Twenty-five percent, 50%, and 67% nitrous oxide was administered to 12 horses anesthetized with halothane and oxygen. Compared to halothane-oxygen alone, there was no significant difference in heart rate, systolic, diastolic, or mean blood pressure values, arterial pH, PaCO2, or plasma bicarbonate values when nitrous oxide was included. A significant linear reduction in PaO2 values could be correlated with N2O:O2 concentrations. The halothane level required to maintain surgical anesthesia was reduced when nitrous oxide was administered, but it was not affected by changing the nitrous oxide concentrations. Nitrous oxide concentrations greater than 25% provide no additional reduction in halothane requirement and may be accompanied by PaO2 values that pose risk to the horse.

Anesthesia, General↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Quality of life as a therapeutic end-point. An analysis of therapeutic trials in hypertension.

The term 'quality of life' is finding increasing use in the popular press and the medical community. In both areas, its use often lacks precision: a comprehensive and universal definition probably does not exist. Indeed, the precise elements contributing probably vary from person to person and from time to time. There is broad agreement that 5 major areas always need assessment, including physical and emotional state, performance of social roles, intellectual function and general feelings of well-being or life satisfaction. A wide range of instruments has been employed in a large number of studies on the effects of antihypertensive agents on quality of life in the patient with hypertension. Hypertension represents a special problem in which the patient is thought to be free of related symptoms, and treatment designed to improve natural history brings with it the burden of adverse reactions. Although some insights have been gained on the relative influence of various therapeutic regimens on the quality of life of treated patients, in many of the studies too little consideration has been given to the use of instruments that have been validated in the patient population to be studied, to the power of the study and its design, to the contribution of confounding variables such as age and gender, and to evidence that short term trials (measured in weeks) can miss important changes that occur over months in a process where treatment is life-long. For these reasons, we believe, the literature on the subject is burdened by many reports that describe no difference among treatment regimens where important differences might exist. On the positive side, important advances have been made in our understanding of the elements that contribute to quality of life and in approaches to its assessment.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Planning of human resources for health according to types, quantity and suitability to functions].

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Central America↗