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Erin Donnelly Michos, M.D., M.H.S.

  • Director of Women's Cardiovascular Health
  • Associate Professor of Medicine

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/results/directory/profile/0015713/erin-michos

Hypertension is usually mild but it may be severe and can persist after the drug has been discontinued hair loss minoxidil buy dutas 0.5 mg amex. Possible mechanisms causing hypertension include renin-angiotensin-aldosterone mediated volume expansion hair loss hyperthyroidism buy dutas, sodium retention and induction of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia hair loss control clinic buy genuine dutas. If the pill remains the only acceptable contraceptive hair loss cure june 2012 dutas 0.5 mg for sale, the elevated blood pressure should be reduced with appropriate therapy hair loss diabetes purchase cheapest dutas and dutas. Those who stop taking the drug should be evaluated for secondary hypertension after at least 3 months have elapsed to allow for the changes in renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system to remit hair loss zones discount 0.5 mg dutas. Miscellaneous Psychotropic drugs that interfere with antihypertensive agents hair loss kittens buy cheap dutas on-line, cyclosporine hair loss back of head cheap dutas amex, tacrolimus, erythropoietin. The immunomodulating drugs cyclosporine and tacrolimus can cause hypertension in >50% of instances. Possible mechanisms of hypertension include direct nephrotoxicity, production of renal vasoconstrictor eicosanoids, failure of vasodilator prostaglandin synthesis, interference with endothelial-derived relaxing factor or increased renal sympathetic activity. Because of cyclosporines binding to the intracellular calcium binding protein cyclophilin, the resulting hypertension is particularly sensitive to treatment with dihydropyridines. Evaluation for hypertensive crisis [40,41,42] Hypertensive crises are acute life-threatening syndromes associated with very high blood pressure or sudden marked increases in blood pressure. They require immediate reduction of blood pressure (within 1 hour usually with parenteral agents). When the rise in blood pressure causes acute damage to retinal vessels, the term accelerated-malignant hypertension is used. The separation between accelerated and malignant phases has been based on the presence of retinal haemorrhages or exudates (accelerated) and papilloedema (malignant). Since the clinical features and survival rates 42 Clinical guidelines for the management of hypertension of those with or without papilloedema are so similar there is no sound reason for such separation. Some conditions, including phaeo chromocytoma and renovascular hypertension, do so at a higher rate than does primary hypertension. However, because of the marked prevalence of the latter, most hypertensive crises appear in the setting of pre-existing primary hypertension. The primary pathophysiological abnormality is alteration of autoregulation in certain vascular beds, especially cerebral and renal, which is often followed by frank arteritis and ischaemia in vital organs. Autoregulation refers to the ability of blood vessels to dilate or constrict to maintain normal organ perfusion. Chronic elevations of blood pressure cause compensatory functional and structural changes in the arterial circulation and shift the autoregulatory curve to the right. This allows hypertensive patients to maintain normal perfusion and avoid excessive blood flow at higher blood pressure levels. When blood pressure increases above the autoregulatory range, the tightly constricted vessels can no longer withstand the pressure and are suddenly dilated. The medium and small arteries and arterioles show acute and chronic inflammatory changes associated with necrosis. Breakthrough of cerebral blood flow results in cerebral oedema and the syndrome of hypertensive encephalopathy. In previously normotensive persons whose vessels have not been altered by prior exposure to high pressure, breakthrough occurs at a mean blood pressure of about 120 mmHg but in hypertensive patients, breakthrough occurs at a mean level of about 180 mmHg. In children with acute glomerulonephritis and in women with eclampsia, hypertensive encephalopathy may develop at blood pressure as low as 150/100 mmHg. Clinical picture Hypertensive crisis can be recognized by the association of extremely elevated blood pressure with physical or laboratory findings of target organ damage. However, as indicated above, in formerly normotensive or minimally hypertensive individuals such as children and pregnant women, the condition may occur at relatively low blood pressure levels. The rapidity in rise of blood pressure is more important than the absolute level in producing vascular damage. Prognosis Before effective therapy was available, <25% of patients with malignant hypertension survived 1 year and only 1% survived 5 years. With effective therapy, including renal dialysis, >90% survive to 1 year and about 80% survive 5 years. Death in patients with severe hypertension is usually from stroke or renal failure when it occurs in the first few years after onset. If therapy keeps patients alive for >5 years, death will usually be due to coronary artery disease. Evaluation for hypertension in special groups and circumstances Pregnant women Hypertension during pregnancy is defined as blood pressure >140/90 mmHg on two measurements at least 4 hours apart, or a diastolic blood pressure >110 mmHg at any time during pregnancy or up to 6 weeks postpartum. This refers to hypertension appearing prior to pregnancy or before 20 weeks of gestation. This denotes hypertension associated with proteinuria (>300 mg/24 hours) developing after 20 weeks gestation. It is more common in nulliparous women, multiple gestations, women with hypertension for 4 years or more, those with a family history of pre-eclampsia, hypertension in previous pregnancy and renal disease. This is recognized by new onset of proteinuria after 20 weeks gestation in a woman with hypertension. This is characterized by the development of hypertension without proteinuria after 20 weeks gestation. It may represent a pre-proteinuric phase of pre-eclampsia, or the recurrence of chronic hypertension that abated in mid-pregnancy, and may evolve into pre-eclampsia. This is a retrospective diagnosis with normalization of blood pressure by 12 weeks postpartum. It may recur in subsequent pregnancies and is predictive of future primary hypertension. It is defined as average systolic or diastolic blood pressure equal to or greater than the 95th percentile for age, sex and height on at least three separate occasions. Blood pressure between the 90th and 95th percentiles is considered high normal or borderline hypertension. The most common causes of hypertension change during childhood, with secondary causes of hypertension predominating in the youngest patients and those in whom systemic hypertension is most severe. The long-term significance of blood pressure readings above the 95th percentile in an asymptomatic child remains uncertain, since tracking of blood pressure as children grow older does not tend to be persistent. The positive predictive value of a blood pressure reading above the 95th percentile in a 10-year old body being at a hypertensive level at age 20 years is only 0. Nonetheless hypertensive children, as defined above, should be given a limited investigation for target organ damage and secondary causes. If these tests are negative, the children should be carefully monitored and given non-pharmacological therapy. Those with severe hypertension (levels above the 99th percentile) should be rapidly and completely evaluated and given appropriate pharmacological therapy. Chronic renal disease or atherosclerotic renovascular disease are likely to be found. The elderly achieve even greater reductions in coronary disease and heart failure by effective therapy than younger hypertensives. The elderly may display two features that reflect age-related cardiovascular changes. If the arteries feel rigid but there are few retinal or cardiac findings to go along with marked hypertension, direct intra-arterial measurements may be needed before therapy. Women Women have lower systolic blood pressure levels than men during early adulthood while the opposite is true after the sixth decade of life. Diastolic blood pressure tends to be just marginally lower in women than men regardless of age. However, after the fifth decade of life, the incidence of hypertension increases more rapidly in women than men and the prevalence of hypertension in women is that in men during the sixth decade of life [49]. The effect of menopause on blood pressure is controversial, but postmenopausal women are more than twice as likely to have hypertension as premenopausal women. This may be attributed to estrogen withdrawal, overproduction of pituitary hormones, weight gain or a combination of other as yet undefined neurohormonal influences [50]. The effect of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy on blood pressure is likely to be modest. All hypertensive women treated with hormone replacement therapy should have their blood pressure monitored closely at first and then at 6-month intervals. Patients with diabetes mellitus [51,52,53,54,55] the association of diabetes mellitus and hypertension is more than that predicted by chance. About 50% of type 1 patients and 80% of type 2 diabetes mellitus have hypertension. The development of hypertension increases all the microvascular and macrovascular complications of diabetes. The absence of nocturnal fall in blood pressure may reflect autonomic neuropathy or incipient diabetic nephropathy. When hypertensive, patients with diabetes mellitus may confront the following unusual problems [56,57,58]. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, there has been a recent rapid increase in the prevalence of diabetes, particularly type 2. The prevalence rate in adults varies between 7% and 25% with an estimated 17 million people affected. Many countries in the Region are now reporting the onset of type 2 diabetes at an increasingly younger age, and in some countries type 2 is emerging in children. This might be related to the significant social and economic changes in the Region with rising rates of obesity, smoking and sedentary lifestyle [2]. Metabolic syndrome [59,60,61] Metabolic syndrome refers to a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors related to hypertension, abdominal obesity, dyslipidaemia and insulin resistance. The National Cholesterol Education Program [62] defines the syndrome by the presence of three or more of the five risk factors given in Box 4. The prevalence of the condition is highly age dependent and is associated in men with a 4-fold increase in risk for fatal coronary artery disease and a 2-fold greater risk of cerebrovascular disease and all-cause mortality. The cornerstone of treatment is appropriate lifestyle changes but if blood pressure exceeds 140/90 mmHg pharmacological therapy is indicated. Associated impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes and lipid abnormalities are managed according to standard guidelines. The index of suspicion should be high in any hypertensive patient whose body mass index exceeds 27 kg/m2. The impact of sleep apnoea on the cardiovascular system is probably related in large part to its association with elevated blood pressure. Episodes of apnoea with repeated oxygen desaturation have been shown to stimulate strong sympathetic nervous system discharges that directly elevate blood pressure. Other contributory factors for hypertension include the commonly associated obesity, impaired glucose tolerance and sleep deprivation. Other cardiovascular conditions associated with obstructive sleep apnoea include arrhythmias, myocardial ischaemia and failure and stroke. Renal transplantation [3] the prevalence of hypertension in patients receiving kidney allografts probably exceeds 65%. Nocturnal hypertension, a reversal of diurnal blood pressure rhythm, can present in renal transplant patients and they may need ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to evaluate overall blood pressure control. The mechanisms of hypertension in transplant patients are multifactorial and include vasoconstriction and structural vascular changes induced by calcineurin-inhibiting immunosuppression drugs (cyclosporine and tacrolimus), effect of steroid therapy, impairment of renal function that leads to salt and water retention and the occasional development of renal artery stenosis. Perioperative hypertension [7,66,67] Perioperative hypertension is defined as the presence of high blood pressure immediately before, during or after surgery that may require some attention to minimize risk to the patient. Treatment of hypertension Goals of therapy [3,5,68,69] the ultimate goal in treatment of the hypertensive patient is to achieve the maximum reduction in the long-term total risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Because most patients with hypertension, especially those aged 50 years, will reach the diastolic blood pressure goal once the systolic blood pressure is at goal, the primary focus should be on achieving systolic blood pressure goal. Treating systolic and diastolic blood pressure to target is associated with a decrease in cardiovascular complications. There are several strategies for achieving therapeutic goals: lifestyle modifications, pharmacological modifications and general strategies for hypertensive therapy. Lifestyle modifications Adoption of healthy lifestyles by all individuals is critical in the prevention of high blood pressure and an indispensable part of the management of those with hypertension. Lifestyle modifications decrease blood pressure, enhance antihypertensive drug efficacy and decrease cardiovascular risk. Patients with prehypertension and no compelling indication (including heart failure, prior myocardial infarction or stroke, high coronary risk status, diabetes mellitus, chronic renal disease) respond well to lifestyle modifications and usually do not need drug therapy. For all other abnormal blood pressure categories, drug therapy is indicated if goal blood pressure is not achieved by lifestyle modification alone. Treatment of hypertension 50 Clinical guidelines for the management of hypertension Table 6. Cessation of smoking [70,71,72] this is probably the single most powerful lifestyle measure for the prevention of non-cardiovascular and cardiovascular diseases, including stroke and coronary heart disease. Although any independent chronic effect of smoking on blood pressure is small and smoking cessation does not lower blood pressure, total cardiovascular risk is greatly increased by smoking. In addition, smoking may interfere with the beneficial effects of some antihypertensive agents such as adrenergic blockers. When necessary, nicotine replacement or buspirone therapies should be considered since they appear to be safe in hypertension and to facilitate smoking cessation. Attainment of ideal body weight is by no means necessary to produce lower blood pressure. Many hypertensive patients have much more than 10 kg of excess adiposity and many of them would no longer be hypertensive if they lost even this amount of body fat. The blood pressure lowering effect of weight reduction may be enhanced by a simultaneous increase in physical exercise. Thus, sedentary patients should be advised to take up modest levels of aerobic exercise on a regular basis such as brisk walking for at least 30 minutes per day, most days of the week. However, isometric exercise such as heavy weight-lifting can have pressor effect and should be avoided. When hypertension is Treatment of hypertension 51 poorly controlled, and always for severe hypertension, heavy physical exercise should be discouraged or postponed until appropriate drug treatment has been instituted and found to be effective. Reduction of salt intake and other dietary changes [75,76,77] Reducing dietary sodium intake to no more than 100 mEq/L (2. Patients should be advised to avoid added salt, to avoid obviously salted food (particularly processed foods) and to eat more meals cooked directly from natural ingredients containing more potassium. Hypertensive patients should also be advised to eat more fruit and vegetables, to eat more fish and to reduce their intake of saturated fat and cholesterol. It contains reduced amounts of total and saturated fat and cholesterol, and increased amounts of potassium, calcium, magnesium, dietary fibre and protein. Cessation of alcohol consumption [79,80] There is a linear relationship between alcohol consumption, blood pressure levels and prevalence of hypertension in populations. High levels of alcohol consumption are associated with a high risk of stroke, particularly so for binge drinking. Heavy drinkers may also experience a rise of blood pressure after acute alcohol withdrawal. If they insist on continuing to drink they should be advised, in any case, not to consume more than 30 ml of ethanol (the equivalent of two drinks per day) in men and no more than 15 ml of ethanol (one drink per day) in women and lighter-weight persons. Pharmacological therapy [81] Initial drug therapy is determined by the presence or absence of compelling indications. Diuretics have been virtually unsurpassed in preventing the cardiovascular complications of hypertension. They enhance the antihypertensive 52 Clinical guidelines for the management of hypertension efficacy of multidrug regimens and are more affordable than other antihypertensive agents. Compelling indications [7] Although the main benefits of antihypertensive pharmacotherapy are due to lowering of blood pressure per se, largely independent of the drugs used, various clinical trials have supported the use of certain antihypertensive drug classes for special patient groups by demonstrating the benefits of such therapy on the associated condition. This approach is illustrated by the antihypertensive drug selection in the following conditions [4,5,7]. One caveat with respect to antihypertensive treatment in patients with ischaemic heart disease is the finding by some studies of an apparent increase in coronary risk at low levels of diastolic blood pressure (a J-shaped curve).

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The pathogenesis of rheumatic fever is thought to be secondary to an immune response to antigens in the M protein of the capsule of the group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus latest hair loss cure 2013 order dutas line, which occurs in susceptible hosts and cross-reacts with similar epitopes in human joint tissue hair loss 4 month old order 0.5 mg dutas mastercard, heart hair loss for women buy dutas cheap, and brain tissue hair loss pregnancy order dutas overnight. Pathologic findings include inflammatory lesions that include perivascular granulomas consisting of infiltrates of cells and fibrin that are also known as Aschoff bodies revlon anti hair loss discount dutas 0.5 mg free shipping. The onset of disease occurs 1-5 weeks later with a mean of 18 days following the onset of pharyngitis hair loss cure etf purchase dutas uk. Two weeks later the patient begins to develop a low-grade fever and the inflammatory response of rheumatic fever hair loss cure 2010 buy dutas 0.5 mg lowest price. Major criteria include polyarthritis hair loss in men 40th purchase dutas online now, carditis, erythema marginatum, subcutaneous nodules, and chorea. The most common manifestation is polyarthritis occurring in up to 70% of patients, typically a migratory arthritis involving the large joints (knees, hips, ankles, elbows), which characteristically responds dramatically to salicylate therapy. Carditis occurs in approximately 50% of cases and includes myocarditis, pericardial effusions, arrhythmias, and valvular heart disease. Erythema marginatum (Figure 4-1) occurs in less than 10% of patients and is a nonpruritic serpiginous rash that occurs on the torso and is almost never seen on the face. The rash is evanescent and becomes more apparent following hot baths or being wrapped in warm blankets. Subcutaneous nodules are nontender, freely mobile nodules occurring usually over the bony surfaces of the elbows, wrists, shins, knees, ankles, and spine. Chorea occurs in up to 15% of cases and is a neuropsychiatric disorder that may include choreiform movements, hypotonia, emotional lability, anxiety, and an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Chorea usually occurs late, after the initial pharyngitis with the average time to onset of about 6-7 months. Recent evidence suggests that chorea is associated with the presence of antineuronal antibodies. The diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever is made with either 2 major manifestations or with a single major manifestation and 2 minor manifestations. If made by 1 major manifestation and 2 minors, the diagnosis should be supported by evidence of a preceding streptococcal infection either by a positive throat culture or by rising streptococcal antibody titers (eg, antistreptolysin O). There are 3 exceptions to the Jones criteria for diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever: 1. Indolent carditis may be the only manifestation in patients following the initial infection. Therefore, a presumptive diagnosis of recurrent rheumatic fever may be made with fewer than the usual number of criteria. Recurrent disease should only be diagnosed if there is supporting evidence of a recent streptococcal infection. Although some advocate prophylaxis to be continued at least until the patient is 21 years of age, others recommend that prophylaxis be lifelong. In patients who are penicillin allergic, prophylaxis can be substituted with either oral sulfadiazine or erythromycin. Recurrences of acute rheumatic fever usually occur within the first 5 years after the initial diagnosis and are characterized by more severe cardiac valve involvement. It is estimated that approximately 10-25% of patients with heart valve involvement will have complete resolution by 10 years. Initially, the affected valves develop regurgitation as a result of inflammation and valve dysfunction. However, with healing of the inflammation, long-term development of mitral valve stenosis can occur. This may be seen as early as 2-3 years following the acute episode but usually occurs 10-20 years later. Kawasaki disease is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children in the United States. The incidence ranges from 2-6/100,000 children and is highest in Asian American children. The peak incidence is at 1-2 years of age with 85% of the cases occurring in children younger than 5 years of age. The disease is uncommon in patients older than 8 years of age or younger than 3 months of age. The clinical manifestations include the presence of fever for at least 5 days, no other reasonable etiology, and 4 of 5 of the following: 1. Erythema of the lips, oral mucosa, and pharynx, including a strawberry tongue and cracking or peeling of the lips later into the disease 3. A polymorphous rash of the face, trunk, and extremities that later can involve the perineal area and is characterized by desquamation at 5-7 days (Figure 4-2) 4. In this instance, certain laboratory criteria should be met including hypoalbuminemia, anemia, increased serum alanine aminotransferase, thrombocytosis, leukocytosis, and sterile pyuria. The subacute phase occurs 11-25 days following the onset of fever and is characterized by a decrease in the rash and fever with the onset of desquamation of the fingers and toes. They are a result of the panvasculitis resulting in aneurysmal transformation of the coronary arteries and may be seen as early as 7 days after the onset of the fever. Their incidence peaks at 3-4 weeks and they are seldom found after 8 weeks into the course of the disease. Giant aneurysms are described as having a diameter greater than 8 mm and are associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Patients with aneurysms also have a higher incidence of developing stenoses leading to myocardial ischemia and infarction with long-term follow-up. Coronary artery rupture is the most common cause of mortality in the subacute phase; myocarditis, heart failure, and arrhythmias are the most common causes of mortality in the acute phase within the first 10 days after the onset of fever. Echocardiography is recommended for assessment of coronary artery involvement with Kawasaki disease. The most recent recommendations suggest that an echocardiogram is obtained at diagnosis, and if no coronary disease is seen, then it should be repeated in 6-8 weeks. If coronary artery involvement is documented, then follow-up should be more frequent based on the extent of disease. If aneurysms persist past 2 months, then aspirin or other anticlotting agents should be continued. Parasternal short-axis images of coronary artery aneurysms associated with Kawasaki disease. The signs and symptoms of infective endocarditis include acute findings of fever, anorexia, weight loss, pallor, night sweats, myalgias, and new onset of a heart murmur, usually as a result of valve disease from infection. Later findings result from embolic phenomena and include splinter hemorrhages, Roth spots (retinal hemorrhages), Janeway lesions, Osler nodes, splenomegaly, clubbing, arthralgias, arthritis, glomerulonephritis, and aseptic meningitis (Figure 4-4). The pathogenesis of infective endocarditis results from the initial setting of a jet of blood or turbulence within the heart leading to endothelial damage and formation of a sterile clot or vegetation. Splinter hemorrhages are linear hemorrhages under the nails that do not reach the nail margin. Osler nodes are tender, erythematous nodules often occurring in the pulp of the fingers. Pathologic evidence either by surgery or embolectomy of an infected thrombus within the heart. Two positive blood cultures with the same organism with no other source other than the heart. The type of echocardiogram performed, whether it be transthoracic or transesophageal, depends on the age of the patient and the ability to achieve good acoustic windows. However, Staphylococcus aureus a nd Staphylococcus epidermidis have become important causes of infective endocarditis. Infants with sepsis are also at higher risk for endocarditis with no underlying cardiac disease. However, in 90% of cases, the causative agent may be identified by obtaining at least 3 blood cultures during the first 24 hours of hospitalization. Congenital heart defects such as atrial septal defect, peripheral pulmonary stenosis, and mitral valve prolapse without mitral regurgitation are not considered to be highrisk lesions for development of infective endocarditis, and thus bacterial endocarditis prophylaxis is not indicated in these situations. Other complications associated with endocarditis include mycotic aneurysms, localized cardiac abscesses, and autoimmune phenomena such as nephritis and arthritis. These procedures include dental procedures where bleeding is anticipated, tonsillectomy, cardiac surgery, incision of infected sites, urologic surgery, and Foley placement in the presence of a urinary tract infection. Endotracheal intubation is not associated with a high incidence of bacteremia and thus antibiotic prophylaxis is not required. A statement for health professionals from the Committee on Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis, and Kawasaki Disease, Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young, American Heart Association. His vital signs indicate a heart rate of 101 bpm and a blood pressure of 130/85 mm Hg (greater than the 95th percentile for age). Renal parenchymal hypertension is caused by all except which of the following mechanisms On the third visit, the patient continues to demonstrate evidence of systemic hypertension with elevated blood pressure recordings. Beta-blockers are useful for treatment of hypertension but are contraindicated in all but which of the following The patient returns with a hypertensive crisis with a systolic blood pressure greater than 180 mm Hg and a diastolic blood pressure greater than 110 mm Hg associated with headache, vomiting, and pulmonary edema. Which of the following is not a common cause of secondary hypercholesteremia in children Which of the following is a true statement regarding the treatment for hypercholesterolemia in children A 10-year-old child with physical features of tall stature, a long thin face, scoliosis, pectus excavatum with a family history of sudden death at a young age (an uncle who died while playing basketball) presents for a preparticipation sports physical. What findings during routine pre-participation physical examination would place a child at risk for sudden death during sports Severe hypertension is defined as blood pressure recordings greater than the 95th percentile by 8-10 mm Hg. Accurate blood pressure recordings are crucial for this diagnosis and should be taken in a quiet, nonthreatening manner. The width of the blood pressure cuff should be 40-50% or more of the arm circumference. Smaller blood pressure cuffs result in erroneously high blood pressure recordings. Anxiety leading to transient elevations in blood pressure (white coat hypertension) accounts for up to 40% of elevated blood pressure recordings in children. Because the diagnosis of hypertension should not be based on a single reading, medical therapy and testing for secondary causes of hypertension are not appropriate during this first visit. Primary hypertension is the most common syndrome in older patients such as this child, whereas secondary hypertension is common in younger patients with more severely elevated blood pressure recordings. Ninety percent of secondary causes are because of renal parenchymal disease, renal artery disease, and coarctation of the aorta. Increased serum catecholamine levels causing hypertension are seen with pheochromocytomas or with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (11 hydroxylase deficiency or 17-hydroxylase deficiency). Hypertension is also seen with use of certain drugs or medications and in cases of hypercalcemia. The important features of the history include a past medical history of urinary tract infections, cardiovascular surgeries, weakness or cramps, medication use, and tobacco use. Important features of the family history include history of hypertension or premature heart disease. The important features of the physical examination include accurate blood pressure recordings in 4 extremities, assessment for heart murmurs or bruits, assessment of peripheral pulses, assessment of renal tenderness, and a thorough eye examination. If there is severe hypertension and end-organ involvement or hypertension refractory to therapy, then tests evaluating for secondary causes of hypertension can be performed. In severe hypertension or persistent hypertension despite nonpharmacologic interventions, pharmacologic agents are often used that include diuretics, beta blockers, and vasodilators. However, they are contraindicated for use in patients with asthma (can precipitate bronchospasm), diabetes (prevents manifestation of symptoms of hyperglycemia), and in patients with bradycardia. Hypertensive crises can be associated with neurologic signs or congestive heart failure. Administration of parental medications is important for the acute treatment of hypertensive emergencies. Several long-term prospective studies have shown that lowering serum cholesterol levels decreases the risk for coronary artery disease in the future. This has prompted a more aggressive approach to screening and therapy for hypercholesterolemia in young patients. The current recommendations for serum cholesterol screening include the child of a single parent with a cholesterol level greater than 240 mg/100 mL or if the history is unobtainable but there is a suspicion of hypercholesterolemia. The recommendations to perform a serum cholesterol level and lipoprotein analysis include children with parents or grandparents with a history of coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery, men younger than 55 years of age, women younger than 65 years of age, and children with parents or grandparents with a documented myocardial infarction among men younger than 55 years of age or women younger than 65 years of age. If serum cholesterol levels are higher than 200 mg/dL, lipoprotein analysis is indicated. Lipoprotein analysis requires the patient to be fasting for 12 hours before the testing. It occurs with an incidence of approximately 1 in 300 individuals and is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. Laboratory analysis reveals elevation of cholesterol and/or elevation of triglyceride levels. The etiology of familial combined hyperlipidemia is a result of an increased apoB-100 production by the liver related to multiple genetic factors. The clinical course is characterized by late onset of coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease. Familial hypercholesterolemia occurs in approximately 1 in 500 individuals and is inherited in an autosomal codominant fashion. In the heterozygous form, there are elevated serum cholesterol levels and a high risk of premature coronary artery disease. In the homozygous form, there is severe hypercholesterolemia with increased risk of myocardial infarction. Mild hypertriglyceridemia is associated with obesity, glucose intolerance, hyperuricemia, and increased alcohol intake. Severe hypertriglyceridemia is a result of a deficiency of lipoprotein lipase and is associated with recurrent pancreatitis, hepatosplenomegaly, and xanthomas. In children older than 2 years of age, initial treatment includes the Step 1 diet recommended for approximately 3 months. If the serum cholesterol level remains elevated, then a Step 2 diet is recommended for 6-12 months. The clinical features include a long thin face, tall stature with the arm span greater than the height, pectus excavatum or carinatum, scoliosis, lens subluxation, and high arched palate (Figure 5-1). Patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy do not have the physical stigmata described in this case, but it is an important diagnosis in cases where there is a family history of sudden unexpected death. Patients with Turner syndrome have physical stigmata consistent with short stature and webbed neck; patients with Down syndrome also have short stature with characteristic facial features. Aortic stenosis because of a bicuspid aortic valve and coarctation of the aorta are commonly seen in patients with Turner syndrome, and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction may be seen in patients with severe forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The typical examination feature in a patient with mitral valve prolapse includes a systolic ejection click that varies in timing when the patient is standing versus when he is squatting. A diastolic murmur of mitral regurgitation may be heard in conjunction with more severe cases of mitral valve prolapse. This is to avoid precipitation of further aortic root dilation or rupture and to avoid retinal detachment. It is recommended that patients with Marfan syndrome undergo routine echocardiographic evaluation to assess aortic root dilation as well as routine ophthalmologic examinations. Physical findings of Marfan syndrome, hypertension, decreased peripheral pulses, or a pathologic murmur such as the harsh systolic murmur described would indicate the need for further evaluation. The finding of a family history of diabetes, respiratory, sinus arrhythmia, or a single elevated blood pressure returning to normal at subsequent visits would not place this patient at risk for sudden death during sports. This child is admitted and the workup performed is negative except for posterior rib fractures on the right of ribs 9 and 10. Discharge plans from the hospital should include (A) home monitoring until there is no apnea for 6 weeks, and weekly visits to the pediatrician (B) home monitoring for 2 years and daily home nursing visits (C) routine health care and no monitoring because there is no evidence that home monitoring prevents later death (D) routine health care and home monitoring for 6 months if apnea does not recur (E) routine health monitoring and home monitoring until the age of 1 year 9. Although hypomagnesemia may cause seizures, hypoglycemia, hypocalcemia, and hyponatremia are the 3 electrolyte disturbances most frequently associated with seizures. Knowledge gained from a careful history of the event will direct the testing required and urgency of those tests. Detailed questioning should include the duration of the event, color change in the infant, respiratory efforts made by the child, and the intervention required for the episode to cease. An understanding of the ambient lighting available to the observer may also be helpful. The presence of dried blood in the nose of this small child should prompt the clinician to consider the possibility that this is nonaccidental trauma. If nonaccidental trauma is high on the list of possible etiologies, the workup for other concomitant trauma should be pursued with an ophthalmologic examination for retinal hemorrhage and a radiographic skeletal survey for occult fractures.

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Shows the imaging results when increasing the spatial resolution and how this is helpful in depicting details hair loss treatment using onion order dutas with paypal. Tools GmbH hair loss cure news 2015 order cheap dutas online, Berlin hair loss shampoo purchase generic dutas line, Germany *Presenting author Introduction: Kidney diseases represent an important public health problem with increasing incidence hair loss in men quotes purchase on line dutas. The renal corticomedullary sodium gradient is necessary for proper function of the kidney hair loss in men xl purchase dutas discount, thus changes of the gradient indicate a malfunction hair loss cure news 2017 generic dutas 0.5mg. Therefore we designed a quadrature birdcage coil tai lored for sodium imaging of small rodents at 9 hair loss cure 5 k order 0.5mg dutas with amex. Birdcage Builder [3] was used in order to estimate the initial values of distributed capacitors hair loss in men eyebrows buy dutas without prescription. The bench mea surements were performed on a saline phantom (V=200mL,[NaCl]=600mM, =0. Each channel of the bird cage coil was tuned to the resonant frequency of sodium at 9. For using the circularly-polarized mode of the coil an additional Tx/Rx switch and hybrid combiner was design and built. The refection coeffcients of both chan nels (S11 and S22) were measured to be lower than -49dB and the transmission coeffcient (S12) was lower than -20dB (Fig. Figure 2D shows the simulated transmit feld (B +) for the phantom and the measured B +-feld. Our bench measure ments showed very good agreement with the results derived from the simulations. After having achieved our frst sodium images, we are now looking forward to optimize the sequences and to improve the image quality. Methods: Thirty one children aged 3-18 years (30 girls), with acute pyelonephritis were examined. Control examinations were performed in 31 patients after six months with both methods. A growing body of evidence supports the key role of hemodynamics in stenosis formation, there fore longitudinal studies with repeated evaluations of local hemodynamic conditions and vas cular structural changes over time are needed to investigate the relationship between disturbed fow and stenosis development. Three cardiac cycles were solved to avoid start-up transients and only the third cycle was saved for post-processing. This achievement, besides entailing a reduction in medical costs, may signifcantly improve the quality of life of patients. Scanning was performed on a 3T Philips Ingenia scanner (Multi-Transmit, d-Stream). Data Analysis: Kidney volumes were computed from localiser images using Analyze9 software. All values reported are the mode of histogram analysis of these multi-parametric maps. To assess reproducibility, the coeffcient of variance (CoV) of measures was computed between sessions. In 2013 renal function started worsening and renal biopsy revealed signifcant glomerulosclerosis with stripped interstitial fbrosis and tubular lesions, typical of cyclosporine-toxicity. They were than quantifed within the kidney regions, by ftting a segmented biexponential model. Current results, albeit promising, should be considered as preliminary, as this was a single case study. Results showed no statistical differences between the two groups (+/ water intake). Preferably, segmentation is performed on the functional scan itself, instead of adding an ana tomical scan for this purpose. This overcomes the need of coregistration of kidney masks and possible misalignment. Since manual segmentation is laborious, multiple approaches for kid ney segmentation have been developed. During k-means clustering, voxels are partitioned into a user de fned number of clusters based on the similarity of the R2* decay curve. Next, the cluster contain ing the kidney was identifed by a mouseclick of the user. Erosion and dilation of the mask was used to delete, for example, the renal artery and to smooth the edge of the mask. Sometimes, the spleen had to be deleted manually because it was contained in the initial mask and connected to the kidney. The convex hull of this mask was used as region of interest, since a tool to eliminate the collecting system already was available. For comparison, also manual segmentation was performed, where the collecting system was included for consistency. To quantify similarity between the manually segmented mask and the clustered mask, the Jaccard index was used, the size of the intersection divided by the size of the union of both masks, which approaches 1 in case of perfect agreement. The R2* value was calculated with a mono-exponential ft to the signal change over the echoes. Extraction of R2* values separate for cortex and medulla was performed by ftting a Gaussian and gamma function to the histogram of the R2* values (3) using an in-house developed Matlab tool. Thresholding was used to eliminate the collecting system, as published earlier (4). Clustering took on average 41s for one scan (including cropping and excluding the spleen, if necessary), while manual delineation took on average 103s. A drawback is the need for manual elimination of the spleen in a quarter of the scans. In future implementations, this possibly can be automated by incorpo ration of shape information, which probably also would overcome the need for manual image cropping. Further research must elucidate whether the algorithm also works for other functional imaging modalities. Methods Fifteen subjects were scanned twice with an interval of at least one week. Using a 2D multi-echo gradient echo sequence, 20 echoes were acquired, the frst at 4. The collecting system was eliminated using a thresholding approach, as published earlier (5). The compartmental method (6) was used to extract separate values for cortex and medulla. Here, a Gaussian and gamma function representing cortex and medulla are ftted to the histo gram of R2* values. In the repeatability analysis, left and right kidneys were treated as separate measurements. However, in these studies subjects were scanned either 1-2 weeks apart or on the same day. The larger time interval between scans in our study can be an explanation for the decreased repeatability of medullary R2*. The difference in repeat ability between cortex and medulla in our study might be explained by the uncontrolled water and salt intake. In future research, the infuence of post-processing on the repeatability can be investigated, for example compartmental analysis (6) compared to region of interest based approaches to extract separate R2* values for cortex and medulla. Before carrying out studies in pathological conditions it is important to gain data of a healthy population. In this study we, with a single scan protocol determine baseline values of total and regional renal blood fow, oxygenation, true and apparent diffusion and T1 in healthy volunteers. No signifcant difference between right and left kidney or between gender was found for any of the studied parameters. Signifcant interregional differences between cortex, outer and inner medulla was found for perfusion, oxygenation level, diffusion and T1. This is important knowledge for further studies in pathological kidney conditions Graphs abstract Eckerbom et al. In this case fully automatic kidney segmentation can be employed to alleviate the process. In the past, many explicitly designed and/or data-driven methods have been investigated. However, the applicability, given suffcient training data, is limited to expressive image modalities and robustness may vary strongly. These categorical and continuous variables can be combined in one unifed model [3], allowing for versatile applications. The annotated training data is split at each node so that similar annotations are grouped in the same leaf nodes. We make use of nodes that allow for a depth dependent importance weighting of the used variables. As such, the forest identifes the upper and lower poles of the kid neys by estimating the respective distance vectors for a given amount of randomly chosen voxels. In contrast, classical approaches for organ segmentation such as Multi-Atlas or Statistical Shape Models require a large and/or expressive dataset in terms of variability, to cope with any unseen images. In addition, different modalities can be provided to the forests to make use of multiple modalities. Thus, the provided T1w and T2w sequences have been affnely preregistered for use in conjunction. We report mean values jointly for both kidneys based on two-fold cross-validation. The individual statistical differences were verifed using Wilcoxon signed rank test. However, the major limitation with the use of an external organ as reference is the possible presence of undiagnosed pathology in that organ, which could add uncertainty to the normalization. In conclusion, the medulla is an ideal candidate for normalization because of its close proximity to the cortical tissue. Dmitry Kupriyanov1,*, Georgiy Chermenskiy2, and Mariya Vishnyakova2 1Philips Healthcare, Russia 2Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute *Presenting author Progressive fbrosis accompanies all chronic renal diseases and involves an accumulation of col lagen in extracellular matrix. Usually fbrosis results in loss of kidney function when normal tissue is replaced with scar tissue [1]. The severity of kidney fbrosis can be evaluated by biopsy followed by histopathological assessment [2]. Also, the dynamic contrast enhancement was used to assess kidney fbrosis on the base of two compartment tissue permeability model [4]. Regions of kidney with decreased washout were suspected as areas of diffuse fbro sis. Applied techniques could be used to distinguish normal and fbrotic tissues in kidneys. Hopefully, after histological evaluation the severity of kidney fbrosis can be assessed quantitatively. Common and unique mechanisms regulate fbrosis in various fbroproliferative diseases. Although the principal role of the kidney is the maintenance of acid-base balance, current imaging approaches are unable to assess this important parameter, and clinical biomarkers are not robust enough in evaluating the severity of kidney damage [2]. Therefore, novel noninvasive imaging approaches are needed to assess the acid-base homeostasis in vivo [3]. Methods A fank incision was made in Balb/C mice to expose the left renal pedicle to induce 20 (n=6), or 40 min (n=6) of ischemia which was followed by reperfusion. An acquisition matrix of 96 x 96 was reconstructed to 128 x 128 with a feld of view of 3 x 3 cm2 (in plane spatial res olution =234 m) and a slice thickness of 1. Quantifcation of tubular injury score was assessed by counting the percentage of tubular ne crosis and casts in ten felds of H/E kidney stained sections using a scale from 0 to 5. Results A signifcant increase of renal pH values was observed as early as one day after the ischemia reperfusion damage for both moderate and severe ischemia models (Fig. Notably, renal pH values were signifcantly correlated with the histopathological score (Fig. Methods Balb/C mice (n=6) were subjected to unilateral (left kidney) ischemia for 30 min followed by reperfusion. Histological staining confrmed extensive injury after the induced I/R injury in the clamped kidneys, whereas negligible damage was observed in the contralateral control kidneys. In medical imag ing, accurate segmentations make it possible to obtain crucial structural and functional tissue information, including localization, shape and volume estimation, and quantifcation of imag ing-derived biomarkers. A common stumbling block for supervised learning methods based on deep neural networks is the large number of labeled examples required for training. Creat ing labeled data for a segmentation model typically involves producing manual delineations, a time-consuming, diffcult and often unreliable process. Note that the ground-truth is not exact, which makes the Dice coeffcient a less reliable measure of success, requiring additional visual inspection for assessment. A limitation of our experiments so far is restriction to labelling and testing only the time-frames where the kidney cortex show close to maximum enhancement. Accurate segmentation of structures in medical images is crucial for a wide variety of disorders and organ systems, and our transfer learning based approach to segmentation is broadly ap plicable. By transferring knowledge from a task with ample supply of annotated training data to another with few training examples, one can enable application specifc automatic segmenta tion with relatively modest need for manual input. The dual pathway structure incorpo rates local and global information in the input data. There was no signifcant difference between apparent diffusion coeffcient and phase contrast blood fow measures. Thus far four patients have completed one year follow up scans, these results are currently being analysed. The increase in renal volume may be associated with increase in interstitial oedema and infammation which is also refected in the raised T1 values at point of injury. Hyperpo larized [13C,15N]urea is an alternative marker of renal function that correlates well with renal oxygenation under normal conditions, while the aberrant renal oxygen consumption in diabetes diminishes this relationship2. Background: Immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy is one of the most common kidney diseas es. The buildup of IgA in the kidneys results in local infammation which, over time, can lead to end-stage kidney disease. Renal biopsy is the only diagnostic method to confrm IgA, however, it is not suited for monitoring disease progression longitudinally due to its invasiveness. All imaging protocols were executed in a paracoronal slice orientation covering both kidneys. Results: In the stiffness map, the atrophic kidneys in the patient are apparently softer than the kidneys of the healthy volunteer. As no signifcant differences between left and right kidneys were obtained for all imaging parameters, data from both kidneys are pooled for further group analysis. As such, it is particularly suited for subjects with impaired renal function where contrast agents are typically contra-indicated. Motion correction consisted of image registration combined with weighted averaging [2]. A tail vein catheter was inserted for injection of hyperpolar ized [1-13C]pyruvate. A midline incision in the abdomen was made and the left renal artery was carefully dissected. An infatable clamp was placed around the renal pelvis, and secured with ligature on the underlining muscle layer. After the animal was placed in the scanner the clamp was infated, and pressure was released after 30 min giving rise to 30 min of ischemia. In previous studies with 24 hours of reperfusion we have previously seen an elevation in anaerobic metabolism if severe injury has been induced, or no difference in anaero bic metabolism compared to the contralateral if mild/moderate injury has been induced3. Here we fnd a completely new situation with an initial metabolic boost after 2 min of ischemia, which probably is a response to waste product build, energy demand and initial hypoxia. Conclusion: In conclusion we here found an initial elevation lactate/pyruvate ratio in both kidneys after 30 min of ischemia and 2 min of reperfusion. After 1 hours of reperfusion we see a reduction in aerobic metabolism in the contralateral kidney. Current ly, there is no clinical recognized non-invasive method to evaluate and quantify fbrosis in the kidney over time. Similar we wanted to investigate the utility of 23Na T2 mapping as fbrosis marker. Methods: Rats were subjected to 40 min of bilateral renal ischemia and reperfusion period was either 7 (200g n=6), 14 (250g n=5) or 21 days (310g n=5). A 1H T weighted Fast Spin Echo coronal and axial scan was acquired 2 for an anatomical 1H scout. We do currently not know the exact reason to this early elevation, but histological examinations will also be performed on tissue slices for further investigation. We speculated this was caused by the very different pathological conditions with high variation in water content on the different models. Figure 1: (left) Protein levels of Fibronectin, normalized to total protein in sample. Confounding factors such as tubular volume fraction should be taken in account for the interpretation of renal T2* mapping and for a reliable information about renal tissue oxy genation. Methods A diffusion phantom was built using a 50ml falcon tube flled with a 5% solution of agarose and three substances with known diffusion properties: sunfower oil, de-ionized water and ac etone. Ex-vivo experiments using a perfused rat kidney embedded in agarose and in-vivo experiments with an adult female dark Agouti rat with respiration triggering were performed at a 9.

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The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia web based Manual of Use and Interpretation of Pathology Tests hair loss with chemotherapy safe 0.5mg dutas. The classifications above are simplified so that comparable data presentation is possible and possible confounding effects of enterprise specific structures are avoided hair loss 6 months after stopping birth control generic dutas 0.5 mg online. For example hair loss in men messenger safe dutas 0.5mg, for medicine hair loss in men taking prednisone order dutas 0.5 mg visa, the job classification collected in the national health labour force collection is very broad hair loss wellbutrin xl order dutas overnight delivery. State/territory health authorities have more detailed classifications for salaried medical practitioners in hospitals hair loss cure 2015 histogen discount 0.5 mg dutas free shipping. These classifications separate interns hair loss journey buy line dutas, the resident medical officer levels hair loss cure 300 generic 0.5mg dutas free shipping, registrar levels, career medical officer positions, and supervisory positions including clinical and medical superintendents. Space restrictions do not at present permit these classes to be included in the National Health Labour Force Collection questionnaire. Use this code where a client is receiving treatment or assistance for both their own alcohol and/or other drug use and the alcohol and/or other drug use of another person. Collection methods: To be collected on commencement of a treatment episode with a service. Comments: Required to differentiate between clients according to whether the treatment episode concerns their own alcohol and/or other drug use or that of another person to provide a basis for description of the people accessing alcohol and other drug treatment services. Objective evidence for acute coronary syndrome related medical conditions are classified as: Chronic lung disease: Diagnosis supported by current use of chronic lung disease pharmacological therapy. Heart failure: Current symptoms of heart failure (typically shortness of breath or fatigue), either at rest or during exercise and/or signs of pulmonary or peripheral congestion and objective evidence of cardiac dysfunction at rest. The diagnosis is derived from and substantiated by clinical documentation from testing according to current practices. Peripheral arterial disease: Peripheral artery disease: diagnosis is derived from and substantiated by clinical documentation for a person with a history of either chronic or acute occlusion or narrowing of the arterial lumen in the aorta or extremities. Other vascular conditions: Atrial fibrillation: diagnosis supported by electrocardiogram findings. Collection methods: For each of the following medical conditions the clinical evidence status must also be recorded: Chronic lung disease Heart failure Stroke Peripheral arterial disease 261 Sleep apnoea syndrome Other vascular conditions Comments: Heart failure: Chronic heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome with typical symptoms. National Heart Foundation of Australia and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (Chronic Heart Failure Guidelines Expert Writing Panel). Guidelines for the prevention, detection and management of chronic heart failure in Australia, 2006. Collection methods: this data element should be recorded for each type of procedure performed that is pertinent to the treatment of acute coronary syndrome. All patients ready for care must be assigned to one of the urgency categories, regardless of how long it is estimated they will need to wait for surgery. There are two forms of co-location: a health service that is built and managed as a ward or unit within an acute care hospital; or the health service operates in a separate building but is located on, or immediately adjoining, the acute care hospital campus. In the second option, units and wards within a psychiatric hospital may be classified as co-located when all the following criteria apply: a single organisational or management structure covers the acute care hospital and the psychiatric hospital; a single employer covers the staff of the acute care hospital and the psychiatric hospital; the location of the acute care hospital and psychiatric hospital can be regarded as part of a single overall hospital campus; and the patients of the psychiatric hospital are regarded as patients of the single integrated health service. Excludes residential mental health services and ambulatory mental health services. Data element attributes Collection and usage attributes Guide for use: There is no arbitrary limit on the number of conditions specified. Comments: Complications of labour and delivery may cause maternal morbidity and may affect the health status of the baby at birth. Data element attributes Collection and usage attributes Guide for use: Examples of these conditions include threatened abortion, antepartum haemorrhage, pregnancy-induced hypertension and gestational diabetes. Comments: Complications often influence the course and outcome of pregnancy, possibly resulting in hospital admissions and/or adverse effects on the fetus and perinatal morbidity. Abnormal reactions to , or later complication of, surgical or medical care arising during the episode of admitted patient care. Conditions arising during the episode of admitted patient care not related to surgical or medical care (for example, pneumonia). A previously existing condition that is exacerbated during the episode of admitted patient care. Conditions that are suspected at the time of admission and subsequently confirmed during the episode of admitted patient care. Conditions that were not diagnosed at the time of admission but clearly did not develop after admission (for example malignant neoplasm). Conditions where the onset relative to the beginning of the episode of admitted patient care is unclear or unknown. The sequencing of diagnosis codes must comply with the Australian Coding Standards and therefore diagnosis codes should not be re-sequenced in an attempt to list diagnosis codes with the same condition onset flag together. When it is difficult to decide if a condition was present at the beginning of the episode of care or if it arose during the episode, assign a value of 2 Condition not noted as arising during this episode of care. Explanatory notes: the flag on external cause, place of occurrence and activity codes should match that of the corresponding injury or disease code. The flag on morphology codes should match that on the corresponding neoplasm code When a single diagnosis code describes a condition and that code contains more than one concept. When a condition requires more than one diagnosis code to describe it, it is possible for each diagnosis code to have a different condition onset flag. Comments: the condition onset flag is a means of differentiating those conditions which arise during, or arose before, an admitted patient episode of care. Having this information will provide an insight into the kinds of conditions patients already have when entering hospital and what arises during the episode of care. A better understanding of those conditions arising during the episode of care may inform prevention strategies particularly in relation to complications of medical care. The flag only indicates when the condition had onset, and cannot be used to indicate whether a condition was considered to be preventable. N[N]} Maximum character length: 6 Source and reference attributes Origin: International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision, Australian Modification National Centre for Classification in Health, Sydney. Comments: Required to monitor trends in the reported incidence of congenital malformations, to detect new drug and environmental teratogens, to analyse possible causes in epidemiological studies, and to determine survival rates and the utilisation of paediatric services. Data element attributes Collection and usage attributes Guide for use: Select the option above that best describes the type of formal committee mechanisms with in your organisation for ensuring participation by mental health consumers in the planning and evaluation of services. The contracting hospital will record the establishment identifier of the contracted hospital. This flag is to be used by the contracting hospital to indicate a procedure performed by a contracted hospital. It also indicates whether the procedure was performed as an admitted or non-admitted service. Allocation of procedure codes should not be affected by the contract status of an episode: the Australian Coding Standards should be applied when coding all episodes. In particular, procedures which would not otherwise be coded should not be coded solely because they were performed at another hospital under contract. Some jurisdictions may require these to be separately identified and they could be distinguished from contracted hospital procedures through the use of an additional code in the contract procedure flag data item. For example, a patient has a hip replacement at Hospital A, then receives aftercare at Hospital B, under contract to Hospital A. Complications arise and the patient returns to Hospital A for the remainder of care. For example, a patient is admitted for endoscopy at Hospital B under contract to Hospital A. For example, a patient is admitted to Hospital B for a gastric resection procedure under contract to Hospital A and Hospital A provides after care. Relational attributes Implementation in Data Set Coronary artery cluster Health, Standard 01/10/2008 Specifications: Conditional obligation: Record when a coronary artery bypass graft is performed. Stenting is a non-surgical treatment used with balloon angioplasty or after, to treat coronary artery disease to widen a coronary artery. The purpose of the stent is to help hold the newly treated artery open, reducing the risk of the artery re-closing (re stenosis) over time. Angioplasty with stenting typically leaves less than 10% of the original blockage in the artery (Heart Center Online). If so determine when it was undertaken within or prior to the last 12 months (or both). Collection methods: this data is derived from visual reporting by the physician reporting the angiogram. A country, even if it comprises other discrete political entities such as states, is treated as a single unit for all data domain purposes. Thus, Hawaii is included in Northern America (as part of the identified country United States of America), despite being geographically close to and having similar social and cultural characteristics as the units classified to Polynesia. Data element attributes Collection and usage attributes Collection methods: Some data collections ask respondents to specify their country of birth. Recommended questions are: In which country were you/was the person/was (name) born Australia Other (please specify) 304 Alternatively, a list of countries may be used based on, for example common Census responses. Source and reference attributes Submitting organisation: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Data element attributes Collection and usage attributes Guide for use: this data element is applicable to registered health professionals who are employed in the registered profession only. Data is self-reported based on the country of employment in the registered profession in the week before registration. Where a health professional works in their profession in Australia and another country, then code one should selected. Source and reference attributes Submitting organisation: Acute coronary syndrome data working group. Collection methods: Measurement of creatinine should be carried out by laboratories, or practices, which have been accredited to perform these tests by the National Association of Testing Authority. Serum creatinine by itself is an insensitive measure of renal function because it does not increase until more than 50% of renal function has been lost. Creatinine is normally produced in fairly constant amounts in the muscles, as a result the breakdown of phosphocreatine. The elevation in the creatinine level in the blood indicates disturbance in kidney function. Patients should be assessed for the complications of chronic renal impairment including anaemia, hyperparathyroidism and be referred for specialist management if required. Patients with rapidly declining renal function or clinical features to suggest that residual renal function may decline rapidly (ie. Patients in whom the cause of renal impairment is uncertain should be referred to a nephrologist for assessment. A year derived from an accurate month and accurate age is always an accurate year. The Date accuracy indicator can be useful for operational purposes to indicate the level of accuracy that a date has been collected at any point in time. It can indicate whether the stored date needs to be followed up until it reaches the intended minimal required accuracy. For example, if a person was brought in unconscious to an emergency department of a hospital the level of accuracy of the date collected at that point may not be satisfactory. The Date accuracy indicator provides information on the accuracy of the entered dates that may require further action. For future users of the data it may also be essential they know the accuracy of the date components of a reported date. Without a corresponding flag to determine this accuracy the analysis or report will be contaminated by those estimated dates. Comments: Provision of a date is often a mandatory requirement in data collections. For future users of the data it is essential they know that a date is accurate, unknown or estimated and which components of the date are accurate, unknown or estimated. Date to be recorded from documentation on the laboratory test results and/or the medical record. Relational attributes Implementation in Data Set Acute coronary syndrome clinical event cluster Health, Standard Specifications: 01/10/2008 Conditional obligation: If a clinical event has occurred, record the date when it was experienced by the person. Collected or estimated age would usually be in years for adults, and to the nearest three months (or less) for children aged less than two years. Additionally, an estimated date flag or a date accuracy indicator should be reported in conjunction with all estimated dates of birth. For example, a child who is thought to be aged 18 months in October of one year would have his/her estimated date of birth reported as 0104 of the previous year. Again, an estimated date flag or date accuracy indicator should be reported in conjunction with all estimated dates of birth. In order to maintain data integrity and the greatest possible accuracy an indication of the accuracy of the date collected is critical. The collection of an indicator of the accuracy of the date may be essential in confirming or refuting the positive identification of a person. Comments: Privacy issues need to be taken into account in asking persons their date of birth. Wherever possible and wherever appropriate, date of birth should be used rather than age because the actual date of birth allows a more precise calculation of age. In situations where the client has had no contact with the treatment provider for three months, nor is there a plan in place for further contact, the date of last service contact should be used. Refer to the glossary item Cessation of treatment episode for alcohol and other drugs to determine when a treatment episode ceases. The date must be later than or the same as the treatment commencement date for the episode of treatment for alcohol and other drugs. Comments: Required to identify the cessation of a treatment episode by an alcohol and other drug treatment service. If more than one change of qualification status occurs on a single day, the day is counted against the final qualification status. Comments: Required to identify the commencement of a treatment episode by an alcohol and other drug treatment service. Interval between pregnancies may be an important risk factor for the outcome of the current pregnancy, especially for preterm birth and low birthweight. Where Date of birth is collected, Date of death must be equal to or greater than Date of birth for the same person. Collection methods: It is recommended that in cases where all components of the date of death are not known or where an estimate is arrived at from age, a valid date be used together with a flag to indicate that it is an estimate. For record identification and/or the derivation of other metadata items that require accurate date of death information, estimated dates of death should be identified by a date accuracy indicator to prevent inappropriate use of date of death data. The linking of client records from diverse sources, the sharing of patient data, and data analysis for research and planning all rely heavily on the accuracy and integrity of the collected data. The collection of Date accuracy indicator may be essential in confirming or refuting the positive identification of a person. For this reason it is strongly recommended that the data element Date accuracy indicator also be recorded at the time of record creation to flag the accuracy of the data. Context: Patient administration system, cancer notification system, population cancer statistics, research. Incidental diagnosis of cancer: If a patient is admitted for another condition (for example a broken leg or pregnancy), and a cancer is diagnosed incidentally then the date of diagnosis is the date the cancer was diagnostically determined, not the admission date.