Background: Our objectives for this exploratory study were (1) to assess the prevalence in a family practice of violent victimization of women and men by partners, friends, families, and strangers, and (2) to compare the physical symptoms, depression, alcohol use problems, and social support of women and men who were or were not victimized in the previous 12 months.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, multicenter study of family practice patients (1999 -2000). One-thousand twenty-four patients, including 679 women and 345 men from 18 to 64 years of age completed a standard health history and a demographic questionnaire. The health history questionnaire included a question about violent victimization.Results: Violent victimization was reported by 9.9% of the women and 10.9% of the men. Patients who were victimized were grouped into those who were victimized by partners (4.9% of women and 3.0% of men); by friends, or family, or strangers (2.3% of women and 5.0% of men); or by more than one category of persons other than partners (2.6% of women and 3.0% of men). Almost one third of patients victimized by partners were also victimized by another person. Women who were victimized had more physical symptoms than women who were not victimized. Women who were victimized and men who were victimized by their partners had more depressive symptoms than other women and men.

Adventure racing of approximately 100 hours causes significant symptomatic injury and illness and mood state disruption, which generally resolve within a fortnight following racing. Disrupted mood and symptoms of illness and injury indicate athlete susceptibility to overreaching or overtraining without sufficient recovery.

Objectives: Intravenous fluid warming devices with surface heating systems transfer heat using aluminum blocks, which if uncoated elute toxic levels of aluminum into the infusate. This study examined extractable aluminum detected from prolonged use of the updated version of the enFlow® cartridge, which uses a parylene-coated aluminum heating block. Methods: In dynamic bench tests, we measured the concentration of aluminum that leached into three solutions (Sterofundin ISO, Plasma-Lyte 148, and whole blood) that were continuously pumped (0.2 and 5.5 mL min−1) and warmed to 40°C by the enFlow cartridge (parylene-coated) for 5 h. Prolonged quasi-static bench tests measured aluminum concentration in 16 solutions which were gently rocked within the enFlow cartridge (parylene-coated) for 72 h at 40°C. Aluminum concentrations were measured using inductively coupled mass spectroscopy and matrix blank corrected. Measured aluminum concentrations were compared to a Tolerable Exposure limit to calculate Margins of Safety based on the US Food and Drug Administration maximum recommended concentration in parenteral fluids (25 μg L−1). A parallel pilot in vivo animal study was performed using mice injected with fluids warmed for 72 h by the enFlow cartridge (parylene-coated). Results: The enFlow cartridge (parylene-coated) demonstrated low toxicological risks in all tests. Sterofundin ISO resulted in the highest aluminum concentration after simulated prolonged use of the enFlow cartridge (parylene-coated) (3.11 μg device−1), which represents a 99.2% decrease from the enFlow cartridge (uncoated) and Margin of Safety of 1.7. Dynamic tests at two different flow rates with three challenge solutions resulted in concentrations less than the method detection limits (20.6 or 41.2 μg L−1) of the analysis method. The animals in the in vivo study showed no evidence of toxicity. Conclusion: Observed toxicological risk levels associated with the enFlow cartridge (parylene-coated) intravenous fluid warmer were below those set by the Food and Drug Administration and suggest that the use of enFlow cartridge (parylene-coated) is safe with a variety of intravenous solution types and in different therapeutic scenarios.

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Background Perioperative hypothermia is a common occurrence, particularly with the elderly and pediatric age groups. Hypothermia is associated with an increased risk of perioperative complications. One method of preventing hypothermia is warming the infused fluids given during surgery. The enFlow™ intravenous fluid warmer has recently been reintroduced with a parylene coating on its heating blocks. In this paper, we evaluated the impact of the parylene coating on the new enFlow’s fluid warming capacity. Methods Six coated and six uncoated enFlow cartridges were used. A solution of 10% propylene glycol and 90% distilled H2O was infused into each heating cartridge at flow rates of 2, 10, 50, 150, and 200 ml/min. The infused fluid temperature was set at 4 °C, 20 °C, and 37 °C. Output temperature was recorded at each level. Data for analysis was derived from 18 runs at each flow rate (six cartridges at three temperatures). Results The parylene coated fluid warming cartridge delivered very stable output of 40 °C temperatures at flow rates of 2, 10, and 50 ml/min regardless of the temperature of the infusate. At higher flow rates, the cartridges were not able to achieve the target temperature with the colder fluid. Both cartridges performed with similar efficacy across all flow rates at all temperatures. Conclusions At low flow rates, the parylene coated enFlow cartridges was comparable to the original uncoated cartridges. At higher flow rates, the coated and uncoated cartridges were not able to achieve the target temperature. The parylene coating on the aluminum heating blocks of the new enFlow intravenous fluid warmer does not negatively affect its performance compared to the uncoated model.