Scrambling For Safety In The Eye Of Dorian: Mental Health Consequences Of Exposure To A Climate-Driven Hurricane

As climate change alters the behavior of Atlantic hurricanes, these storms are trending stronger, wetter, and slower moving over coastal and island populations. Hurricane Dorian exemplified all three attributes. Dorian's destructive passage over the Abaco Islands, Bahamas, on September 1, 2019, exposed residents of its capital, Marsh Harbour, to a prolonged encounter with the storm's core. After Dorian's fierce front eyewall and towering storm surge tore apart shanty town habitats and eviscerated concrete homesites, residents desperately sought refuge during the brief respite when Dorian's eye passed directly overhead. The category 5 winds then resumed abruptly and Dorian continued its relentless destruction. This article focuses on the storm's mental health consequences, drawing on observations of on-site clinicians as well as findings from previous research on the mental health effects of Atlantic hurricanes and the transformation of hurricane hazards resulting from climate change. To protect island and coastal populations against climate-driven storms, disaster planning policy should emphasize resilience-focused prevention and mitigation strategies. In the aftermath of these events, health system response should include community outreach, case finding, and evidence-based interventions that optimize the use of mental health professionals.

Cardiomyoplasty: first clinical case with new cardiomyostimulator

Dynamic cardiomyoplasty was performed in a patient using a new cardio-myostimulator (LD-PACE II) designed to enable a novel stimulation regimen that utilizes a new range of stimulation options, including cessation during sleep. After treatment, left ventricular ejection fraction improved in 24 months from 15% to 25% and New York Heart Association classification improved from class IV to II.

Pneumomediastinum on a surgical service

Mediastinal emphysema results from multiple etiologies and is associated with a variety of underlying disease entities. Twenty five patients with pneumomediastinum treated on a surgical service over a 6 year period were reviewed. The cause of the mediastinal emphysema was related to trauma in seven patients, attempted central venous access in four patients, cardiopulmonary resuscitation in four patients and some type of Valsalva maneuver in ten patients. Besides the mediastinal emphysema, air may dissect into the peritoneal cavity, the pericardium, and the subcutaneous tissues within the neck and chest wall. Treatment of the mediastinal emphysema, per se, is expectant; success or failure is determined by treatment of the associated underlying problems. Deaths occurred in three patients after cardiopulmonary resuscitation and in one patient after crushing chest injury. One patient with an associated hydrothorax was found to have a perforated distal esophagus which was treated by emergency fundoplication. When associated diseases are absent and there is no evidence of pleural effusion or hydrothorax, no special diagnostic tests are indicated. Sequential chest x-rays are used to follow the pneumomediastinum through resolution, which usually occurs within 72 hours.

Boron Modifications Produced in an Induction-Coupled Argon Plasma

Most of the small particles (50 to 100 micrometers in diameter) of microcrystalline beta-rhombohedral boron that quickly transit an argon plasma maintained within a radio-frequency induction-coupled torch emerge as better crystallized spheroids of the same crystalline form and nearly the same size as the starting material. A few crystals of each of four distinctive, well-faceted habits are formed along with the general product. Three of these types are monocrystals of the beta-rhombohedral polymorph, of the tetragonal-III modification, and of an unreported cubic form of boron. Specimens of the fourth type are polycrystals of another unreported form of boron, apparently consisting of many hexagonal platelets stacked in an imprecise fashion.