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Papers by Rob Adams

Research paper thumbnail of Transforming Australian Cities for a More Financially Viable and Sustainable Future: Transportation and Urban Design

Australian Economic Review, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Clinical evaluation of the CARDIAC STATus (tm), a rapid immunochromatographic assay for simultaneous detection of elevated concentrations of CB-MB and myoglobin in whole blood

Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, 1998

We studied the performance of the CARDIAC STATus, a new rapid, easy to perform qualitative whole ... more We studied the performance of the CARDIAC STATus, a new rapid, easy to perform qualitative whole blood bedside test for detection of elevated CK-MB and myoglobin in the emergency room. Blood samples from 182 consecutive patients with chest pain were drawn on admission and at five and seven hours after the onset of symptoms. The CARDIAC STATus tests were performed by coronary care unit nurses and, independently, by a trained laboratory technician. The results were compared with quantitative assays for CK-MB mass and myoglobin. At the end of the study, a second test series using a new lot number of cartridges was performed on the same blood samples because of possible elution buffer contamination. Nurses produced more false negative results than the technician (CK-MB 43 vs. 27 %, p=0.01, myoglobin 31 vs. 13%, p<0.0001), but the technician produced more false positive myoglobin results (9.3 vs. 5.5%, p=0.0001). In the second test series, the nurses produced significantly fewer false negative tests both for CK-MB (19%, p<0.0001) and myoglobin (13%, p=0.0002). The false negative rate for the technician was not different between the first and the second test series. The CARDIAC STATus yields a substantial number of false negative results both for CK-MB and myoglobin when compared to a quantitative assay, and therefore at present has limited value for ruling out an acute myocardial infarction.

Research paper thumbnail of Computed tomography scanning during a traumatic resuscitation

American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Scientific computation through a GPU

A personal computer's graphics processing unit, or GPU, has been the seed of a growing interest i... more A personal computer's graphics processing unit, or GPU, has been the seed of a growing interest in the academic and research communities of recent months. This paper investigates current technology that enables a GPU to process and solve linear algebra computations, in particular, matrix operations. Matrix operations of linear algebra are the basis of scientific computation, often used in modeling data and describing the forces of the universe. The author wished to compare the speed of the computation through the CPU and the GPU. Utilizing NVIDIA's CUDA technology, they demonstrated that calculations are preformed considerably faster through the GPU than through the CPU. The authors concluded that all computation in the research community has the potential to run significantly faster than current CPU's allow.

Research paper thumbnail of Implementation of a Prehospital Triage System for Patients With Chest Pain and Logistics for Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in the Region of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

American Journal of Cardiology, 2010

We aimed to describe the logistics of a prehospital triage system for patients with acute chest p... more We aimed to describe the logistics of a prehospital triage system for patients with acute chest pain in the region of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Ambulance electrocardiograms (ECGs) were evaluated immediately in 1 of the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)capable centers. Patients accepted for primary PCI (PPCI) were directly transferred to the catheterization laboratory. Two thousand three hundred fifty ECGs of 2,192 patients were transmitted to the region's intervention centers. Median duration of chest complaints before ambulance dispatch was 67 minutes; ambulance crews recorded the first ECG within 7 minutes after arrival. Actual transmission of the ECG took an additional (median) 10 minutes. Seven hundred eleven patients (32.4%) were transported to the catheter laboratory and were treated with PPCI. Time between first prehospital ECG and start of PPCI procedure was 66 minutes. The PPCI procedure started 36 minutes after ambulance arrival at the hospital. In conclusion, the results of this study compare favorably to other reported performances of prehospital triage systems of PPCI for ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction and demonstrate that the European Society of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines for treatment of patients with ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction can be met.

Research paper thumbnail of Interleukin 8 released after acute myocardial infarction is mainly bound to erythrocytes

Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 1997

Objective-To determine whether rapid clearance of interleukin 8 (IL-8) from plasma through bindin... more Objective-To determine whether rapid clearance of interleukin 8 (IL-8) from plasma through binding to the erythrocyte chemokine receptor may be responsible for failure to detect IL-8 consistently after acute myocardial infarction. Design-Plasma concentrations of IL-8 were measured at frequent intervals in 43 consecutive patients. In 21 of these, erythrocyte bound IL-8 concentrations were also measured. The influence of infarct size, type of treatment, and the presence of early successful reperfusion on IL-8 release was assessed. Results-Peak IL-8 concentrations in plasma were raised in 31 of the 43 patients (68%). Median plasma IL-8 concentrations were 16.0 pg/ml (range 2.4 to 225.0 pg/ml) six hours after the onset of chest pain. Twelve hours after the onset of symptoms, plasma IL-8 concentrations had already returned to normal in 27 patients. In contrast, in 18 of 21 patients (86%), erythrocyte bound IL-8 concentrations were raised at between 6 and 30 hours, with a median peak value of 59.8 pg/ml (range 19 to 148 pg/ml). No correlation between peak creatine kinase MB and peak IL-8 (plasma or erythrocyte bound) was observed. There was a significant diVerence in peak plasma IL-8 concentrations between patients who underwent direct PTCA (19.4 pg/ml) and those who received conservative treatment (9.9 pg/ml; p = 0.0206), but no correlation with the presence of early successful reperfusion. Conclusions-IL-8 is released in plasma after acute myocardial infarction and subsequently binds to red blood cells, resulting in only a transient rise of plasma IL-8 and a more prolonged increase of erythrocyte bound IL-8.

Research paper thumbnail of Short and Long-Term recovery of left ventricular function predicted at the time of primary percutaneous coronary intervention in anterior myocardial infarction

Journal of The American College of Cardiology, 2004

The aim of this study was to determine predictors of left ventricular (LV) function recovery at t... more The aim of this study was to determine predictors of left ventricular (LV) function recovery at the time of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). BACKGROUND Angiographic, intracoronary Doppler flow, and electrocardiographic variables have been reported to be predictors of recovery of LV function after acute myocardial infarction (MI).

Research paper thumbnail of Transforming Australian Cities for a More Financially Viable and Sustainable Future: Transportation and Urban Design

Australian Economic Review, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Clinical evaluation of the CARDIAC STATus (tm), a rapid immunochromatographic assay for simultaneous detection of elevated concentrations of CB-MB and myoglobin in whole blood

Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, 1998

We studied the performance of the CARDIAC STATus, a new rapid, easy to perform qualitative whole ... more We studied the performance of the CARDIAC STATus, a new rapid, easy to perform qualitative whole blood bedside test for detection of elevated CK-MB and myoglobin in the emergency room. Blood samples from 182 consecutive patients with chest pain were drawn on admission and at five and seven hours after the onset of symptoms. The CARDIAC STATus tests were performed by coronary care unit nurses and, independently, by a trained laboratory technician. The results were compared with quantitative assays for CK-MB mass and myoglobin. At the end of the study, a second test series using a new lot number of cartridges was performed on the same blood samples because of possible elution buffer contamination. Nurses produced more false negative results than the technician (CK-MB 43 vs. 27 %, p=0.01, myoglobin 31 vs. 13%, p<0.0001), but the technician produced more false positive myoglobin results (9.3 vs. 5.5%, p=0.0001). In the second test series, the nurses produced significantly fewer false negative tests both for CK-MB (19%, p<0.0001) and myoglobin (13%, p=0.0002). The false negative rate for the technician was not different between the first and the second test series. The CARDIAC STATus yields a substantial number of false negative results both for CK-MB and myoglobin when compared to a quantitative assay, and therefore at present has limited value for ruling out an acute myocardial infarction.

Research paper thumbnail of Computed tomography scanning during a traumatic resuscitation

American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Scientific computation through a GPU

A personal computer's graphics processing unit, or GPU, has been the seed of a growing interest i... more A personal computer's graphics processing unit, or GPU, has been the seed of a growing interest in the academic and research communities of recent months. This paper investigates current technology that enables a GPU to process and solve linear algebra computations, in particular, matrix operations. Matrix operations of linear algebra are the basis of scientific computation, often used in modeling data and describing the forces of the universe. The author wished to compare the speed of the computation through the CPU and the GPU. Utilizing NVIDIA's CUDA technology, they demonstrated that calculations are preformed considerably faster through the GPU than through the CPU. The authors concluded that all computation in the research community has the potential to run significantly faster than current CPU's allow.

Research paper thumbnail of Implementation of a Prehospital Triage System for Patients With Chest Pain and Logistics for Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in the Region of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

American Journal of Cardiology, 2010

We aimed to describe the logistics of a prehospital triage system for patients with acute chest p... more We aimed to describe the logistics of a prehospital triage system for patients with acute chest pain in the region of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Ambulance electrocardiograms (ECGs) were evaluated immediately in 1 of the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)capable centers. Patients accepted for primary PCI (PPCI) were directly transferred to the catheterization laboratory. Two thousand three hundred fifty ECGs of 2,192 patients were transmitted to the region's intervention centers. Median duration of chest complaints before ambulance dispatch was 67 minutes; ambulance crews recorded the first ECG within 7 minutes after arrival. Actual transmission of the ECG took an additional (median) 10 minutes. Seven hundred eleven patients (32.4%) were transported to the catheter laboratory and were treated with PPCI. Time between first prehospital ECG and start of PPCI procedure was 66 minutes. The PPCI procedure started 36 minutes after ambulance arrival at the hospital. In conclusion, the results of this study compare favorably to other reported performances of prehospital triage systems of PPCI for ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction and demonstrate that the European Society of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines for treatment of patients with ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction can be met.

Research paper thumbnail of Interleukin 8 released after acute myocardial infarction is mainly bound to erythrocytes

Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 1997

Objective-To determine whether rapid clearance of interleukin 8 (IL-8) from plasma through bindin... more Objective-To determine whether rapid clearance of interleukin 8 (IL-8) from plasma through binding to the erythrocyte chemokine receptor may be responsible for failure to detect IL-8 consistently after acute myocardial infarction. Design-Plasma concentrations of IL-8 were measured at frequent intervals in 43 consecutive patients. In 21 of these, erythrocyte bound IL-8 concentrations were also measured. The influence of infarct size, type of treatment, and the presence of early successful reperfusion on IL-8 release was assessed. Results-Peak IL-8 concentrations in plasma were raised in 31 of the 43 patients (68%). Median plasma IL-8 concentrations were 16.0 pg/ml (range 2.4 to 225.0 pg/ml) six hours after the onset of chest pain. Twelve hours after the onset of symptoms, plasma IL-8 concentrations had already returned to normal in 27 patients. In contrast, in 18 of 21 patients (86%), erythrocyte bound IL-8 concentrations were raised at between 6 and 30 hours, with a median peak value of 59.8 pg/ml (range 19 to 148 pg/ml). No correlation between peak creatine kinase MB and peak IL-8 (plasma or erythrocyte bound) was observed. There was a significant diVerence in peak plasma IL-8 concentrations between patients who underwent direct PTCA (19.4 pg/ml) and those who received conservative treatment (9.9 pg/ml; p = 0.0206), but no correlation with the presence of early successful reperfusion. Conclusions-IL-8 is released in plasma after acute myocardial infarction and subsequently binds to red blood cells, resulting in only a transient rise of plasma IL-8 and a more prolonged increase of erythrocyte bound IL-8.

Research paper thumbnail of Short and Long-Term recovery of left ventricular function predicted at the time of primary percutaneous coronary intervention in anterior myocardial infarction

Journal of The American College of Cardiology, 2004

The aim of this study was to determine predictors of left ventricular (LV) function recovery at t... more The aim of this study was to determine predictors of left ventricular (LV) function recovery at the time of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). BACKGROUND Angiographic, intracoronary Doppler flow, and electrocardiographic variables have been reported to be predictors of recovery of LV function after acute myocardial infarction (MI).