Does red blood cell transfusion change the near infra red photoplethysmography signal in infants?
Even though infants were transfused at very low levels of hemoglobin with significant clinical effects, microcirculation assessed by NIRP seemed not be affected. Infrared photoplethysmographs present flow not only in the nutritive capillaries but mainly in the subpapillary plexus at a greater depth. This thermoregulatory flow seems not be affected by blood transfusions of anemic infants.
Student-directed home practice provided a measureable improvement in ability to predict eventual performance in summative test cases over and above the predictive contribution of intervening faculty-controlled practice conditions.