ptives. There is a significant impact of husbands (sexual partners) on the utilization and choice of contraceptive methods by women.

Basic life support (BLS) training is crucial in improvement of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) outcomes. Many studies have demonstrated improvement of skills after BLS training but the skills significantly decrease over time. Our study aimed to evaluate the retention of knowledge and skills after training following 2010 BLS guidelines in second year medical students at Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University.

One hundred and forty-nine second-year medical students were enrolled in the prospective cohort study. Participants were tested for knowledge and skills of BLS prior to training (pre-test), immediately after training (post-test) and six months after training (retention test).

The mean scores of pre-test, immediate post-test and retention-test were 8.52 (SD 1.88), 12.12 (SD 1.52) and 10.83 (SD 1.95), respectively. Improvement in knowledge score post-test and retention test were 3.60 (95% CI 3.22,3.99

<0.001) and 2.31 (95% CI 1.92,2.70

<0.001) respectively, compared with pre-test score and skills of BLS significantly improved after training in second year medical students. However, the knowledge decreased at 6 months after training although the BLS skills still remained.Cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) are essential management options for patients with brady- and tachyarrhythmias or heart failure with concomitant optimal pharmacotherapy. Despite increasing technological advances, there are still gaps in the management of CIED patients, eg, the growing number of lead- and pocket-related long-term complications, including cardiac device-related infective endocarditis, requires the greatest care. Likewise, patients with CIEDs should be monitored remotely as a part of a comprehensive, holistic management approach. In addition, novel technologies used in smartwatches may be a convenient tool for long-term atrial fibrillation (AF) screening, especially in high-risk populations. Early detection of AF may reduce the risk of stroke and other AF-related complications. The objective of this review article was to provide an overview of novel technologies in cardiac rhythm-management devices and future challenges related to CIEDs.

There are various cervical disc prostheses on the market today. They can be subdivided into implants with a ball-and-socket design and implants with a flexible core, which is captured between the implant endplates and sealed using various sheaths. Implants with an articulating surface are mostly metal-on-metal or metal-on-UHMWPE designs and, thus, do not allow for axial damping. The aim of this study is to provide mechanical safety and performance data of the MOVE-C cervical disc prosthesis which combines both an articulating surface and a flexible core.

MOVE-C consists of a cranial and caudal metal plate made of TiAl6V4. Gefitinib in vivo The cranial plate is TiNbN coated on its articulating surface. The caudal plate has a fixed polycarbonate-urethane (PCU) core. The TiNbN coating is meant to optimize the wear behavior of the titanium endplate, whereas the PCU core is meant to allow for a reversible axial deformation, a pre-defined neutral zone and a progressive load-deformation curve in all planes.

Various standard tes comparable to other cervical disc prostheses. Since PCU wear particles were elsewhere shown to be less bioactive than cross-linked UHMWPE particles, wear-related failure in vivo may be less frequent compared to other prostheses. This, however, will have to be shown in further studies.

The mechanical skull impedance is used in the design of direct bone drive hearing systems. This impedance is also important for the design of skull simulators used in manufacturing, service, and fitting procedures of such devices.

The skull impedance was measured in 45 patients (25 female and 20 male) who were using percutaneous bone conduction implants (Ponto system or Baha system). Patients were recruited as a consecutive prospective case series and having an average age of 55.4 years (range 18-80 years). Seven patients were treated in Gothenburg, Sweden, and 38 patients in Edmonton, Canada. An impedance head (B&K 8001), driven by an excitation transducer with emphasized low-frequency response, was used to measure the mechanical point impedance with a swept sine from 100to 10k Hz.

The skull impedance was found to have an anti-resonance of approximately 150 Hz, with a median maximum magnitude of 4500 mechanical ohms. Below this anti-resonance, the mechanical impedance was mainly mass-controlled corof direct bone drive hearing implants.

Patch-like wearable insulin delivery devices are gaining acceptance as a treatment modality for insulin delivery in patients with diabetes. These devices aim to simplify and optimize insulin delivery while reducing barriers associated with a basal-bolus insulin regimen. As clinicians aim to learn more about this method of insulin delivery, real-world evidence can provide insight for patient identification and treatment guidance. This study was performed to evaluate the change in glycemic control (A1C) and insulin total daily dose (TDD) after switching to V-Go wearable insulin delivery device in a type 2 diabetes population with suboptimal control using conventional insulin delivery regimens.

Electronic health records were queried to identify patients meeting inclusion criteria. Study objectives evaluated change in A1C and insulin TDD compared to baseline. A total of 283 patients were enrolled across 9 diabetes specialty sites.

A1C significantly decreased from baseline at 3 months (-1.01% ± 0.09; P=0.000udy represents the largest real-world study of the effectiveness of V-Go in patients with type 2 diabetes. Significant improvements in glycemic control with a reduction in insulin utilization were achieved across varying baseline insulin regimens and regardless of diabetes duration supporting the clinical benefits of this patch-like wearable insulin delivery device.

During esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), general anesthesia (GA) may be provided using a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) with the endoscope inserted behind the cuff of the LMA into the esophagus. Passage of the endoscope may increase the intracuff of the LMA. We evaluated a newly designed LMA (LMA

Gastro™ Airway) which has an internal channel exiting from its distal end to facilitate EGD. The current study compared the change of LMA cuff pressure between this new LMA and a standard clinical LMA (Ambu

AuraOnce™) during EGD.

Patients less than 21 years of age and weighing more than 30 kg were randomized to receive airway management with one of the two LMAs during EGD. After anesthetic induction and successful LMA placement, the intracuff pressure of the LMAs was continuously monitored during the procedure. The primary outcome was the change of intracuff pressure of the LMAs.

The study cohort included 200 patients (mean age 13.6 years and weight 56.6 kg) who were randomized to the LMA

Gastro™ Airway (n=100) or the Ambu

AuraOnce™ LMA (n=100).