Thompson, PhD, RN, CNS, CNOR Michelle Rovena Tinkham, MS, BSN, RN, PHN, CNOR, CLNC Andrea Patricia

Tonge, MS Sharon Ann Van Wicklin, MSN, RN, CNOR, CRNFA, CPSN, PLNC V. Doreen Wagner, PhD, RN, CNOR Maryann Wells, PhD, RN, FAAN Terry Wynkoop, MSN, RN If you enjoy reading and critiquing manuscripts and have an interest in maintaining the high quality of the AORN Journal, please consider joining the Peer Review Panel. Reviewers must be available for at least one year and be able to work online. For consideration, please send your resume or curriculum mTOR inhibitor drugs vitae to [email protected]. “
“January 2014, VOL 99, NO 1, page 37. A photo in the “AORN Board of Directors” article was incorrectly captioned. The caption for Stephanie S. Davis, MSHA, RN, CNOR, should have read, vice president of surgical services, Hospital Corporation of America, Nashville, TN. The Journal regrets the error. “
“January 2014, VOL 99, NO 1, pages 62 and 65. In the article, “Candidate Trichostatin A cost biographical information and election statements,” a leadership role for Kathy Greer Bertalon, MHA, BSN, RN, CNOR, was listed incorrectly and should have

read, “clinical resources manager for multiple value analysis programs at VHA, Inc. (2004-present).” Part of the election statement for Stephen Balog, MSN, BSN, RN, CNOR, was listed incorrectly and should have read, “I have served AORN locally as a chapter president and as a member of the AORN of Northern Virginia Board of Directors.” Two awards for Cheryl Langford, MSN, BA, RN, CNOR, were not listed but should have read,

“outstanding perioperative nursing practice, chapter award (2011), and exceptional contribution to perioperative nursing, chapter award (2013).” The Journal regrets these errors. “
“January 2014, VOL 99, NO 1, page 72. A web site URL was listed incorrectly in the “AORN Surgical Conference & Expo 2014 Exhibitors” article. The correct URL for the Accreditation Review Council on Education in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting is www.arcstsa.org. “
“Product descriptions Cediranib (AZD2171) are based on promotions furnished by the manufacturer or supplier. Publication in the New Products Showcase is not an endorsement by AORN of the product or supplier. Press releases for new products/services will be considered for publication. Please send submissions to the AORN Journal’s advertising sales representatives Jeffrey S. Berman at 215-249-3060 or [email protected] and Karin Altonaga at 714-801-8065 or [email protected]. Rings and precious jewelry remind you of loved ones while you care for the loved ones of others. Keep your jewelry safe while you do this important job by wearing an Abel Locket—elegance with form and function. Each Abel Locket is large enough to hold one or two rings. The lockets come in two sizes, in silver or bronze, and with or without a gemstone of your choice. The smaller locket is 22 mm by 27 mm by 12 mm.

In a discussion communicating the relationship of periodontal disease to diseases and disorders at distant sites to health care professionals and patients, smoking cessation interventions were a priority as part of a lifestyle approach to improve oral and general health outcomes [33]. However, periodontal practitioners perceived barriers for providing interventions against tobacco use, because of which activity

related to comprehensive tobacco interventions Roxadustat was low [34]. The efficacy and feasibility of oral cancer screening and tobacco cessation counseling by dental professionals in dental or community settings have been intensively evaluated [35]. The need for training of oral health care providers has been recognized [36] in the United States, Jordan, Nigeria, Spain, Ireland and Germany. The role of dental hygienists in oral cancer screening is particularly focused upon in the

United States, and Italy, and Spain. The need to increase the efficacy of oral cancer screening is therefore indicated [37]. The rate of tobacco abstinence as a result of interventions combining counseling in dental settings and medication by a general internist was similar to that achieved by standard medical care [38]. Free telephone-based tobacco counseling (quitline) is available nationwide in the United States. The Tobacco Assisted Referral approach, which assesses tobacco

use, provides tailored Pregnenolone advice and brief counseling, and encourages smokers to use quitline, was successfully integrated into routine dental SCH 900776 supplier care. This approach was well received by patients and resulted in increased patient satisfaction [39]. Although dental practitioners can assist patients who smoke by referring them to quitline, research evaluating the effectiveness of this method with regard to abstinence rate is necessary. In addition to utilizing the 5 A’s strategy regularly, dental professionals may be most effective in helping their patients to quit by proactively referring only highly motivated patients to quitline. Patients receiving telephone counseling quit tobacco use at higher rates, but only a small percentage of those proactively referred actually receive counseling [40]. Dental professionals see many youth in dental clinics and public facilities for oral health check-ups. The role of dental professionals in youth intervention has thus been recognized in these settings. Dental professionals understood their responsibility and perceived the need for training [41], although the effects of tobacco prevention and cessation interventions have not yet been confirmed. Training to increase the efficacy of intervention and promote an interdisciplinary approach to address tobacco issues has been recommended.

75 ng g−1) for feed intended for laying hens. These results were similar to those reported by Li, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang et al. (2009) but lower than those reported by Zheng et al. (2005). Li, Zhang, selleck antibody inhibitor Zhang, Zhang et al. (2009) obtained an LOD of 0.06–0.09 ng mL−1 for a monoclonal antibody-based ELISA developed

for peanuts. Zheng et al. (2005) evaluated an ELISA AgraQuant® for total aflatoxin detection in cereals and derivatives and obtained a LOD of 2.5 ng g−1 for corn. The precision of the ic-ELISA method was evaluated for repeatability and intermediate precision in terms of relative standard deviations (RSD) calculated as percentages (Table 1). The repeatability and intermediate precision showed RSDs ranging, respectively, from 4.26% to 10.13% (mean = 8.03%) and 9.95% to 13.63% (mean = 11.58%) for broiler feed and from 5.92% Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Library ic50 to 8.47% (mean = 6.94%) and

7.28% to 15.96% (mean = 12.49%) for laying hen feed. All the results were below the RSD values recommended by the Commission of the European Communities (2006), i.e., ⩽10.56% for repeatability and ⩽16% for intermediate precision for analysis at ng g−1 concentrations. Specificity was evaluated by the interference of each matrix without contamination. Matrix interferences in ic-ELISA were tested using feed samples intended for broilers and laying hens with non-detectable aflatoxin levels by HPLC. Matrix interferences in ic-ELISA can result from non-specific interaction caused by protein, pigments, fat and solvents, or steric hindrance, which would overestimate the real toxin level. The matrix effect could be minimised by sample dilution prior to the ELISA method (Ono, Kawamura, Ono, Ueno, & Hirooka, 2000). For the two types of feeds, 30-fold and 40-fold dilutions showed lower percentages of matrix interference. In addition, a calibration curve added by a blank of the sample extract (diluted 35-fold) was compared to a standard curve prepared in PBS: methanol (9:1) and the two curves were superimposed, indicating that the matrix effect was minimised (Zhang, Wang, Fang, Wang, & Fang,

2009). Taking into account that 35-fold is an intermediate dilution between 30-fold and 40-fold and that in commercial ELISA tests 35-fold dilutions Thymidine kinase are used, this dilution was selected for the standardised ic-ELISA in this study. Table 2 shows the aflatoxin recovery rates from feed intended for broilers and laying hens. In the laying hen feed, aflatoxin recovery by ic-ELISA ranged from 98% to 103% (mean = 102%; RSD 6.21%–11.90%) and from 90% to 107% (mean 98%; RSD 3.47%–14.79%) for the broiler feed. These results (Table 2) were similar to those reported for AFB1 recovery (94–113%) from rice samples spiked with 10–500 ng g−1 (Kolosova et al., 2006), but higher than aflatoxin recovery (87.5%) in peanut spiked with 4.0 ng mL−1 total aflatoxins (Li, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang et al., 2009).

70–110.42 mmol H+·100 g FW−1), when compared to apricot. However, the thick skin in passion fruit acts as a barrier and prevents the penetration of the infrared radiation to the pulp. Indeed, Guthrie et al. (2006) determined the total soluble solids in intact melon and observed a correlation coefficient lower than the correlation coefficient found for other fruits, being the difference attributed to the heterogeneity of SSC distribution within the fruit and the poor penetration of light through the irregular fruit skin. Dull, Birth, Smittle, and Leffler (1989) used two wavelengths to assess SSC in sliced melon ‘cantaloupes’ (913 and 884 nm) and in intact

melon (896 and 860 nm). The correlation coefficient for sliced melon and intact melon were 0.968 and 0.600, respectively, while RMSEP was 1.56 and 2.18, respectively for sliced melon and Veliparib solubility dmso intact melon. Those results clearly demonstrated that NIR can be more effectively used for the prediction of SSC in sliced melon when compared to intact melon. Flores et al. (2008) evaluated SSC in cut and intact watermelons and melons using a NIR diode array spectrometer. The results of SSC prediction for cut watermelons and melons were much better than those of intact watermelons and melons (cut watermelons: R2 = 0.92,

RMESCV = 0.49; intact watermelons: R2 = 0.81, RMSECV = 0.93; cut melons: R2 = 0.94, RMSECV = 0.60, intact melons: R2 = 0.87, RMSECV = 0.98). For passion fruit, the thick skin prevents the use of NIR to predict the composition of the internal pulp. In tomato, prediction of Selleck Everolimus models for non-destructive measurement by spectroscopic methods has generally been poor (Walsh, Golic, & Greensill, 2004). Tomatoes combine low concentrations (SSC and TA) and heterogeneous composition.

www.selleck.co.jp/products/erastin.html They are internally divided into different compartments so they cannot be considered as a homogeneous sphere. Each juicy compartment, with liquid and seeds, is surrounded by a flesh wall construction (Li, Yao, Yang, & Li, 2006), and this structure can interfere with the NIR radiation penetration. Chen (2008) determined soluble solids content and titratable acidity in two tomato varieties (‘DRK 453’ and ‘Trust’) in five different stages of maturity and found values remarkably low (R2 = 0.03 and 0.49; RMSEP 0.15 °Brix and 0.43 mg/ml, respectively). On the other hand, He, Zhang, Pereira, Gómez, and Wang (2005) found excellent results (R2 = 0.9 and 0.83, and RMSEP = 0.19 °Brix) using Vis/NIR spectroscopy, one tomato variety (Heatwave) at a single maturity stage. Sirisomboon et al. (2012) observed a high correlation for SSC of R2 = 0.8 and RMSEP of 0.21 °Brix for a single variety of tomato (Momotaro) at three different stages of maturity (mature green, pink, and red).

Sulphite and bisulphite ions are rapidly converted to SO2 gas when the sample is injected into a flow of sulphuric acid solution. However, the collection efficiency by the carrier electrolyte solution, and consequently the peak intensity, is a compromise

between the diffusion rate of SO2 gas through the PTFE membrane and the residence time of the sample in GDU. Accordingly, studies were carried out in order to first adjust the flow rate of H2SO4 (donor) and carrier electrolyte (acceptor) selleckchem solution. A small signal increase was observed for increasing flow rates (Fig. 2D), in addition to a more significant lixiviation rate of the electrode material. Accordingly, the flow rate of 1.5 mL min−1 was considered to be the best compromise and chosen for both, the donor and acceptor solutions. Then experiments were carried out varying another parameter and keeping the other parameters constant. For example, peak currents equal to 12.2, 13.0 and 12.5 μA were obtained respectively when 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mol L−1 sulphuric acid was used (Fig. 2A), implying the reaction is efficient even at 1.0 mol L−1 and not very much sensitive to the concentration of H2SO4. Similar result was obtained for the analytical path (Fig. 2C), whose increase in the 10–20 cm range was accompanied by a small increase of the peak current due to the lower dispersion of the sample

plug in the stream of sulphuric acid solution. The most significant parameter among all was shown to be the volume of the sample (Fig. 2B), which was controlled by the length of the sampling loop. In this case, the peak current increased from 10.2 to

14.3 μA when the injected volume was increased from 50 to 100 μL. U0126 mouse However, there was no further improvement of the signal, but rather a widening of the peak generating a flat plateau, when the injected volume exceeded a certain threshold value (in our case ∼100 μL). Accordingly, all experiments were carried out using the following optimised parameters: [H2SO4] = 2.0 mol L−1; volume of the sample = 75 μL; analytical length = 10 cm; and flow rate = 1.5 mL min−1. The dynamic range of the new cell was tested using standardised sodium sulphite samples in the range of 0.64–16 ppm of SO2. A linear Org 27569 correlation (R2 = 0.998) was found in the full range, but a better correlation (R2 = 0.99998) was observed in the 0.64–6.4 ppm range. One of the most remarkable characteristics of this method is the very low noise and high signal to noise ratio even at concentrations as low as 0.64 ppm of SO2 ( Fig. 2E), indicating that our FIA system has a much lower limit of detection, LOD, than the M-W method. In fact, there are different ways to estimate the limit of detection. One of the most accepted methods involves a relation between the magnitude of the analytical signal and the statistical variations of the blank signal. Thus, it was estimated as being 0.043 ppm of SO2 from the plots of current vs. sulphite concentration according to Eqs.

377 Ǻ) fixed incident angle theta = 0.5° and 1.0°, 2 theta in the range of 9–50° at a rate of 0.04°/point/second. This method provided a high photon density and a better pick resolution for the HA surface structural analyses. The GIXRD measurements were performed at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light National Laboratory (LNLS). Fourier Transformed Infrared Attenuated Total Reflectance IWR-1 mouse Microscopy (FTIRM-ATR) studies

were performed using a Shimadzu IR- Prestige-21/AIM-880 operating in Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) mode from 700 to 4000 cm−1. Surface images of HA disc no-coated (HA) and coated with BSA (HA + BSA) were obtained by SEM (Jeol-JSM-6460 LV) with dispersive energy spectrometer (EDS). Surface topography of HA disc before and after BSA adsorption with different concentrations were performed using a Nanowizard AFM (JPK) operating in intermittent contact with a resonant frequency of ∼75 kHz. Adsorption experiments were carried out in a batch system using HA powder and HA discs. Tubes containing 0.1 g of HA (in triplicate) were incubated with BSA (8 mL of solutions from 0 to 2 mg/mL) and moderately shaken for 24 h at 37 °C. Incubation period of 72 h showed no significant difference in the amount of protein Cobimetinib solubility dmso adsorbed. A control was set up at the same BSA concentration (without HA)

to allow corrections to be made for protein losses in the system. BSA adsorption isotherms were performed using 0.01 M and 0.05 M of phosphate buffer (K2HPO4/NaOH) and 0.01 M of acetate buffer (acetic acid/NaOH) solutions at pH 6.0. After incubation time, the supernatant obtained was analyzed by UV-Vis spectrometry. The amount of adsorbed protein was calculated from solution depletion. The same experiment described above was performed using HA discs and 0.1 mg/mL Endonuclease BSA. To know the amount of protein that was not effective adsorbed the HA + BSA samples were immediately immersed in phosphate buffer and the suspension was again moderately shaken for 24 hours at 37 °C and analyzed by UV–Vis.

SBF is an acellular aqueous solution with an ionic composition that closely resembles the human plasma and buffered to physiological pH 7.4 (n-SBF) [17]. The assessment of in vitro bioactivity was carried out by soaking HA and HA + BSA discs (0.1 mg BSA/mL in 0.05 M phosphate buffer) using 15 mL of Hepes-buffered “SBF”, maintained at 37 °C in polyethylene tubes. After soaking period of 7 days the discs were removed from the fluid, gently washed with Milli-Q water and dried at 37 °C before characterization. To evaluate surface modification occurred by HA dissolution in aqueous media a control sample was set up in parallel with HA disc immersed in 15 mL of Milli-Q water. Solution aliquots were collected with a micropipette, centrifuged and filtered through a 0.22 μm Durapore membrane (Millipore) with diameter equal to 13 mm. The calcium and phosphorus concentrations of the filtrate were determined by ICP-OES.

On this basis, and taking into consideration that human frontiers are

freely evolving in a Darwinian way, we will have to make some significant adjustments to our approach to FW and moral responsibility. So, if we go back into the mind of individuals we discover that “yes, we have a soul, but it is made of lots of tiny robots”. There is no immaterial “soul” but Bortezomib the complex wiring and the teamwork of these robots that act as they are trained to; as they are governed, inspired, adjusted and modulated by the cultural stuff entering our brain. This is a wonderful machine that manipulates ‘memes’ of information in an analogy with genes (Dennett, 2003). Dennett claims that in folk thinking if determinism is true then FW does not exist; therefore responsibility becomes a myth. This raises the question whether in folk psychology, the complex system of robots in our brain can be deemed responsible for its actions in the way that a soul would be? If the answer is yes, then the robots in our mind could be held accountable by law. There are some pioneering experiments in which the participants in a task cheated a lot if they were previously convinced by reading a passage in a book that their SCH727965 ic50 brains are only a pack of neurons, that FW is only an illusion

and that their choices are predetermined (Vohs & Schooler, 2008). In our opinion, those experiments seem to indicate that the agent’s behaviour can be modified at any time, only if the idea of FW in memory contents is modified by external inputs. To this regard, TBM stands basically on the assumption that the meta-representation of self in a conscious agent (what we call self-awareness) stands on memory content, thus a transient modification of memory content may cause a very different representation

of the self and of the inherent behaviour. A further assumption is that the conscious feeling of exercising FW in voluntary Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase actions is fundamental to the self-attribution of agency and responsibility. Self-attribution of agency and responsibility poses Self (at least the meta-representation of it) at the centre of awareness waiting for the pronouncement of a blame or a prize, depending on the action outcome. This transient condition of the Self is a necessary prerequisite of human cognition. In order to address the FW issue and its related questions, TBM must necessarily concern itself with conscious will and intentional actions. Intentionality can be defined as: “the power of minds to be about, to represent, or to stand for, things, properties and states of affairs” (Jacob, 2010). Therefore, we must consider TBM’s agent to be of sound mind and dealing with reality, although we cannot claim with any certainty that either the motivations leading to the action or the critical evaluations of the outcome on the part of the agent might not cross over into conscious awareness. We usually consider the purpose of acting as premeditated, i.e. as the mental causes of our actions only if we over-intellectualise.

We intersected our assessment of forest restoration need with forest ownership and management allocations spatial data compiled by Halofsky et al. (in press). We considered six ownership categories (US Forest Service, US Bureau of Land Management, State, Other Public, Tribal, Private), and three levels of forest management intensity (Restricted, Limited, General). Restricted management includes forests where mechanical treatments are typically not allowed, Selleck DAPT such as Wilderness Areas, National Parks, Inventory Roadless Areas,

and Research Natural Areas. Limited management includes forests in which mechanical treatments may be allowed with certain limitations, such as late successional reserves. General management refers to lands where mechanical treatments are allowed. We used an “equal distribution” approach to determine restoration need by forest ownership and management designation at the level of map zones. Our restoration need calculations provide the percentage of total hectares for each present day sub-strata (landscape unit × biophysical setting × s-class) Torin 1 concentration currently “in need” of disturbance and/or successional restoration. We also determined for each present day

sub-strata the number of hectares within each ownership × management designation category. We then made the assumption that the overall percentage of a sub-strata in need of each restoration need transition applied equally across ownership × management designation categories. Consequently, we calculated the number of hectares in need of each restoration need transition for each ownership × management designation × sub-strata. Finally, we summed these values to total active and growth restoration need per ownership and management designation category per map zone. 17-DMAG (Alvespimycin) HCl We recognize in some areas with mixed federal and private lands (e.g., checkerboard ownership configurations), a more generalized

and variable allocation of restoration needs by landowners could emerge. We found that approximately 41% (4,742,000 ha) of all coniferous forest in eastern Washington and eastern and southwestern Oregon was in need of a transition to a different s-class in order to restore forest structure to a NRV reference condition (Table 3, Fig. 4 and Fig. 5). Across these regions Disturbance then Succession was the most common restoration need category (20% of all forests, 5,678,000 ha) followed by Disturbance Only (14%, 3,920,000 ha) and Succession Only (7%, 2,120,000 ha; Table 3). On the largest individual ownership, the US Forest Service, approximately 38% (2,412,000 ha) of coniferous forests was in need of transition to a different s-class. Only (16%) of the overall restoration needs and 14% of the Disturbance Only plus Disturbance then Succession restoration needs on US Forest Service lands were within Restricted management areas.

Engaging inpatients in outpatient treatment programs before discharge has been found to increase adherence to outpatient services (Boyer, McAlpine, Pottick, & Olfson, 2000). However, serious gaps in the continuity of care have been recurrently reported (Adair et al., 2003) and many patients receive no immediate or much delayed outpatient aftercare (Boyer et al., 2000). Psychological treatments for inpatients are not readily available on acute inpatient units (Mullen, 2009). When such treatments are available,

they rarely span over the critical transition period between inpatient and outpatient services. The selleck lack of psychological services in acute inpatient settings is perhaps explained by complicating features of the ward milieu such as short

and unpredictable admission lengths, diverse and preliminary diagnoses, high symptom severity, behavioral disturbance, lack of relevant staff training, and occasional staff skepticism towards psychotherapy (Curran et al., 2007 and Mullen, 2009). Research indicates that cognitive and behavioral therapies (CBTs) can be successfully adapted for inpatients with depression (Cuijpers et al., 2011) as well as mixed diagnostic groups (Durrant et al., 2007, Lynch et al., 2011 and Veltro et al., 2008). The research is however preliminary and the magnitude of psychotherapy see more effects may be smaller than the ones observed in other contexts (Cuijpers et al., 2011). The effectiveness of CBTs for depressed inpatients has been argued to improve if outpatient sessions are scheduled after discharge as it ensures consolidation of skills learned during admission (Stuart et al., 1997 and Thase and Wright, 1991). There is promising data from inpatient depression trials where CBTs start during inpatient treatment and continue after discharge (Miller et al., 1985, Miller et al., 1989, Scott, 1992 and Whisman et al., 1991). Behavioral activation (BA) has been proposed to be particularly well suited to deal with the challenges of the inpatient milieu (Curran, Lawson, Houghton, & Gournay, 2007). We will highlight a few arguments for this and for why we believe it ALOX15 could serve as a treatment

to bridge the gap between inpatient and outpatient services. First, data from a large clinical trial (Dimidjian et al., 2006) suggested that BA was more effective than cognitive therapy (CT) in the acute treatment of severe depression. BA was also equally effective to pharmacotherapy and evidenced superior retention. In a reanalysis of the data, Coffman and colleagues (2007) found that BA did not evidence the same nonresponse pattern as did CT for a subset of patients with functional impairment, problems in the primary support group, and severe depression. Second, Hopko and colleagues (2003) reported that their brief protocol Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD; Lejuez et al., 2001) evidenced significantly larger improvements from baseline to posttreatment in depression compared to supportive therapy.

, 2003, Hsieh et al., 2004 and Lai et al., 2005a). Spontaneous pneumomediastium was found in about 12% of cases (Chu et al., 2004b), whereas 26% of

patients developed barotrauma during mechanical ventilation (Gomersall et al., 2004). In addition to upper MAPK inhibitor and lower respiratory tract disease, extrapulmonary manifestations were also reported for SARS. These included liver and renal impairment (Chau et al., 2004 and Chu et al., 2005c), bradycardia and hypotension due to diastolic cardiac dysfunction (Li et al., 2003), pulmonary arterial thrombosis (Ng et al., 2005), rhabdomyolysis (Wang et al., 2003b), neuromuscular disorder (Tsai et al., 2004), and an acute neurological syndrome with status epilepticus (Lau et al., 2004d). Lymphopenia, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia were commonly observed GSK126 research buy (Lee et al., 2003). The diagnostic criteria for SARS were based on a list of clinical features suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the initial phase of the epidemic. According to the WHO criteria,

a suspected case was defined as a person presenting after 1 November 2002 who had a history of fever >38 °C, with cough or difficulty breathing, and had close contact with a person who was a suspected or probable case of SARS, or had a history of traveling to or residing in an area with transmission of SARS within 10 days

before the onset of symptoms. In addition, a person with an unexplained acute respiratory illness resulting Monoiodotyrosine in death, with epidemiological exposure similar to that described above, but on whom no autopsy was performed, also fulfilled the clinical criteria of suspected SARS. A probable case of SARS was defined as a suspected case with chest X-ray evidence of infiltrates consistent with pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome, with a positive test result for SARS-CoV by one or more laboratory diagnostic assays, and/or with autopsy findings consistent with the pathology of ARDS, without an identifiable cause (WHO, 2003b). The overall accuracy of the WHO guidelines for identifying suspected SARS was found to be 83% with an negative predictive value of 86% (Rainer et al., 2003). A laboratory case definition for the diagnosis of a re-emergence of SARS was set up by the WHO after the epidemic. A person with clinically suggestive symptoms and signs and with one or more positive laboratory findings including 1.