37), decisional conflict (P = 0.51), and knowledge items (P = 0.31). For patient experience, the traditional group reported the visits were significantly more relaxed (mean 4.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.8-5.0) than the checklist group (mean 4.5, 95% CI 4.3-4.7). Our results suggest that having a family member complete the informed consent checklist prior to meeting with the surgeon did not improve, and may worsen, the consent experience for some families. Other methods need to be evaluated to determine the optimal consent process from the family's perspective.Introduction To predict patient outcomes in traumatic brain injury (TBI) lesions, various scores have been proposed, which use objective assessments. These scores, however, rely on the observer's ability to determine them. This study presents a comprehensive, reproducible, and more anatomically stratified objective measurement of the degree of basal cistern effacement in brain computed tomographic (CT) scan images. Methods Patients with TBI admitted from August 2015 to February 2016 were included. The control group consisted of non-trauma patients, who had normal brain CT scans. The images were analyzed by an automated volumetric compression ratio (CR) defined as the volume ratio between the parenchymal tissue and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the basal cisterns. This value was compared with the TBI severity recorded at each patient's admission and a consensus score of the basal cisterns' degree of effacement by manual analysis. Results Seventy-three TBI patients were admitted. The mean admission Glasow Coma Scale (GCS) score was 9. In the non-TBI control group, 29 patients were enrolled. The average kappa value for the inter-observer agreement was 0.583. The CR had an inverse linear relationship with the severity of the TBI and the degree of effacement of the basal cisterns. The correlation between the CR value in the midbrain and the specialists' consensus determination was statistically significant (p less then 0.01). The CR also showed a difference between the TBI and the control groups (p 0.0001). Conclusions The automated CR is a useful objective variable to determine the degree of basal cistern effacement. The proposed ratio has a good correlation with the classical basal cistern effacement classification and TBI severity.Background 'Rule of halves' depicts the overall picture of hypertension that prevails in a community. This study was taken up to understand if the traditional 'rule of halves' of hypertension still prevails or is it time to shift to the proposed 'rule of three-quarters'. The objectives of the study were to estimate (i) the prevalence of hypertension among adult residents of Madani Nagar rural community in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka state in southern India, (ii) the proportion who are aware of their disease among hypertensive patients, (iii) the proportion who are on treatment among those who are aware of their disease, and (iv) the proportion having adequate blood pressure control among those on treatment. Materials and methods This was a cross-sectional study carried out in Madani Nagar, Dakshina Kannada from February to April 2020. Complete enumeration method was followed and all adults aged ≥ 18 years who consented were included in the study. Data collection was done using a pre-validated questionnaire and blood pressure was recorded as per World Health Organization guidelines. Results A total of 661 individuals were enrolled in the study. The prevalence of hypertension was 29.2%. Only 55.4% of hypertensive patients were aware that they had the disease, and among them, 96.3% were on treatment. Among those on treatment, 58.3% had adequate control of blood pressure. Conclusion The hypertension pattern of the community leans more towards the traditional 'rule of halves' of hypertension and it is still a long way ahead until the proposed 'rule of three-quarters' can be achieved.Non-gestational choriocarcinoma of the ovary is a very rare neoplasm. It carries a worse prognosis as compared to gestational choriocarcinoma (GCC). Here, we report a case of non-gestational ovarian choriocarcinoma. The patient initially presented in a medical emergency with abdominal pain, a feeling of heaviness in the lower abdomen, cough, and dyspnea. The patient had four healthy children, and the last childbirth was five years ago. There was no history of any abortion or stillbirth in the past four years. A highly vascular left adnexal mass was observed on ultrasound abdomen and pelvis. Compute CT chest, abdomen, and pelvis were performed, which revealed metastatic left ovarian choriocarcinoma features. It also showed vascular metastases of the carcinoma in the kidneys, liver, and lungs. selleck inhibitor We report this case specifically emphasizing ultrasound, multidetector computed tomography (MDCT), and CT angiography findings.Ionizing radiation is clinically used to treat neurological problems and reduce pathological levels of neural activity in the brain, but its cellular-level mechanisms are not well understood. Although spontaneous and stimulated synaptic activity has been produced in rodents by clinically and environmentally relevant doses of radiation, the effects on basic excitability properties of neurons have seldom been reported. This study examined the effects of focused ionizing radiation on synaptic transmission and action potential generation in the squid giant-fiber system, which includes the giant synapse between a secondary interneuron and the tertiary giant motor axons. Radiation of 140-300 Gy was delivered to a stellate ganglion of a living squid over several minutes, with the contralateral stellate ganglion serving as an internal control. No qualitative changes in the efficacy of synaptic transmission were noted in conjunction with stimulation of the input to the giant synapse, although in one irradiated ganglion, the refractory period increased from about 5 ms to more than 45 seconds. Small but significant changes in the action potential recorded from the giant motor axon in response to electrical stimulation were associated with an increased maximum rate of fall and a shortened action potential duration. Other action-potential parameters, including resting potential, overshoot, the maximum rate of the rise, and the refractory period were not significantly changed. Attempts to account for the observed changes in the action potential were carried through a Hodgkin-Huxley model of the action potential. This approach suggests that an increase in the maximum voltage-gated potassium conductance of about 50% mimics the action potential shortening and increased rate of fall that was experimentally observed. We propose that such an effect could result from phosphorylation of squid potassium channels.