Post mortem tryptase cut-off level for anaphylactic death.

Serum mast cell tryptase is used to support the diagnosis of anaphylaxis. The recommended clinical cut-off for total tryptase (<11.4µg/L) appears unsuitable in the post mortem setting due to largely unknown processes which result in significantly elevated levels in these samples. Consequently there is no widely accepted tryptase cut-off level for diagnosing an anaphylactic death. This 5-year retrospective study compared total tryptase levels in post mortem femoral blood in anaphylactic deaths and control. Univariate and multivariate analysis was used to assess the relative contribution of other factors (age, gender, post mortem interval, and presence of resuscitation) on post mortem tryptase levels. Nine anaphylactic deaths and 45 controls were identified. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis identified an optimal cut-off of 53.8µg/L, with sensitivity of 89%, and specificity of 93%, for total post mortem tryptase in femoral blood to diagnosis anaphylaxis. No other factors showed any statistical significant contribution to post mortem tryptase elevation. Femoral total post mortem tryptase level of 53.8µg/L and above is a useful ancillary test in diagnosing an anaphylactic death.

Trends in the use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in Australia: a 10-year nationwide study from 2000-2009.

BACKGROUND: Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) have been demonstrated to reduce mortality in survivors of life-threatening arrhythmias (secondary prevention) and in patients at increased risk of sudden cardiac death (primary prevention). Other nations have reported significant increases in ICD use in recent years. AIM: To investigate Australian nationwide trends of ICD procedures over a 10-year period (2000-2009). METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's National Hospital Morbidity Database was performed to determine the annual number of ICD implantation and replacement procedures between 2000 and 2009. Rates were calculated using Australian Bureau of Statistics data on the annual estimated population. Time trends in the yearly procedure number and rate were analysed using negative binomial regression models with comparisons made by age and sex. RESULTS: The number of new ICD implantations increased from 708 to 3198 procedures between 2000 and 2009. Replacement procedures increased from 290 to 1378. The implantation rate (per million) increased from 37.0 to 145.6 and the replacement rate from 15.1 to 62.7. When rates were adjusted for age and sex, the implantation rate increased annually by 15.8% and the replacement rate by 16.6% (P < 0.0001). Procedures occurred most commonly in men (implantations: 80.1%; replacements: 78.0%) between ages 70-79. CONCLUSIONS: ICD procedures increased significantly in Australia between 2000-2009. Despite these increases, other studies have suggested ICD devices are currently under-utilised. During the study period, males accounted for the majority of ICD procedures. While there are numerous reasons for this, it is not known if device under-use is more common in females.

Identification of pre-sliding friction dynamics.

The hysteretic nonlinear dependence of pre-sliding friction force on displacement is modeled using different physics-based and black-box approaches including various Maxwell-slip models, NARX models, neural networks, nonparametric (local) models and dynamical networks. The efficiency and accuracy of these identification methods is compared for an experimental time series where the observed friction force is predicted from the measured displacement. All models, although varying in their degree of accuracy, show good prediction capability of pre-sliding friction. Finally, we show that even better results can be achieved by using an ensemble of the best models for prediction.