BACKGROUND The utility of defibrillation threshold testing in patients undergoing implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation is controversial. Higher defibrillation thresholds have been noted in patients undergoing implantation of cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-D). Since the risks and potential benefits of testing may be higher in this population, we sought...

The purpose of this study was to assess (1) the incidence of safety margin testing <10 J (SMT) and (2) the efficacy/safety of routinely adding a subcutaneous array (SQA) (Medtronic 6996SQ) for these patients. Patients with SMT smaller than a 10-J safety margin from maximum output were considered to have very high readings and underwent SQA insertion. These patients were compared with the rest o...

Many physiological systems appear to have safety margins, with excess capacity relative to normal functional needs, but the significance of such excess capacity remains controversial. In this study, we investigate the effects of parasitic tracheal mites (Acarapis woodi) on the safety margin for oxygen delivery and flight performance of honeybees. Tracheal mites did not affect the flight metabol...

The concept of “margin” has a long history in nuclear licensing and in the codification of good engineering practices. However, some traditional applications of “margin” have been carried out for surrogate scenarios (such as design basis scenarios), without regard to the actual frequencies of those scenarios, and have been carried out in a systematically conservative fashion. In the RISMC proje...

Bowen's disease is an in situ squamous cell carcinoma of the skin with various treatment modalities available. A major advantage of surgical excision is the opportunity to histologically examine the resection margins. There is no consensus about the most appropriate margin. This retrospective study evaluates the clearance rates achieved by excision with a 5 mm margin and estimates how that migh...

In multistate life and health insurances, the pattern of states of the policyholder is random, thus exposing the insurer to an unsystematic biometric risk. For this reason safety margins are added on premiums and reserves. But in contrast to non-life insurance, traditionally the safety margins are not chosen explicitly but implicitly in form of a valuation basis of first order. If we define the...