Act (DIA). How, and in what way, will the relative use of formal and informal long-term care services change in response? We address this question using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Eco...

This paper investigates the performance of a spatio-spectral template on Ikonos imagery to automatically detect small recreational boats. The spatio-spectral template is employed which is then enhanced through use of a weighted Euclidean distance metric adapted from the Mahalanobis distance metric. The purpose is to assist the Canadian Coast Guard in gathering data on recreational boating for t...