Mediastinal widening on portable x-rays
The mediastinum may appear widened on a portable chest x-ray even for many reasons (other than the mediastinum actually being widened!)
Month January 2019
Bronchiectasis DDx
Bronchiectasis is a suppurative lung disease characterised by the presence of permanently and abnormally widened (dilated) bronchial airways. Bronchiectasis may be the end result of a number of etiological processes.
Ideal Helicopter Ventilator
Ideal helicopter ventilator
Sepsis Biomarkers
Reviewed and revised 20 December 2015 OVERVIEW At least 178 different sepsis biomarkers have been described in the published medical literature, reflecting the complex pathophysiology of sepsis e.g. coagulation, complement, contact system activation, inflammation, and apoptosis also biomarkers of complications, e.g.…
Arthritis DDx
Arthritis is inflammation of a joint (redness, warmth, pain, swelling, loss of function) that may be acute or chronic, and affect one or multiple joints.
Lithium Toxicity
Lithium: acute overdose is usually benign if adequate hydration is maintained and renal function is normal; chronic toxicity can be difficult to manage and result in devastating neurotoxicity
Methylene Blue
CLASS MECHANISM OF ACTION (1) low concentrations: methylene blue -> NADPH-dependent reduction to leucomethylene blue (due to action of methaemoglobin reductase) -> reduces methaemoglobin -> Hb(2) high concentrations: methylene blue -> converts ferrous iron of reduced Hb to ferric ion…
Hilar adenopathy DDx
Hilar lymphadenopathy, seen on chest x-ray or chest CT, can be classified as unilateral or bilateral, and if bilateral as symmetrical or asymmetrical.
Validity of Research and Measurements
OVERVIEW In general terms, validity is “the quality of being true or correct”, it refers to the strength of results and how accurately they reflect the real world. Thus ‘validity’ can have quite different meanings depending on the context! Reliability…
Aspiration Pneumonia
Aspiration Pneumonia = aspiration of oropharyngeal contents which includes colonizing flora and leads to infection.
Propofol-related Infusion Syndrome
Propofol-related Infusion Syndrome is a life-threatening condition characterised by acute refractory bradycardia progressing to asystole
Popular Misconceptions About Evolution
Ask the average lay person what they take the word evolution to mean, and few will reply “the change in the genetic frequency of a population over time”. The lack of understanding can be further evidenced by US figures where only 45% of people hold true the statement “human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals”.