Fully automatic acute ischemic lesion segmentation in DWI using convolutional neural networks

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Liang Chen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Stroke is an acute cerebral vascular disease, which is likely to cause long-term disabilities and death. Acute ischemic lesions occur in most stroke patients. These lesions are treatable under accurate diagnosis and treatments. Although diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI is sensitive to these lesions, localizing and quantifying them manually is costly and challenging for clinicians. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to automatically segment stroke lesions in DWI. Our framework consists of two convolutional neural networks (CNNs: one is an ensemble of two DeconvNets (Noh et al., 2015, which is the EDD Net; the second CNN is the multi-scale convolutional label evaluation net (MUSCLE Net, which aims to evaluate the lesions detected by the EDD Net in order to remove potential false positives. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first attempt to solve this problem and using both CNNs achieves very good results. Furthermore, we study the network architectures and key configurations in detail to ensure the best performance. It is validated on a large dataset comprising clinical acquired DW images from 741 subjects. A mean accuracy of Dice coefficient obtained is 0.67 in total. The mean Dice scores based on subjects with only small and large lesions are 0.61 and 0.83, respectively. The lesion detection rate achieved is 0.94.

Fully automatic acute ischemic lesion segmentation in DWI using convolutional neural networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Liang; Bentley, Paul; Rueckert, Daniel

2017-01-01

Stroke is an acute cerebral vascular disease, which is likely to cause long-term disabilities and death. Acute ischemic lesions occur in most stroke patients. These lesions are treatable under accurate diagnosis and treatments. Although diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) is sensitive to these lesions, localizing and quantifying them manually is costly and challenging for clinicians. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to automatically segment stroke lesions in DWI. Our framework consists of two convolutional neural networks (CNNs): one is an ensemble of two DeconvNets (Noh et al., 2015), which is the EDD Net; the second CNN is the multi-scale convolutional label evaluation net (MUSCLE Net), which aims to evaluate the lesions detected by the EDD Net in order to remove potential false positives. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first attempt to solve this problem and using both CNNs achieves very good results. Furthermore, we study the network architectures and key configurations in detail to ensure the best performance. It is validated on a large dataset comprising clinical acquired DW images from 741 subjects. A mean accuracy of Dice coefficient obtained is 0.67 in total. The mean Dice scores based on subjects with only small and large lesions are 0.61 and 0.83, respectively. The lesion detection rate achieved is 0.94.

Scintigraphic scoring system for grading severity of gastro-esophageal reflux on 99mTc sulfur colloid gastro-esophageal reflux scintigraphy: a prospective study of 39 cases with pre and post treatment assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puranik, Ameya D.; Nair, Gopinathan; Bandyopadhyay, Abhijit; Shinto, Ajit; Zade, Anand; Aggarwal, Rajiv

2013-01-01

The study aimed at developing a scoring system for scintigraphic grading of gastro-esophageal reflux (GER), on gastro-esophageal reflux scintigraphy (GERS) and comparison of clinical and scintigraphic scores, pre- and post-treatment. A total of 39 cases with clinically symptomatic GER underwent 99m Tc sulfur colloid GERS; scores were assigned based on the clinical and scintigraphic parameters. Post domperidone GERS was performed after completion of treatment. Follow up GERS was performed and clinical and scintigraphic parameters were compared with baseline parameters. Paired t-test on pre and post domperidone treatment clinical scores showed that the decline in post-treatment scores was highly significant, with P value < 0.001. The scintigraphic scoring system had a sensitivity of 93.9% in assessing treatment response to domperidone, specificity of 83.3% i.e., 83.3% of children with no decline in scintigraphic scores show no clinical response to Domperidone. The scintigraphic scoring system had a positive predictive value of 96.9% and a negative predictive value of 71.4%. GERS with its quantitative parameters is a good investigation for assessing the severity of reflux and also for following children post-treatment. (author)

Clinical-Radiological Parameters Improve the Prediction of the Thrombolysis Time Window by Both MRI Signal Intensities and DWI-FLAIR Mismatch.

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Madai, Vince Istvan; Wood, Carla N; Galinovic, Ivana; Grittner, Ulrike; Piper, Sophie K; Revankar, Gajanan S; Martin, Steve Z; Zaro-Weber, Olivier; Moeller-Hartmann, Walter; von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Federico C; Heiss, Wolf-Dieter; Ebinger, Martin; Fiebach, Jochen B; Sobesky, Jan

2016-01-01

With regard to acute stroke, patients with unknown time from stroke onset are not eligible for thrombolysis. Quantitative diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI relative signal intensity (rSI) biomarkers have been introduced to predict eligibility for thrombolysis, but have shown heterogeneous results in the past. In the present work, we investigated whether the inclusion of easily obtainable clinical-radiological parameters would improve the prediction of the thrombolysis time window by rSIs and compared their performance to the visual DWI-FLAIR mismatch. In a retrospective study, patients from 2 centers with proven stroke with onset value/mean value of the unaffected hemisphere). Additionally, the visual DWI-FLAIR mismatch was evaluated. Prediction of the thrombolysis time window was evaluated by the area-under-the-curve (AUC) derived from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Factors such as the association of age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, MRI field strength, lesion size, vessel occlusion and Wahlund-Score with rSI were investigated and the models were adjusted and stratified accordingly. In 82 patients, the unadjusted rSI measures DWI-mean and -SD showed the highest AUCs (AUC 0.86-0.87). Adjustment for clinical-radiological covariates significantly improved the performance of FLAIR-mean (0.91) and DWI-SD (0.91). The best prediction results based on the AUC were found for the final stratified and adjusted models of DWI-SD (0.94) and FLAIR-mean (0.96) and a multivariable DWI-FLAIR model (0.95). The adjusted visual DWI-FLAIR mismatch did not perform in a significantly worse manner (0.89). ADC-rSIs showed fair performance in all models. Quantitative DWI and FLAIR MRI biomarkers as well as the visual DWI-FLAIR mismatch provide excellent prediction of eligibility for thrombolysis in acute stroke, when easily obtainable clinical-radiological parameters are included in the prediction

Detection of colorectal hepatic metastases using MnDPDP MR imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) alone and in combination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koh, D.M.; Brown, G.; Riddell, A.M.; Scurr, E.; Allen, S.D.; Husband, J.E.; Collins, D.J.; Souza, N.M. de; Leach, M.O.; Chau, I.; Cunningham, D.

2008-01-01

To compare the diagnostic accuracy of MnDPDP MR imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), alone and in combination, for detecting colorectal liver metastases in patients with suspected metastatic disease. Thirty-three consecutive patients with suspected colorectal liver metastases underwent MR imaging. Three image sets (MnDPDP, DWI and combined MnDPDP and DWI) were reviewed independently by two observers. Lesions were scored on a five-point scale for malignancy and the areas (Az) under the receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated for each observer and image set. The sensitivity and specificity for lesion detection were calculated for each image set and compared. There were 83 metastases, 49 cysts and 1 haemangioma. Using the combined set resulted in the highest diagnostic accuracy for both observers (Az = 0.94 and 0.96), with improved averaged sensitivity of lesion detection compared with the DWI set (p = 0.01), and a trend towards improved sensitivity compared with the MnDPDP set (p = 0.06). There was no difference in the averaged specificity using any of the three image sets (p > 0.5). Combination of MnDPDP MR imaging and DWI resulted in the highest diagnostic accuracy and can increase sensitivity without loss in specificity. (orig.)

Effect of b value and pre-admission of contrast on diagnostic accuracy of 1.5-T breast DWI : a systematic review and meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dorrius, Monique D.; Dijkstra, Hildebrand; Oudkerk, Matthijs; Sijens, Paul E.

2014-01-01

To evaluate the effect of the choice of b values and prior use of contrast medium on apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of breast lesions derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and on the discrimination between benign and malignant lesions. A literature search of relevant DWI studies was

Clinical application of EPI diffusion weighted image (DWI) for ischemic brain disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zenke, Kiichiro; Kusunoki, Katsusuke; Saito, Masahiro; Sadamoto, Kazuhiko; Sakaki, Saburo; Kumon, Yoshiaki; Nagasawa, Kiyoshi

1999-01-01

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance image (DWI) with Echo Planar imaging (EPI) techniques were utilized in 74 consecutive patients who were suspected or diagnosed as having occlusive cerebrovascular diseases. Of three EPI-DWI techniques-single shot DWI, multi-shot DWI and isotropic DWI-, isotropic DWI was the most useful study for diagnosing occlusive cerebro-vascular disease. EPI-DWI could identify fresh infarction, even small cortical infarctions, in the setting of multiple high intensity lesions shown by T2 weighted image (T2WI), and could detect infarcted lesions early after the onset. In the patients whose lesions were not revealed on the initial EPI-DWIs, new infarcted lesion were not found on later MRIs, and their symptoms disappeared completely. High intensity lesions observed on EPI-DWIs mostly decreased signal intensities about 2 weeks after the onset, and the intensities of lesions in the gray matter were reduced earlier than those in the white matter. (author)

Penokohan Film Sawung Kampret Karya Dwi Koendoro (Dwi Koen Dalam Perspektif Strukturalisme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dyah Gayatri Puspitasari

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Tulisan ini berisi  kajian penokohan film Sawung Kampret yang diadaptasi dari komik Le- genda Sawung Kampret. Kajian ini menarik karena dua hal. Pertama, komik dan film adaptasi- nya diciptakan dan disutradarai oleh orang yang sama, yakni Dwi Koendoro. Kedua, kajian film yang diadaptasi dari komik Indonesia merupakan yang pertama. Melalui pendekatan struktural Ferdinand de Saussure, kajian berpusat pada relasi berbagai elemen penokohan yang membentuk keutuhan struktur narasi film. Didapat beberapa temuan menarik dimana unsur kelucuan pada penokohan film Sawung Kampret direlasikan dengan sejarah, hingga mampu membentuk narasi asosiatif yang mengusung nasionalisme berdasar nilai kemanusiaan, kebe- ragaman etnis dan budaya. Fakta tersebut menunjukkan bahwa melalui film Sawung Kampret, Dwi Koendoro mampu menciptakan perspektif struktur baru dengan melakukan kritik terha- dap struktur lama. Pasangan berlawanan (binary opposition dalam sistem lama coba diperta- nyakan. Sebagai hasil akhir maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa film Sawung Kampret merupakan film parodi sejarah yang sarat akan muatan pesan moral dan nasionalisme.       Kata kunci: film, adaptasi, penokohan, struktur, relasi

Identification of DWI behavior patterns and methods for change

Science.gov (United States)

1982-09-01

The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of behavior leading to driving while intoxicated (DWI), and to propose countermeasures for altering these patterns before they result in DWI. Two samples were studied: Los Angeles high school student...

Inter-reader agreement of multi-parametric MR imaging for the detection of prostate cancer. Evaluation of a scoring system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quentin, M.; Roehlen, S.; Klasen, J.; Antoch, G.; Blondin, D.; Arsov, C.; Albers, P.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Functional prostate MR is performed in varying combinations of T2-weighted images with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI), and spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). Recently, a European consensus meeting proposed the use of a simple 5-point scale for estimating the probability of a lesion being malignant. The aim of the present study was to determine the inter-reader agreement of MR imaging using a scoring system based on the recommendations of the consensus. Materials and Methods: The appearance of 108 predefined lesions in three different MR sequences (T2-weighted images, DWI, and DCE-MRI) in 50 functional prostate MR examinations were retrospectively scored by three blinded radiologists using a 5-point scale for each MR sequence. After scoring T2/DWI and T2/DWI/DCE-MRI, every lesion was graded based on its probability for malignancy. The inter-observer reliability was evaluated using Kappa statistics (Κ). Results: With respect to T2-weighted images, DWI and DCE-MRI Κ was 0.49, 0.97, and 0.77, respectively. Combined scoring of T2-weighted images and DWI demonstrated correct tumor diagnosis (true positive) in 71 - 88 % (depending on reader) of cases (Κ = 0.78). The accuracy was further improved to 88 - 96 % after scoring all three MR sequences including DCE-MRI (Κ = 0.90). Conclusion: The use of a simple 5-point scoring system for T2-weighted images, DWI, and DCE-MRI is feasible in functional prostate MRI and has high inter-observer reliability.

Gambling Disorder: Exploring Pre-treatment and In-treatment Dropout Predictors. A UK Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ronzitti, Silvia; Soldini, Emiliano; Smith, Neil; Clerici, Massimo; Bowden-Jones, Henrietta

2017-12-01

The aim of this study was to identify predictors of treatment dropout in a sample of gamblers attending a specialist clinic for gambling disorder. We analysed data on 846 treatment-seeking pathological gamblers. Firstly, we investigated differences in socio-demographic and clinical variables between treatment completers and pre-treatment dropouts, as well as between treatment completers and during-treatment dropouts. Subsequently, variables were entered into a multinomial logistic regression model to identify significant predictors of pre-treatment and in-treatment dropout. Overall, 44.8% of clients did not complete the treatment: 27.4% dropped out before starting it, while 17.4% dropped out during the treatment. Younger age and use of drugs were associated with pre-treatment dropout, while family history of gambling disorder, a lower PGSI score, and being a smoker were related with in-treatment dropout. Our findings suggest that pre-treatment dropouts differ from in-treatment dropouts, and, thus, further research will benefit from considering these groups separately. In addition, this newly gained knowledge will also be helpful in increasing treatment retention in specific subgroups of problem gamblers.

A randomized trial of a DWI intervention program for first offenders: intervention outcomes and interactions with antisocial personality disorder among a primarily American-Indian sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Woodall, W Gill; Delaney, Harold D; Kunitz, Stephen J; Westerberg, Verner S; Zhao, Hongwei

2007-06-01

Randomized trial evidence on the effectiveness of incarceration and treatment of first-time driving while intoxicated (DWI) offenders who are primarily American Indian has yet to be reported in the literature on DWI prevention. Further, research has confirmed the association of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) with problems with alcohol including DWI. A randomized clinical trial was conducted, in conjunction with 28 days of incarceration, of a treatment program incorporating motivational interviewing principles for first-time DWI offenders. The sample of 305 offenders including 52 diagnosed as ASPD by the Diagnostic Interview Schedule were assessed before assignment to conditions and at 6, 12, and 24 months after discharge. Self-reported frequency of drinking and driving as well as various measures of drinking over the preceding 90 days were available at all assessments for 244 participants. Further, DWI rearrest data for 274 participants were available for analysis. Participants randomized to receive the first offender incarceration and treatment program reported greater reductions in alcohol consumption from baseline levels when compared with participants who were only incarcerated. Antisocial personality disorder participants reported heavier and more frequent drinking but showed significantly greater declines in drinking from intake to posttreatment assessments. Further, the treatment resulted in larger effects relative to the control on ASPD than non-ASPD participants. Nonconfrontational treatment may significantly enhance outcomes for DWI offenders with ASPD when delivered in an incarcerated setting, and in the present study, such effects were found in a primarily American-Indian sample.

Assessment of Alcohol Use Disorders among Court-Mandated DWI Offenders

Science.gov (United States)

Stasiewicz, Paul R.; Nochajski, Thomas H.; Homish, D. Lynn

2007-01-01

Convicted DWI offenders (N = 549) were assessed for alcohol use disorders. Repeat offenders had twice the rate of both lifetime and current alcohol use disorders compared with 1st-time offenders. Guidelines for determining alcohol problems in DWI offenders are recommended.

Are pre-treatment psychological characteristics influenced by pre-surgical orthodontics?

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Cunningham, S J; Gilthorpe, M S; Hunt, N P

2001-12-01

A number of investigations have looked at psychological changes occurring in association with orthognathic treatment. However, most of these studies have used a pre-surgery questionnaire as the baseline measurement. There is little data relating to the true baseline, i.e. that prior to any active treatment. Until this aspect is investigated, it is not possible to assume that pre-surgery is an acceptable baseline. This questionnaire based study aimed to assess changes in six psychological outcome measures between T1 (prior to any active treatment) and T2 (following pre-surgical orthodontics/prior to surgery). The outcome variables were: state anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, self-esteem, body image, and facial body image. Sixty-two patients (39 females and 23 males) completed both questionnaires. The results showed that intervention, in the form of orthodontic treatment, had a minimal effect on the chosen psychometric outcome variables. There was a significant reduction in satisfaction with body image amongst patients who initially reported mild to moderate dental/facial problems, whilst a moderate increase in satisfaction occurred in those patients reporting severe conditions initially. Also of note were significant increases in state anxiety amongst older patients whilst trait anxiety showed greater increases in females than males.

Prognostic value of diffusion-weighted imaging summation scores or apparent diffusion coefficient maps in newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cavalleri, Francesca; Todeschini, Alessandra; Lugli, Licia; Pugliese, Marisa; Della Casa, Elisa; Gallo, Claudio; Frassoldati, Rossella; Ferrari, Fabrizio; D'Amico, Roberto

2014-01-01

The diagnostic and prognostic assessment of newborn infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) comprises, among other tools, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. To compare the ability of DWI and ADC maps in newborns with HIE to predict the neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years of age. Thirty-four term newborns with HIE admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Modena University Hospital from 2004 to 2008 were consecutively enrolled in the study. All newborns received EEG, conventional MRI and DWI within the first week of life. DWI was analyzed by means of summation (S) score and regional ADC measurements. Neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed with a standard 1-4 scale and the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales - Revised (GMDS-R). When the outcome was evaluated with a standard 1-4 scale, the DWI S scores showed very high area under the curve (AUC) (0.89) whereas regional ADC measurements in specific subregions had relatively modest predictive value. The lentiform nucleus was the region with the highest AUC (0.78). When GMDS-R were considered, DWI S scores were good to excellent predictors for some GMDS-R subscales. The predictive value of ADC measurements was both region- and subscale-specific. In particular, ADC measurements in some regions (basal ganglia, white matter or rolandic cortex) were excellent predictors for specific GMDS-R with AUCs up to 0.93. DWI S scores showed the highest prognostic value for the neurological outcome at 2 years of age. Regional ADC measurements in specific subregions proved to be highly prognostic for specific neurodevelopmental outcomes. (orig.)

Prognostic value of diffusion-weighted imaging summation scores or apparent diffusion coefficient maps in newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cavalleri, Francesca; Todeschini, Alessandra [Azienda Unita Sanitaria Locale di Modena, Neuroradiology Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Nuovo Ospedale Civile S. Agostino Estense di Modena, Modena (Italy); Lugli, Licia; Pugliese, Marisa; Della Casa, Elisa; Gallo, Claudio; Frassoldati, Rossella; Ferrari, Fabrizio [Modena University Hospital, Institute of Pediatrics and Neonatal Medicine and NICU, Modena (Italy); D' Amico, Roberto [University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Medicine and Public Health, Modena (Italy)

2014-09-15

The diagnostic and prognostic assessment of newborn infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) comprises, among other tools, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. To compare the ability of DWI and ADC maps in newborns with HIE to predict the neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years of age. Thirty-four term newborns with HIE admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Modena University Hospital from 2004 to 2008 were consecutively enrolled in the study. All newborns received EEG, conventional MRI and DWI within the first week of life. DWI was analyzed by means of summation (S) score and regional ADC measurements. Neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed with a standard 1-4 scale and the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales - Revised (GMDS-R). When the outcome was evaluated with a standard 1-4 scale, the DWI S scores showed very high area under the curve (AUC) (0.89) whereas regional ADC measurements in specific subregions had relatively modest predictive value. The lentiform nucleus was the region with the highest AUC (0.78). When GMDS-R were considered, DWI S scores were good to excellent predictors for some GMDS-R subscales. The predictive value of ADC measurements was both region- and subscale-specific. In particular, ADC measurements in some regions (basal ganglia, white matter or rolandic cortex) were excellent predictors for specific GMDS-R with AUCs up to 0.93. DWI S scores showed the highest prognostic value for the neurological outcome at 2 years of age. Regional ADC measurements in specific subregions proved to be highly prognostic for specific neurodevelopmental outcomes. (orig.)

Prognostic value of diffusion-weighted imaging summation scores or apparent diffusion coefficient maps in newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Cavalleri, Francesca; Lugli, Licia; Pugliese, Marisa; D'Amico, Roberto; Todeschini, Alessandra; Della Casa, Elisa; Gallo, Claudio; Frassoldati, Rossella; Ferrari, Fabrizio

2014-09-01

The diagnostic and prognostic assessment of newborn infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) comprises, among other tools, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. To compare the ability of DWI and ADC maps in newborns with HIE to predict the neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years of age. Thirty-four term newborns with HIE admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Modena University Hospital from 2004 to 2008 were consecutively enrolled in the study. All newborns received EEG, conventional MRI and DWI within the first week of life. DWI was analyzed by means of summation (S) score and regional ADC measurements. Neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed with a standard 1-4 scale and the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales - Revised (GMDS-R). When the outcome was evaluated with a standard 1-4 scale, the DWI S scores showed very high area under the curve (AUC) (0.89) whereas regional ADC measurements in specific subregions had relatively modest predictive value. The lentiform nucleus was the region with the highest AUC (0.78). When GMDS-R were considered, DWI S scores were good to excellent predictors for some GMDS-R subscales. The predictive value of ADC measurements was both region- and subscale-specific. In particular, ADC measurements in some regions (basal ganglia, white matter or rolandic cortex) were excellent predictors for specific GMDS-R with AUCs up to 0.93. DWI S scores showed the highest prognostic value for the neurological outcome at 2 years of age. Regional ADC measurements in specific subregions proved to be highly prognostic for specific neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Pilot Study of the Use of Hybrid Multidimensional T2-Weighted Imaging-DWI for the Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer and Evaluation of Gleason Score.

Science.gov (United States)

Sadinski, Meredith; Karczmar, Gregory; Peng, Yahui; Wang, Shiyang; Jiang, Yulei; Medved, Milica; Yousuf, Ambereen; Antic, Tatjana; Oto, Aytekin

2016-09-01

The objective of our study was to evaluate the role of a hybrid T2-weighted imaging-DWI sequence for prostate cancer diagnosis and differentiation of aggressive prostate cancer from nonaggressive prostate cancer. Twenty-one patients with prostate cancer who underwent preoperative 3-T MRI and prostatectomy were included in this study. Patients underwent a hybrid T2-weighted imaging-DWI examination consisting of DW images acquired with TEs of 47, 75, and 100 ms and b values of 0 and 750 s/mm(2). The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and T2 were calculated for cancer and normal prostate ROIs at each TE and b value. Changes in ADC and T2 as a function of increasing the TE and b value, respectively, were analyzed. A new metric termed "PQ4" was defined as the percentage of voxels within an ROI that has increasing T2 with increasing b value and has decreasing ADC with increasing TE. ADC values were significantly higher in normal ROIs than in cancer ROIs at all TEs (p T2 was significantly higher in normal ROIs than in cancer ROIs at both b values (p ≤ 0.0002). The mean T2 decreased with increasing b value in cancer ROIs (ΔT2 = -17 ms) and normal ROIs (ΔT2 = -52 ms). PQ4 clearly differentiated normal ROIs from prostate cancer ROIs (p = 0.0004) and showed significant correlation with Gleason score (ρ = 0.508, p T2 to changing TEs and b values, respectively. This approach shows promise for detecting prostate cancer and determining its aggressiveness noninvasively.

Use of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in PET/MRI for head and neck cancer evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Queiroz, Marcelo A.; Schulthess, Gustav von; Huellner, Martin; Kuhn, Felix; Veit-Haibach, Patrick; Huber, Gerhardt; Meerwein, Christian; Kollias, Spyros

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze whether diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) adds significant information to positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) on lesion detection and characterization in head and neck cancers. Seventy patients with different head and neck cancers were enrolled in this prospective study. All patients underwent sequential contrast-enhanced (ce) PET/computed tomography (CT) and cePET/MRI using a tri-modality PET/CT-MR setup either for staging or re-staging. First, the DWI alone was evaluated, followed by the PET/MRI with conventional sequences, and in a third step, the PET/MRI with DWI was evaluated. McNemar's test was used to evaluate differences in the accuracy of PET/MRI with and without DWI compared to the standard of reference. One hundred eighty-eight (188) lesions were found, and of those, 118 (62.8 %) were malignant and 70 (37.2 %) were benign. PET/MRI without DWI had a higher accuracy in detecting malignant lesions than DWI alone (86.8 % vs. 60.6 %, p < 0.001). PET/MRI combined with DWI detected 120 concurrent lesions (89 malignant and 31 benign), PET/MRI alone identified 48 additional lesions (20 malignant and 28 benign), and DWI alone detected 20 different lesions (nine malignant and 11 benign). However, lesions detected on DWI did not change overall staging. SUV maximum and mean were significantly higher in malignant lesions than in benign lesions. DWI parameters between malignant and benign lesions were not statistically different. The use of DWI as part of PET/MRI to evaluate head and neck cancers does not provide remarkable information. Thus, the use of DWI might not be needed in clinical PET/MRI protocols for the staging or restaging of head and neck cancers. (orig.)

Staging performance of whole-body DWI, PET/CT and PET/MRI in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Science.gov (United States)

Catalano, Onofrio Antonio; Daye, Dania; Signore, Alberto; Iannace, Carlo; Vangel, Mark; Luongo, Angelo; Catalano, Marco; Filomena, Mazzeo; Mansi, Luigi; Soricelli, Andrea; Salvatore, Marco; Fuin, Niccolo; Catana, Ciprian; Mahmood, Umar; Rosen, Bruce Robert

2017-07-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging (WB-DWI), whole-body positron emission tomography with computed tomography (WB-PET/CT), and whole-body positron emission tomography with magnetic resonance imaging (WB-PET/MRI) in staging patients with untreated invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast. Fifty-one women with newly diagnosed invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast underwent WB-DWI, WB-PET/CT and WB-PET/MRI before treatment. A radiologist and a nuclear medicine physician reviewed in consensus the images from the three modalities and searched for occurrence, number and location of metastases. Final staging, according to each technique, was compared. Pathology and imaging follow-up were used as the reference. WB-DWI, WB-PET/CT and WB-PET/MRI correctly and concordantly staged 33/51 patients: stage IIA in 7 patients, stage IIB in 8 patients, stage IIIC in 4 patients and stage IV in 14 patients. WB-DWI, WB-PET/CT and WB-PET/MRI incorrectly and concordantly staged 1/51 patient as stage IV instead of IIIA. Discordant staging was reported in 17/51 patients. WB-PET/MRI resulted in improved staging when compared to WB-PET/CT (50 correctly staged on WB-PET/MRI vs. 38 correctly staged on WB-PET/CT; McNemar's test; p<0.01). Comparing the performance of WB-PET/MRI and WB-DWI (43 correct) did not reveal a statistically significant difference (McNemar test, p=0.14). WB-PET/MRI is more accurate in the initial staging of breast cancer than WB-DWI and WB-PET/CT, however, the discrepancies between WB-PET/MRI and WB-DWI were not statistically significant. When available, WB-PET/MRI should be considered for staging patient with invasive ductal breast carcinoma.

MR-sequences for prostate cancer diagnostics: validation based on the PI-RADS scoring system and targeted MR-guided in-bore biopsy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schimmoeller, Lars; Quentin, Michael; Buchbender, Christian; Antoch, Gerald; Blondin, Dirk [University Dusseldorf, Medical Faculty, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Dusseldorf (Germany); Arsov, Christian; Hiester, Andreas; Rabenalt, Robert; Albers, Peter [University Dusseldorf, Medical Faculty, Department of Urology, Dusseldorf (Germany)

2014-10-15

This study evaluated the accuracy of MR sequences [T2-, diffusion-weighted, and dynamic contrast-enhanced (T2WI, DWI, and DCE) imaging] at 3T, based on the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) scoring system [Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS)] using MR-guided in-bore prostate biopsies as reference standard. In 235 consecutive patients [aged 65.7 ± 7.9 years; median prostate-specific antigen (PSA) 8 ng/ml] with multiparametric prostate MRI (mp-MRI), 566 lesions were scored according to PI-RADS. Histology of all lesions was obtained by targeted MR-guided in-bore biopsy. In 200 lesions, biopsy revealed prostate cancer (PCa). The area under the curve (AUC) for cancer detection was 0.70 (T2WI), 0.80 (DWI), and 0.74 (DCE). A combination of T2WI + DWI, T2WI + DCE, and DWI + DCE achieved an AUC of 0.81, 0.78, and 0.79. A summed PI-RADS score of T2WI + DWI + DCE achieved an AUC of 0.81. For higher grade PCa (primary Gleason pattern ≥ 4), the AUC was 0.85 for T2WI + DWI, 0.84 for T2WI + DCE, 0.86 for DWI + DCE, and 0.87 for T2WI + DWI + DCE. The AUC for T2WI + DWI + DCE for transitional-zone PCa was 0.73, and for the peripheral zone 0.88. Regarding higher-grade PCa, AUC for transitional-zone PCa was 0.88, and for peripheral zone 0.96. The combination of T2WI + DWI + DCE achieved the highest test accuracy, especially in patients with higher-grade PCa. The use of ≤2 MR sequences led to lower AUC in higher-grade and peripheral-zone cancers. (orig.)

MR-sequences for prostate cancer diagnostics: validation based on the PI-RADS scoring system and targeted MR-guided in-bore biopsy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schimmoeller, Lars; Quentin, Michael; Buchbender, Christian; Antoch, Gerald; Blondin, Dirk; Arsov, Christian; Hiester, Andreas; Rabenalt, Robert; Albers, Peter

2014-01-01

This study evaluated the accuracy of MR sequences [T2-, diffusion-weighted, and dynamic contrast-enhanced (T2WI, DWI, and DCE) imaging] at 3T, based on the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) scoring system [Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS)] using MR-guided in-bore prostate biopsies as reference standard. In 235 consecutive patients [aged 65.7 ± 7.9 years; median prostate-specific antigen (PSA) 8 ng/ml] with multiparametric prostate MRI (mp-MRI), 566 lesions were scored according to PI-RADS. Histology of all lesions was obtained by targeted MR-guided in-bore biopsy. In 200 lesions, biopsy revealed prostate cancer (PCa). The area under the curve (AUC) for cancer detection was 0.70 (T2WI), 0.80 (DWI), and 0.74 (DCE). A combination of T2WI + DWI, T2WI + DCE, and DWI + DCE achieved an AUC of 0.81, 0.78, and 0.79. A summed PI-RADS score of T2WI + DWI + DCE achieved an AUC of 0.81. For higher grade PCa (primary Gleason pattern ≥ 4), the AUC was 0.85 for T2WI + DWI, 0.84 for T2WI + DCE, 0.86 for DWI + DCE, and 0.87 for T2WI + DWI + DCE. The AUC for T2WI + DWI + DCE for transitional-zone PCa was 0.73, and for the peripheral zone 0.88. Regarding higher-grade PCa, AUC for transitional-zone PCa was 0.88, and for peripheral zone 0.96. The combination of T2WI + DWI + DCE achieved the highest test accuracy, especially in patients with higher-grade PCa. The use of ≤2 MR sequences led to lower AUC in higher-grade and peripheral-zone cancers. (orig.)

DWI-based neural fingerprinting technology: a preliminary study on stroke analysis.

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Ye, Chenfei; Ma, Heather Ting; Wu, Jun; Yang, Pengfei; Chen, Xuhui; Yang, Zhengyi; Ma, Jingbo

2014-01-01

Stroke is a common neural disorder in neurology clinics. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an important tool to assess the neural physiological changes under stroke, such as diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Quantitative analysis of MRI images would help medical doctors to localize the stroke area in the diagnosis in terms of structural information and physiological characterization. However, current quantitative approaches can only provide localization of the disorder rather than measure physiological variation of subtypes of ischemic stroke. In the current study, we hypothesize that each kind of neural disorder would have its unique physiological characteristics, which could be reflected by DWI images on different gradients. Based on this hypothesis, a DWI-based neural fingerprinting technology was proposed to classify subtypes of ischemic stroke. The neural fingerprint was constructed by the signal intensity of the region of interest (ROI) on the DWI images under different gradients. The fingerprint derived from the manually drawn ROI could classify the subtypes with accuracy 100%. However, the classification accuracy was worse when using semiautomatic and automatic method in ROI segmentation. The preliminary results showed promising potential of DWI-based neural fingerprinting technology in stroke subtype classification. Further studies will be carried out for enhancing the fingerprinting accuracy and its application in other clinical practices.

Multiparametric MRI of the prostate: diagnostic performance and interreader agreement of two scoring systems.

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Lin, Wei-Ching; Muglia, Valdair F; Silva, Gyl E B; Chodraui Filho, Salomão; Reis, Rodolfo B; Westphalen, Antonio C

2016-06-01

To compare the diagnostic accuracies and interreader agreements of the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) v. 2 and University of California San Francisco (UCSF) multiparametric prostate MRI scale for diagnosing clinically significant prostate cancer. This institutional review board-approved retrospective study included 49 males who had 1.5 T endorectal MRI and prostatectomy. Two radiologists scored suspicious lesions on MRI using PI-RADS v. 2 and the UCSF scale. Percent agreement, 2 × 2 tables and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (Az) were used to assess and compare the individual and overall scores of these scales. Interreader agreements were estimated with kappa statistics. Reader 1 (R1) detected 78 lesions, and Reader 2 (R2) detected 80 lesions. Both identified 52 of 65 significant cancers. The Az for PI-RADS v. 2 and UCSF scale for R1 were 0.68 and 0.69 [T2 weighted imaging (T2WI)], 0.75 and 0.68 [diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)] and 0.64 and 0.72 (overall score), respectively, and were 0.72 and 0.75 (T2WI), 0.73 and 0.67 (DWI) and 0.66 and 0.75 (overall score) for R2. The dynamic contrast-enhanced percent agreements between scales were 100% (R1) and 95% (R2). PI-RADS v. 2 DWI of R1 performed better than UCSF DWI (Az = 0.75 vs Az = 0.68; p = 0.05); no other differences were found. The interreader agreements were higher for PI-RADS v. 2 (T2WI: 0.56 vs 0.42; DWI: 0.60 vs 0.46; overall: 0.61 vs 0.42). The UCSF approach to derive the overall PI-RADS v. 2 scores increased the Az for the identification of significant cancer (R1 to 0.76, p < 0.05; R2 to 0.71, p = 0.35). Although PI-RADS v. 2 DWI score may have a higher discriminatory performance than the UCSF scale counterpart to diagnose clinically significant cancer, the utilization of the UCSF scale weighing system for the integration of PI-RADS v. 2 individual parameter scores improved the accuracy its overall score. PI-RADS v. 2 is

DWI-Based Neural Fingerprinting Technology: A Preliminary Study on Stroke Analysis

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Chenfei Ye

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Stroke is a common neural disorder in neurology clinics. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI has become an important tool to assess the neural physiological changes under stroke, such as diffusion weighted imaging (DWI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI. Quantitative analysis of MRI images would help medical doctors to localize the stroke area in the diagnosis in terms of structural information and physiological characterization. However, current quantitative approaches can only provide localization of the disorder rather than measure physiological variation of subtypes of ischemic stroke. In the current study, we hypothesize that each kind of neural disorder would have its unique physiological characteristics, which could be reflected by DWI images on different gradients. Based on this hypothesis, a DWI-based neural fingerprinting technology was proposed to classify subtypes of ischemic stroke. The neural fingerprint was constructed by the signal intensity of the region of interest (ROI on the DWI images under different gradients. The fingerprint derived from the manually drawn ROI could classify the subtypes with accuracy 100%. However, the classification accuracy was worse when using semiautomatic and automatic method in ROI segmentation. The preliminary results showed promising potential of DWI-based neural fingerprinting technology in stroke subtype classification. Further studies will be carried out for enhancing the fingerprinting accuracy and its application in other clinical practices.

Safety of Intravenous Thrombolysis within 4.5 h of symptom onset in patients with negative post-treatment stroke imaging for cerebral infarction.

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Giraldo, Elias A; Khalid, Aisha; Zand, Ramin

2011-08-01

Patients with stroke symptoms but negative diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) might have transient ischemic attacks (TIA) or stroke mimics. Brain DWI is important for the diagnosis of cerebral infarction but it is not available before thrombolysis for most patients to avoid treatment delay. This study aimed to evaluate the safety of IV thrombolysis in patients with a negative post-treatment DWI for cerebral infarction. We conducted a retrospective study of 89 patients treated with IV recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) within 4.5 h after stroke symptom onset. The patients were identified in our acute stroke registry from January 2009 to September 2010. Information on patients' demographics, clinical characteristics, neuroimaging, treatment complications, and outcomes was obtained and analyzed. Out of 89 patients, 23 patients (26%) had a negative DWI on follow-up stroke imaging. Fourteen patients had a TIA and nine patients had a stroke mimic, including Todd's paralysis, complicated migraine, and somatoform disorder. We found significant differences between patients with a positive and a negative DWI in mean age (62 years vs. 52 years; P scale score (11 points versus 6 points; P negative DWI had symptomatic or asymptomatic ICH. Our results suggest that the administration of IV rt-PA within the first 4.5 h of symptom onset in patients with suspected ischemic stroke is safe even when post-treatment DWI does not demonstrate cerebral infarction.

Pre-treatment functional MRI of breast cancer: T2* evaluation at 3 T and relationship to dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted imaging.

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Kousi, Evanthia; O'Flynn, Elizabeth A M; Borri, Marco; Morgan, Veronica A; deSouza, Nandita M; Schmidt, Maria A

2018-05-31

Baseline T2* relaxation time has been proposed as an imaging biomarker in cancer, in addition to Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced (DCE) MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) parameters. The purpose of the current work is to investigate sources of error in T2* measurements and the relationship between T2* and DCE and DWI functional parameters in breast cancer. Five female volunteers and thirty-two women with biopsy proven breast cancer were scanned at 3 T, with Research Ethics Committee approval. T2* values of the normal breast were acquired from high-resolution, low-resolution and fat-suppressed gradient-echo sequences in volunteers, and compared. In breast cancer patients, pre-treatment T2*, DCE MRI and DWI were performed at baseline. Pathologically complete responders at surgery and non-responders were identified and compared. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were performed. There were no significant differences between T2* values from high-resolution, low-resolution and fat-suppressed datasets (p > 0.05). There were not significant differences between baseline functional parameters in responders and non-responders (p > 0.05). However, there were differences in the relationship between T2* and contrast-agent uptake in responders and non-responders. Voxels of similar characteristics were grouped in 5 clusters, and large intra-tumoural variations of all parameters were demonstrated. Breast T2* measurements at 3 T are robust, but spatial resolution should be carefully considered. T2* of breast tumours at baseline is unrelated to DCE and DWI parameters and contribute towards describing functional heterogeneity of breast tumours. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Online pre-race education improves test scores for volunteers at a marathon.

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Maxwell, Shane; Renier, Colleen; Sikka, Robby; Widstrom, Luke; Paulson, William; Christensen, Trent; Olson, David; Nelson, Benjamin

2017-09-01

This study examined whether an online course would lead to increased knowledge about the medical issues volunteers encounter during a marathon. Health care professionals who volunteered to provide medical coverage for an annual marathon were eligible for the study. Demographic information about medical volunteers including profession, specialty, education level and number of marathons they had volunteered for was collected. A 15-question test about the most commonly encountered medical issues was created by the authors and administered before and after the volunteers took the online educational course and compared to a pilot study the previous year. Seventy-four subjects completed the pre-test. Those who participated in the pilot study last year (N = 15) had pre-test scores that were an average of 2.4 points higher than those who did not (mean ranks: pilot study = 51.6 vs. non-pilot = 33.9, p = 0.004). Of the 74 subjects who completed the pre-test, 54 also completed the post-test. The overall post-pre mean score difference was 3.8 ± 2.7 (t = 10.5 df = 53 p online education demonstrated a long-term (one-year) increase in test scores. Testing also continued to show short-term improvement in post-course test scores, compared to pre-course test scores. In general, marathon medical volunteers who had no volunteer experience demonstrated greater improvement than those who had prior volunteer experience.

From clinical to tissue-based dual TIA: Validation and refinement of ABCD3-I score.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Qiliang; Sun, Wen; Xiong, Yunyun; Hankey, Graeme J; Xiao, Lulu; Zhu, Wusheng; Ma, Minmin; Liu, Wenhua; Liu, Dezhi; Cai, Qiankun; Han, Yunfei; Duan, Lihui; Chen, Xiangliang; Xu, Gelin; Liu, Xinfeng

2015-04-07

To investigate whether dual tissue-defined ischemic attacks, defined as multiple diffusion-weighted imaging lesions of different age and/or arterial territory (dual DWI), are an independent and stronger predictor of 90-day stroke than dual clinical TIAs (dual TIA). Consecutive patients with clinically defined TIA were enrolled and assessed clinically and by MRI within 3 days. The predictive ability of the ABCD clinical factors, dual TIA, and dual DWI was evaluated by means of multivariate logistic regression. Among 658 patients who were included in the study and completed 90 days of follow-up, a total of 70 patients (10.6%) experienced subsequent stroke by 90 days. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that dual DWI was an independent predictor for subsequent stroke (odds ratio 4.64, 95% confidence interval 2.15-10.01), while dual TIA was not (odds ratio 1.18, 95% confidence interval 0.69-2.01). C statistics was higher when the item of dual TIA in ABCD3-I score was replaced by dual DWI (0.759 vs 0.729, p = 0.035). The net reclassification value for 90-day stroke risk was also improved (continuous net reclassification improvement 0.301, p = 0.017). Dual DWI independently predicted future stroke in patients with TIA. A new ABCD3-I score with dual DWI instead of dual clinical TIA may improve risk stratification for early stroke risk after TIA. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

DWI of Prostate Cancer: Optimal b-Value in Clinical Practice

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Guglielmo Manenti

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Aim. To compare the diagnostic performance of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI using b-values of 1000 s/mm2 and 2000 s/mm2 at 3 Tesla (T for the evaluation of clinically significant prostate cancer. Matherials and Methods. Seventy-eight prostate cancer patients underwent a 3T MRI scan followed by radical prostatectomy. DWI was performed using b-values of 0, 1000, and 2000 s/mm2 and qualitatively analysed by two radiologists. ADC maps were obtained at b-values of 1000 and 2000 s/mm2 and quantitatively analyzed in consensus. Results. For diagnosis of 78 prostate cancers the accuracy of DWI for the young reader was significantly greater at b = 2000 s/mm2 for the peripheral zone (PZ but not for the transitional zone (TZ. For the experienced reader, DWI did not show significant differences in accuracy between b-values of 1000 and 2000 s/mm2. The quantitative analysis in the PZ and TZ was substantially superimposable between the two b-values, albeit with a higher accuracy with a b-value of 2000 s/mm2. Conclusions. With a b-value of 2000 s/mm2 at 3T both readers differentiated clinical significant cancer from benign tissue; higher b-values can be helpful for the less experienced readers.

Dynamic Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI and Diffusion Weighted MR Imaging (DWI for Differentiation between Benign and Malignant Salivary Gland Tumors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Assili S

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Salivary gland tumors form nearly 3% of head and neck tumors. Due to their large histological variety and vicinity to facial nerves, pre-operative diagnosis and differentiation of benign and malignant parotid tumors are a major challenge for radiologists. Objective: The majority of these tumors are benign; however, sometimes they tend to transform into a malignant form. Functional MRI techniques, namely dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE- MRI and diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI can indicate the characteristics of tumor tissue. Methods: DCE-MRI analysis is based on the parameters of time intensity curve (TIC before and after contrast agent injection. This method has the potential to identify the angiogenesis of tumors. DWI analysis is performed according to diffusion of water molecules in a tissue for determination of the cellularity of tumors. Conclusion: According to the literature, these methods cannot be used individually to differentiate benign from malignant salivary gland tumors. An effective approach could be to combine the aforementioned methods to increase the accuracy of discrimination between different tumor types. The main objective of this study is to explore the application of DCE-MRI and DWI for assessment of salivary gland tumor types.

Dynamic Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) and Diffusion Weighted MR Imaging (DWI) for Differentiation between Benign and Malignant Salivary Gland Tumors.

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Assili, S; Fathi Kazerooni, A; Aghaghazvini, L; Saligheh Rad, H R; Pirayesh Islamian, J

2015-12-01

Salivary gland tumors form nearly 3% of head and neck tumors. Due to their large histological variety and vicinity to facial nerves, pre-operative diagnosis and differentiation of benign and malignant parotid tumors are a major challenge for radiologists. The majority of these tumors are benign; however, sometimes they tend to transform into a malignant form. Functional MRI techniques, namely dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE-) MRI and diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) can indicate the characteristics of tumor tissue. DCE-MRI analysis is based on the parameters of time intensity curve (TIC) before and after contrast agent injection. This method has the potential to identify the angiogenesis of tumors. DWI analysis is performed according to diffusion of water molecules in a tissue for determination of the cellularity of tumors. According to the literature, these methods cannot be used individually to differentiate benign from malignant salivary gland tumors. An effective approach could be to combine the aforementioned methods to increase the accuracy of discrimination between different tumor types. The main objective of this study is to explore the application of DCE-MRI and DWI for assessment of salivary gland tumor types.

Dynamic Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) and Diffusion Weighted MR Imaging (DWI) for Differentiation between Benign and Malignant Salivary Gland Tumors

Science.gov (United States)

Assili, S.; Fathi Kazerooni, A.; Aghaghazvini, L.; Saligheh Rad, H.R.; Pirayesh Islamian, J.

2015-01-01

Background Salivary gland tumors form nearly 3% of head and neck tumors. Due to their large histological variety and vicinity to facial nerves, pre-operative diagnosis and differentiation of benign and malignant parotid tumors are a major challenge for radiologists. Objective The majority of these tumors are benign; however, sometimes they tend to transform into a malignant form. Functional MRI techniques, namely dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE-) MRI and diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) can indicate the characteristics of tumor tissue. Methods DCE-MRI analysis is based on the parameters of time intensity curve (TIC) before and after contrast agent injection. This method has the potential to identify the angiogenesis of tumors. DWI analysis is performed according to diffusion of water molecules in a tissue for determination of the cellularity of tumors. Conclusion According to the literature, these methods cannot be used individually to differentiate benign from malignant salivary gland tumors. An effective approach could be to combine the aforementioned methods to increase the accuracy of discrimination between different tumor types. The main objective of this study is to explore the application of DCE-MRI and DWI for assessment of salivary gland tumor types. PMID:26688794

Can the pre-operative Western Ontario and McMaster score predict patient satisfaction following total hip arthroplasty?

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Rogers, B A; Alolabi, B; Carrothers, A D; Kreder, H J; Jenkinson, R J

2015-02-01

In this study we evaluated whether pre-operative Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) osteoarthritis scores can predict satisfaction following total hip arthroplasty (THA). Prospective data for a cohort of patients undergoing THA from two large academic centres were collected, and pre-operative and one-year post-operative WOMAC scores and a 25-point satisfaction questionnaire were obtained for 446 patients. Satisfaction scores were dichotomised into either improvement or deterioration. Scatter plots and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were used to describe the association between pre-operative WOMAC and one-year post-operative WOMAC scores and patient satisfaction. Satisfaction was compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis against pre-operative, post-operative and δ WOMAC scores. We found no relationship between pre-operative WOMAC scores and one-year post-operative WOMAC or satisfaction scores, with Spearman's rank correlation coefficients of 0.16 and -0.05, respectively. The ROC analysis showed areas under the curve (AUC) of 0.54 (pre-operative WOMAC), 0.67 (post-operative WOMAC) and 0.43 (δ WOMAC), respectively, for an improvement in satisfaction. We conclude that the pre-operative WOMAC score does not predict the post-operative WOMAC score or patient satisfaction after THA, and that WOMAC scores can therefore not be used to prioritise patient care. ©2015 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery.

A study of ADC value in PROPELLER DWI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naka, Takanori; Takahashi, Mitsuyuki

2009-01-01

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is rapidly becoming widespread in MRI, with many reports of the differential diagnosis using the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) being seen. We examined the influence of scan parameter on ADC in periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER)-DWI. Neither the repetition time (TR) nor T1 value had a major influence on the ADC value. Number of motion probing gradient (MPG) pulse, effective echo time (TE), and T2 value were the factors in which the ADC value was changed. In addition, the ADC value has been changed by the scan sequence. The factor that influenced the ADC value was able to be confirmed by this experiment. It is necessary to understand the influence that an individual factor has on ADC. (author)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging-DRAGON score: 3-month outcome prediction after intravenous thrombolysis for anterior circulation stroke.

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Turc, Guillaume; Apoil, Marion; Naggara, Olivier; Calvet, David; Lamy, Catherine; Tataru, Alina M; Méder, Jean-François; Mas, Jean-Louis; Baron, Jean-Claude; Oppenheim, Catherine; Touzé, Emmanuel

2013-05-01

The DRAGON score, which includes clinical and computed tomographic scan parameters, showed a high specificity to predict 3-month outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke treated by intravenous tissue plasminogen activator. We adapted the score for patients undergoing MRI as the first-line diagnostic tool. We reviewed patients with consecutive anterior circulation ischemic stroke treated ≤ 4.5 hour by intravenous tissue plasminogen activator between 2003 and 2012 in our center, where MRI is systematically implemented as first-line diagnostic work-up. We derived the MRI-DRAGON score keeping all clinical parameters of computed tomography-DRAGON (age, initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and glucose level, prestroke handicap, onset to treatment time), and considering the following radiological variables: proximal middle cerebral artery occlusion on MR angiography instead of hyperdense middle cerebral artery sign, and diffusion-weighted imaging Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (DWI ASPECTS) ≤ 5 instead of early infarct signs on computed tomography. Poor 3-month outcome was defined as modified Rankin scale >2. We calculated c-statistics as a measure of predictive ability and performed an internal cross-validation. Two hundred twenty-eight patients were included. Poor outcome was observed in 98 (43%) patients and was significantly associated with all parameters of the MRI-DRAGON score in multivariate analysis, except for onset to treatment time (nonsignificant trend). The c-statistic was 0.83 (95% confidence interval, 0.78-0.88) for poor outcome prediction. All patients with a MRI-DRAGON score ≤ 2 (n=22) had a good outcome, whereas all patients with a score ≥ 8 (n=11) had a poor outcome. The MRI-DRAGON score is a simple tool to predict 3-month outcome in acute stroke patients screened by MRI then treated by intravenous tissue plasminogen activator and may help for therapeutic decision.

Diffusion-weighted Imaging Is a Sensitive and Specific Magnetic Resonance Sequence in the Diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis.

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Bradbury, Linda A; Hollis, Kelly A; Gautier, Benoît; Shankaranarayana, Sateesh; Robinson, Philip C; Saad, Nivene; Lê Cao, Kim-Anh; Brown, Matthew A

2018-06-01

We tested the discriminatory capacity of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) and its potential as an objective measure of treatment response to tumor necrosis factor inhibition in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Three cohorts were studied prospectively: (1) 18 AS patients with Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index > 4, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate > 25 and/or C-reactive protein > 10 meeting the modified New York criteria for AS; (2) 20 cases of nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) as defined by the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis international Society (ASAS) criteria; and (3) 20 non-AS patients with chronic low back pain, aged between 18 and 45 years, who did not meet the imaging arm of the ASAS criteria for axSpA. Group 1 patients were studied prior to and following adalimumab treatment. Patients were assessed by DWI and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and standard nonimaging measures. At baseline, in contrast to standard nonimaging measures, DWI apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values showed good discriminatory performance [area under the curve (AUC) > 80% for Group 1 or 2 compared with Group 3]. DWI ADC values were significantly lower posttreatment (0.45 ± 0.433 before, 0.154 ± 0.23 after, p = 0.0017), but had modest discriminating capacity comparing pre- and posttreatment measures (AUC = 68%). This performance was similar to the manual Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) scoring system. DWI is informative for diagnosis of AS and nr-axSpA, and has moderate utility in assessment of disease activity or treatment response, with performance similar to that of the SPARCC MRI score.

Comparison of CT perfusion summary maps to early diffusion-weighted images in suspected acute middle cerebral artery stroke

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Benson, John; Payabvash, Seyedmehdi [Hennepin County and University of Minnesota Medical Centers, Department of Radiology, Minneapolis, MN (United States); Salazar, Pascal [Vital Images, A Division of Toshiba Medical, Minnetonka, MN (United States); Jagadeesan, Bharathi; Palmer, Christopher S.; Truwit, Charles L. [Hennepin County and University of Minnesota Medical Centers, Department of Radiology, Minneapolis, MN (United States); McKinney, Alexander M., E-mail: mckinrad@umn.edu [Hennepin County and University of Minnesota Medical Centers, Department of Radiology, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

2015-04-15

Objectives: To assess the accuracy and reliability of one vendor's (Vital Images, Toshiba Medical, Minnetonka, MN) automated CT perfusion (CTP) summary maps in identification and volume estimation of infarcted tissue in patients with acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) distribution infarcts. Subjects and methods: From 1085 CTP examinations over 5.5 years, 43 diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)-positive patients were included who underwent both CTP and DWI <12 h after symptom onset, with another 43 age-matched patients as controls (DWI-negative). Automated delay-corrected postprocessing software (DC-SVD) generated both infarct “core only” and “core + penumbra” CTP summary maps. Three reviewers independently tabulated Alberta Stroke Program Early CT scores (ASPECTS) of both CTP summary maps and coregistered DWI. Results: Of 86 included patients, 36 had DWI infarct volumes ≤70 ml, 7 had volumes >70 ml, and 43 were negative; the automated CTP “core only” map correctly classified each as >70 ml or ≤70 ml, while the “core + penumbra” map misclassified 4 as >70 ml. There were strong correlations between DWI volume with both summary map-based volumes: “core only” (r = 0.93), and “core + penumbra” (r = 0.77) (both p < 0.0001). Agreement between ASPECTS scores of infarct core on DWI with summary maps was 0.65–0.74 for “core only” map, and 0.61–0.65 for “core + penumbra” (both p < 0.0001). Using DWI-based ASPECTS scores as the standard, the accuracy of the CTP-based maps were 79.1–86.0% for the “core only” map, and 83.7–88.4% for “core + penumbra.” Conclusion: Automated CTP summary maps appear to be relatively accurate in both the detection of acute MCA distribution infarcts, and the discrimination of volumes using a 70 ml threshold.

The Reliability and Structure of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System in German Pre-Schools

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Stuck, Andrea; Kammermeyer, Gisela; Roux, Susanna

2016-01-01

This study examined the reliability and structure of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, R. C., K. M. La Paro, and B. K. Hamre. 2008. "Classroom Assessment Scoring System. Manual Pre-K." Baltimore, MD: Brookes) and the quality of interactional processes in a German pre-school setting, drawing on a sample of 390…

SU-F-303-13: Initial Evaluation of Four Dimensional Diffusion- Weighted MRI (4D-DWI) and Its Effect On Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) Measurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Y [Duke University Medical Physics Program (United States); Yin, F; Czito, B; Bashir, M; Palta, M; Cai, J [Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (United States); Zhong, X; Dale, B [Siemens Healthcare, Durham, NC (United States)

2015-06-15

Purpose: Diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI) has been shown to have superior tumor-to-tissue contrast for cancer detection.This study aims at developing and evaluating a four dimensional DWI(4D-DWI) technique using retrospective sorting method for imaging respiratory motion for radiotherapy planning,and evaluate its effect on Apparent Diffusion Coefficient(ADC) measurement. Materials/Methods: Image acquisition was performed by repeatedly imaging a volume of interest using a multi-slice single-shot 2D-DWI sequence in the axial planes and cine MRI(served as reference) using FIESTA sequence.Each 2D-DWI image were acquired in xyz-diffusion-directions with a high b-value(b=500s/mm2).The respiratory motion was simultaneously recorded using bellows.Retrospective sorting was applied in each direction to reconstruct 4D-DWI.The technique was evaluated using a computer simulated 4D-digital human phantom(XCAT),a motion phantom and a healthy volunteer under an IRB-approved study.Motion trajectories of regions-of-interests(ROI) were extracted from 4D-DWI and compared with reference.The mean motion trajectory amplitude differences(D) between the two was calculated.To quantitatively analyze the motion artifacts,XCAT were controlled to simulate regular motion and the motions of 10 liver cancer patients.4D-DWI,free-breathing DWI(FB- DWI) were reconstructed.Tumor volume difference(VD) of each phase of 4D-DWI and FB-DWI from the input static tumor were calculated.Furthermore, ADC was measured for each phase of 4D-DWI and FB-DWI data,and mean tumor ADC values(M-ADC) were calculated.Mean M-ADC over all 4D-DWI phases was compared with M-ADC calculated from FB-DWI. Results: 4D-DWI of XCAT,the motion phantom and the healthy volunteer demonstrated the respiratory motion clearly.ROI D values were 1.9mm,1.7mm and 2.0mm,respectively.For motion artifacts analysis,XCAT 4D-DWI images show much less motion artifacts compare to FB-DWI.Mean VD for 4D-WDI and FB-DWI were 8.5±1.4% and 108±15

Opportunity to learn: Investigating possible predictors for pre-course Test Of Astronomy STandards TOAST scores

Science.gov (United States)

Berryhill, Katie J.

As astronomy education researchers become more interested in experimentally testing innovative teaching strategies to enhance learning in introductory astronomy survey courses ("ASTRO 101"), scholars are placing increased attention toward better understanding factors impacting student gain scores on the widely used Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST). Usually used in a pre-test and post-test research design, one might naturally assume that the pre-course differences observed between high- and low-scoring college students might be due in large part to their pre-existing motivation, interest, experience in science, and attitudes about astronomy. To explore this notion, 11 non-science majoring undergraduates taking ASTRO 101 at west coast community colleges were interviewed in the first few weeks of the course to better understand students' pre-existing affect toward learning astronomy with an eye toward predicting student success. In answering this question, we hope to contribute to our understanding of the incoming knowledge of students taking undergraduate introductory astronomy classes, but also gain insight into how faculty can best meet those students' needs and assist them in achieving success. Perhaps surprisingly, there was only weak correlation between students' motivation toward learning astronomy and their pre-test scores. Instead, the most fruitful predictor of TOAST pre-test scores was the quantity of pre-existing, informal, self-directed astronomy learning experiences.

[Advances in research on mechanisms of seed pre-treatments.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xu; Liu, Juan; Liu, Qian; Gao, Ya Ni; Wang, Quan Zhen

2016-11-18

Seeds play a vital role in nature and agro-ecosystems. The success of seed germination and the establishment of a normal seedling determine the propagation and survival of a plant species, but seed vigor is often seriously damaged because of seed aging, dormancy and the deterioration of natural habitat. Thus, exploring methods for improving germination quality is of great significance to ecology and the economy. Based on the latest international reports, seed pre-treatments are the most practical and effective methods for improving plant performance, increasing yields and enhancing stress resistance. This review provided a summary of the current pre-sowing treatment technologies and the physiological and biochemical responses of plants to these methods by addressing gene expression, cytological effects, enzyme system activities, material and energy metabolism, antioxidation mechanisms and signal transduction pathways. We also interpreted the mechanisms of the seed pre-treatment methods from aspects of seed germination acceleration and stress resistance enhancement. The bottleneck in seed pre-treatments at the cytological and molecular levels and the problems involved in their application were also discussed. Thus far, most studies had largely focused on the partial reaction alterations of plant biochemistry and enzyme activities, and they had generally been characterized by a lack of systematic and holistic study for applications to crop production. Finally, we proposed an outlook for further study in an attempt to provide a prospective and scientific reference for plant germplasm conservation, high-efficiency organic agriculture development and ecological environment re-construction.

Theoretical and practical aspects of pre-sowing laser biostimulation of the seeds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gładyszewska, B.; Kornas-Czuczwar, B.; Koper, R.; Lipski, S.

1998-01-01

Against the background of recent literature review basic aspects of the mechanism responsible for pre-sowing laser bio-stimulation of the seeds were discussed. Developed by professor W. Sedlak theory of bioplasma was the main point of reference. Presented results of own research works proved the positive influence of pre-sowing laser treatment of seeds on their yielding and nutritive value. The yield rises caused by pre-sowing laser seed bio-stimulation for some examined plant crops were as follows: maize (from 10 to 15%), spring wheat (from 20 to 30%), spring barley (from 20 to 25%), sugar beets (from 10 to 30%), rape seeds (from 10 to 15%). The quality of crops frawn from the laser treated seeds was also better than the control ones. For example, the protein content in grain of spring wheat grown from the seeds bio-stimulated with a the He-Ne laser increased from about 12 up to 14%. Similarly, in roots of the sugar beets grown from laser treated seeds, the sugar content rose from about 15 up to about 17% [pl

Head-To-Head Comparison Between High- and Standard-b-Value DWI for Detecting Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Sungmin; Suh, Chong Hyun; Kim, Sang Youn; Cho, Jeong Yeon; Kim, Seung Hyup

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to perform a head-to-head comparison between high-b-value (> 1000 s/mm 2 ) and standard-b-value (800-1000 s/mm 2 ) DWI regarding diagnostic performance in the detection of prostate cancer. The MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched up to April 1, 2017. The analysis included diagnostic accuracy studies in which high- and standard-b-value DWI were used for prostate cancer detection with histopathologic examination as the reference standard. Methodologic quality was assessed with the revised Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool. Sensitivity and specificity of all studies were calculated and were pooled and plotted in a hierarchic summary ROC plot. Meta-regression and multiple-subgroup analyses were performed to compare the diagnostic performances of high- and standard-b-value DWI. Eleven studies (789 patients) were included. High-b-value DWI had greater pooled sensitivity (0.80 [95% CI, 0.70-0.87]) (p = 0.03) and specificity (0.92 [95% CI, 0.87-0.95]) (p = 0.01) than standard-b-value DWI (sensitivity, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.66-0.86]); specificity, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.77-0.93] (p value DWI (p ≤ 0.05). Sensitivity was significantly higher for high- than for standard-b-value DWI only in the following subgroups: peripheral zone only, transition zone only, multiparametric protocol (DWI and T2-weighted imaging), visual assessment of DW images, and per-lesion analysis (p ≤ 0.04). In a head-to-head comparison, high-b-value DWI had significantly better sensitivity and specificity for detection of prostate cancer than did standard-b-value DWI. Multiple-subgroup analyses showed that specificity was consistently superior for high-b-value DWI.

Case series of 17 modified Weil's osteotomies for Freiberg's and Köhler's II AVN, with AOFAS scoring pre- and post-operatively.

Science.gov (United States)

Edmondson, M C; Sherry, K R; Afolayan, J; Armitage, A R; Skyrme, A D

2011-03-01

Treatment for metatarsal head avascular necrosis is largely conservative. For severe or refractory cases there are various surgical options. We have performed a 'modified Weil's osteotomy' of the distal metatarsal in order to manage this problem. We present the largest case series, to our knowledge, with 17 such cases. The patients were scored pre- and post-operatively using the AOFAS Forefoot scoring system. We found that this procedure provided a mean score improvement of 36 points, with a complication rate of 5.9%. We would advocate this modified osteotomy as an effective, reliable and safe treatment option. Copyright © 2009 European Foot and Ankle Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Values Assist PI-RADS Version 2 DWI Scoring? A Correlation Study Using the PI-RADSv2 and International Society of Urological Pathology Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaur, Sonia; Harmon, Stephanie; Rosenblum, Lauren; Greer, Matthew D; Mehralivand, Sherif; Coskun, Mehmet; Merino, Maria J; Wood, Bradford J; Shih, Joanna H; Pinto, Peter A; Choyke, Peter L; Turkbey, Baris

2018-05-07

The purposes of this study were to assess correlation of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and normalized ADC (ratio of tumor to nontumor tissue) with the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 (PI-RADSv2) and updated International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) categories and to determine how to optimally use ADC metrics for objective assistance in categorizing lesions within PI-RADSv2 guidelines. In this retrospective study, 100 patients (median age, 62 years; range, 44-75 years; prostate-specific antigen level, 7.18 ng/mL; range, 1.70-84.56 ng/mL) underwent 3-T multiparametric MRI of the prostate with an endorectal coil. Mean ADC was extracted from ROIs based on subsequent prostatectomy specimens. Histopathologic analysis revealed 172 lesions (113 peripheral, 59 transition zone). Two radiologists blinded to histopathologic outcome assigned PI-RADSv2 categories. Kendall tau was used to correlate ADC metrics with PI-RADSv2 and ISUP categories. ROC curves were used to assess the utility of ADC metrics in differentiating each reader's PI-RADSv2 DWI category 4 or 5 assessment in the whole prostate and by zone. ADC metrics negatively correlated with ISUP category in the whole prostate (ADC, τ = -0.21, p = 0.0002; normalized ADC, τ = -0.21, p = 0.0001). Moderate negative correlation was found in expert PI-RADSv2 DWI categories (ADC, τ = -0.34; normalized ADC, τ = -0.31; each p correlate with PI-RADSv2 and ISUP categories and can serve as quantitative metrics to assist with assigning PI-RADSv2 DWI category 4 or 5.

MRI with DWI for the Detection of Posttreatment Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Why Morphologic MRI Criteria Matter.

Science.gov (United States)

Ailianou, A; Mundada, P; De Perrot, T; Pusztaszieri, M; Poletti, P-A; Becker, M

2018-04-01

Although diffusion-weighted imaging combined with morphologic MRI (DWIMRI) is used to detect posttreatment recurrent and second primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, the diagnostic criteria used so far have not been clarified. We hypothesized that precise MRI criteria based on signal intensity patterns on T2 and contrast-enhanced T1 complement DWI and therefore improve the diagnostic performance of DWIMRI. We analyzed 1.5T MRI examinations of 100 consecutive patients treated with radiation therapy with or without additional surgery for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. MRI examinations included morphologic sequences and DWI ( b =0 and b =1000 s/mm 2 ). Histology and follow-up served as the standard of reference. Two experienced readers, blinded to clinical/histologic/follow-up data, evaluated images according to clearly defined criteria for the diagnosis of recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma/second primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma occurring after treatment, post-radiation therapy inflammatory edema, and late fibrosis. DWI analysis included qualitative (visual) and quantitative evaluation with an ADC threshold. Recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma/second primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma occurring after treatment was present in 36 patients, whereas 64 patients had post-radiation therapy lesions only. The Cohen κ for differentiating tumor from post-radiation therapy lesions with MRI and qualitative DWIMRI was 0.822 and 0.881, respectively. Mean ADCmean in recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma/second primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma occurring after treatment (1.097 ± 0.295 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s) was significantly lower ( P .05). Although ADCs were similar in tumors and late fibrosis, morphologic MRI criteria facilitated distinction between the 2 conditions. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and positive and negative likelihood ratios (95% CI) of

Image Quality Assessment of 2D versus 3D T2WI and Evaluation of Ultra-high b-Value (b=2,000 mm/s2) DWI for Response Assessment in Rectal Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Hausmann, Daniel; Liu, Jing; Budjan, Johannes; Reichert, Miriam; Ong, Melissa; Meyer, Mathias; Smakic, Arman; Grimm, Robert; Strecker, Ralph; Schoenberg, Stefan O; Wang, Xiaoying; Attenberger, Ulrike I

2018-02-01

The purpose of this IRB-approved, retrospective study was to compare image quality between 2D and high-resolution 3D, T2-weighted (T2WI) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences and to investigate the additional value of ultra-high b-value diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI; b=2,000 mm/s 2 ) for both rectal cancer staging and evaluating treatment response. From 12 February to 24 August 2016, 26 consecutive patients (22 males, four females; mean age: 61.9±14.0 years) with histologically-proven rectal cancer. In total 31 examinations [12 prior to and 19 after chemoradiation (CRT)] were included. The patients underwent pelvic MRI on a 3.0-T scanner (Magnetom Skyra, Erlangen, Germany). Three radiologists (3, 4, and 5 years of experience in MRI, respectively) independently assessed all images and rated the image quality of DWI (b=800 mm/s 2 ), apparent diffusion coefficient map, DWI (b=2,000 mm/s 2 ), 3D sagittal T2WI, 3D axial T2WI, 2D sagittal T2WI, and 2D axial T2WI of each patient, respectively. In addition, signal intensity ratios (SIR) were calculated between rectal cancer and obturator internus muscle (background) in all patients after CRT on DWI (b=2,000 mm/s 2 ) and correlated with histopathological regression grade (RG). Tumor delineation was significantly better by 2D T2WI than 3D T2WI both before and after CRT (before CRT: Z=-3.2, p=0.02; after CRT: Z=-4.408, p3D sagittal: 4.00±0.48; 2D sagittal: 4.03±0.34, p=0.713; 3D axial: 3.85±0.61, 2D axial: 3.78±0.64, p=0.537). Independent t-test showed significantly higher SIR between those with RG 1 or 2 (moderate response: mean score=2.02) and those with RG 3+4 (good response: mean score=0.8) (t=3.044, p=0.011). In those with RG 4 (complete response), SIR of b2000 was 0.946 compared to a 1.41 average of the whole cohort. In two patients, tumor was invisible on b2000 following CRT (RG 3 and 4, respectively). Interobserver agreement was mostly good (κ≥0.6) regarding image quality assessment, except for poor

A Comparison of the Social Context for Alcohol Consumption of College Students and Convicted DWI Offenders

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Kenneth H.; Summons, Terry G.

1985-01-01

Surveyed college students (N=272) and convicted DWI offenders (N=261). The results revealed that DWI offenders tend to drink in their own home, alone, and to relieve stress; whereas college students are more likely to drink at a party, for the enjoyment of taste, and to get drunk. (JAC)

Pre-hospital treatment of bee and wasp induced anaphylactic reactions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruiz Oropeza, Athamaica; Mikkelsen, Søren; Bindslev-Jensen, Carsten

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Bee and wasp stings are among the most common triggers of anaphylaxis in adults representing around 20% of fatal anaphylaxis from any cause. Data of pre-hospital treatment of bee and wasp induced anaphylactic reactions are sparse. This study aimed to estimate the incidence of bee...... only for Odense and 2009-2014 for the whole region). Discharge summaries with diagnosis related to anaphylaxis according to the International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) were reviewed to identify bee and wasp induced anaphylactic reactions. The severity of the anaphylactic reaction...... was assessed according to Sampson's severity score and Mueller's severity score. Treatment was evaluated in relation to administration of adrenaline, glucocorticoids and antihistamine. RESULTS: We identified 273 cases (Odense 2008 n = 14 and Region of Southern Denmark 2009-2014 n = 259) of bee and wasp induced...

Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score-Time Score Predicts Outcome after Endovascular Therapy in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Retrospective Single-Center Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Todo, Kenichi; Sakai, Nobuyuki; Kono, Tomoyuki; Hoshi, Taku; Imamura, Hirotoshi; Adachi, Hidemitsu; Yamagami, Hiroshi; Kohara, Nobuo

2018-04-01

Clinical outcomes after successful endovascular therapy in patients with acute ischemic stroke are associated with several factors including onset-to-reperfusion time (ORT), the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, and the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS). The NIHSS-time score, calculated as follows: [NIHSS score] × [onset-to-treatment time (h)] or [NIHSS score] × [ORT (h)], has been reported to predict clinical outcomes after intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator therapy and endovascular therapy for acute stroke. The objective of the current study was to assess whether the combination of the ASPECTS and the ORT can predict the outcomes after endovascular therapy. The charts of 117 consecutive ischemic stroke patients with successful reperfusion after endovascular therapy were retrospectively reviewed. We analyzed the association of ORT, ASPECTS, and ASPECTS-time score with clinical outcome. ASPECTS-time score was calculated as follows: [11 - ASPECTS] × [ORT (h)]. Rates of good outcome for patients with ASPECTS-time scores of tertile values, scores 5.67 or less, scores greater than 5.67 to 10.40 or less, and scores greater than 10.40, were 66.7%, 56.4%, and 33.3%, respectively (P < .05). Ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that the ASPECTS-time score (per category increase) was an independent predictor for better outcome (common odds ratio: .374; 95% confidence interval: .150-0.930; P < .05). A lower ASPECTS-time score may predict better clinical outcomes after endovascular treatment. Copyright © 2018 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Evaluation of signal noise ratio on analysis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma using DWI with multi-b values].

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Jiule; Xing, Wei; Chen, Jie; Dai, Yongming; Sun, Jun; Li, Dengfa

2014-01-21

To explore the influence of signal noise ratio (SNR) on analysis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC) using DWI with multi-b values. The images of 17 cases with CCRCC were analyzed, including 17 masses and 9 pure cysts. The signal intensity of the cysts and masses was measured separately on DWI for each b value. The minimal SNR, as the threshold, was recorded when the signal curve manifest as the single exponential line. The SNR of the CCRCC was calculated on DWI for each b value, and compared with the threshold by independent Two-sample t Test. The signal decreased on DWI with increased b factors for both pure cysts and CCRCC. The threshold is 1.29 ± 0.17, and the signal intensity of the cysts on DWI with multi-b values shown as a single exponential line when b ≤ 800 s/mm(2). For the CCRCC, the SNR is similar to the threshold when b = 1 000 s/mm(2) (t = 0.40, P = 0.69), and is lower when b = 1 200 s/mm(2) (t = -2.38, P = 0.03). The SNR should be sufficient for quantitative analysis of DWI, and the maximal b value is 1000 s/mm(2) for CCRCC.

[Comparison of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and large-scale DWI for evaluation of non-Hodgkin lymphoma bone marrow infiltration].

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Rijie; Gui, Si; Li, Jiansheng; Zhang, Hainan; Lu, Bingui; Yang, Peiyu; Fu, Donghai; Fu, Wenhai; Li, Wei; Cai, Liang

2014-03-01

To compare the diagnostic value of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT) and large-scale diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) for evaluation of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) bone marrow (BM) infiltration. A total of 79 patients with pathologically diagnosed NHL underwent ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT, large scale DWI and BM pathological examination. BM examination as the "gold standard", the performance (the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive and negative predictive value) of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and large scale DWI for evaluation of BM infiltration was compared and the risk of BM infiltration of different subtypes and sources of NHL was analyzed. 25 of 79 cases were diagnosed as BM infiltration by pathological examination with 57 BM sites. Abnormal high BM metabolisms were identified in 22 cases with 56 BM sites by ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and 25 cases with 58 BM sites by large-scale DWI. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive and negative predictive value of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT were 80.0%, 96.3%, 91.1%, 90.9%, 91.2%, respectively. And they were 84.0%, 92.6%, 89.9%, 84.0%, and 92.6% by large-scale DWI, respectively. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that there was no statistical difference in ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and large-scale DWI (P>0.05). The area under ROC curve for ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and large-scale DWI were 0.911 and 0.883 respectively. The incidences of BM infiltration in aggressive NHL patients by ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT (21/69, 30.4%) and large-scale DWI (23/69, 33.3%) were higher than those (PET/CT: 10.0%; large-scale DWI: 20.0%; P>0.05) in indolent NHL patients. ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and large-scale DWI had important clinical value in diagnosing BM infiltration of NHL. A combination of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT, large-scale DWI and pathological examination could improve the positive rate of BM infiltration in NHL.

Radiomics analysis of DWI data to identify the rectal cancer patients qualified for local excision after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Zhenchao; Liu, Zhenyu; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Shi, Yanjie; Wang, Shou; Fang, Mengjie; Sun, Yingshi; Dong, Enqing; Tian, Jie

2018-02-01

The Locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients were routinely treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) firstly and received total excision afterwards. While, the LARC patients might relieve to T1N0M0/T0N0M0 stage after the CRT, which would enable the patients be qualified for local excision. However, accurate pathological TNM stage could only be obtained by the pathological examination after surgery. We aimed to conduct a Radiomics analysis of Diffusion weighted Imaging (DWI) data to identify the patients in T1N0M0/T0N0M0 stages before surgery, in hope of providing clinical surgery decision support. 223 routinely treated LARC patients in Beijing Cancer Hospital were enrolled in current study. DWI data and clinical characteristics were collected after CRT. According to the pathological TNM stage, the patients of T1N0M0 and T0N0M0 stages were labelled as 1 and the other patients were labelled as 0. The first 123 patients in chronological order were used as training set, and the rest patients as validation set. 563 image features extracted from the DWI data and clinical characteristics were used as features. Two-sample T test was conducted to pre-select the top 50% discriminating features. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso)-Logistic regression model was conducted to further select features and construct the classification model. Based on the 14 selected image features, the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 0.8781, classification Accuracy (ACC) of 0.8432 were achieved in the training set. In the validation set, AUC of 0.8707, ACC (ACC) of 0.84 were observed.

[Can Glasgow-Blatchford Score and Pre-endoscopic Rockall Score Predict the Occurrence of Hypotension in Initially Normotensive Patients with Non-variceal Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding?].

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, June Sung; Ko, Byuk Sung; Son, Chang Hwan; Ahn, Shin; Seo, Dong Woo; Lee, Yoon Seon; Lee, Jae Ho; Oh, Bum Jin; Lim, Kyoung Soo; Kim, Won Young

2016-01-25

The aim of this study was to identify the ability of Glasgow-Blatchford score (GBS) and pre-endoscopic Rockall score (pre-E RS) to predict the occurrence of hypotension in patients with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding who are initially normotensive at emergency department. Retrospective observational study was conducted at Asan Medical Center emergency department (ED) in patients who presented with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2013. Study population was divided according to the development of hypotension, and demographics, comorbidities, and laboratory findings were compared. GBS and pre-E RS were estimated to predict the occurrence of hypotension. A total of 747 patients with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding were included during the study period, and 120 (16.1%) patients developed hypotension within 24 hours after ED admission. The median values GBS and pre-E RS were statistically different according to the occurrence of hypotension (8.0 vs. 10.0, 2.0 vs. 3.0, respectively; pupper gastrointestinal bleeding. Development of other scoring systems are needed.

PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR TREATMENT WETLAND APPLICATION FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN DISPERSED DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena Gajewska

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to present the conducted analyses of pre-feasibility study of different approaches for wastewater management in a settlement of 180 persons. In the assessment both technical and economic aspects were analyzed. The costs were calculated for three different and, at the same time, most popular as well as possible technical solutions like: (i construction of local wastewater treatment plant with gravitational and pressurized networks, (ii construction of single family wastewater treatment plants, (iii construction of sealed septic tanks. Carried out analyses of investment and maintenance costs revealed that at the stage of construction the most expensive is local sewer network with treatment plant, while the construction of a single family treatment plant has similar cost regardless of the technology used. When the long term operation and investment cost are accounted the most economical reasonable solution is the application of wetland treatment for household wastewater treatment.

Studying neonatal bilirubin encephalopathy with conventional MRI, MRS, and DWI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Xiaoyi; Wu, Wulin; Chineah, Ashley; Liu, Fan; Liao, Weihua; Hou, Bob L.; Zhang, Ping

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS), and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for neonatal bilirubin encephalopathy. We collected conventional MRI in 24 neonates with neonatal bilirubin encephalopathy. We performed 1 H-MRS and DWI sequences to nine of the 24 patients and seven age-matched healthy control subjects. Multiple-voxel 1 H-MRS data were acquired using PRESS pulse sequence with TE=135 ms and TR=1500 ms. The spectroscopic regions of interest were the bilateral basal ganglia and thalamus with a 1.0 mL spatial resolution. The data from DWI were collected by using a single shot-spin echo-echo planar imaging sequence with TR/TE: 2900/98, and imaging regions were also focused on the bilateral basal ganglia and thalamus. Nineteen of the 24 patients had abnormal T 1 -weighted image hyperintensity in the globus pallidus, but these lesions appeared as normal T 2 -weighted image intensity in the same region. Ten of the 24 patients had T 1 -weighted image high signal intensity in the subthalamic nucleus and appeared as normal intensity in the region for the T 2 -weighted images. The peak area ratios of NAA/Cho and NAA/Cr were significantly decreased (t-test, P 1 H-MRS are important complementary tools in the diagnosis of neonatal bilirubin encephalopathy. The study provides important information for applying these MR modalities to evaluate neonates with bilirubin encephalopathy. (orig.)

Pre-eclampsia Diagnosis and Treatment Options: A Review of Published Economic Assessments.

Science.gov (United States)

Zakiyah, Neily; Postma, Maarten J; Baker, Philip N; van Asselt, Antoinette D I

2015-10-01

on the economic aspects of pre-eclampsia in its broadest sense, ranging from screening to treatment options. The main limitation of the present study lies in the variety of topics in combination with the limited number of papers that could be included; this restricted the comparisons that could be made. In conclusion, novel biomarkers in screening for and diagnosing pre-eclampsia show promise, but their accuracy is a major driver of cost effectiveness, as is prevalence. Universal screening for pre-eclampsia, using a biomarker, will be feasible only when accuracy is significantly increased.

Acitretin treatment in (pre)malignant skin disorders of renal transplant recipients: Histologic and immunohistochemical effects.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, J.V.; Sevaux, R.G.L. de; Blokx, W.A.M.; Kerkhof, P.C.M. van de; Hoitsma, A.J.; Jong, E.M.G.J. de

2004-01-01

BACKGROUND: The incidence of (pre)malignant skin lesions after renal transplantation is high. Acitretin treatment appears to decrease the number of new squamous cell carcinomas and ameliorates the aspect and reduces the number of actinic keratoses. However, no histologic and immunohistochemical

The Role of Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (DWI in Locoregional Therapy Outcome Prediction and Response Assessment for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC: The New Era of Functional Imaging Biomarkers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johannes M. Ludwig

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Reliable response criteria are critical for the evaluation of therapeutic response in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC. Current response assessment is mainly based on: (1 changes in size, which is at times unreliable and lag behind the result of therapy; and (2 contrast enhancement, which can be difficult to quantify in the presence of benign post-procedural changes and in tumors presenting with a heterogeneous pattern of enhancement. Given these challenges, functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI techniques, such as diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI have been recently investigated, aiding specificity to locoregional therapy response assessment and outcome prediction. Briefly, DWI quantifies diffusion of water occurring naturally at a cellular level (Brownian movement, which is restricted in multiple neoplasms because of high cellularity. Disruption of cellular integrity secondary to therapy results in increased water diffusion across the injured membranes. This review will provide an overview of the current literature on DWI therapy response assessment and outcome prediction in HCC following treatment with locoregional therapies.

Advantages of high b-value diffusion-weighted imaging to diagnose pseudo-responses in patients with recurrent glioma after bevacizumab treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamasaki, Fumiyuki; Kurisu, Kaoru; Aoki, Tomokazu; Yamanaka, Masami; Kajiwara, Yoshinori; Watanabe, Yosuke; Takayasu, Takeshi; Akiyama, Yuji; Sugiyama, Kazuhiko

2012-01-01

Background: The diagnosis of pseudo-responses after bevacizumab treatment is difficult. Because diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is associated with cell density, it may facilitate the differentiation between true- and pseudo-responses. Furthermore, as high b-value DWI is even more sensitive to diffusion, it has been reported to be diagnostically useful in various clinical settings. Materials and methods: Between September 2008 and May 2011, 10 patients (5 males, 5 females; age range 6–65 years) with recurrent glioma were treated with bevacizumab. All underwent pre- and post-treatment MRI including T2- or FLAIR imaging, post-gadolinium contrast T1-weighted imaging, and DWI with b-1000 and b-4000. Response rates were evaluated by MacDonald- and by response assessment in neuro-oncology working group (RANO) criteria. We also assessed the response rate by calculating the size of high intensity areas using high b-value diffusion-weighted criteria. Prognostic factors were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier survival curves (log-rank test). Results: It was easier to identify pseudo-responses with RANO- than MacDonald criteria, however the reduction of edema by bevacizumab rendered the early diagnosis of tumor progression difficult by RANO criteria. In some patients with recurrent glioma treated with bevacizumab, high b-value diffusion-weighted criteria did, while MacDonald- and RANO criteria did not identify pseudo-responses at an early point after the start of therapy. Discussion and conclusion: High b-value DWI reflects cell density more accurately than regular b-value DWI. Our findings suggest that in patients with recurrent glioma, high b-value diffusion-weighted criteria are useful for the differentiation between pseudo- and true responses to treatment with bevacizumab

Advantages of high b-value diffusion-weighted imaging to diagnose pseudo-responses in patients with recurrent glioma after bevacizumab treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamasaki, Fumiyuki; Kurisu, Kaoru; Aoki, Tomokazu; Yamanaka, Masami; Kajiwara, Yoshinori; Watanabe, Yosuke; Takayasu, Takeshi; Akiyama, Yuji; Sugiyama, Kazuhiko

2012-10-01

The diagnosis of pseudo-responses after bevacizumab treatment is difficult. Because diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is associated with cell density, it may facilitate the differentiation between true- and pseudo-responses. Furthermore, as high b-value DWI is even more sensitive to diffusion, it has been reported to be diagnostically useful in various clinical settings. Between September 2008 and May 2011, 10 patients (5 males, 5 females; age range 6-65 years) with recurrent glioma were treated with bevacizumab. All underwent pre- and post-treatment MRI including T2- or FLAIR imaging, post-gadolinium contrast T1-weighted imaging, and DWI with b-1000 and b-4000. Response rates were evaluated by MacDonald- and by response assessment in neuro-oncology working group (RANO) criteria. We also assessed the response rate by calculating the size of high intensity areas using high b-value diffusion-weighted criteria. Prognostic factors were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier survival curves (log-rank test). It was easier to identify pseudo-responses with RANO- than MacDonald criteria, however the reduction of edema by bevacizumab rendered the early diagnosis of tumor progression difficult by RANO criteria. In some patients with recurrent glioma treated with bevacizumab, high b-value diffusion-weighted criteria did, while MacDonald- and RANO criteria did not identify pseudo-responses at an early point after the start of therapy. High b-value DWI reflects cell density more accurately than regular b-value DWI. Our findings suggest that in patients with recurrent glioma, high b-value diffusion-weighted criteria are useful for the differentiation between pseudo- and true responses to treatment with bevacizumab. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

UK quantitative WB-DWI technical workgroup: consensus meeting recommendations on optimisation, quality control, processing and analysis of quantitative whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging for cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Anna; Alonzi, Roberto; Blackledge, Matthew; Charles-Edwards, Geoff; Collins, David J; Cook, Gary; Coutts, Glynn; Goh, Vicky; Graves, Martin; Kelly, Charles; Koh, Dow-Mu; McCallum, Hazel; Miquel, Marc E; O'Connor, James; Padhani, Anwar; Pearson, Rachel; Priest, Andrew; Rockall, Andrea; Stirling, James; Taylor, Stuart; Tunariu, Nina; van der Meulen, Jan; Walls, Darren; Winfield, Jessica; Punwani, Shonit

2018-01-01

Application of whole body diffusion-weighted MRI (WB-DWI) for oncology are rapidly increasing within both research and routine clinical domains. However, WB-DWI as a quantitative imaging biomarker (QIB) has significantly slower adoption. To date, challenges relating to accuracy and reproducibility, essential criteria for a good QIB, have limited widespread clinical translation. In recognition, a UK workgroup was established in 2016 to provide technical consensus guidelines (to maximise accuracy and reproducibility of WB-MRI QIBs) and accelerate the clinical translation of quantitative WB-DWI applications for oncology. A panel of experts convened from cancer centres around the UK with subspecialty expertise in quantitative imaging and/or the use of WB-MRI with DWI. A formal consensus method was used to obtain consensus agreement regarding best practice. Questions were asked about the appropriateness or otherwise on scanner hardware and software, sequence optimisation, acquisition protocols, reporting, and ongoing quality control programs to monitor precision and accuracy and agreement on quality control. The consensus panel was able to reach consensus on 73% (255/351) items and based on consensus areas made recommendations to maximise accuracy and reproducibly of quantitative WB-DWI studies performed at 1.5T. The panel were unable to reach consensus on the majority of items related to quantitative WB-DWI performed at 3T. This UK Quantitative WB-DWI Technical Workgroup consensus provides guidance on maximising accuracy and reproducibly of quantitative WB-DWI for oncology. The consensus guidance can be used by researchers and clinicians to harmonise WB-DWI protocols which will accelerate clinical translation of WB-DWI-derived QIBs.

Depiction of the cranial nerves around the cavernous sinus by 3D reversed FISP with diffusion weighted imaging (3D PSIF-DWI)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishida, Go; Oishi, Makoto; Jinguji, Shinya; Yoneoka, Yuichiro; Fujii, Yukihiko; Sato, Mitsuya

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anatomy of cranial nerves running in and around the cavernous sinus, we employed three-dimensional reversed fast imaging with steady-state precession (FISP) with diffusion weighted imaging (3D PSIF-DWI) on 3-T magnetic resonance (MR) system. After determining the proper parameters to obtain sufficient resolution of 3D PSIF-DWI, we collected imaging data of 20-side cavernous regions in 10 normal subjects. 3D PSIF-DWI provided high contrast between the cranial nerves and other soft tissues, fluid, and blood in all subjects. We also created volume-rendered images of 3D PSIF-DWI and anatomically evaluated the reliability of visualizing optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, and abducens nerves on 3D PSIF-DWI. All 20 sets of cranial nerves were visualized and 12 trochlear nerves and 6 abducens nerves were partially identified. We also presented preliminary clinical experiences in two cases with pituitary adenomas. The anatomical relationship between the tumor and cranial nerves running in and around the cavernous sinus could be three-dimensionally comprehended by 3D PSIF-DWI and the volume-rendered images. In conclusion, 3D PSIF-DWI has great potential to provide high resolution 'cranial nerve imaging', which visualizes the whole length of the cranial nerves including the parts in the blood flow as in the cavernous sinus region. (author)

[Depiction of the cranial nerves around the cavernous sinus by 3D reversed FISP with diffusion weighted imaging (3D PSIF-DWI)].

Science.gov (United States)

Ishida, Go; Oishi, Makoto; Jinguji, Shinya; Yoneoka, Yuichiro; Sato, Mitsuya; Fujii, Yukihiko

2011-10-01

To evaluate the anatomy of cranial nerves running in and around the cavernous sinus, we employed three-dimensional reversed fast imaging with steady-state precession (FISP) with diffusion weighted imaging (3D PSIF-DWI) on 3-T magnetic resonance (MR) system. After determining the proper parameters to obtain sufficient resolution of 3D PSIF-DWI, we collected imaging data of 20-side cavernous regions in 10 normal subjects. 3D PSIF-DWI provided high contrast between the cranial nerves and other soft tissues, fluid, and blood in all subjects. We also created volume-rendered images of 3D PSIF-DWI and anatomically evaluated the reliability of visualizing optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, and abducens nerves on 3D PSIF-DWI. All 20 sets of cranial nerves were visualized and 12 trochlear nerves and 6 abducens nerves were partially identified. We also presented preliminary clinical experiences in two cases with pituitary adenomas. The anatomical relationship between the tumor and cranial nerves running in and around the cavernous sinus could be three-dimensionally comprehended by 3D PSIF-DWI and the volume-rendered images. In conclusion, 3D PSIF-DWI has great potential to provide high resolution "cranial nerve imaging", which visualizes the whole length of the cranial nerves including the parts in the blood flow as in the cavernous sinus region.

Implementing a citizen's DWI reporting program using the Extra Eyes model

Science.gov (United States)

2008-09-01

This manual is a guide for law enforcement agencies and community organizations in creating and implementing a citizens DWI reporting program in their communities modeling the Operation Extra Eyes program. Extra Eyes is a program that engages volu...

Alcohol expectancies pre-and post-alcohol use disorder treatment: Clinical implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Coates, Jason M; Gullo, Matthew J; Feeney, Gerald F X; Young, Ross McD; Dingle, Genevieve A; Connor, Jason P

2018-05-01

Modification of elevated positive expectations of alcohol consumption (alcohol outcome expectancies; AOEs) is a key feature of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) approaches to Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs). Despite extensive research supporting the efficacy of CBT for AUD, few studies have examined AOE change. This study aimed to assess AOE change following completion of CBT for AUD and its association with drinking behaviour. One-hundred and seventy-five patients who completed a 12-week CBT program for AUD were administered the Drinking Expectancy Questionnaire (DEQ) at pre-treatment assessment and upon completion of treatment. Abstinence was achieved by 108 (61.7%) of completing patients. For patients who lapsed, the mean proportion of abstinent days was 93%. DEQ scales assessing expectations of positive alcohol effects on tension reduction, assertiveness, and cognitive enhancement were significantly lower post-treatment (pscale. Greater percentage of abstinent days over treatment was associated with lower pre-and post-treatment tension reduction expectancy scores (p<0.05). Drinking during treatment was associated with smaller changes in expectations of negative effects of alcohol on mood (p<0.05). Individuals who completed CBT treatment for AUD showed significant AOE change. Tension reduction and affective change expectancies may be particularly important for abstinence and useful markers of lapse risk. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can Propensity Score Analysis Approximate Randomized Experiments Using Pretest and Demographic Information in Pre-K Intervention Research?

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Nianbo; Lipsey, Mark W

2017-01-01

It is unclear whether propensity score analysis (PSA) based on pretest and demographic covariates will meet the ignorability assumption for replicating the results of randomized experiments. This study applies within-study comparisons to assess whether pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) treatment effects on achievement outcomes estimated using PSA based on a pretest and demographic covariates can approximate those found in a randomized experiment. Data-Four studies with samples of pre-K children each provided data on two math achievement outcome measures with baseline pretests and child demographic variables that included race, gender, age, language spoken at home, and mother's highest education. Research Design and Data Analysis-A randomized study of a pre-K math curriculum provided benchmark estimates of effects on achievement measures. Comparison samples from other pre-K studies were then substituted for the original randomized control and the effects were reestimated using PSA. The correspondence was evaluated using multiple criteria. The effect estimates using PSA were in the same direction as the benchmark estimates, had similar but not identical statistical significance, and did not differ from the benchmarks at statistically significant levels. However, the magnitude of the effect sizes differed and displayed both absolute and relative bias larger than required to show statistical equivalence with formal tests, but those results were not definitive because of the limited statistical power. We conclude that treatment effect estimates based on a single pretest and demographic covariates in PSA correspond to those from a randomized experiment on the most general criteria for equivalence.

Clinical evaluation of echo-planar diffusion-weighted imaging (EPI-DWI) for diagnosis of breast cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakajima, Mika; Nitatori, Toshiaki; Matsuda, Minoru; Fukushima, Hisaki; Ihara, Kuniko; Seki, Tsuneaki

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare echo-planar diffusion-weighted imaging (EPI-DWI) with dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in terms of the rate of detection, extension, and quality of diagnosis of breast cancer in order to estimate the usefulness of EPI-DWI. One hundred and three cases of 101 patients who underwent MRI prior to surgery for breast cancer were evaluated. (papillotubular carcinoma 22; solid-tubular carcinoma 20; scirrhous carcinoma 45; mucinous carcinoma 2; medullary carcinoma 1; invasive lobular carcinoma 2; apocrine carcinoma 2; ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and microinvasive ductal carcinoma 9). Twelve cases of benign lesion were also evaluated. Single-shot EPI-DWI was performed before routine dynamic MRI and images of cancer detection and cancer extension both were compared with the pathological findings. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the lesions were measured and compared to the ADC values of benign lesions and normal breast tissues. The differences between the ADC values for the various histopathological types and the time-intensity curve (TIC) patterns of the dynamic MRI were also estimated. The EPI-DWI demonstrated abnormal high-intensity areas corresponding to the breast cancer lesions; these areas demonstrated good correlation with the enhanced areas observed in the early phase of dynamic MRI and cancer extension in the pathological findings. Frequently, normal breast tissues manifested as high-intensity areas in EPI-DWI; however, it was possible to distinguish between normal breast tissues and breast lesions by correlating these images with T2- weighted images and corresponding ADC values. The threshold value between malignant and benign lesions that resulted both high sensitivity and specificity was about 1.5 x 10 -3 x mm 2 /second. Mucinous carcinoma and DCIS/ microinvasive carcinoma exhibited higher ADC values than those observed in the other histopathological types, however, no

Is there a role for diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) in the diagnosis of central cartilage tumors?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Douis, H.; Jeys, L.; Grimer, R.; Vaiyapuri, S.; Davies, A.M.

2015-01-01

To assess if diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) can differentiate between central enchondromas and chondrosarcomas (CS) and if DWI can distinguish low-grade chondroid lesions from high-grade CS. Fifty-two patients with central cartilage tumors were included. Patients underwent conventional MRI and DWI with ADC mapping. The slice on MRI with the most aggressive imaging feature was identified. The corresponding mean and minimum ADC maps of the tumor at this position were measured. There were 24 enchondromas, five atypical cartilaginous lesions, 15 grade 1, three grade 2, two grade 3, and three dedifferentiated CS. Mean ADC values (x 10 -6 mm 2 /s) for enchondromas, atypical cartilaginous tumors, grade 1 CS, grade 2, CS, grade 3 CS and dedifferentiated CS were 1,896, 2,048, 2,152, 2,170, 2,076, and 1,261, respectively. Minimum ADC values (x 10 -6 mm 2 /s) for enchondromas, atypical cartilaginous tumors, grade 1 CS, grade 2, CS, grade 3 CS and dedifferentiated CS were 1,820, 1,752, 2,010, 1,829, 1,752, and 767, respectively. ANOVA test demonstrated a statistically significant difference in mean and minimum ADC values in all groups. Post hoc analysis revealed this was due to difference in mean and minimum ADC values in dedifferentiated CS. The mean ADC value in low-grade chondroid lesions was 2,001, while the ADC value for high-grade CS were 2,132. The minimum ADC value for low-grade chondroid lesions was 1,896, while the minimum ADC for high-grade CS was 1,837. The difference in minimum and mean ADC values was not statistically significant. DWI cannot differentiate between enchondromas and CS and DWI does not aid in the distinction of low-grade chondroid tumors from high-grade CS. (orig.)

The role of diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) in the differentiation of benign from malignant skeletal lesions of the pelvis

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Douis, Hassan, E-mail: douis.hassan@hotmail.co.uk [Department of Radiology, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, B15 2GW (United Kingdom); Department of Radiology, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, B31 2AP (United Kingdom); Davies, Mark A. [Department of Radiology, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, B31 2AP (United Kingdom); Sian, Parmjit [Department of Spinal Surgical Oncology, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, B31 2AP (United Kingdom)

2016-12-15

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of Diffusion-weighted MRI in the differentiation of benign from malignant skeletal lesions of the pelvis. Materials and methods: In this retrospective study 33 patients with indeterminate skeletal lesions of the pelvis were evaluated with DWI. Minimum, mean, maximum ADC-values of the skeletal lesions were measured followed by qualitative assessment of DWI. All patients underwent histological confirmation using CT-guided biopsy or surgical resection. The histology of the skeletal lesions was correlated with the findings on DWI. Results: There were 13 malignant lesions and 20 benign lesions. The mean, minimum and maximum ADC values (×10–6mm2/s) for benign skeletal lesions was higher than the mean ADC-values for malignant lesions (1422.2 vs 1263.7; 780.4 vs 771.8; 1969.6 vs 1676.8 respectively). These differences were however not statistically significant (P-values = 0.29; 0.94; 0.149 respectively). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for qualitative assessment of Diffusion-weighted MRI in the differentiation of benign from malignant skeletal lesions were: 53.9%, 85%, 70%, 73.9% respectively. Qualitative assessment of DWI (restricted diffusion versus non-restricted diffusion) allowed differentiation of benign from malignant skeletal lesions (P-value = 0.0259). Conclusions: Qualitative assessment of DWI may aid in the differentiation of benign skeletal lesions from malignant skeletal lesions of the pelvis. Although DWI has a low sensitivity in the distinction of the two disease entities, it may be a useful adjunct due to its relatively high specificity. This is of particular importance in lymphoma where biopsy may only show chronic inflammatory cells and hence may be false negative.

The role of diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) in the differentiation of benign from malignant skeletal lesions of the pelvis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Douis, Hassan; Davies, Mark A.; Sian, Parmjit

2016-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of Diffusion-weighted MRI in the differentiation of benign from malignant skeletal lesions of the pelvis. Materials and methods: In this retrospective study 33 patients with indeterminate skeletal lesions of the pelvis were evaluated with DWI. Minimum, mean, maximum ADC-values of the skeletal lesions were measured followed by qualitative assessment of DWI. All patients underwent histological confirmation using CT-guided biopsy or surgical resection. The histology of the skeletal lesions was correlated with the findings on DWI. Results: There were 13 malignant lesions and 20 benign lesions. The mean, minimum and maximum ADC values (×10–6mm2/s) for benign skeletal lesions was higher than the mean ADC-values for malignant lesions (1422.2 vs 1263.7; 780.4 vs 771.8; 1969.6 vs 1676.8 respectively). These differences were however not statistically significant (P-values = 0.29; 0.94; 0.149 respectively). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for qualitative assessment of Diffusion-weighted MRI in the differentiation of benign from malignant skeletal lesions were: 53.9%, 85%, 70%, 73.9% respectively. Qualitative assessment of DWI (restricted diffusion versus non-restricted diffusion) allowed differentiation of benign from malignant skeletal lesions (P-value = 0.0259). Conclusions: Qualitative assessment of DWI may aid in the differentiation of benign skeletal lesions from malignant skeletal lesions of the pelvis. Although DWI has a low sensitivity in the distinction of the two disease entities, it may be a useful adjunct due to its relatively high specificity. This is of particular importance in lymphoma where biopsy may only show chronic inflammatory cells and hence may be false negative.

Diffusion-Weighted Imaging-Detected Ischemic Lesions following Endovascular Treatment of Cerebral Aneurysms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bond, K M; Brinjikji, W; Murad, M H; Kallmes, D F; Cloft, H J; Lanzino, G

2017-02-01

Endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms is associated with the risk of thromboembolic ischemic complications. Many of these events are asymptomatic and identified only on diffusion-weighted imaging. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to study the incidence of DWI positive for thromboembolic events following endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms. A comprehensive literature search identified studies published between 2000 and April 2016 that reported postprocedural DWI findings in patients undergoing endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms. The primary outcome was the incidence of DWI positive for thromboembolic events. We examined outcomes by treatment type, sex, and aneurysm characteristics. Meta-analyses were performed by using a random-effects model. Twenty-two studies with 2148 patients and 2268 aneurysms were included. The overall incidence of DWI positive for thromboembolic events following endovascular treatment was 49% (95% CI, 42%-56%). Treatment with flow diversion trended toward a higher rate of DWI positive for lesions than coiling alone (67%; 95% CI, 46%-85%; versus 45%; 95% CI, 33%-56%; P = .07). There was no difference between patients treated with coiling alone and those treated with balloon-assisted (44%; 95% CI, 29%-60%; P = .99) or stent-assisted (43%; 95% CI, 24%-63%; P = .89) coiling. Sex, aneurysm rupture status, location, and size were not associated with the rate of DWI positive for lesions. One in 2 patients may have infarcts on DWI following endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms. There is a trend toward a higher incidence of DWI-positive lesions following treatment with flow diversion compared with coiling. Patient demographics and aneurysm characteristics were not associated with DWI-positive thromboembolic events. © 2017 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Exploring Content Validity of Shore Handwriting Screening and Newly Developed Score Sheet With Pre-Kindergarten Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denise K. Donica

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Limited tools exist to measure handwriting readiness skills of pre-kindergarten students. This study was a preliminary exploration of content validity of the Shore Handwriting Screening (SHS and the newly developed Score Sheet with the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2 in 4- and 5-year-old pre-kindergarten students. Because socioeconomic status (SES is known to impact handwriting skills, data from two different socioeconomic groups were collected. Method: Students from a Lower SES group (n = 36 and a Higher SES group (n = 14 completed the SHS and fine motor composite of the BOT-2. Pearson’s correlation was used to compare scores on the two assessments within the two groups. Results: SHS overall percentage scores were compared to standard scores and composite scores of the BOT-2. SHS scores displayed moderate to high correlation with fine manual control portions of the BOT-2 for the Lower SES group and low to moderate correlation for the same portion in the Higher SES group. Conclusion: SHS and the Score Sheet correlate to fine and visual-motor skill subtests on the fine manual control portions of the BOT-2, which supports the need for further research on the reliability and validity of the Score Sheet for use in practice.

Pre-treatment attachment anxiety predicts change in depressive symptoms in women who complete day hospital treatment for anorexia and bulimia nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Keating, Leah; Tasca, Giorgio A; Bissada, Hany

2015-03-01

Individuals with eating disorders are prone to depressive symptoms. This study examines whether depressive symptoms can change in women who complete intensive day treatment for anorexia and bulimia nervosa (BN), and whether these changes are associated with pre-treatment attachment insecurity. Participants were 141 women with anorexia nervosa restricting type (n = 24), anorexia nervosa binge purge type (n = 30), and BN (n = 87) who completed a day hospital treatment programme for eating disorders. They completed a pre-treatment self-report measure of attachment, and a pre-treatment and post-treatment self-report measure of depressive symptoms. Participants experienced significant reductions in depressive symptoms at post-treatment. Eating disorder diagnosis was not related to these improvements. However, participants lower in attachment anxiety experienced significantly greater improvement in depressive symptoms than those who were higher in attachment anxiety. These results suggest that clinicians may tailor eating disorders treatments to patients' attachment patterns and focus on their pre-occupation with relationships and affect regulation to improve depressive symptoms. That depressive symptoms can decrease in women who complete day hospital treatment for anorexia and BN. That improvements in depressive symptoms do not vary according to eating disorder diagnosis in these women. That patients who complete treatment and who have higher attachment anxiety experience less improvements in depressive symptoms compared to those lower in attachment anxiety. That clinicians may attend to aspects of attachment anxiety, such as need for approval and up-regulation of emotions, to improve depressive symptoms in female patients with eating disorders. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Silane pre-treatments on copper and aluminium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deflorian, F.; Rossi, S.; Fedrizzi, L.

2006-01-01

A large part of aluminium products are coated with an organic layer in order to improve the corrosion resistance. Copper surfaces are also sometimes protected with an organic coating to improve the durability or the aesthetic properties. Examples of industrial applications are household appliances and heat exchanger components. For these applications it is not rare to have the industrial need to treat at the same time components made of aluminium and copper. In order to extend the service life of the organic coated copper a specific surface pre-treatment is often required. Nevertheless, probably because of the limited market of this application, no specific pre-treatments for copper are industrially developed, with the exception of cleaning procedures, but simply extensions of existing pre-treatments optimised for other metals (aluminium, zinc) are used. The application of silane pre-treatments as adhesion promoters for organic coated metals is remarkably increasing in the last decade, because silanes offer very good performance together with high environmental compatibility. The idea is therefore to try to develop a specific silane based pre-treatment for copper. The starting point is the existing silane products for aluminium, optimising the composition and the application conditions (concentration, temperature, pH of the bath, etc.) in order to develop a high performance copper alloy pre-treatment increasing the protective properties and the adhesion of a successively applied organic coating. Moreover these pre-treatments could be used for aluminium alloys too and therefore could be suggested for multi-metals components. The deposits were analysed using FTIR spectroscopy and optical and electron microscopic observations. A careful electrochemical characterisation, mainly by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements (EIS) was carried out to highlight the presence of silane and to evaluate the performance of the different deposits. In order to study an

Performance of CT ASPECTS and Collateral Score in Risk Stratification: Can Target Perfusion Profiles Be Predicted without Perfusion Imaging?

Science.gov (United States)

Dehkharghani, S; Bammer, R; Straka, M; Bowen, M; Allen, J W; Rangaraju, S; Kang, J; Gleason, T; Brasher, C; Nahab, F

2016-08-01

Endovascular trials suggest that revascularization benefits a subset of acute ischemic stroke patients with large-artery occlusion and small-core infarct volumes. The objective of our study was to identify thresholds of noncontrast CT-ASPECTS and collateral scores on CT angiography that best predict ischemic core volume thresholds quantified by CT perfusion among patients with acute ischemic stroke. Fifty-four patients with acute ischemic stroke (collateral score of 3 had 100% specificity for identifying patients with a CBF core volume of ≤50 mL. NCCT-ASPECTS of ≤6 had 100% specificity for identifying patients with a CBF core volume of >50 mL. In our cohort, 44 (81%) patients had an NCCT-ASPECTS of ≥9, a CTA collateral score of 3, or an NCCT-ASPECTS of ≤6. Using an NCCT-ASPECTS of ≥9 or a CTA collateral score of 3 best predicts CBF core volume infarct of ≤50 mL, while an NCCT-ASPECTS of ≤6 best predicts a CBF core volume infarct of >50 mL. Together these thresholds suggest that a specific population of patients with acute ischemic stroke not meeting such profiles may benefit most from CTP imaging to determine candidacy for revascularization. © 2016 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

EVALUATION OF PRE AND POST TRAINING PRACTICES REGARDING MANAGEMENT OF DIABETES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Mohanty

1995-09-01

Full Text Available The study was conducted on 112 diabetic patients in S.S. Hospital.Varanasi to evaluate the pre- and post- training practices regarding management of Diabetes mellitus. A pre-tested structured respondent schedule urn used to collect information regarding the socio-economic status and some of the managerial aspects of the disease by questionaire cum interview method. Education cum training was imparted to all the respondents in the first three months and in the fourth month evaluation programme was carried out and their level ofpractive regarding different aspects of diabetic management were assessed by using seven point score method. It was found that training was proved effective for the aspect "Physical exer­cise" and "Restricted diet" but slight improvement in the practive score was seen in "Precaution in Special Hygienic Condition" aspects. So. con­tinuous education programme was needed to improve their practice rate.

Diffusion-weighted imaging properties of uterine fibroids pre- and post-uterine fibroid embolisation

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Kirpalani, Anish, E-mail: kirpalania@smh.ca [Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Hospital, 30 Bond Street, 3CC, Toronto, ON M5B 1W8 (Canada); Chong, Jennifer [Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Hospital, 30 Bond Street, 3CC, Toronto, ON M5B 1W8 (Canada); Yang, Natalie [Department of Radiology, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084 (Australia); Jenkins, Sarah J. [Department of Radiology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3V6 (Canada); Nisenbaum, Rosane [Centre for Research on Inner City Health, the Keenan Research Centre in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, ON M5B 1W8 (Canada); Prabhudesai, Vikramaditya; Anthwal, Shalini; Colak, Errol [Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Hospital, 30 Bond Street, 3CC, Toronto, ON M5B 1W8 (Canada)

2014-09-15

Highlights: • Change in ADC and contrast enhancement of uterine fibroids following UFE was studied. • ADC of fibroids rises post-UFE. Previous studies assessing this change have conflicting results. • ADC rise post-UFE is associated with degree of loss of contrast enhancement. • ADC measurement using DWI is not yet a proven replacement for GBCA-enhanced MRI. - Abstract: Objective: To determine the change in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of uterine fibroids following uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE), and if the ADC change correlates with either volume loss or degree of contrast enhancement post-UFE. Materials and methods: This study was approved by our institutional review board with waiver of consent. The pelvic MRI examinations, including diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) using 4 b-values, of 50 consecutive patients prior to and 6 months post-UFE were analyzed. The volume, ADC and amount of enhancement were calculated for each fibroid both pre- and post-UFE. The percent residual enhancement for each fibroid was categorized as either: no (0–1%) residual enhancement or residual (>1%) enhancement. Statistical analysis compared ADC, enhancement and volume for each fibroid pre- and post-UFE using paired t-tests and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: The mean ADC of all (n = 88) fibroids pre-UFE was 1.30 ± 0.20 × 10{sup −3} mm{sup 2}/s, and increased to 1.68 ± 0.24 × 10{sup −3} mm{sup 2}/s post-UFE (p < 0.0001). Lower pre-UFE ADC correlated with greater ADC change post-UFE (r = −0.50; p < 0.0001). There was no correlation between ADC change and volume change post-UFE (r = 0.07; p = 0.59). However, fibroids with no residual enhancement post-UFE had larger ADC change than those with residual enhancement (p = 0.003). Conclusion: The ADC of fibroids rises post-UFE. ADC change post-UFE is associated with the degree of loss of enhancement and may therefore be valuable in predicting response to treatment in pre-procedural counseling.

Prognostic factors related to clinical outcome following thrombectomy in ischemic stroke (RECOST Study). 50 patients prospective study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costalat, V.; Lobotesis, K.; Machi, P.; Mourand, I.; Maldonado, I.; Heroum, C.; Vendrell, J.F.; Milhaud, D.; Riquelme, C.; Bonafé, A.; Arquizan, C.

2012-01-01

Background and aims: New thrombectomy devices allow successful and rapid recanalization in acute ischemic stroke. Nevertheless prognostics factors need to be systematically analyzed in the context of these new therapeutic strategies. The aim of this study was to analyze prognostic factors related to clinical outcome following Solitaire FR thrombectomy in ischemic stroke. Methods: Fifty consecutive ischemic stroke patients with large vessel occlusion were included. Three treatment strategies were applied; rescue therapy, combined therapy, and standalone thrombectomy. DWI ASPECT score < 5 was the main exclusion criterion after initial MRI (T2, T2*, TOF, FLAIR, DWI). Sexes, age, time to recanalization were prospectively collected. Clinical outcome was assessed post treatment, day one and discharge by means of a NIHSS. Three months mRS evaluation was performed by an independent neurologist. The probability of good outcome at 3 months was assessed by forward stepwise logistic regression using baseline NIHSS score, Glasgow score at entrance, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, blood–brain barrier disruption on post-operative CT, embolic and hemorrhagic post procedural complication, ischemic brain lesion extension on 24 h imaging, NIHSS at discharge, ASPECT score, and time to recanalization. All variables significantly associated with the outcome in the univariate analysis were entered in the model. The significance of adding or removing a variable from the logistic model was determined by the maximum likelihood ratio test. Odds-ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: At 3 months 54% of patients had a mRS 0–2, 70% in MCA, 44% in ICA, and 43% in BA with an overall mortality rate of 12%. Baseline NIHSS score (p = 0.001), abnormal Glasgow score at entrance (p = 0.053) hyperglycemia (p = 0.023), dyslipidemia (p = 0.031), blood–brain barrier disruption (p = 0.022), embolic and hemorrhagic post procedural complication, ischemic brain lesion

Prognostic factors related to clinical outcome following thrombectomy in ischemic stroke (RECOST Study). 50 patients prospective study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costalat, V., E-mail: vincentcost@hotmail.com [CHU Montpellier, Neuroradiology, Montpellier (France); Lobotesis, K., E-mail: kyriakos@lobotesis.co.uk [CHU Montpellier, Neuroradiology, Montpellier (France); Machi, P., E-mail: paolo.machi@gmail.com [CHU Montpellier, Neuroradiology, Montpellier (France); Mourand, I., E-mail: i-mourand@chu-montpellier.fr [CHU Montpellier, Neurology, Montpellier (France); Maldonado, I., E-mail: imaldonado@terra.com.br [CHU Montpellier, Neuroradiology, Montpellier (France); Heroum, C., E-mail: c-heroum@chu-montpellier.fr [CHU Montpellier, Neurology, Montpellier (France); Vendrell, J.F., E-mail: jf-vendrell@chu-montpellier.fr [CHU Montpellier, Neuroradiology, Montpellier (France); Milhaud, D., E-mail: d-milhaud@chu-montpellier.fr [CHU Montpellier, Neurology, Montpellier (France); Riquelme, C., E-mail: c-riquelme@chu-montpellier.fr [CHU Montpellier, Neuroradiology, Montpellier (France); Bonafé, A., E-mail: a-bonafe@chu-montpellier.fr [CHU Montpellier, Neuroradiology, Montpellier (France); Arquizan, C., E-mail: c-arquizan@chu-montpellier.fr [CHU Montpellier, Neurology, Montpellier (France)

2012-12-15

Background and aims: New thrombectomy devices allow successful and rapid recanalization in acute ischemic stroke. Nevertheless prognostics factors need to be systematically analyzed in the context of these new therapeutic strategies. The aim of this study was to analyze prognostic factors related to clinical outcome following Solitaire FR thrombectomy in ischemic stroke. Methods: Fifty consecutive ischemic stroke patients with large vessel occlusion were included. Three treatment strategies were applied; rescue therapy, combined therapy, and standalone thrombectomy. DWI ASPECT score < 5 was the main exclusion criterion after initial MRI (T2, T2*, TOF, FLAIR, DWI). Sexes, age, time to recanalization were prospectively collected. Clinical outcome was assessed post treatment, day one and discharge by means of a NIHSS. Three months mRS evaluation was performed by an independent neurologist. The probability of good outcome at 3 months was assessed by forward stepwise logistic regression using baseline NIHSS score, Glasgow score at entrance, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, blood–brain barrier disruption on post-operative CT, embolic and hemorrhagic post procedural complication, ischemic brain lesion extension on 24 h imaging, NIHSS at discharge, ASPECT score, and time to recanalization. All variables significantly associated with the outcome in the univariate analysis were entered in the model. The significance of adding or removing a variable from the logistic model was determined by the maximum likelihood ratio test. Odds-ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: At 3 months 54% of patients had a mRS 0–2, 70% in MCA, 44% in ICA, and 43% in BA with an overall mortality rate of 12%. Baseline NIHSS score (p = 0.001), abnormal Glasgow score at entrance (p = 0.053) hyperglycemia (p = 0.023), dyslipidemia (p = 0.031), blood–brain barrier disruption (p = 0.022), embolic and hemorrhagic post procedural complication, ischemic brain lesion

Assessing liver function in patients with HBV-related HCC: a comparison of T{sub 1} mapping on Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR imaging with DWI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ding, Ying; Rao, Sheng-Xiang; Chen, Caizhong; Li, Renchen; Zeng, Meng-Su [Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, Department of Radiology, 180 Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai (China)

2015-05-01

To compare the potential of T{sub 1} mapping on gadoxetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for assessing liver function in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). One hundred consecutive patients with known HBV-related HCCs were included. T{sub 1} relaxation time and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the liver were measured, and the reduction rate of T{sub 1} relaxation time (∇%) was calculated. T{sub 1} relaxation time measurements were compared with ADC values according to the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score. Hepatobiliary phase (HBP) and ∇% of T{sub 1} relaxation time measurements showed significant correlations with MELD score (rho = 0.571, p < 0.0001; rho = -0.573, p < 0.0001, respectively). HBP and ∇% of T{sub 1} relaxation time were significantly different between good (MELD ≤8) and poor liver function (MELD ≥9) (p < 0.0001 for both). Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) of T{sub 1} relaxation time for HBP (AUC 0.84) and ∇% (AUC 0.82) were significantly better than for ADC (AUC 0.53; p < 0.0001). T{sub 1} mapping on Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI showed promise for evaluating liver function in patients with HBV-related HCC, while DWI was not reliable. HBP T{sub 1} relaxation time measurement was equally accurate as ∇% measurement. (orig.)

Pain flare following external beam radiotherapy and meaningful change in pain scores in the treatment of bone metastases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chow, Edward; Ling, Alison; Davis, Lori; Panzarella, Tony; Danjoux, Cyril

2005-01-01

Background and purpose: To examine the incidence of pain flare following external beam radiotherapy and to determine what constitutes a meaningful change in pain scores in the treatment of bone metastases. Patients and methods: Patients with bone metastases treated with external beam radiotherapy were asked to score their pain on a scale of 0-10 before the treatment (baseline), daily during the treatment and for 10 days after completion of external beam radiation. Pain flare was defined as a two-point increase from baseline pain in the pain scale of 0-10 with no decrease in analgesic intake or a 25% increase in analgesic intake employing daily oral morphine equivalent with no decrease in pain score. To distinguish pain flare from progression of pain, we required the pain score and analgesic intake to return back to baseline levels after the increase/flare. They were also asked to indicate if their pain changed during that time compared to pre-treatment level. The change in pain score was compared with patient perception. Results: Eighty-eight patients were evaluated in this study. There were 49 male and 39 female patients with the median age of 70 years. Twelve of 88 patients (14%) had pain flare on day 1. The overall incidence of pain flare during the study period ranged from 2 to 16%. A total of 797 pain scorings were obtained. Patients perceived an improvement in pain when their self-reported pain score decreased by at least two points. Conclusions: Our study confirms the occurrence of pain flare following the external beam radiotherapy in the treatment of bone metastases. Further studies are required to predict who are at risk for flare. Appropriate measures can be taken to alleviate the pain flare. The finding in the meaningful change in pain scores supports the investigator-defined partial response used in some clinical trials

Paediatric PNET: pre-surgical MRI features

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chawla, A. [Department of Neuroradiology, National Neuroscience Institute (Singapore); Emmanuel, J.V. [Department of Neuroradiology, National Neuroscience Institute (Singapore); Seow, W.T. [Department of Neurosurgery, National Neuroscience Institute (Singapore); Lou, J. [Pediatric Medicine, KK Women' s and Children' s Hospital (Singapore); Teo, H.E. [Department of Diagnostic Imaging, KK Women' s and Children' s Hospital (Singapore); Lim, C.C.T. [Department of Neuroradiology, National Neuroscience Institute (Singapore) and Diagnostic Radiology, Yong Loo Lin Medical School, National University of Singapore (Singapore)]. E-mail: tchoyoson_lim@nni.com.sg

2007-01-15

Aim: To describe the preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics of primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNETs), in particular the diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), MR spectroscopy (MRS) features and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tumour dissemination. Material and methods: Twelve patients with PNETs were reviewed: nine with medulloblastoma and three with supratentorial PNETs (SPNETs). The MRI examination included contrast-enhanced intracranial and spinal MRI, and in some patients, gradient recalled echo, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), DWI, and MRS. Results: All PNETs were either hypointense or isointense on T1-weighted images. Ten of the 12 tumours were either isointense or hypointense on T2-weighted images, and 11 were isointense on FLAIR images. Patients with SPNETs had large, vascular and haemorrhagic tumours. On DWI, all PNETs were hyperintense and had restricted apparent diffusion coefficient. MRS (two patients with medulloblastoma and one with a SPNET), showed elevated choline, decreased N-acetyl aspartate, and a small taurine peak in all three patients. Intraspinal tumour dissemination, visible as uniform or nodular enhancement coating the conus medullaris, was detected in six of 12 patients, two of whom also had intracranial dissemination. Conclusion: PNETs have a characteristic imaging appearance on FLAIR, DWI and MRS, which may help in differentiating these highly cellular neoplasms from other tumours. There is CSF tumour dissemination in a high proportion of patients, and spinal imaging is important for disease staging and to formulate treatment protocols.

Paediatric PNET: pre-surgical MRI features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chawla, A.; Emmanuel, J.V.; Seow, W.T.; Lou, J.; Teo, H.E.; Lim, C.C.T.

2007-01-01

Aim: To describe the preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics of primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNETs), in particular the diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), MR spectroscopy (MRS) features and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tumour dissemination. Material and methods: Twelve patients with PNETs were reviewed: nine with medulloblastoma and three with supratentorial PNETs (SPNETs). The MRI examination included contrast-enhanced intracranial and spinal MRI, and in some patients, gradient recalled echo, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), DWI, and MRS. Results: All PNETs were either hypointense or isointense on T1-weighted images. Ten of the 12 tumours were either isointense or hypointense on T2-weighted images, and 11 were isointense on FLAIR images. Patients with SPNETs had large, vascular and haemorrhagic tumours. On DWI, all PNETs were hyperintense and had restricted apparent diffusion coefficient. MRS (two patients with medulloblastoma and one with a SPNET), showed elevated choline, decreased N-acetyl aspartate, and a small taurine peak in all three patients. Intraspinal tumour dissemination, visible as uniform or nodular enhancement coating the conus medullaris, was detected in six of 12 patients, two of whom also had intracranial dissemination. Conclusion: PNETs have a characteristic imaging appearance on FLAIR, DWI and MRS, which may help in differentiating these highly cellular neoplasms from other tumours. There is CSF tumour dissemination in a high proportion of patients, and spinal imaging is important for disease staging and to formulate treatment protocols

Novel use of non-echo-planar diffusion weighted MRI in monitoring disease activity and treatment response in active Grave's orbitopathy: An initial observational cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lingam, Ravi Kumar; Mundada, Pravin; Lee, Vickie

2018-01-10

To examine the novel use of non-echo-planar diffusion weighted MRI (DWI) in depicting activity and treatment response in active Grave's orbitopathy (GO) by assessing, with inter-observer agreement, for a correlation between its apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) and conventional Short tau Inversion Recovery (STIR) MRI signal-intensity ratios (SIRs). A total of 23 actively inflamed muscles and 30 muscle response episodes were analysed in patients with active GO who underwent medical treatment. The MRI orbit scans included STIR sequences and non-echo-planar DWI were evaluated. Two observers independently assessed the images qualitatively for the presence of activity in the extraocular muscles (EOMs) and recorded the STIR signal-intensity (SI), SIR (SI ratio of EOM/temporalis muscle), and ADC values of any actively inflamed muscle on the pre-treatment scans and their corresponding values on the subsequent post-treatment scans. Inter-observer agreement was examined. There was a significant positive correlation (0.57, p < 0.001) between ADC and both SIR and STIR SI of the actively inflamed EOM. There was also a significant positive correlation (0.75, p < 0.001) between SIR and ADC values depicting change in muscle activity associated with treatment response. There was good inter-observer agreement. Our preliminary results indicate that quantitative evaluation with non-echo-planar DWI ADC values correlates well with conventional STIR SIR in detecting active GO and monitoring its treatment response, with good inter-observer agreement.

Prominent hypointense veins on susceptibility weighted image in the cat brain with acute infarction: DWI, SWI, and PWI.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yong-Woo; Kim, Hak Jin; Choi, Seon Hee; Kim, Dong Chan

2014-10-01

The multiple prominent hypointense veins on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) have been found in the ischemic territory of patients with acute ischemic stroke. Venous side is the unknown area in the hemodynamics of brain infarction. To evaluate the venous aspect in acute brain infarction through an animal study. The acute infarction in cat brains was induced with a bolus infusion of 0.25 mL of triolein through one side of the common carotid artery. The magnetic resonance (MR) images, including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map, SW, and perfusion-weighted (PWI) images, were obtained serially at 2 h (n = 17), 1 day (n = 11), and 4 days (n = 4) after triolein infusion. The obtained MR images were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. For qualitative assessment, the signal intensity of the serial MR images was evaluated. The presence or absence and the location with serial changes of infarction were identified on DWI and ADC map images. The presence or absence of prominent hypointense veins and the serial changes of cortical veins were also evaluated on SWI. Quantitative assessment was performed by comparing the relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), cerebral blood flow (rCBF), and mean transit times (MTT) of the lesions with those of the contralateral normal side calculated on PWI. The serial changes of rCBV, rCBF, and MTT ratio were also evaluated. Acute infarction in the first and second medial gyrus of lesion hemisphere was found by qualitative evaluation of DWI and ADC map images. On the serial evaluation of SWI, the cortical veins of cat brain with infarction were obscured at 2 h and then re-appeared at 1 day. The hemorrhage transformation and prominent hypointense veins were seen at 4 days on SWI. The quantitative evaluation revealed increased MTT ratios and decreased rCBV and rCBF ratios on PWIs in the acute infarction of cat brain. The prominent hypointense veins on SWI were seen in the half of the acute

Evaluation of a metal artifact reduction algorithm applied to post-interventional flat detector CT in comparison to pre-treatment CT in patients with acute subarachnoid haemorrhage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mennecke, Angelika; Svergun, Stanislav; Doerfler, Arnd; Struffert, Tobias; Scholz, Bernhard; Royalty, Kevin

2017-01-01

Metal artefacts can impair accurate diagnosis of haemorrhage using flat detector CT (FD-CT), especially after aneurysm coiling. Within this work we evaluate a prototype metal artefact reduction algorithm by comparison of the artefact-reduced and the non-artefact-reduced FD-CT images to pre-treatment FD-CT and multi-slice CT images. Twenty-five patients with acute aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) were selected retrospectively. FD-CT and multi-slice CT before endovascular treatment as well as FD-CT data sets after treatment were available for all patients. The algorithm was applied to post-treatment FD-CT. The effect of the algorithm was evaluated utilizing the pre-post concordance of a modified Fisher score, a subjective image quality assessment, the range of the Hounsfield units within three ROIs, and the pre-post slice-wise Pearson correlation. The pre-post concordance of the modified Fisher score, the subjective image quality, and the pre-post correlation of the ranges of the Hounsfield units were significantly higher for artefact-reduced than for non-artefact-reduced images. Within the metal-affected slices, the pre-post slice-wise Pearson correlation coefficient was higher for artefact-reduced than for non-artefact-reduced images. The overall diagnostic quality of the artefact-reduced images was improved and reached the level of the pre-interventional FD-CT images. The metal-unaffected parts of the image were not modified. (orig.)

Evaluation of a metal artifact reduction algorithm applied to post-interventional flat detector CT in comparison to pre-treatment CT in patients with acute subarachnoid haemorrhage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mennecke, Angelika; Svergun, Stanislav; Doerfler, Arnd; Struffert, Tobias [University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Neuroradiology, Erlangen (Germany); Scholz, Bernhard [Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Forchheim (Germany); Royalty, Kevin [Siemens Medical Solutions, USA, Inc., Hoffman Estates, IL (United States)

2017-01-15

Metal artefacts can impair accurate diagnosis of haemorrhage using flat detector CT (FD-CT), especially after aneurysm coiling. Within this work we evaluate a prototype metal artefact reduction algorithm by comparison of the artefact-reduced and the non-artefact-reduced FD-CT images to pre-treatment FD-CT and multi-slice CT images. Twenty-five patients with acute aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) were selected retrospectively. FD-CT and multi-slice CT before endovascular treatment as well as FD-CT data sets after treatment were available for all patients. The algorithm was applied to post-treatment FD-CT. The effect of the algorithm was evaluated utilizing the pre-post concordance of a modified Fisher score, a subjective image quality assessment, the range of the Hounsfield units within three ROIs, and the pre-post slice-wise Pearson correlation. The pre-post concordance of the modified Fisher score, the subjective image quality, and the pre-post correlation of the ranges of the Hounsfield units were significantly higher for artefact-reduced than for non-artefact-reduced images. Within the metal-affected slices, the pre-post slice-wise Pearson correlation coefficient was higher for artefact-reduced than for non-artefact-reduced images. The overall diagnostic quality of the artefact-reduced images was improved and reached the level of the pre-interventional FD-CT images. The metal-unaffected parts of the image were not modified. (orig.)

MR and CT imaging characteristics and ablation zone volumetry of locally advanced pancreatic cancer treated with irreversible electroporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vroomen, Laurien G.P.H.; Scheffer, Hester J.; Melenhorst, Marleen C.A.M.; Jong, Marcus C. de; Bergh, Janneke E. van den; Kuijk, Cornelis van; Meijerink, Martijn R. [VU University Medical Center, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Delft, Foke van [VU University Medical Center, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Kazemier, Geert [VU University Medical Center, Department of Surgery, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2017-06-15

To assess specific imaging characteristics after irreversible electroporation (IRE) for locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma (LAPC) with contrast-enhanced (ce)MRI and ceCT, and to explore the correlation of these characteristics with the development of recurrence. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of imaging data were performed on 25 patients treated with percutaneous IRE for LAPC. Imaging characteristics of the ablation zone on ceCT and ceMRI were assessed over a 6-month follow-up period. Contrast ratio scores between pre- and post-treatment were compared. To detect early imaging markers for treatment failure, attenuation characteristics at 6 weeks were linked to the area of recurrence within 6 months. Post-IRE, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)-b800 signal intensities decreased in all cases (p < 0.05). Both ceMRI and ceCT revealed absent or decreased contrast enhancement, with a hyperintense rim on ceMRI. Ablation zone volume increase was noted on both modalities in the first 6 weeks, followed by a decrease (p < 0.05). In the patients developing tumour recurrence (5/25), a focal DWI-b800 hyperintense spot at 6 weeks predated unequivocal recurrence on CT. The most remarkable signal alterations after pancreatic IRE were shown by DWI-b800 and ceMRI. These early imaging characteristics may be useful to establish technical success and predict treatment outcome. (orig.)

Effect of pre-cooling and heat treatment on antioxidant enzymes ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effect of pre-cooling and heat treatment on antioxidant enzymes profile of mango and banana. ... In banana, pre-cooling treatment (8 ºC) and heat treatment followed by cooling reduced CAT activity in peel and pulp, whereas POX activity increased. Pre-cooling and heat treatments altered normal homeostasis of these fruits, ...

Propensity-score matching in economic analyses: comparison with regression models, instrumental variables, residual inclusion, differences-in-differences, and decomposition methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Crown, William H

2014-02-01

This paper examines the use of propensity score matching in economic analyses of observational data. Several excellent papers have previously reviewed practical aspects of propensity score estimation and other aspects of the propensity score literature. The purpose of this paper is to compare the conceptual foundation of propensity score models with alternative estimators of treatment effects. References are provided to empirical comparisons among methods that have appeared in the literature. These comparisons are available for a subset of the methods considered in this paper. However, in some cases, no pairwise comparisons of particular methods are yet available, and there are no examples of comparisons across all of the methods surveyed here. Irrespective of the availability of empirical comparisons, the goal of this paper is to provide some intuition about the relative merits of alternative estimators in health economic evaluations where nonlinearity, sample size, availability of pre/post data, heterogeneity, and missing variables can have important implications for choice of methodology. Also considered is the potential combination of propensity score matching with alternative methods such as differences-in-differences and decomposition methods that have not yet appeared in the empirical literature.

Development and reliability of a multi-modality scoring system for evaluation of disease progression in pre-clinical models of osteoarthritis: celecoxib may possess disease-modifying properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Panahifar, A; Jaremko, J L; Tessier, A G; Lambert, R G; Maksymowych, W P; Fallone, B G; Doschak, M R

2014-10-01

We sought to develop a comprehensive scoring system for evaluation of pre-clinical models of osteoarthritis (OA) progression, and use this to evaluate two different classes of drugs for management of OA. Post-traumatic OA (PTOA) was surgically induced in skeletally mature rats. Rats were randomly divided in three groups receiving either glucosamine (high dose of 192 mg/kg) or celecoxib (clinical dose) or no treatment. Disease progression was monitored utilizing micro-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), micro-computed tomography (CT) and histology. Pertinent features such as osteophytes, subchondral sclerosis, joint effusion, bone marrow lesion (BML), cysts, loose bodies and cartilage abnormalities were included in designing a sensitive multi-modality based scoring system, termed the rat arthritis knee scoring system (RAKSS). Overall, an inter-observer correlation coefficient (ICC) of greater than 0.750 was achieved for each scored feature. None of the treatments prevented cartilage loss, synovitis, joint effusion, or sclerosis. However, celecoxib significantly reduced osteophyte development compared to placebo. Although signs of inflammation such as synovitis and joint effusion were readily identified at 4 weeks post-operation, we did not detect any BML. We report the development of a sensitive and reliable multi-modality scoring system, the RAKSS, for evaluation of OA severity in pre-clinical animal models. Using this scoring system, we found that celecoxib prevented enlargement of osteophytes in this animal model of PTOA, and thus it may be useful in preventing OA progression. However, it did not show any chondroprotective effect using the recommended dose. In contrast, high dose glucosamine had no measurable effects. Copyright © 2014 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seat belt, DWI, and other traffic violations among recent immigrants in Florida and Tennessee.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

Phase I of this project identified two States, Florida and Tennessee, that maintain information on drivers traffic violations and residency status. : Phase II analyzed State databases to examine seat belt nonuse, DWI, and other traffic safety viol...

Diffusion weighted imaging in cystic fibrosis disease: beyond morphological imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciet, Pierluigi; Serra, Goffredo; Catalano, Carlo; Andrinopoulou, Eleni Rosalina; Bertolo, Silvia; Morana, Giovanni; Ros, Mirco; Colagrande, Stefano; Tiddens, Harm A.W.M.

2016-01-01

To explore the feasibility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to assess inflammatory lung changes in patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) CF patients referred for their annual check-up had spirometry, chest-CT and MRI on the same day. MRI was performed in a 1.5 T scanner with BLADE and EPI-DWI sequences (b = 0-600 s/mm 2 ). End-inspiratory and end-expiratory scans were acquired in multi-row scanners. DWI was scored with an established semi-quantitative scoring system. DWI score was correlated to CT sub-scores for bronchiectasis (CF-CT BE ), mucus (CF-CT mucus ), total score (CF-CT total-score ), FEV 1 , and BMI. T-test was used to assess differences between patients with and without DWI-hotspots. Thirty-three CF patients were enrolled (mean 21 years, range 6-51, 19 female). 4 % (SD 2.6, range 1.5-12.9) of total CF-CT alterations presented DWI-hotspots. DWI-hotspots coincided with mucus plugging (60 %), consolidation (30 %) and bronchiectasis (10 %). DWI total-score correlated (all p < 0.0001) positively to CF-CT BE (r = 0.757), CF-CT mucus (r = 0.759) and CF-CT total-score (r = 0.79); and negatively to FEV 1 (r = 0.688). FEV 1 was significantly higher (p < 0.0001) in patients without DWI-hotspots. DWI-hotspots strongly correlated with radiological and clinical parameters of lung disease severity. Future validation studies are needed to establish the exact nature of DWI-hotspots in CF patients. (orig.)

Relationship of aggression, negative affect, substance use problems, and childhood delinquency to DWI recidivism.

Science.gov (United States)

Linn, Braden K; Nochajski, Thomas; Wieczorek, William

2016-01-01

Driving under the influence remains a pervasive problem. Approximately 30% of those arrested for impaired driving offenses each year are repeat offenders, suggesting that current rehabilitative efforts are not sufficiently effective for reducing driving while intoxicated (DWI) recidivism. Aggression, negative affect, substance use problems, and childhood delinquency have been noted in the population of impaired drivers, but study of these variables on recidivism has been limited. The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of aggression, negative affect, substance use problems, and childhood delinquency on DWI recidivism among first time offenders. In 1992, 6436 individuals in impaired driver programs in New York State were surveyed. A total of 3511 individuals provided names so that state driver abstracts could be reviewed in the future. A total of 2043 matches were found and 1770 remained after excluding those with previous DWI convictions. Driver records were reviewed in 2010 and 2012, providing between 18 and 20 years of follow-up. During the follow-up period, 16.5% of individuals were arrested for an impaired driving offense. Multivariate analysis suggested that recidivism was a function of several problems, including: alcohol problem severity, aggression, negative affect, drug problem severity, criminal history, and childhood delinquency. Impaired driving programs should assess for childhood delinquency, aggressive tendencies, and negative affect as these constructs, along with substance use, are evident among impaired drivers who recidivate. Interventions addressing aggression and negative affect may ultimately prove useful in reducing recidivism.

Pathological and Biological Aspects of Colorectal Cancer Treatment.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gosens, M.J.E.M.

2008-01-01

Pathological and biological aspects of colorectal cancer treatment. This thesis describes several pathological and biological aspects of colorectal cancer treatment. Different patient populations were investigated including patients with mobile rectal cancer enrolled in the Dutch TME trial, patients

PI-RADS version 2: quantitative analysis aids reliable interpretation of diffusion-weighted imaging for prostate cancer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Sung Yoon; Jung, Dae Chul; Oh, Young Taik [Yonsei University College of Medicine, Department of Radiology and Research Institute of Radiological Science, Severance Hospital, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Su-Jin [Yonsei University College of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Hanyang University College of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Nam Hoon [Yonsei University College of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Young Deuk; Rha, Koon Ho; Hong, Sung Joon [Yonsei University College of Medicine, Department of Urology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-07-15

To determine whether apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) ratio aids reliable interpretation of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for prostate cancer (PCa). Seventy-six consecutive patients with PCa who underwent DWI and surgery were included. Based on pathologic tumour location, two readers independently performed DWI scoring according to the revised Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADSv2). ADC ratios of benign to cancerous prostatic tissue were then measured independently and compared between cases showing concordant and discordant DWI scores ≥4. Area under the curve (AUC) and threshold of ADC ratio were analyzed for DWI scores ≥4. The rate of inter-reader disagreement for DWI score ≥4 was 11.8% (9/76). ADC ratios were higher in concordant vs. discordant DWI scores ≥4 (median, 1.7 vs. 1.1-1.2; p < 0.001). For DWI scores ≥4, the AUCs of ADC ratios were 0.970 for reader 1 and 0.959 for reader 2. In patients with an ADC ratio >1.3, the rate of inter-reader disagreement for DWI score ≥4 decreased to 5.9-6.0%. An ADC ratio >1.3 yielded 100% (reader 1, 54/54; reader 2, 51/51) positive predictive value for clinically significant cancer. ADC ratios may be useful for reliable interpretation of DWI score ≥4 in PI-RADSv2. (orig.)

Diagnosis of early sacroiliitis in seronegative spondyloarthropathies by DWI and correlation of clinical and laboratory findings with ADC values

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gezmis, Esin; Donmez, Fuldem Y., E-mail: fuldemyildirim@yahoo.com; Agildere, Muhtesem

2013-12-01

Purpose: Sacroiliitis is one of the diagnostic criteria of seronegative SpA. The purpose of our study is to show the signal characteristics of the sacral and iliac surfaces by DWI which may contribute in early diagnosis of sacroiliitis and investigate the correlation between ADC values and clinical and laboratory parameters. Materials and methods: 62 patients with inflammatory low back pain, with a history or suspect of seronegative SpA are enrolled into the study. 40 age and sex-matched subjects without SpA constituted the control group. After obtaining routine T1 and T2 weighted sequences, echo planar imaging at b values of 0, 400 and 800 was performed. ADC values on both surfaces of the both sacroiliac joints were measured in all subjects. The CRP and sedimentation results and the presence of arthritis and enthesitis were also correlated with the ADC values. Results: ADC values on both surfaces of the both sacroiliac joints were found 0.23 × 10{sup −3} mm{sup 2}/sn in the control group. In the patient group, mean ADC value of 0.48 × 10{sup −3} mm{sup 2}/sn was obtained (p < 0.001), which was statistically significant, compatible with the increased diffusion due to medullary edema in early sacroiliitis. There was a slight correlation between CRP and ADC values; presumed to be showing the relation between the activity of the disease and the active inflammation on DWI. There was no correlation between arthritis and enthesitis and the ADC values (p > 0.001). Conclusion: DWI, by measuring ADC values, adds significant information in the early diagnosis of sacroiliitis and may help to evaluate the efficiency of the treatment.

Use of basic and specific pre-treatments for the biogas production. Revision and analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martínez Hernández, Carlos M.; García López, Yaser

2016-01-01

Keeping in mind the importance that has today the use of national and international biogas plants, which use as raw material animal manure; as well as agricultural and agroindustrial residuals for the energy production and biofertilizers, minimizing the aspects of environmental contamination. This work is presented in three parts, in those which: firstly the technologies and the methods are described to apply the basic and special pre-treatments to the different biomass in order to obtain their maximum potential of methane. A second part where it is approached the particularities to do that. Finally, a third part where their possible use is analyzed in the Cuban case. As a result of the same one, the state of the art is shown in the use of basic and special pre-treatments, with the objective of to potentialize the increase of the methane production in agricultural or animal biomasses. (author)

Pre-hospital antibiotic treatment and mortality caused by invasive meningococcal disease, adjusting for indication bias

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matute-Cruz Petra

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Mortality from invasive meningococcal disease (IMD has remained stable over the last thirty years and it is unclear whether pre-hospital antibiotherapy actually produces a decrease in this mortality. Our aim was to examine whether pre-hospital oral antibiotherapy reduces mortality from IMD, adjusting for indication bias. Methods A retrospective analysis was made of clinical reports of all patients (n = 848 diagnosed with IMD from 1995 to 2000 in Andalusia and the Canary Islands, Spain, and of the relationship between the use of pre-hospital oral antibiotherapy and mortality. Indication bias was controlled for by the propensity score technique, and a multivariate analysis was performed to determine the probability of each patient receiving antibiotics, according to the symptoms identified before admission. Data on in-hospital death, use of antibiotics and demographic variables were collected. A logistic regression analysis was then carried out, using death as the dependent variable, and pre-hospital antibiotic use, age, time from onset of symptoms to parenteral antibiotics and the propensity score as independent variables. Results Data were recorded on 848 patients, 49 (5.72% of whom died. Of the total number of patients, 226 had received oral antibiotics before admission, mainly betalactams during the previous 48 hours. After adjusting the association between the use of antibiotics and death for age, time between onset of symptoms and in-hospital antibiotic treatment, pre-hospital oral antibiotherapy remained a significant protective factor (Odds Ratio for death 0.37, 95% confidence interval 0.15–0.93. Conclusion Pre-hospital oral antibiotherapy appears to reduce IMD mortality.

Diffusion and Perfusion MR Imaging in Acute Stroke: Clinical Utility and Potential Limitations for Treatment Selection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bateman, Mathew; Slater, Lee-Anne; Leslie-Mazwi, Thabele M

2017-01-01

Magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) offer unique insight into acute ischemic stroke pathophysiology. These techniques may offer the ability to apply pathophysiology to accurately individualize acute stroke reperfusion treatment, including ...... to be investigated in ongoing randomized controlled trials, and continued research into these techniques will help achieve the goal of tissue-based decision making and individualized acute stroke treatment....... extending the opportunity of reperfusion treatment to well beyond the current time-based treatment windows. This review examines the use of DWI and PWI in the major stroke trials, their current clinical utility, and potential limitations for reperfusion treatment selection. DWI and PWI continue...

Chemotherapy-Induced Fatigue Correlates With Higher Fatigue Scores Before Treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Araújo, José Klerton Luz; Giglio, Adriana Del; Munhoz, Bruna Antenusse; Fonseca, Fernando Luiz Affonso; Cruz, Felipe Melo; Giglio, Auro Del

2017-06-01

Cancer chemotherapy can induce fatigue in about 20% to 30% of patients. So far, there is very little information as to the predictors of chemotherapy-induced fatigue (CIF). We evaluated potential predictors of CIF in a sample of patients with cancer with several types of solid tumors scheduled to receive chemotherapy according to institutional protocols. Before their first and second chemotherapy cycles, patients answered to the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), Chalder, Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Stress thermometer, and HADS questionnaires as well as provided blood samples for inflammatory markers. We evaluated 52 patients, 37 (71%) were female and mean age was 53 years. The most common tumors were breast cancer 21 (40%) and gastrointestinal tumors 12 (23%). Although 14 (25.2%) patients had an increase in their fatigue BFI scores equal or above 3 points from baseline, we observed no significant overall differences between BFI scores before and after chemotherapy. The only 2 factors associated with an increase of 3 points in the BFI scores after chemotherapy were race and higher baseline BFI levels. By multivariate analysis, overall BFI and Chalder scores after chemotherapy also correlated significantly with their respective baseline scores before treatment. HADS scores before treatment correlated with overall BFI scores postchemotherapy, whereas MNA scores before chemotherapy and female sex correlated with higher Chalder scores after treatment. We conclude that fatigue induced by chemotherapy is common and consistently associated with higher fatigue scores before treatment. Screening for fatigue before chemotherapy may help to identify patients who are prone to develop CIF.

PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS OF KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS IN PRE-SCHOOL INSTITUTIONS

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Duško Bjelica

2013-07-01

Full Text Available A poll procedure has been done at sample of 102 kindergarten teachers with Bachelor degree attending Specialist studies at Department of Pre-School Education of the Faculty of Philosophy in Niksic, and the aim of the poll was to determine the examinees’ opinions on games organizations in pre-school institutions, from all towns of Montenegro. All of the questioned teachers were employed during the poll or they had already had working experience. The poll was based on the 14 questions ques¬tionnaire, especially made for this purpose in which the questions were classified in groups in order to determine 4 aspects that are important for successful organization of games. The first group of the questions regards choice of the games to be played; the second group relates to space choice for the game, as the third group of the questions refers to the way of making groups of children during preparation. The fourth group of the questions regards making cooperation and tolerance among the children during the games’ realization. This poll is a part of the research done at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education in Niksic with the aim to get directions for improving teaching and expert work in pre-school institutions through monitoring and insight into opinions of Specialist studies’ students.

Pre-treatment child and family characteristics as predictors of outcome in cognitive behavioural therapy for youth anxiety disorders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundkvist-Houndoumadi, Irene; Hougaard, Esben; Thastum, Mikael

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been found to be effective for children and adolescents (6-18 years) with anxiety disorders, but the non-response rate is high-a fact that may argue for the importance of studies on pre-treatment characteristics of children and their families...... that predict treatment outcome. AIMS: To provide a systematic review of clinical and demographic pre-treatment child and family predictors of treatment outcome in CBT for anxiety disorders in youth. METHOD: A systematic literature search was conducted based on electronic databases (PsycINFO, Embase and Pub......Med), and retrieved studies were analysed according to the box-score method of counting significant findings. RESULTS: 24 studies with a sample size ≥ 60 were located. Most studies dealt with the following predictors: child age, gender, comorbidity, symptom severity and parental psychopathology. There was some...

The effect of L-thyroxine treatment on hypothyroid symptom scores and lipid profile in children with subclinical hypothyroidism.

Science.gov (United States)

Çatlı, Gönül; Anık, Ahmet; Ünver Tuhan, Hale; Böber, Ece; Abacı, Ayhan

2014-12-01

To evaluate i) the frequency of typical hypothyroidism symptoms in children with subclinical hypothyroidism (SH), ii) to evaluate the association of SH with lipoproteins and iii) to investigate possible improving effects of L-thyroxine (LT4) treatment on these findings. Twenty-seven children with SH who had elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH: >4.94 µIU/L) but normal free T4 levels and healthy euthyroid children of similar age and sex were enrolled in the study. Anthropometric and laboratory (lipid profile and thyroid function tests) measurements were performed at diagnosis and six months after euthyroidism was achieved. All children were also subjected to a questionnaire on hypothyroid symptoms at diagnosis. The SH patients were subjected to the questionnaire also following treatment. Pre-treatment data were compared with those of controls and post-treatment measurements. Anthropometric and laboratory parameters of the groups were not statistically different except for higher TSH levels in the SH group. Serum lipoprotein levels and dyslipidemia frequency were similar between the groups. Compared to the controls, hypothyroidism symptom score was significantly higher in the SH group. Six months after euthyroidism was achieved, a significant reduction in the hypothyroid symptom score was obtained in the SH group. Except for significantly higher serum TSH values, no significant differences regarding demographic characteristics, symptom scores and lipid parameters were present between patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the remaining SH patients. The results of this study showed that in children with SH i) the hypothyroidism symptom score was significantly higher than in euthyroid children, ii) LT4 treatment improved the hypothyroidism symptom score and iii) SH does not seem to be associated with dyslipidemia.

Diffusion weighted imaging in cystic fibrosis disease: beyond morphological imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ciet, Pierluigi [Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Radiology, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Erasmus Medical Center - Sophia Children' s Hospital, Department of Paediatrics, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, P.O. Box 2060, Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland (Netherlands); Ca' Foncello - General Hospital, Department of Radiology, Treviso (Italy); Serra, Goffredo; Catalano, Carlo [University of Rome ' ' Sapienza' ' , Department of Radiology, Rome (Italy); Andrinopoulou, Eleni Rosalina [Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Biostatistics, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Bertolo, Silvia; Morana, Giovanni [Ca' Foncello - General Hospital, Department of Radiology, Treviso (Italy); Ros, Mirco [Ca' Foncello Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Treviso (Italy); Colagrande, Stefano [University of Florence - Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, Radiodiagnostic Unit n. 2, Florence (Italy); Tiddens, Harm A.W.M. [Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Radiology, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Erasmus Medical Center - Sophia Children' s Hospital, Department of Paediatrics, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, P.O. Box 2060, Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland (Netherlands)

2016-11-15

To explore the feasibility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to assess inflammatory lung changes in patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) CF patients referred for their annual check-up had spirometry, chest-CT and MRI on the same day. MRI was performed in a 1.5 T scanner with BLADE and EPI-DWI sequences (b = 0-600 s/mm{sup 2}). End-inspiratory and end-expiratory scans were acquired in multi-row scanners. DWI was scored with an established semi-quantitative scoring system. DWI score was correlated to CT sub-scores for bronchiectasis (CF-CT{sub BE}), mucus (CF-CT{sub mucus}), total score (CF-CT{sub total-score}), FEV{sub 1}, and BMI. T-test was used to assess differences between patients with and without DWI-hotspots. Thirty-three CF patients were enrolled (mean 21 years, range 6-51, 19 female). 4 % (SD 2.6, range 1.5-12.9) of total CF-CT alterations presented DWI-hotspots. DWI-hotspots coincided with mucus plugging (60 %), consolidation (30 %) and bronchiectasis (10 %). DWI{sub total-score} correlated (all p < 0.0001) positively to CF-CT{sub BE} (r = 0.757), CF-CT{sub mucus} (r = 0.759) and CF-CT{sub total-score} (r = 0.79); and negatively to FEV{sub 1} (r = 0.688). FEV{sub 1} was significantly higher (p < 0.0001) in patients without DWI-hotspots. DWI-hotspots strongly correlated with radiological and clinical parameters of lung disease severity. Future validation studies are needed to establish the exact nature of DWI-hotspots in CF patients. (orig.)

Pre- and post-radiotherapy computed tomography in laryngeal cancer: imaging-based prediction of local failure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pameijer, Frank A.; Hermans, Robert; Mancuso, Anthony A.; Mendenhall, William M.; Parsons, James T.; Stringer, Scott P.; Kubilis, Paul S.; Tinteren, Harm van

1999-01-01

Purpose: To determine if pre-radiotherapy (RT) and/or post-radiotherapy computed tomography (CT) can predict local failure in patients with laryngeal carcinoma treated with definitive RT. Methods and Materials: The pre- and post-RT CT examinations of 59 patients (T3 glottic carcinoma [n = 30] and T1-T4 supraglottic carcinoma [n = 29]) were reviewed. For each patient, the first post-RT CT study between 1 and 6 months after irradiation was used. All patients were treated with definitive hyperfractionated twice-daily continuous-course irradiation to a total dose of 6,720-7,920 cGy, and followed-up clinically for at least 2 years after completion of RT. Local control was defined as absence of primary tumor recurrence and a functioning larynx. On the pre-treatment CT study, each tumor was assigned a high-or low-risk profile for local failure after RT. The post-RT CT examinations were evaluated for post-treatment changes using a three-point post-RT CT-score: 1 = expected post-RT changes; 2 = focal mass with a maximal diameter of 1 cm, or < 50% estimated tumor volume reduction. Results: The local control rates at 2 years post-RT based on pre-treatment CT evaluation were 88% for low pre-treatment risk profile patients (95% CI: 66-96%) and 34% (95% CI: 19-50%) for high pre-treatment risk profile patients (risk ratio 6.583; 95% CI: 2.265-9.129; p = 0.0001). Based on post-treatment CT, the local control rates at 2 years post-RT were 94% for score 1, 67% for score 2, and 10% for score 3 (risk ratio 4.760; 95% CI: 2.278-9.950 p 0.0001). Post-RT CT scores added significant information to the pre-treatment risk profiles on prognosis. Conclusions: Pre-treatment CT risk profiles, as well as post-RT CT evaluation can identify patients, irradiated for laryngeal carcinomas, at high risk for developing local failure. When the post-RT CT score is available, it proves to be an even better prognosticator than the pre-treatment CT-risk profile

Validation of DWI pre-processing procedures for reliable differentiation between human brain gliomas.

Science.gov (United States)

Vellmer, Sebastian; Tonoyan, Aram S; Suter, Dieter; Pronin, Igor N; Maximov, Ivan I

2018-02-01

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is a powerful tool in clinical applications, in particular, in oncology screening. dMRI demonstrated its benefit and efficiency in the localisation and detection of different types of human brain tumours. Clinical dMRI data suffer from multiple artefacts such as motion and eddy-current distortions, contamination by noise, outliers etc. In order to increase the image quality of the derived diffusion scalar metrics and the accuracy of the subsequent data analysis, various pre-processing approaches are actively developed and used. In the present work we assess the effect of different pre-processing procedures such as a noise correction, different smoothing algorithms and spatial interpolation of raw diffusion data, with respect to the accuracy of brain glioma differentiation. As a set of sensitive biomarkers of the glioma malignancy grades we chose the derived scalar metrics from diffusion and kurtosis tensor imaging as well as the neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) biophysical model. Our results show that the application of noise correction, anisotropic diffusion filtering, and cubic-order spline interpolation resulted in the highest sensitivity and specificity for glioma malignancy grading. Thus, these pre-processing steps are recommended for the statistical analysis in brain tumour studies. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging Early After Chemoradiotherapy to Monitor Treatment Response in Head-and-Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vandecaveye, Vincent, E-mail: Vincent.Vandecaveye@uzleuven.be [Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Leuven (Belgium); Dirix, Piet [Department of Radiation Oncology, Leuven Cancer Institute, University Hospitals Leuven (Belgium); De Keyzer, Frederik; Op de Beeck, Katya [Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Leuven (Belgium); Vander Poorten, Vincent [Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven (Belgium); Hauben, Esther [Department of Pathology, University Hospitals Leuven (Belgium); Lambrecht, Maarten; Nuyts, Sandra [Department of Radiation Oncology, Leuven Cancer Institute, University Hospitals Leuven (Belgium); Hermans, Robert [Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Leuven (Belgium)

2012-03-01

Purpose: To evaluate diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for assessment of treatment response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) three weeks after the end of chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Methods and Materials: Twenty-nine patients with HNSCC underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prior to and 3 weeks after CRT, including T{sub 2}-weighted and pre- and postcontrast T{sub 1}-weighted sequences and an echo-planar DWI sequence with six b values (0 to 1,000 s/mm{sup 2}), from which the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was calculated. ADC changes 3 weeks posttreatment compared to baseline ( Increment ADC) between responding and nonresponding primary lesions and adenopathies were correlated with 2 years locoregional control and compared with a Mann-Whitney test. In a blinded manner, the Increment ADC was compared to conventional MRI 3 weeks post-CRT and the routinely implemented CT, on average 3 months post-CRT, which used size-related and morphological criteria. Positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV, respectively) were compared between the Increment ADC and anatomical imaging. Results: The Increment ADC of lesions with later tumor recurrence was significantly lower than lesions with complete remission for both primary lesions (-2.3% {+-} 0.3% vs. 80% {+-} 41%; p < 0.0001) and adenopathies (19.9% {+-} 32% vs. 63% {+-} 36%; p = 0.003). The Increment ADC showed a PPV of 89% and an NPV of 100% for primary lesions and a PPV of 70% and an NPV of 96% for adenopathies per neck side. DWI improved PPV and NPV compared to anatomical imaging. Conclusion: DWI with the Increment ADC 3 weeks after concluding CRT for HNSCC allows for early assessment of treatment response.

Use of intermediaries in DWI deterrence. Volume 1, Phase 2 report : development of intermediary programs

Science.gov (United States)

1983-04-01

One potential approach to DWI deterrence and prevention involves encouraging people present in potential drunk driving situations to intervene in order to prevent a trip by an impaired driver. Potential "intermediaries" include service personnel in c...

Whole-word response scoring underestimates functional spelling ability for some individuals with global agraphia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Tesla Demarco

2015-05-01

These data suggest that conventional whole-word scoring may significantly underestimate functional spelling performance. Because by-letter scoring boosted pre-treatment scores to the same extent as post-treatment scores, the magnitude of treatment gains was no greater than estimates from conventional whole-word scoring. Nonetheless, the surprisingly large disparity between conventional whole-word scoring and by-letter scoring suggests that by-letter scoring methods may warrant further investigation. Because by-letter analyses may hold interest to others, we plan to make the software tool used in this study available on-line for use to researchers and clinicians at large.

Condition-specific Quality of Life Assessment at Each Stage of Class III Surgical Orthodontic Treatment -A Prospective Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tachiki, Chie; Nishii, Yasushi; Takaki, Takashi; Sueishi, Kenji

2018-01-01

Surgical orthodontic treatment has been reported to improve oral health-related quality of life (OHRQL). Such treatment comprises three stages: pre-surgical orthodontic treatment; orthognathic surgery; and post-surgical orthodontic treatment. Most studies have focused on change in OHRQL between before and after surgery. However, it is also necessary to evaluate OHRQL at the pre-surgical orthodontic treatment stage, as it may be negatively affected by dental decompensation compared with at pre-treatment. The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate the influence of surgical orthodontic treatment on QOL by assessing change in condition-specific QOL at each stage of treatment in skeletal class III cases. Twenty skeletal class III patients requiring surgical orthodontic treatment were enrolled in the study. Each patient completed the Orthognathic Quality of Life Questionnaire (OQLQ), which was developed for patients with dentofacial deformity. Its items are grouped into 4 domains: "social aspects of dentofacial deformity"; "facial esthetics"; "oral function"; and "awareness of dentofacial esthetics". The questionnaire was completed at the pre-treatment, pre-surgical orthodontic treatment, and post-surgical orthodontic treatment stages. The results revealed a significant worsening in scores between at pre-treatment and pre-surgical orthodontic treatment in the domains of facial esthetics and oral function (ppre-surgical orthodontic and post-surgical orthodontic treatment in all domains except awareness of dentofacial esthetics (ppre-surgical orthodontic treatment stage. Significant correlations were also observed between improvement in upper and lower lip difference, soft tissue pogonion protrusion, and ANB angle and improvement in OQLQ scores at the post-surgical orthodontic treatment stage. These results indicate that morphologic change influences OHRQL in patients undergoing surgical orthodontic treatment not only after surgery, but also during pre

PI-RADS version 2: evaluation of diffusion-weighted imaging interpretation between b = 1000 and b = 1500 s mm-2.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Mi-Ri; Kim, Chan Kyo; Kim, Jae-Hun

2017-11-01

To investigate the variability of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) interpretation of Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) version 2 (v2) in evaluating prostate cancer (PCa). 154 patients with PCa underwent multiparametric 3T MRI, followed by radical prostatectomy. DWI with different b values (b = 0, 100, 1000 and 1500 s mm - 2 ) was obtained. Using the PI-RADS v2, two radiologists independently scored suspicious lesions in each patient and compared DWI of b = 1000 (DWI 1000 ) with 1500 (DWI 1500 ) s mm - 2 . On DWI 1000 and DWI 1500 , the intermethod and interobserver agreements of DWI scores were excellent in all patients (κ ≥ 0.873). In each peripheral zone and transition zone DWI scores, both observers showed excellent intermethod agreement between DWI 1000 and DWI 1500 (κ ≥ 0.897), and interobserver agreement for DWI 1000 and DWI 1500 was good to excellent (κ ≥ 0.796). For estimating clinically significant cancer, the area under receiver operating characteristics curves of DWI 1000 and DWI 1500 were 0.710 and 0.724 for observer 1 (p = 0.11), and 0.649 and 0.656 for observer 2 (p = 0.12), respectively. The PI-RADS v2 scoring at 3T shows excellent agreement between DWI 1000 and DWI 1500 in evaluating PCa, with excellent inter-observer agreement. Advance in knowledge: DWI using b = 1000 s mm -2 instead of b = 1500 s mm -2 reduces examination time or image distortion, with improved the signal-to-noise ratio.

Assessments of whole body scan images (PCI) obtained in patients undergoing treatment of radioiodine (pre and post-treatment)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa, Fernanda Karolina Mendonca da; Lopes Filho, Ferdinand de Jesus; Vieira, Jose Wilson; Souza, Milena Thays Barbosa de

2014-01-01

Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty used for diagnosis and therapy of some diseases. For the treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (papillary and follicular) Radioiodine therapy is employed, in order to eliminate the rest of thyroid tissue after removal of the thyroid (thyroidectomy). In radioiodine therapy is used radioisotope iodine-131 ( 131 I) as Sodium Iodide (NaI). The amount of the activity (dose) of 131 I administered is generally the responsibility of nuclear medicine, which is based on an image Research Length of the patient (pre-dose therapy PCI). PCI is also used after treatment (post-PCI therapeutic dose) to evaluate possible metastasis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of biokinetic 131 I at length and in some organs of the patient, in order to note any similarity. Exams PCI pre-dose and post-dose were analyzed, the anterior and posterior projections of ten patients. Contours in these images (ROI - Region Of Interest) were made in the whole body and in areas with high uptake of 131 I. The total score was used in the calculation to obtain the percentage distribution of 13I in the organs of the patient. The results showed that there similarity on the biodistribution of 131 I between pre-dose and post-dose PCI. Therefore, it was found that it is valuable images of PCI pre-dose therapy as a way to assist the nuclear medicine physician in choosing the best activity to be administered to the patient in order to minimize the dose to adjacent organs. (author)

Influence of Pre-trimethylindium flow treatment on blue light emitting diode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Bing; Zhao, Jun Liang; Dai, Hai Tao; Wang, Shu Guo; Lin, Ray-Ming; Chu, Fu-Chuan; Huang, Chou-Hsiung; Yu, Sheng-Fu; Sun, Xiao Wei

2014-01-01

The effects of Pre-trimethylindium (TMIn) flow treatment prior to quantum well growth on blue light emitting diode properties were investigated. High-resolution X-ray diffraction indicated that Pre-TMIn flow treatment did not change the composition of indium in quantum wells, but influenced electrical and optical properties of blue light emitting diode. Electroluminescence exhibited redshift with increasing TMIn treatment time. Though, the forward voltage became a little larger with longer Pre-TMIn treatment time due to the slight phase separation and indium aggregation, the efficiency droop of the device was improved effectively. - Highlights: • Pre-trimethylindium treatment can lead to longer wavelength. • External quantum efficiency can be improved effectively. • Electrical properties are not decreased using Pre-trimethylindium treatment

Influence of Pre-trimethylindium flow treatment on blue light emitting diode

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Bing; Zhao, Jun Liang [Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Preparing Technology, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Dai, Hai Tao, E-mail: htdai@tju.edu.cn [Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Preparing Technology, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Wang, Shu Guo [Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Preparing Technology, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Lin, Ray-Ming, E-mail: rmlin@mail.cgu.edu.tw [Graduate Institute of Electronic Engineering and Green Technology Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan (China); Chu, Fu-Chuan; Huang, Chou-Hsiung [Graduate Institute of Electronic Engineering and Green Technology Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan (China); Yu, Sheng-Fu [Institute of Microelectronics and Department of Electrical Engineering, Center for Micro/Nano Science and Technology, Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Sun, Xiao Wei, E-mail: xwsun@sustc.edu.cn [South University of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen, Guangdong (China)

2014-01-31

The effects of Pre-trimethylindium (TMIn) flow treatment prior to quantum well growth on blue light emitting diode properties were investigated. High-resolution X-ray diffraction indicated that Pre-TMIn flow treatment did not change the composition of indium in quantum wells, but influenced electrical and optical properties of blue light emitting diode. Electroluminescence exhibited redshift with increasing TMIn treatment time. Though, the forward voltage became a little larger with longer Pre-TMIn treatment time due to the slight phase separation and indium aggregation, the efficiency droop of the device was improved effectively. - Highlights: • Pre-trimethylindium treatment can lead to longer wavelength. • External quantum efficiency can be improved effectively. • Electrical properties are not decreased using Pre-trimethylindium treatment.

Chemical aspects of nuclear waste treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bond, W.D.

1980-01-01

The chemical aspects of the treatment of gaseous, liquid, and solid wastes are discussed in overview. The role of chemistry and the chemical reactions in waste treatment are emphasized. Waste treatment methods encompass the chemistry of radioactive elements from every group of the periodic table. In most streams, the radioactive elements are present in relatively low concentrations and are often associated with moderately large amounts of process reagents, or materials. In general, it is desirable that waste treatment methods are based on chemistry that is selective for the concentration of radionuclides and does not require the addition of reagents that contribute significantly to the volume of the treated waste. Solvent extraction, ion exchange, and sorbent chemistry play a major role in waste treatment because of the high selectivity provided for many radionuclides. This paper deals with the chemistry of the onsite treatment methods that is typically used at nuclear installations and is not concerned with the chemistry of the various alternative materials proposed for long-term storage of nuclear wastes. The chemical aspects are discussed from a generic point of view in which the chemistry of important radionuclides is emphasized

Correction to: CASPer, an online pre-interview screen for personal/professional characteristics: prediction of national licensure scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Dore, Kelly L; Reiter, Harold I; Kreuger, Sharyn; Norman, Geoffrey R

2017-12-01

In re-examining the paper "CASPer, an online pre-interview screen for personal/professional characteristics: prediction of national licensure scores" published in AHSE (22(2), 327-336), we recognized two errors of interpretation.

Surface pre-treatment for barrier coatings on polyethylene terephthalate

Science.gov (United States)

Bahre, H.; Bahroun, K.; Behm, H.; Steves, S.; Awakowicz, P.; Böke, M.; Hopmann, Ch; Winter, J.

2013-02-01

Polymers have favourable properties such as light weight, flexibility and transparency. Consequently, this makes them suitable for food packaging, organic light-emitting diodes and flexible solar cells. Nonetheless, raw plastics do not possess sufficient barrier functionality against oxygen and water vapour, which is of paramount importance for most applications. A widespread solution is to deposit thin silicon oxide layers using plasma processes. However, silicon oxide layers do not always fulfil the requirements concerning adhesion and barrier performance when deposited on films. Thus, plasma pre-treatment is often necessary. To analyse the influence of a plasma-based pre-treatment on barrier performance, different plasma pre-treatments on three reactor setups were applied to a very smooth polyethylene terephthalate film before depositing a silicon oxide barrier layer. In this paper, the influence of oxygen and argon plasma pre-treatments towards the barrier performance is discussed examining the chemical and topological change of the film. It was observed that a short one-to-ten-second plasma treatment can reduce the oxygen transmission rate by a factor of five. The surface chemistry and the surface topography change significantly for these short treatment times, leading to an increased surface energy. The surface roughness rises slowly due to the development of small spots in the nanometre range. For very long treatment times, surface roughness of the order of the barrier layer's thickness results in a complete loss of barrier properties. During plasma pre-treatment, the trade-off between surface activation and roughening of the surface has to be carefully considered.

Surface pre-treatment for barrier coatings on polyethylene terephthalate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bahre, H; Böke, M; Winter, J; Bahroun, K; Behm, H; Hopmann, Ch; Steves, S; Awakowicz, P

2013-01-01

Polymers have favourable properties such as light weight, flexibility and transparency. Consequently, this makes them suitable for food packaging, organic light-emitting diodes and flexible solar cells. Nonetheless, raw plastics do not possess sufficient barrier functionality against oxygen and water vapour, which is of paramount importance for most applications. A widespread solution is to deposit thin silicon oxide layers using plasma processes. However, silicon oxide layers do not always fulfil the requirements concerning adhesion and barrier performance when deposited on films. Thus, plasma pre-treatment is often necessary. To analyse the influence of a plasma-based pre-treatment on barrier performance, different plasma pre-treatments on three reactor setups were applied to a very smooth polyethylene terephthalate film before depositing a silicon oxide barrier layer. In this paper, the influence of oxygen and argon plasma pre-treatments towards the barrier performance is discussed examining the chemical and topological change of the film. It was observed that a short one-to-ten-second plasma treatment can reduce the oxygen transmission rate by a factor of five. The surface chemistry and the surface topography change significantly for these short treatment times, leading to an increased surface energy. The surface roughness rises slowly due to the development of small spots in the nanometre range. For very long treatment times, surface roughness of the order of the barrier layer's thickness results in a complete loss of barrier properties. During plasma pre-treatment, the trade-off between surface activation and roughening of the surface has to be carefully considered. (paper)

Comparison of pre-treatment and post-treatment use of selenium in retinal ischemia reperfusion injury

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alper Yazici

2015-04-01

Full Text Available AIM: To investigate the effects of selenium in rat retinal ischemia reperfusion (IR model and compare pre-treatment and post-treatment use. METHODS: Selenium pre-treatment group (n=8 was treated with intraperitoneal (i.p. selenium 0.5 mg/kg for 7d and terminated 24h after the IR injury. Selenium post-treatment group (n=8 was treated with i.p. selenium 0.5 mg/kg for 7d after the IR injury with termination at the end of the 7d period. Sham group (n=8 received i.p. saline injections identical to the selenium volume for 7d with termination 24h after the IR injury. Control group (n=8 received no intervention. Main outcome measures were retina superoxide dismutase (SOD, glutathione (GSH, total antioxidant status (TAS, malondialdehyde (MDA, DNA fragmentation levels, and immunohistological apoptosis evaluation. RESULTS: Compared to the Sham group, selenium pre-treatment had a statistical difference in all parameters except SOD. Post-treatment selenium also resulted in statistical differences in all parameters except the MDA levels. When comparing selenium groups, the pre-treatment selenium group had a statistically higher success in reduction of markers of cell damage such as MDA and DNA fragmentation. In contrast, the post-selenium treatment group had resulted in statistically higher levels of GSH. Histologically both selenium groups succeeded to limit retinal thickening and apoptosis. Pre-treatment use was statistically more successful in decreasing apoptosis in ganglion cell layer compared to post-treatment use. CONCLUSION: Selenium was successful in retinal protection in IR injuries. Pre-treatment efficacy was superior in terms of prevention of tissue damage and apoptosis.

Using pre-treatment PSA and Gleason score to predict for extra capsular extension among patients with clinically staged organ confined prostate cancer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Anita; Roach, Mack; Diaz, Aidnag; Marquez, Carol; Chinn, Dan; Coleman, Lori; Presti, Joseph; Carroll, Peter

1995-07-01

Purpose/Objectives: The patients most suitable for a radical prostatectomy (RP) are those with organ confined disease. At least(1(3)) of patients with clinically staged organ confined disease will be found to have extra capsular extension (ECE) following RP. The purpose of this study is to assess the predictive value of an equation for predicting the risk of ECE based on the pre-treatment prostatic specific antigen (PSA) and Gleason score (GS) in patients with clinical stage T1/T2 prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and twenty-two patients who underwent RP at either the San Francisco VAMC or UCSF between 1988 and 1994 were eligible for this analysis. Patients were considered eligible if the pathological stage, pre-operative PSA and GS were available. Among these patients the median pre-operative PSA was 9 ng/ml (range 0 - 195 ng/ml), and the median pre-operative GS was 6 (range 2-10). The empirically derived equations tested were [1.5 x PSA + (GS - 3) x 10] (Roach, J. Urol., 150: 1923-1924, 1993) as well as a recent modification of this equation of [PSA + (GS - 3.5) x 10]. For these equations, the range of calculated risk was limited to 0 - 100%. Results: The results of using these two equations are shown graphically. Using the modified equation, with a calculated risk (CR) of {<=}25% and an average calculated risk (ACR) of 15.4%, the observed incidence (OI) of ECE was 17.2%. Among the patients with a CR of 26 to 50% and an ACR of 36.1%, the OI of ECE was 38.4%. Among the patients with a CR of 51 to 75% and an ACR of 60.4%, the OI of ECE was 62.7%. Finally, among the patients with a CR of 76 to 100% and an ACR of 77.3%, the OI of ECE was 85.7%. Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reports were available in 72 patients. Correlation with TRUS demonstrated a sensitivity and specificity of 52.4% and 56.1% respectively. Correlation with MRI showed a sensitivity of 57.9% and a specificity of 45.5%. The use of either MRI or

Mechanism of waste biomass pyrolysis: Effect of physical and chemical pre-treatments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, Oisik; Sarmah, Ajit K.

2015-01-01

To impart usability in waste based biomass through thermo-chemical reactions, several physical and chemical pre-treatments were conducted to gain an insight on their mode of action, effect on the chemistry and the change in thermal degradation profiles. Two different waste biomasses (Douglas fir, a softwood and hybrid poplar, a hardwood) were subjected to four different pre-treatments, namely, hot water pre-treatment, torrefaction, acid (sulphuric acid) and salt (ammonium phosphate) doping. Post pre-treatments, the changes in the biomass structure, chemistry, and thermal makeup were studied through electron microscopy, atomic absorption/ultra violet spectroscopy, ion exchange chromatography, and thermogravimetry. The pre-treatments significantly reduced the amounts of inorganic ash, extractives, metals, and hemicellulose from both the biomass samples. Furthermore, hot water and torrefaction pre-treatment caused mechanical disruption in biomass fibres leading to smaller particle sizes. Torrefaction of Douglas fir wood yielded more solid product than hybrid poplar. Finally, the salt pre-treatment increased the activation energies of the biomass samples (especially Douglas fir) to a great extent. Thus, salt pre-treatment was found to bestow thermal stability in the biomass. - Highlights: • Pre-treatments reduce ash, extractives, alkalines and hemicellulose from biomass. • Torrefaction of Douglas fir yields more solid product than hybrid poplar. • Salt pretreatment significantly increases the activation energy of biomass. • Acid and salt pretreatment bestows thermal stability in biomass.

Mechanism of waste biomass pyrolysis: Effect of physical and chemical pre-treatments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Das, Oisik [Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman 99164-6120, WA (United States); Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142 (New Zealand); Sarmah, Ajit K., E-mail: a.sarmah@auckland.ac.nz [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142 (New Zealand)

2015-12-15

To impart usability in waste based biomass through thermo-chemical reactions, several physical and chemical pre-treatments were conducted to gain an insight on their mode of action, effect on the chemistry and the change in thermal degradation profiles. Two different waste biomasses (Douglas fir, a softwood and hybrid poplar, a hardwood) were subjected to four different pre-treatments, namely, hot water pre-treatment, torrefaction, acid (sulphuric acid) and salt (ammonium phosphate) doping. Post pre-treatments, the changes in the biomass structure, chemistry, and thermal makeup were studied through electron microscopy, atomic absorption/ultra violet spectroscopy, ion exchange chromatography, and thermogravimetry. The pre-treatments significantly reduced the amounts of inorganic ash, extractives, metals, and hemicellulose from both the biomass samples. Furthermore, hot water and torrefaction pre-treatment caused mechanical disruption in biomass fibres leading to smaller particle sizes. Torrefaction of Douglas fir wood yielded more solid product than hybrid poplar. Finally, the salt pre-treatment increased the activation energies of the biomass samples (especially Douglas fir) to a great extent. Thus, salt pre-treatment was found to bestow thermal stability in the biomass. - Highlights: • Pre-treatments reduce ash, extractives, alkalines and hemicellulose from biomass. • Torrefaction of Douglas fir yields more solid product than hybrid poplar. • Salt pretreatment significantly increases the activation energy of biomass. • Acid and salt pretreatment bestows thermal stability in biomass.

Comparative Study of Pre-Germination Treatments and their Effects ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

FIRST LADY

of leaves (10.05) respectively. Pre-germination treatments of seeds soaked in running water (SRW) for 24 hours were found to be more effective in seedlings growth and biomass production. Keywords: Tectona grandis, pre-germination treatment, seed dormancy, seedling growth. Introduction. Tectona grandis is one of the ...

A validated clinical MRI injury scoring system in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trivedi, Shamik B.; Vesoulis, Zachary A.; Rao, Rakesh; Liao, Steve M.; Mathur, Amit M. [Washington University School of Medicine, Division of Newborn Medicine, Edward Mallinckrodt Department of Pediatrics, St. Louis, MO (United States); Shimony, Joshua S.; McKinstry, Robert C. [Washington University School of Medicine, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO (United States)

2017-10-15

Deep nuclear gray matter injury in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is associated with worse neurodevelopmental outcomes. We previously published a qualitative MRI injury scoring system utilizing serial T1-weighted, T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), weighted for deep nuclear gray matter injury. To establish the validity of the MRI scoring system with neurodevelopmental outcome at 18-24 months. MRI scans from neonates with moderate to severe HIE treated with therapeutic hypothermia were evaluated. Signal abnormality was scored on T1-weighted, T2-weighted and DWI sequences and assessed using an established system in five regions: (a) subcortical: caudate nucleus, globus pallidus and putamen, thalamus and the posterior limb of the internal capsule; (b) white matter; (c) cortex, (d) cerebellum and (e) brainstem. MRI injury was graded as none, mild, moderate or severe. Inter-rater reliability was tested on a subset of scans by two independent and blinded neuroradiologists. Surviving infants underwent the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III (Bayley-III) at 18-24 months. Data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate linear and logistic regression. Fifty-seven eligible neonates underwent at least one MRI scan in the first 2 weeks of life. Mean postnatal age at scan 1 was 4±2 days in 50/57 (88%) neonates and 48/54 (89%) surviving infants underwent scan 2 at 10±2 days. In 54/57 (95%) survivors, higher MRI injury grades were significantly associated with worse outcomes in the cognitive, motor and language domains of the Bayley-III. A qualitative MRI injury scoring system weighted for deep nuclear gray matter injury is a significant predictor of neurodevelopmental outcome at 18-24 months in neonates with HIE. (orig.)

A validated clinical MRI injury scoring system in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trivedi, Shamik B.; Vesoulis, Zachary A.; Rao, Rakesh; Liao, Steve M.; Mathur, Amit M.; Shimony, Joshua S.; McKinstry, Robert C.

2017-01-01

Deep nuclear gray matter injury in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is associated with worse neurodevelopmental outcomes. We previously published a qualitative MRI injury scoring system utilizing serial T1-weighted, T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), weighted for deep nuclear gray matter injury. To establish the validity of the MRI scoring system with neurodevelopmental outcome at 18-24 months. MRI scans from neonates with moderate to severe HIE treated with therapeutic hypothermia were evaluated. Signal abnormality was scored on T1-weighted, T2-weighted and DWI sequences and assessed using an established system in five regions: (a) subcortical: caudate nucleus, globus pallidus and putamen, thalamus and the posterior limb of the internal capsule; (b) white matter; (c) cortex, (d) cerebellum and (e) brainstem. MRI injury was graded as none, mild, moderate or severe. Inter-rater reliability was tested on a subset of scans by two independent and blinded neuroradiologists. Surviving infants underwent the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III (Bayley-III) at 18-24 months. Data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate linear and logistic regression. Fifty-seven eligible neonates underwent at least one MRI scan in the first 2 weeks of life. Mean postnatal age at scan 1 was 4±2 days in 50/57 (88%) neonates and 48/54 (89%) surviving infants underwent scan 2 at 10±2 days. In 54/57 (95%) survivors, higher MRI injury grades were significantly associated with worse outcomes in the cognitive, motor and language domains of the Bayley-III. A qualitative MRI injury scoring system weighted for deep nuclear gray matter injury is a significant predictor of neurodevelopmental outcome at 18-24 months in neonates with HIE. (orig.)

Pre-operative risk scores for the prediction of outcome in elderly people who require emergency surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bates Tom

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The decision on whether to operate on a sick elderly person with an intra-abdominal emergency is one of the most difficult in general surgery. A predictive risk-score would be of great value in this situation. Methods A Medline search was performed to identify those predictive risk-scores relevant to sick elderly patients in whom emergency surgery might be life-saving. Results Many of the risk scores for surgical patients include the operative findings or require tests which are not available in the acute situation. Most of the relevant studies include younger patients and elective surgery. The Glasgow Aneurysm Score and Hardman Index are specific to ruptured aortic aneurysm while the Boey Score and the Hacetteppe Score are specific to perforated peptic ulcer. The Reiss Index and Fitness Score can be used pre-operatively if the elements of the score can be completed in time. The ASA score, which includes a significant element of subjective clinical judgement, can be augmented with factors such as age and urgency of surgery but no test has a negative predictive value sufficient to recommend against surgical intervention without clinical input. Conclusion Risk scores may be helpful in sick elderly patients needing emergency abdominal surgery but an experienced clinical opinion is still essential.

Sludge pre-treatment with pulsed electric fields

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kopplow, O.; Barjenbruch, M.; Heinz, V.

2003-07-01

The anaerobic stabilization process depends - among others - on the bio-availability of organic carbon. Through pre-treatment of the sludge which leads to the destruction of micro-organisms and to the setting-free of cell content substances (disintegration), the carbon can be microbially converted better and faster. Moreover, effects on the digestion are likely. However, only little experience is available in the sludge treatment with pulsed electric fields. Laboratory-scale digestion tests have been run to analyse the influence of pulsed electric fields on the properties of sludge, anaerobic degradation, sludge water reload and foaming of digesters. The results will be compared with those of other disintegration methods (high pressure homogenise, thermal treatment). The effect of pre-treatment on the sludge is shown by the COD release. Degrees of disintegration have been achieved up to 20%. The specific energy input was high. The energy consumption has been decreased by initial improvements (pre-heating to 55{sup o}C). The filament bacteria were partially destroyed. The foam reduction in the digesters was marginal. The anaerobic degradation performance has been improved in every case. The degradation rate of organic matter increased about 9%. Due to the increase of degradation, there is a higher reload of the sludge-water with COD and nitrogen compounds. (author)

Pre-season adductor squeeze test and HAGOS function sport and recreation subscale scores predict groin injury in Gaelic football players.

Science.gov (United States)

Delahunt, Eamonn; Fitzpatrick, Helen; Blake, Catherine

2017-01-01

To determine if pre-season adductor squeeze test and HAGOS function, sport and recreation subscale scores can identify Gaelic football players at risk of developing groin injury. Prospective study. Senior inter-county Gaelic football team. Fifty-five male elite Gaelic football players (age = 24.0 ± 2.8 years, body mass = 84.48 ± 7.67 kg, height = 1.85 ± 0.06 m, BMI = 24.70 ± 1.77 kg/m 2 ) from a single senior inter-county Gaelic football team. Occurrence of groin injury during the season. Ten time-loss groin injuries were registered representing 13% of all injuries. The odds ratio for sustaining a groin injury if pre-season adductor squeeze test score was below 225 mmHg, was 7.78. The odds ratio for sustaining a groin injury if pre-season HAGOS function, sport and recreation subscale score was football players at risk of developing groin injury. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technical aspects of the integration of three-dimensional treatment planning dose parameters (GEC-ESTRO Working Group) into pre-implant planning for LDR gynecological interstitial brachytherapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chi, A; Gao, M; Nguyen, N P; Albuquerque, K

2009-06-01

This study investigates the technical feasibility of pre-implant image-based treatment planning for LDR GYN interstitial brachytherapy(IB) based on the GEC-ESTRO guidelines. Initially, a virtual plan is generated based on the prescription dose and GEC-ESTRO defined OAR dose constraints with a pre-implant CT. After the actual implant, a regular diagnostic CT was obtained and fused with our pre-implant scan/initial treatment plan in our planning software. The Flexi-needle position changes, and treatment plan modifications were made if needed. Dose values were normalized to equivalent doses in 2 Gy fractions (LQED 2 Gy) derived from the linear-quadratic model with alpha/beta of 3 for late responding tissues and alpha/beta of 10 for early responding tissues. D(90) to the CTV, which was gross tumor (GTV) at the time of brachytherapy with a margin to count for microscopic disease, was 84.7 +/- 4.9% of the prescribed dose. The OAR doses were evaluated by D(2cc) (EBRT+IB). Mean D(2cc) values (LQED(2Gy)) for the rectum, bladder, sigmoid, and small bowel were the following: 63.7 +/- 8.4 Gy, 61.2 +/- 6.9 Gy, 48.0 +/- 3.5 Gy, and 49.9 +/- 4.2 Gy. This study confirms the feasibility of applying the GEC-ESTRO recommended dose parameters in pre-implant CT-based treatment planning in GYN IB. In the process, this pre-implant technique also demonstrates a good approximation of the target volume dose coverage, and doses to the OARs.

Comparison of two long acting pre-lambing anthelmintic treatments on the productivity of ewes in low body condition.

Science.gov (United States)

Bingham, C; Hodge, A; Mariadass, B

2017-05-01

To determine if there was a benefit from treating ewes with a low body condition score (BCS) with long acting anthelmintic products pre-lambing and to compare the effects of two commonly used treatment options. The study was conducted on a single commercial hill country sheep and beef property in the central North Island of New Zealand. Mixed age twin-bearing ewes were preselected by the farmer as being in poor condition 4 weeks before the planned start of lambing, and were sequentially drafted into three equal groups identified with coloured ear tags. The negative control group (n=199) received no anthelmintic treatment; the other two groups received either a controlled release capsule (CRC) containing abamectin, albendazole, Se and Co (n=200) or a long-acting injection of moxidectin (n=200). All ewes were body condition scored (1-5 scale) and weighed at pre-lambing, docking (65 days after treatment) and at weaning (127 days after treatment). Faecal nematode egg counts (FEC) were carried out on 10 ewes from each group at these three times. Most lambs were matched to the ewe treatment groups at weaning, and weighed. At weaning the mean body weight of ewes treated with moxidectin was 3.2 (95% CI=2.3-4.3) kg heavier than controls, and of ewes treated with CRC was 3.6 (95% CI=2.5-4.5) kg heavier than control ewes (pewes had a BCS≥3. At weaning, more ewes treated with CRC (140/194; 72%) or moxidectin (122/187; 65%) had a BCS≥3 than control ewes (55/179 (31%); pewes from the treatment groups, the mean weight at weaning of lambs from ewes treated with moxidectin was 2.6 (95% CI=1.9-3.3) kg heavier, and from ewes treated with CRC was 2.6 (95% CI=1.9-3.4) kg heavier than lambs from control ewes (pewes with low BCS pre-lambing with long acting anthelmintic treatments (moxidectin long acting injection or CRC) resulted in an increase in mean body weight of the ewes and lambs at weaning. There were no significant differences between the two pre-lambing treatments used

The value of multi ultra high-b-value DWI in grading cerebral astrocytomas and its association with aquaporin-4.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Yan; Zhang, Hui; Wang, Xiao-Chun; Qin, Jiang-Bo; Wang, Le

2018-06-01

To investigate the value of multi-ultrahigh-b-value diffusion-weighted imaging (UHBV-DWI) in differentiating high-grade astrocytomas (HGAs) from low-grade astrocytomas (LGAs), analyze its association with aquaporin (AQP) expression. 40 astrocytomas divided into LGAs (N = 15) and HGAs (N = 25) were studied. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and UHBV-ADC values in solid parts and peritumoral edema were compared between LGAs and HGAs groups by the t-test. Using receiver operating characteristic curves to identify the better parameter. Using real time polymerase chain reaction to assess AQP messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). Using spearman correlation analysis to assess the correlation of AQP mRNA with each parameter. ADC values in solid parts of HGAs were significantly lower than LGAs (p = 0.02), while UHBV-ADC values of HGAs were significantly higher than LGAs (p  0.05); ADC value showed a negative correlation with AQP4 mRNA (r = -0.357; p = 0.024). UHBV-ADC value positively correlated with the AQP4 mRNA (r = 0.646; p value may be related with the AQP4 mRNA levels. UHBV-DWI could be of value in the assessment of astrocytoma. Advances in knowledge: UHBV-DWI generated by multi UHBV could have particular value for astrocytoma grading, and the level of AQP4 mRNA might be potentially linked to the change of UHBV-DWI parameter, and we might find the exact reason for the difference of UHBV-ADC between the LGAs and HGAs.

Additional value of diffusion-weighted imaging to evaluate multifocal and multicentric breast cancer detected using pre-operative breast MRI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Sung Eun; Park, Eun Kyung; Cho, Kyu Ran; Cho, Sung Bum [Korea University Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Seo, Bo Kyoung [Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Ansan (Korea, Republic of); Woo, Ok Hee [Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Jung, Seung Pil [Korea University Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-11-15

To investigate whether diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) aids pre-operative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) to evaluate additional lesions in breast cancer patients. DCE-MRI and DWI were performed on 131 lesions, with available histopathological results. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of each lesion was measured, and the cut-off value for differentiation between malignant and benign lesions was calculated. A protocol combining the ADC cut-off value with DCE-MRI was validated in a cohort of 107 lesions in 77 patients. When an ADC cut-off value of 1.11 x 10{sup -3} mm{sup 2}/s from the development cohort was applied to the additional lesions in the validation cohort, the specificity increased from 18.9% to 67.6% (P < 0.001), and the diagnostic accuracy increased from 61.7% to 82.2% (P = 0.05), without significant loss of sensitivity (98.6% vs. 90.0%, P = 0.07). The negative predictive values of lesions in the same quadrant had decreased, as had those of lesions ≥1 cm in diameter. The ADC cut-off value in the validation cohort was 1.05 x 10{sup -3} mm{sup 2}/s. Additional implementation of DWI for breast lesions in pre-operative MRI can help to obviate unnecessary biopsies by increasing specificity. However, to avoid missing cancers, clinicians should closely monitor lesions located in the same quadrant or lesions ≥1 cm. (orig.)

Sexual dysfunction in infertile couples: evaluation and treatment of infertility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bayar, U.; Arikan, I.I.; Barut, A.; Harma, M.; Harma, M.; Atasoy, N.

2014-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic and the predictive value of Arizona Sexual Experience Scale among primary infertile couples regarding sexual dysfunction. Methods: The cross-sectional and prospective pre, post study comprising primary infertile patients was carried out at Bulent Ecevit University Hospital, Zonguldak, Turkey. Fifty consecutive primary infertile couples not treated previously were investigated between 2003 and 2007 for the presence of sexual dysfunction by a psychiatrist. Arizona Sexual Experience Scale scoring was self-administered to determine sexual dysfunction among couples before treatment and also 3 months after the initiation of the treatment. Results: Pretreatment mean values of the index parametres in both women and men were significantly increased after treatment. Statistically significant positive correlation was observed between pre- and post-treatment total scores in both women (r=0.83; p 14 (Sensitivity: 57%; Specificity: 90%) and >13 (Sensitivity: 83%; Specificity: 93%), respectively. Pre- and post-treatment scores in men were >10 (Sensitivity: 65%; Specificity: 61%), >11 (Sensitivity: 83%; Specificity: 62%), respectively. Binary logistic regression analyses revealed women's pre-treatment and post-treatment scores as a significant factor for prediction of sexual dysfunction independent of sociodemographic factors (p=0.001 and p=0.001, respectively). Conclusion: Evaluation and treatment of infertility is an important risk factor for sexual dysfunction. Pre- and post-treatment Arizona Sexual Experience Scale score could be used as a screening test for sexual dysfunction and might be used to decide pre/post-treatment consultation of couples with a specialist. (author)

Effect of storage temperature and osmotic pre-treatment with alternative solutes on the shelf-life of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata fillets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Theofania N. Tsironi

2017-01-01

Osmotic pre-treatment led to significant shelf-life extension of fillets, in terms of microbial growth, chemical changes and organoleptic deterioration. The pre-treatment with the alternative solutes led to depression of the freezing point (−1.8, −2.6, −3.2 and −3.5 °C for the untreated samples and the osmotically pre-treated with HDM, HDM + treh and HDM + gluc, respectively. TVB-N values were higher in untreated samples, followed by osmotically treated fillets, mainly at higher storage temperatures (i.e. 10 and 15 °C. Based on the mathematical models for sensory evaluation scoring, the shelf-life was 12, 19, 22 and 22 days at 0 °C for untreated and osmotically pre-treated with HDM, HDM + treh and HDM + gluc fish slices, respectively, while the respective values at −3 °C were 21, 35, 38 and 38 days. The alternative solutes had no significant effect on the quality and shelf-life of pre-treated fish fillet during storage at refrigerated conditions.

Evaluation and scoring of radiotherapy treatment plans using an artificial neural network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willoughby, Twyla R.; Starkschall, George; Janjan, Nora A.; Rosen, Isaac I.

1996-01-01

Purpose: The objective of this work was to demonstrate the feasibility of using an artificial neural network to predict the clinical evaluation of radiotherapy treatment plans. Methods and Materials: Approximately 150 treatment plans were developed for 16 patients who received external-beam radiotherapy for soft-tissue sarcomas of the lower extremity. Plans were assigned a figure of merit by a radiation oncologist using a five-point rating scale. Plan scoring was performed by a single physician to ensure consistency in rating. Dose-volume information extracted from a training set of 511 treatment plans on 14 patients was correlated to the physician-generated figure of merit using an artificial neural network. The neural network was tested with a test set of 19 treatment plans on two patients whose plans were not used in the training of the neural net. Results: Physician scoring of treatment plans was consistent to within one point on the rating scale 88% of the time. The neural net reproduced the physician scores in the training set to within one point approximately 90% of the time. It reproduced the physician scores in the test set to within one point approximately 83% of the time. Conclusions: An artificial neural network can be trained to generate a score for a treatment plan that can be correlated to a clinically-based figure of merit. The accuracy of the neural net in scoring plans compares well with the reproducibility of the clinical scoring. The system of radiotherapy treatment plan evaluation using an artificial neural network demonstrates promise as a method for generating a clinically relevant figure of merit

Grouped to Achieve: Are There Benefits to Assigning Students to Heterogeneous Cooperative Learning Groups Based on Pre-Test Scores?

Science.gov (United States)

Werth, Arman Karl

Cooperative learning has been one of the most widely used instructional practices around the world since the early 1980's. Small learning groups have been in existence since the beginning of the human race. These groups have grown in their variance and complexity overtime. Classrooms are getting more diverse every year and instructors need a way to take advantage of this diversity to improve learning. The purpose of this study was to see if heterogeneous cooperative learning groups based on student achievement can be used as a differentiated instructional strategy to increase students' ability to demonstrate knowledge of science concepts and ability to do engineering design. This study includes two different groups made up of two different middle school science classrooms of 25-30 students. These students were given an engineering design problem to solve within cooperative learning groups. One class was put into heterogeneous cooperative learning groups based on student's pre-test scores. The other class was grouped based on random assignment. The study measured the difference between each class's pre-post gains, student's responses to a group interaction form and interview questions addressing their perceptions of the makeup of their groups. The findings of the study were that there was no significant difference between learning gains for the treatment and comparison groups. There was a significant difference between the treatment and comparison groups in student perceptions of their group's ability to stay on task and manage their time efficiently. Both the comparison and treatment groups had a positive perception of the composition of their cooperative learning groups.

Re-Scoring the Game’s Score

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gasselseder, Hans-Peter

2014-01-01

This study explores immersive presence as well as emotional valence and arousal in the context of dynamic and non-dynamic music scores in the 3rd person action-adventure video game genre while also considering relevant personality traits of the player. 60 subjects answered self-report questionnai......This study explores immersive presence as well as emotional valence and arousal in the context of dynamic and non-dynamic music scores in the 3rd person action-adventure video game genre while also considering relevant personality traits of the player. 60 subjects answered self......-temporal alignment in the resulting emotional congruency of nondiegetic music. Whereas imaginary aspects of immersive presence are systemically affected by the presentation of dynamic music, sensory spatial aspects show higher sensitivity towards the arousal potential of the music score. It is argued...

The DWI 'reversal sign' of white matter hypoxic ischaemic injury in older children: an unusual MRI pattern for age

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andronikou, Savvas; Van Toorn, Ronald

2009-01-01

We present two children beyond the neonatal and infant age who suffered global hypoxic events and showed an MRI appearance of reversal of the diffusion-weighted (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) signal involving exclusively the white matter. This is an unusual distribution for this age group and may represent delayed postanoxic leukoencephalopathy. The appearance of this type of insult has been described as occurring in younger children more frequently than in adults. Awareness of this condition, the fact that it may occur earlier, and the peculiar and possibly deceptive DWI/ADC signal reversal pattern exclusively involving the white matter is critical for making a correct diagnosis and giving a prognosis. (orig.)

Pre-hospital treatment of acute poisonings in Oslo

Science.gov (United States)

Heyerdahl, Fridtjof; Hovda, Knut E; Bjornaas, Mari A; Nore, Anne K; Figueiredo, Jose CP; Ekeberg, Oivind; Jacobsen, Dag

2008-01-01

Background Poisoned patients are often treated in and discharged from pre-hospital health care settings. Studies of poisonings should therefore not only include hospitalized patients. Aims: To describe the acutely poisoned patients treated by ambulance personnel and in an outpatient clinic; compare patients transferred to a higher treatment level with those discharged without transfer; and study the one-week mortality after pre-hospital discharge. Methods A one-year multi-centre study with prospective inclusion of all acutely poisoned patients ≥ 16 years of age treated in ambulances, an outpatient clinic, and hospitals in Oslo. Results A total of 3757 health service contacts from 2997 poisoning episodes were recorded: 1860 were treated in ambulances, of which 15 died and 750 (40%) were discharged without transfer; 956 were treated in outpatient clinic, of which 801 (84%) were discharged without transfer; and 941 episodes were treated in hospitals. Patients discharged alive after ambulance treatment were mainly poisoned by opiates (70%), were frequently comatose (35%), had respiratory depression (37%), and many received naloxone (49%). The majority of the patients discharged from the outpatient clinic were poisoned by ethanol (55%), fewer were comatose (10%), and they rarely had respiratory depression (4%). Among the hospitalized, pharmaceutical poisonings were most common (58%), 23% were comatose, and 7% had respiratory depression. Male patients comprised 69% of the pre-hospital discharges, but only 46% of the hospitalized patients. Except for one patient, who died of a new heroin overdose two days following discharge from an ambulance, there were no deaths during the first week after the poisonings in the 90% of the pre-hospital discharged patients with known identity. Conclusion More than half of the poisoned patients treated in pre-hospital treatment settings were discharged without transfer to higher levels. These poisonings were more often caused by drug and

Pre-hospital treatment of acute poisonings in Oslo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nore Anne K

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Poisoned patients are often treated in and discharged from pre-hospital health care settings. Studies of poisonings should therefore not only include hospitalized patients. Aims: To describe the acutely poisoned patients treated by ambulance personnel and in an outpatient clinic; compare patients transferred to a higher treatment level with those discharged without transfer; and study the one-week mortality after pre-hospital discharge. Methods A one-year multi-centre study with prospective inclusion of all acutely poisoned patients ≥ 16 years of age treated in ambulances, an outpatient clinic, and hospitals in Oslo. Results A total of 3757 health service contacts from 2997 poisoning episodes were recorded: 1860 were treated in ambulances, of which 15 died and 750 (40% were discharged without transfer; 956 were treated in outpatient clinic, of which 801 (84% were discharged without transfer; and 941 episodes were treated in hospitals. Patients discharged alive after ambulance treatment were mainly poisoned by opiates (70%, were frequently comatose (35%, had respiratory depression (37%, and many received naloxone (49%. The majority of the patients discharged from the outpatient clinic were poisoned by ethanol (55%, fewer were comatose (10%, and they rarely had respiratory depression (4%. Among the hospitalized, pharmaceutical poisonings were most common (58%, 23% were comatose, and 7% had respiratory depression. Male patients comprised 69% of the pre-hospital discharges, but only 46% of the hospitalized patients. Except for one patient, who died of a new heroin overdose two days following discharge from an ambulance, there were no deaths during the first week after the poisonings in the 90% of the pre-hospital discharged patients with known identity. Conclusion More than half of the poisoned patients treated in pre-hospital treatment settings were discharged without transfer to higher levels. These poisonings were more often

Improving enzymatic saccharification of cassava stem using peroxide and microwave assisted pre-treatment techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sudha A.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The effectiveness of microwave assisted alkali (MAA and alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP pre-treatment methods in improving the enzymatic saccharification of cassava stem was investigated. Ground cassava stems were by MAA method by varying microwave power, NaOH concentration and pre-treatment time. AHP method was performed at various H2O2 concentrations, pre-treatment temperatures and times. The results showed that reducing sugar yield was higher from MAA pretreated stem when compared with AHP pre-treatment, which demonstrated that MAA pre-treatment was effective in releasing sugars. SEM studies on the pre-treated samples revealed extensive distortion of fibres in MAA pre-treated than AHP pre-treated samples, which showed pores and cracks in the fibrous structure. Spectral studies showed the change in the chemical structure of pre-treated samples. The work revealed that the studied pre-treatment methods were effective in improving the enzymatic saccharification of cassava stem.

Optimization of Pre-Treatment Process Parameters to Generate Biodiesel from Microalga

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Chukwuma Onumaegbu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Cell disruption is an integral part of microalga production process, which improves the release of intracellular products that are essential for biofuel production. In this work, pre-treatment parameters that will enhance the efficiency of lipid production using high-pressure homogenizer on microalgae biomass will be investigated. The high-pressure homogenizer that is considered is a GYB40-10S/GY60-6S; with a pre-treatment pressure of 1000 psi, 2000 psi, and 3000 psi, the number of passes; 1, 2, and 3, a reaction time of 3, 3.5, and 4 h. Pressure and cavitation increase the efficiency of the pre-treatment process of the homogenizer. In addition, homogenization shear force and pressure are the basic significant factors that enhance the efficiency of microalgae cell rupture. Also, the use of modelling to simulate pre-treatment processes (Response Surface Methodology (RSM, Box-Behnken Designs (BBD, and design of experiment (DOE for process optimization will be adopted in this study. The results clearly demonstrate that high-pressure homogenization pre-treatment can effectively disrupt microalga cell walls to enhance lipid recovery efficiency, with a relatively short extraction time, both that are essential for maintaining a good quality of lipids for biofuel production. A maximum of 18% lipid yields were obtained after 3 h of HPH pre-treatment at 3000 psi.

Comparisons of carotid artery stenting and carotid endoarterectomy in terms of diffusion-weighted MR imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitsuoka, Hiroshi; Shintani, Tsunehiro; Masuda, Mikio; Higashi, Shigeki

2009-01-01

The objective of this study was to compare two methods of treatment for carotid arterial stenosis, carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS), by means of diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI). Nineteen treatments in 18 cases during the 2007 academic year were included in this study. CAS was performed for 9 cases with 10 lesions (10 procedures), while 9 cases with 9 lesions (9 procedures) were treated by CEA. Patients were examined by a neurologist before and after the procedure, and had pre- and post-procedural DWI. No strokes or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) were observed in these cases. New DWI lesions were found in 7 out of the 10 procedures of CAS imaged 24 hours postprocedure, (average: 2.0 lesions). No new lesions were detected on DWI of CEA cases (χ 2 =8.33, p=0.0039). Certain high-risk subsets may respond well to CAS with a very low incidence of clinically-evident neurologic events, but with significantly higher incidence of periprocedural micro-brain embolism. Currently, CEA should be the first choice of treatment for atherosclerotic carotid artery stenosis. (author)

Predicting Pre-Service Classroom Teachers' Civil Servant Recruitment Examination's Educational Sciences Test Scores Using Artificial Neural Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Demir, Metin

2015-01-01

This study predicts the number of correct answers given by pre-service classroom teachers in Civil Servant Recruitment Examination's (CSRE) educational sciences test based on their high school grade point averages, university entrance scores, and grades (mid-term and final exams) from their undergraduate educational courses. This study was…

Effect of pre-treatments on seed germination of Parkia biglobosa ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effect of pre-treatments on seed germination of Parkia biglobosa (Benth) ... There has been emphasis on the use of indigenous tree species to check land ... out to investigate the most effective pre-sowing treatments to break seed dormancy and to ... Matured seeds of P. biglobosa were collected from farmers at Mbalagh ...

The economic pre-treatment of coal mine drainage water with caustic and ozone.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyden, B H; Nador, L; Addleman, S; Jeston, L

2017-09-01

Coal mine drainage waters are low in pH with varying amounts of iron and manganese and are generally brackish. The Austar Coal Mine in NSW, Australia, sought alternatives to their current lime dosing as the pre-treatment before the downstream reverse osmosis plant. Undesirable operating aspects of the current system include manganese and gypsum scaling/fouling, the need for anti-scalants and reduced water recovery. Thirteen processes for acid mine drainage were initially considered. The preferred process of caustic and ozone for Mn(II) oxidation was pilot tested at up to 0.74 kL/hr at the mine site. Under proper conditions and no aeration, about 81 per cent of the Fe could be removed (initially at 156 mg/L) as green rust. Supplemental aeration followed first-order kinetics and allowed 99.9 per cent Fe(II) oxidation and removal but only with a hydraulic residence time of about 47 minutes. The addition of supplemental Cu catalyst improved Fe removal. Ozone applied after caustic was effective in stoichiometrically oxidising recalcitrant Mn(II) and any remaining Fe(II). Control of the ozonation was achieved using the oxidation reduction potential during oxidation of the Mn(II) species. The use of caustic, followed by ozone, proved economically comparable to the current lime pre-treatment.

Optimization of Saccharification Conditions of Lignocellulosic Biomass under Alkaline Pre-Treatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis

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Rafał Łukajtis

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Pre-treatment is a significant step in the production of second-generation biofuels from waste lignocellulosic materials. Obtaining biofuels as a result of fermentation processes requires appropriate pre-treatment conditions ensuring the highest possible degree of saccharification of the feed material. An influence of the following process parameters were investigated for alkaline pre-treatment of Salix viminalis L.: catalyst concentration (NaOH, temperature, pre-treatment time and granulation. For this purpose, experiments were carried out in accordance to the Box-Behnken design for four factors. In the saccharification process of the pre-treated biomass, cellulolytic enzymes immobilized on diatomaceous earth were used. Based on the obtained results, a mathematical model for the optimal conditions of alkaline pre-treatment prediction is proposed. The optimal conditions of alkaline pre-treatment are established as follows: granulation 0.75 mm, catalyst concentration 7%, pre-treatment time 6 h and temperature 65 °C if the saccharification efficiency and cost analysis are considered. An influence of the optimized pre-treatment on both the chemical composition and structural changes for six various lignocellulosic materials (energetic willow, energetic poplar, beech, triticale, meadow grass, corncobs was investigated. SEM images of raw and pre-treated biomass samples are included in order to follow the changes in the biomass structure during hydrolysis.

Function–structure connectivity in patients with severe brain injury as measured by MRI-DWI and FDG-PET

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Annen, J.; Heine, Lizette; Ziegler, E.

2016-01-01

A vast body of literature exists showing functional and structural dysfunction within the brains of patients with disorders of consciousness. However, the function (fluorodeoxyglucose FDG-PET metabolism)–structure (MRI-diffusion-weighted images; DWI) relationship and how it is affected in severel...

[Pre- and post-surgical orthodontic treatment of mandibular asymmetry and prognathism].

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Song; Chen, Yang-xi; Hu, Jing

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze the pre- and post surgical orthodontic treatment of mandibular asymmetry and prognathism in our hospital, and to summarize some helpful experiences for future clinical work. The data were derived from 21 adults aged from 19 - 28 years who had severe mandibular asymmetry and prognathism. The ANB angle of all patients is from -3 degrees to -8 degrees. The value of wits of all patients is from -7 mm to -14 mm. The deviation of chin point of all patients is from 3 mm to 7 mm. The duration of pre- and post-surgical orthodontic treatment was 10-20 months (mean 18 months) and 5-10 months (mean 7.5 months), respectively. The keys in pre-surgical orthodontic treatment include (1) three dimensional dental decompensation; (2) arch form and transverse discrepancy correction; (3) model surgery and the splint making. The main objective of post surgical orthodontic treatment is to detail the occlusion. Pre- and post surgical orthodontic treatment is essential for the orthognathic treatment of patients with mandibular asymmetry and prognathism.

Effect of pre-stroke use of ACE inhibitors on ischemic stroke severity

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Caplan Louis

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent trials suggest that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI are effective in prevention of ischemic stroke, as measured by reduced stroke incidence. We aimed to compare stroke severity between stroke patients who were taking ACEI before their stroke onset and those who were not, to examine the effects of pretreatment with ACEI on ischemic stroke severity. Methods We retrospectively studied 126 consecutive patients presenting within 24 hours of ischemic stroke onset, as confirmed by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI. We calculated the NIHSS score at presentation, as the primary measure of clinical stroke severity, and categorized stroke severity as mild (NIHSS [less than or equal to] 7, moderate (NIHSS 8–13 or severe (NIHSS [greater than or equal to] 14. We analyzed demographic data, risk-factor profile, blood pressure (BP and medications on admissions, and determined stroke mechanism according to TOAST criteria. We also measured the volumes of admission diffusion- and perfusion-weighted (DWI /PWI magnetic resonance imaging lesions, as a secondary measure of ischemic tissue volume. We compared these variables among patients on ACEI and those who were not. Results Thirty- three patients (26% were on ACE-inhibitors. The overall median baseline NIHSS score was 5.5 (range 2–21 among ACEI-treated patients vs. 9 (range 1–36 in non-ACEI patients (p = 0.036. Patients on ACEI prior to their stroke had more mild and less severe strokes, and smaller DWI and PWI lesion volumes compared to non-ACEI treated patients. However, none of these differences were significant. Predictably, a higher percentage of patients on ACEI had a history of heart failure (p = 0.03. Age, time-to-imaging or neurological evaluation, risk-factor profile, concomitant therapy with lipid lowering, other antihypertensives or antithrombotic agents, or admission BP were comparable between the two groups. Conclusion Our results

Application of ceramic membranes for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) pre-treatment

KAUST Repository

Hamad, Juma; Ha, Changwon; Kennedy, Maria Dolores; Amy, Gary L.

2013-01-01

and particulate fouling materials (algae, suspended and colloidal particles). Also, a pre-treatment barrier reduces organics and provides better feed water quality for RO membranes. MF and UF pre-treatment prior to SWRO provides Low Silt Density Index (SDI) values

A comparative study of MR imaging scores and MR perfusion imaging in pre-operative grading of intracranial gliomas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Honglin; Chen Junkun; Zhang Zongjun; Lu Guangming; Chen Ziqian; Wang Wei; Ji Xueman; Tang Xiaojun; Li Lin

2005-01-01

Objective: To compare the accuracy of MR imaging scores with MR perfusion imaging in pre-operative grading of intracranial gliomas. Methods: Thirty patients with intracranial gliomas (8 low-grade and 22 high-grade, according to WHO criteria) were examined with MR perfusion imaging pre-operatively. The lesions were evaluated by using an MR imaging score based on nine criteria. rCBV of the lesions were calculated by comparing the CBV of the lesion and that of contralateral normal white matter. The scores and ratios in high-grade and low-grade tumours were compared. Results: The MR imaging score of low grade (grades I and II) gliomas (0.67±0.29) were significantly lower than that of grades III (1.32 ± 0.47) (t=-3.48, P=0.003) and IV (1.56 ± 0.20) (t=-7.36, P=0.000) gliomas. There was no statistical difference when MR imaging scores of grades III and IV gliomas (t=-1.39, P=0.182) were compared. The maximum rCBV ratio of low grade (grades I and II) gliomas (2.38 ± 0.66 ) were significantly lower than that of grades III (5.81 ± 3.20) (t=-3.57, P=0.003) and IV (6.99 ± 2.47) (t=-5.09, P=0.001). There was no statistical difference when rCBV ratios of grades III and IV (t =-0.93, P=0.365) gliomas were compared. The accuracy of MR imaging scores in the noninvasive grading of untreated gliomas was all most the same as that of MR perfusion imaging (90.00% vs 89.29%). Conclusion: The MR imaging scores and MR perfusion imaging are two very useful tools in the evaluation of the histopathologic grade of cerebral gliomas. The overall accuracy in the noninvasive grading of gliomas may be imp roved if MR imaging scores and MR perfusion imaging are combined. (authors)

Retrieval/ex situ thermal treatment scoring interaction report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raivo, B.D.; Richardson, J.G.

1993-11-01

A retrieval/ex situ thermal treatment technology process for the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory transuranic waste pits and trenches is present. A system performance score is calculated, and assumptions, requirements, and reference baseline technologies for all subelements are included.

Performance of seeds Crambe exposed to pre-germination treatments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rocha Cardoso, Rebeca; Costa Nobre, Danubia Aparecida; Santos de Souza David, Andreia Marcia; Ribeiro Amaro, Hugo Tiago; Borghetti, Renato Antonio; Costa, Marcia Regina

2014-01-01

Encouraging the production and use of biodiesel, seeds of crambe today constitute one of the best options for the supply of raw material, is also an excellent alternative for autumn-winter crop rotation order. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of combined pre-germination treatments on the seed behavior of Crambe. From a seed sample of FMS Brilhante cultivar, an experimental design completely randomized with a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement was performed. it was formed from combination of two structural conditions, seeds with or without pericarp, and treatments with or without giberelic acid, being: control (no treatment); seeds pre-soaked in distilled water for 24 hours as control; and seeds pre-soaked in gibberellic acid at 4 % at different concentrations (400, 500 and 600 mg.L"-1). Water content, first count germination, germination, seedling emergence and emergence rate index were determined. From these results it is concluded that removal of the pericarp in seed of Crambe, cultivar FMS brilhante, accelerated the germination rate, however, decreased your final percentage. The pre-soaking in gibberellic acid (400, 500 and 600 mg L"-1) for 24 hours, increased the germination and seed vigor crambe with pericarp.

pre-germination treatments in castor seeds, cultivar IAC 226

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa Nobre, Danubia Aparecida; Gomes Damascena, Joyce; Marcia, Andreia; Santos de Souza, David; Pereira dos Santos, Marlucia; Rodrigues Pereira, Adriana; Goncalves Pereira, Cassio

2013-01-01

The present study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of different pre-germination treatments in castor beans, IAC 226. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial 4 x 4 (four temperatures and four immersion times), with four replications. Pre-germination treatments were: immersion in water at room temperature (25 Celsius degrade) and immersion in hot water at temperatures of 60, 70 and 80 Celsius degrade for 2, 4, 6 and 8 minutes. Water content of the seeds was determined before treatments. Before and after each treatment, seeds were subjected to germination test; 20-30 Celsius degrade alternating temperature, determining the percentages of normal and abnormal seedlings, dormant and dead seeds. Independent of time, immersion in 70 Celsius degrade, water was the most efficient treatment for accelerating germination of castor bean cultivar IAC 226.

Influences of mechanical pre-treatment on the non-biological treatment of municipal wastewater by forward osmosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hey, Tobias; Zarebska, Agata; Bajraktari, Niada

2016-01-01

municipal wastewater treatment without the biological treatment step, including the effects of different pre-treatment configurations, e.g., direct membrane filtration before forward osmosis. Forward osmosis was tested using raw wastewater and wastewater subjected to different types of mechanical pre-treatment......, e.g., microsieving and microfiltration permeation, as a potential technology for municipal wastewater treatment. Forward osmosis was performed using thin-film-composite, Aquaporin Inside(TM) and HTI membranes with NaCl as the draw solution. Both types of forward osmosis membranes were tested......-sized wastewater treatment plants....

[Risk scores for community acquired pneumonia in elderly and geriatric patients].

Science.gov (United States)

Pflug, M A; Wesemann, T; Heppner, H J; Thiem, U

2015-10-01

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is still an important and serious disease for elderly and geriatric patients. For epidemiological and clinical reasons it is important to collate the frequencies of the various degrees of severity of CAP and to obtain information on the spread and degree of the threat to the various risk groups by CAP. In outpatient treatment a simple to execute prognosis score can be used to objectify the assessment of the clinical status of a patient and to support therapeutic decision-making. For this purpose knowledge of the appropriate instruments should be available to potential users. Since the 1990s a variety of risk scores for stratification of CAP have been developed and evaluated. This article presents the content and value of the available risk scores whereby the advantages and disadvantages of the individual scores are critically compared. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of the risk scores for geriatric patients. At present the decision about outpatient or inpatient treatment is primarily based on the risk score CRB-65. Criteria for intensive care unit admissions are provided by the modified American Thoracic Society (ATS) set of criteria. Overall, risk scores are less reliable for elderly patients than for younger adults. For treatment decisions for the elderly, functional aspects should also be considered in addition to the aspects of risk scores discussed here. In particular, the decision about inpatient admission for elderly, geriatric CAP patients should be made on an individual basis taking the benefit-risk relationship into consideration.

Impact of pre-hospital antibiotic use on community-acquired pneumonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Simonetti, A F; Viasus, D; Garcia-Vidal, C; Grillo, S; Molero, L; Dorca, J; Carratalà, J

2014-09-01

Information on the influence of pre-hospital antibiotic treatment on the causative organisms, clinical features and outcomes of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains scarce. We performed an observational study of a prospective cohort of non-immunosuppressed adults hospitalized with CAP between 2003 and 2012. Patients were divided into two groups: those who had received pre-hospital antibiotic treatment for the same episode of CAP and those who had not. A propensity score was used to match patients. Of 2179 consecutive episodes of CAP, 376 (17.3%) occurred in patients who had received pre-hospital antibiotic treatment. After propensity score matching, Legionella pneumophila was more frequently identified in patients with pre-hospital antibiotic treatment, while Streptococcus pneumoniae was less common (p sensitivity and specificity of the pneumococcal urinary antigen test for diagnosing pneumococcal pneumonia were similar in the two groups. Patients with pre-hospital antibiotic treatment were less likely to present fever (p 0.02) or leucocytosis (p 0.001). Conversely, chest X-ray cavitation was more frequent in these patients (p 0.04). No significant differences were found in the frequency of patients classified into high-risk Pneumonia Severity Index classes, in intensive care unit admission, or in 30-day mortality between the groups. In conclusion, L. pneumophila occurrence was nearly three times higher in patients who received pre-hospital antibiotics. After a propensity-adjusted analysis, no significant differences were found in prognosis between study groups. Pre-hospital antibiotic use should be considered when choosing aetiological diagnostic tests and empirical antibiotic therapy in patients with CAP. © 2013 The Authors Clinical Microbiology and Infection © 2013 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Pre-dialysis patients' perceived autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation: associations with illness perceptions and treatment perceptions. A cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Jansen, Daphne L; Grootendorst, Diana C; Rijken, Mieke; Heijmans, Monique; Kaptein, Ad A; Boeschoten, Elisabeth W; Dekker, Friedo W

2010-12-08

Compared to healthy people, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) participate less in paid jobs and social activities. The aim of the study was to examine a) the perceived autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation of patients in the pre-dialysis phase, b) pre-dialysis patients' illness perceptions and treatment perceptions, and c) the association of these perceptions with autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation. Patients (N = 109) completed questionnaires at home. Data were analysed using bivariate and multivariate analyses. The results showed that the average autonomy levels were not very high, but the average level of self-esteem was rather high, and that drop out of the labor market already occurs during the pre-dialysis phase. Positive illness and treatment beliefs were associated with higher autonomy and self-esteem levels, but not with employment. Multiple regression analyses revealed that illness and treatment perceptions explained a substantial amount of variance in autonomy (17%) and self-esteem (26%). The perception of less treatment disruption was an important predictor. Patient education on possibilities to combine CKD and its treatment with activities, including paid work, might stimulate positive (realistic) beliefs and prevent or challenge negative beliefs. Interventions focusing on these aspects may assist patients to adjust to CKD, and ultimately prevent unnecessary drop out of the labor market.

The design of a novel, environmentally improved cotton pre-treatment proces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouwhuis, G.H. (Gerrit)

2011-01-01

The scope of this thesis of Gerrit Bouwhuis, lecturer at Saxion Research Centre for Design and Technology in Enschede is the development of a new industrial applicable pre-treatment process for cotton based on catalysis. The pre-treatment generally consists of desizing, scouring and bleaching. These

Pre-treatment with intravenous granisetron to alleviate pain on propofol injection: A double-blind, randomized, controlled trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahsan Ahmed

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Propofol is one of the widely used intravenous (i.v. anaesthetics, although pain on injection still remains a considerable concern for the anaesthesiologists. A number of techniques has been tried to minimize propofol-induced pain with variable results. Recently, a 5-HT 3 antagonist, ondansetron pre-treatment, has been shown to reduce propofol-induced pain. The aim of our randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study was to determine whether pre-treatment with intravenous granisetron, which is routinely used in our practice for prophylaxis of post-operative nausea and vomiting, would reduce propofol-induced pain. Methods: Eighty-two women, aged 18-50 years, American society of Anaesthesiologist grading (ASA I-II, scheduled for various surgeries under general anaesthesia were randomly assigned to one of the two groups. One group received 2 mL 0.9% sodium chloride while the other group received 2 mL granisetron (1 mg/mL, and were accompanied by manual venous occlusion for 1 min. Then, 2 mL propofol was injected through the same cannula. Patients were asked by a blinded investigator to score the pain on injection of propofol with a four-point scale: 0=no pain, 1=mild pain, 2=moderate pain, 3=severe pain. Results: Twenty-four patients (60% complained of pain in the group pre-treated with normal saline as compared with six (15% in the group pre-treated with granisetron. Pain was reduced significantly in the granisetron group (P<0.05. Severity of pain was also lesser in the granisetron group compared with the placebo group (2.5% vs. 37.5%. Conclusion: We conclude that pre-treatment with granisetron along with venous occlusion for 1 min for prevention of propofol-induced pain was highly successful.

Pre-treatment risk stratification of prostate cancer patients: A critical review.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodrigues, George; Warde, Padraig; Pickles, Tom; Crook, Juanita; Brundage, Michael; Souhami, Luis; Lukka, Himu

2012-04-01

The use of accepted prostate cancer risk stratification groups based on prostate-specific antigen, T stage and Gleason score assists in therapeutic treatment decision-making, clinical trial design and outcome reporting. The utility of integrating novel prognostic factors into an updated risk stratification schema is an area of current debate. The purpose of this work is to critically review the available literature on novel pre-treatment prognostic factors and alternative prostate cancer risk stratification schema to assess the feasibility and need for changes to existing risk stratification systems. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify original research publications and review articles on prognostic factors and risk stratification in prostate cancer. Search terms included risk stratification, risk assessment, prostate cancer or neoplasms, and prognostic factors. Abstracted information was assessed to draw conclusions regarding the potential utility of changes to existing risk stratification schema. The critical review identified three specific clinically relevant potential changes to the most commonly used three-group risk stratification system: (1) the creation of a very-low risk category; (2) the splitting of intermediate-risk into a low- and high-intermediate risk groups; and (3) the clarification of the interface between intermediate- and high-risk disease. Novel pathological factors regarding high-grade cancer, subtypes of Gleason score 7 and percentage biopsy cores positive were also identified as potentially important risk-stratification factors. Multiple studies of prognostic factors have been performed to create currently utilized prostate cancer risk stratification systems. We propose potential changes to existing systems.

Risk Score for Predicting Treatment-Requiring Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in the Telemedicine Approaches to Evaluating Acute-Phase ROP Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ying, Gui-Shuang; VanderVeen, Deborah; Daniel, Ebenezer; Quinn, Graham E; Baumritter, Agnieshka

2016-10-01

To develop a risk score for predicting treatment-requiring retinopathy of prematurity (TR-ROP) in the Telemedicine Approaches to Evaluating Acute-Phase Retinopathy of Prematurity (e-ROP) study. Second analyses of an observational cohort study. Infants with birth weight (BW) prematurity (ROP) examination for determining TR-ROP by study-certified ophthalmologists. Nonphysician trained readers evaluated wide-field retinal image sets for characteristics of ROP, pre-plus/plus disease, and retinal hemorrhage. Risk score points for predicting TR-ROP were derived from the regression coefficients of significant predictors in a multivariate logistic regression model. TR-ROP. Eighty-five of 771 infants (11.0%) developed TR-ROP. In a multivariate model, significant predictors for TR-ROP were gestational age (GA) (odds ratio [OR], 5.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7-18.9 for ≤25 vs. ≥28 weeks), need for respiratory support (OR, 7.0; 95% CI, 1.3-37.1 for high-frequency oscillatory ventilation vs. no respiratory support), slow weight gain (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.2-4.6 for weight gain ≤12 g/day vs. >15 g/day), and image findings at the first image session including number of quadrants with pre-plus (OR, 3.8; 95% CI, 1.5-9.7 for 4 pre-plus quadrants vs. no pre-plus), stage and zone of ROP (OR, 4.7; 95% CI, 2.1-11.8 for stage 1-2 zone I, OR, 5.9; 95% CI, 2.1-16.6 for stage 3 zone I vs. no ROP), and presence of blot hemorrhage (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.4-6.7). Image findings predicted TR-ROP better than GA (area under receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.82 vs. 0.75, P = 0.03). The risk of TR-ROP steadily increased with higher risk score and predicted TR-ROP well (AUC = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.85-0.92). Risk score ≥3 points for predicting TR-ROP had a sensitivity of 98.8%, specificity of 40.1%, and positive and negative predictive values of 17.0% and 99.6%, respectively. Image characteristics at 34 PMA weeks or earlier independently predict TR-ROP. If externally validated in

ANALISIS SISTEM INFORMASI AKUNTANSI PEMBELIAN BAHAN BAKU SECARA TUNAI GUNA MENINGKATKAN EFEKTIVITAS PENGENDALIAN INTERN PADA PT. DWI MULYO LESTARI MADIUN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fefi Wuri Ambarwati

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This study evaluates the raw material purchasing system are applied in PT. Mulyo Dwi Lestari in order to enhance the effectiveness of internal control. The data was collected using interview and observation techniques. The analysis conducted is qualitative descriptive analysis. Based on the research that has been done, researchers can take the conclusion that the implementation of raw material purchasing system in the PT. Mulyo Dwi Lestari not support the effectiveness of internal control. The weaknesses include there isn’t form of purchase orders, goods receiving report form is not suitable with the basic principles of design, a dual function in the barn, yet numbered printed form, and never made a sudden inspection of the accounting records company's physical wealth.

The effect of a psycho-educational program on CARS scores and short sensory profile in autistic children.

Science.gov (United States)

Papavasiliou, Antigone S; Nikaina, Irene; Rizou, Joanna; Alexandrou, Stratos

2011-07-01

There is great demand for effective management of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study aimed to investigate the effect of an individually tailored psycho-educational program for autistic children on the scores of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Short Sensory Profile (SSP). Forty children (36 males) were enrolled into an intervention program which consisted of occupational therapy including sensory integration techniques, speech therapy, social skills therapy and parent-directed approaches. Autism severity was assessed using CARS; sensory response capability with the SSP pre- and post-treatment. Eight children were intellectually normal; 12 borderline and 20 of low intelligence. Pre-treatment CARS showed that 8 were mildly autistic, 32 moderately-severely autistic. Post-treatment, 24 children changed category; 11 were no longer autistic. The percentage of children performing in the definitive difference region, according to total SSP score, changed slightly (45% vs 32.5%). Comparison of the pre- and post-treatment values revealed that CARS decreased significantly (p values (p educational therapy had a significant effect on autism severity according to CARS. Changes in the SSP scores were not significant. Copyright © 2011 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Correlation between CHA2DS2-VASc Score and Glaucoma Treatment and Prognosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Pikkel, Yoav Y; Krebs, Daniel; Igal, Vadim; Sharabi-Nov, Adi; Epstein, Irena; Pikkel, Joseph

2018-01-01

To find if CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc scale can accurately predict the treatment, prognosis, and outcome for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). A survey of 250,000 patient years was taken, using the records of the Ophthalmology Department at Ziv Medical Center. Data was collected regarding the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), visual field (VF), line of treatment (LOT) of glaucoma, and all the data needed to accurately calculate CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score for each patient. Sixty-seven patients were included in the statistical analysis. The mean age was 72.5 years. The mean CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score was 3.27 + -1.7. Positive Pearson's correlation coefficients were found for LOT and CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score, 0.35, and for RNFL grade and CHA2DS2-VASc score, 0.37. The correlation was negative for RNFL width and CHA2DS2-VASc score, -0.35. CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score was shown to be correlated with glaucoma. This correlation was manifested positively by the LOT needed to stop glaucoma progression, with higher CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc scores correlated with more aggressive treatment. Since glaucoma is a disease with a progressing nature, it is important to treat patients aggressively on one hand, while offering the most benign treatment as possible on the other hand. Modification of the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score could achieve an even higher correlation.

Addressing social aspects associated with wastewater treatment facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Padilla-Rivera, Alejandro; Morgan-Sagastume, Juan Manuel; Noyola, Adalberto; Güereca, Leonor Patricia

2016-01-01

In wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF), technical and financial aspects have been considered a priority, while other issues, such as social aspects, have not been evaluated seriously and there is not an accepted methodology for assessing it. In this work, a methodology focused on social concerns related to WWTF is presented. The methodology proposes the use of 25 indicators as a framework for measuring social performance to evaluate the progress in moving towards sustainability. The methodology was applied to test its applicability and effectiveness in two WWTF in Mexico (urban and rural). This evaluation helped define the key elements, stakeholders and barriers in the facilities. In this context, the urban facility showed a better overall performance, a result that may be explained mainly by the better socioeconomic context of the urban municipality. Finally, the evaluation of social aspects using the semi-qualitative approach proposed in this work allows for a comparison between different facilities and for the identification of strengths and weakness, and it provides an alternative tool for achieving and improving wastewater management. - Highlights: • The methodology proposes 25 indicators as a framework for measuring social performance in wastewater treatment facilities. • The evaluation helped to define the key elements, stakeholders and barriers in the wastewater treatment facilities. • The evaluation of social aspects allows the identification of strengths and weakness for improving wastewater management. • It provides a social profile of the facility that highlights the best and worst performances.

Addressing social aspects associated with wastewater treatment facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Padilla-Rivera, Alejandro; Morgan-Sagastume, Juan Manuel; Noyola, Adalberto; Güereca, Leonor Patricia, E-mail: lguerecah@iingen.unam.mx

2016-02-15

In wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF), technical and financial aspects have been considered a priority, while other issues, such as social aspects, have not been evaluated seriously and there is not an accepted methodology for assessing it. In this work, a methodology focused on social concerns related to WWTF is presented. The methodology proposes the use of 25 indicators as a framework for measuring social performance to evaluate the progress in moving towards sustainability. The methodology was applied to test its applicability and effectiveness in two WWTF in Mexico (urban and rural). This evaluation helped define the key elements, stakeholders and barriers in the facilities. In this context, the urban facility showed a better overall performance, a result that may be explained mainly by the better socioeconomic context of the urban municipality. Finally, the evaluation of social aspects using the semi-qualitative approach proposed in this work allows for a comparison between different facilities and for the identification of strengths and weakness, and it provides an alternative tool for achieving and improving wastewater management. - Highlights: • The methodology proposes 25 indicators as a framework for measuring social performance in wastewater treatment facilities. • The evaluation helped to define the key elements, stakeholders and barriers in the wastewater treatment facilities. • The evaluation of social aspects allows the identification of strengths and weakness for improving wastewater management. • It provides a social profile of the facility that highlights the best and worst performances.

Early MRI in term infants with perinatal hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury: Interobserver agreement and MRI predictors of outcome at 2 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goergen, S.K.; Ang, H.; Wong, F.; Carse, E.A.; Charlton, M.; Evans, R.; Whiteley, G.; Clark, J.; Shipp, D.; Jolley, D.; Paul, E.; Cheong, J.L.Y.

2014-01-01

Aim: To compare diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and non-DWI magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS), and clinical biomarkers for prediction of 2 year developmental outcome in term infants with perinatal hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE). Materials and methods: Nineteen infants ≥36 weeks gestation with HIE were recruited and MRI performed day 3–7 (mean = 5). MRI was scored independently by three radiologists using a standardized scoring system. Lactate-to-N-acetylaspartate ratio (Lac:NAA) in the lentiform nucleus was calculated. Developmental assessment was performed at 2 years using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III). Interobserver agreement about abnormality in 10 brain regions was measured. Univariate analysis was performed to determine variables associated with adverse outcome (i.e., death or Bayley score for any domain <70). Results: Good interobserver agreement (kappa = 0.61–0.69) on scores for DWI was obtained for the cortex, putamen, and brainstem, but not for any region on non-DWI. A significant association was found between outcome and Lac:NAA (p < 0.003) and DWI scores for lentiform nucleus, thalamus, cortex, posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC), and paracentral white matter (p = 0.001–0.013), but for non-DWI score only in the vermis or brainstem. A combination of Lac:NAA ≥0.25 or DWI/apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) signal abnormality in the PLIC had 100% specificity and sensitivity for poor outcome. Conclusion: Interobserver agreement for non-DWI performed during the first week is poor. Agreement by three radiologists about the presence of abnormal signal within the PLIC on ADC/DWI images or elevation of Lac:NAA above 0.25 improved sensitivity without reducing the prognostic specificity of MRS in the 19 patients, but this requires validation in a larger group of infants with HIE who have been treated with hypothermia

Reproducibility of the index of orthognathic functional treatment need scores derived from plaster study casts and their three-dimensional digital equivalents: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

McCrory, Emma; McGuinness, Niall Jp; Ulhaq, Aman

2018-06-01

To determine the reproducibility of Index of Orthognathic Functional Treatment Need (IOFTN) scores derived from plaster casts and their three-dimensional (3D) digital equivalents. Pilot study, prospective analytical. UK hospital orthodontic department. Thirty casts and their digital equivalents, representing the pre-treatment malocclusions of patients requiring orthodontic-orthognathic surgical treatment, were scored by four clinicians using IOFTN. Casts were scanned using a 3Shape digital scanner and 3D models produced using OrthoAnalyzer TM (3Shape Ltd, Copenhagen, Denmark). Examiners independently determined the IOFTN scores for the casts and digital models, to test their inter- and intra-operator reliability using weighted Kappa scores. Intra-operator agreement with IOFTN major categories (1-5: treatment need) was very good for plaster casts (0.83-0.98) and good-very good for digital models (0.78-0.83). Inter-operator agreement was moderate-very good for casts (0.58-0.82) and good-very good for digital models (0.65-0.92). Intra-operator agreement with IOFTN sub-categories (1-14: feature of malocclusion) was good-very good for casts (0.70-0.97) and digital models (0.80-0.94). Inter-operator agreement was moderate-good for casts (0.53-0.77); and moderate-very good for the digital models (0.58-0.90). Digital models are an acceptable alternative to plaster casts for examining the malocclusion of patients requiring combined orthodontic-orthognathic surgical treatment and determining treatment need.

Effects of Brief Psychoeducational Program on Stigma in Malaysian Pre-clinical Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Aaron; Tan, Kit-Aun; Knaak, Stephanie; Chew, Boon How; Ghazali, Sazlina Shariff

2016-12-01

If presented with serious mental illness (SMI), individuals' low help-seeking behaviors and poor adherence to treatment are associated with negative stereotypes and attitudes of healthcare providers. In this study, we examined the effects of a brief psychoeducational program on reducing stigma in pre-clinical medical students. One hundred and two pre-clinical medical students (20-23 years old) were randomly assigned to face-to-face contact + educational lecture (n = 51) condition or video-based contact + educational lecture (n = 51) condition. Measures of pre-clinical medical students' mental illness-related stigma using the Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) were administered at pre-, post-treatment, and 1-month follow-up. A 2 (condition: face-to-face contact + educational lecture, video-based contact + educational lecture) by 3 (time: pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 1-month follow-up) mixed model MANOVA was conducted on the Attitudes, Disclosure and Help-Seeking, and Social Distance OMS-HC subscales. Participants' scores on all subscales changed significantly across time, regardless of conditions. To determine how participants' scores changed significantly over time on each subscale, Bonferroni follow-up comparisons were performed to access pairwise differences for the main effect of time. Specifically, pairwise comparisons produced a significant reduction in Social Distance subscale between pre-treatment and post-treatment and between pre-treatment and 1-month follow-up, and a significant increase between post-treatment and 1-month follow-up, regardless of conditions. With respect to the Attitudes and Disclosure and Help-Seeking subscales, pairwise comparisons produced a significant reduction in scores between pre-treatment and post-treatment and a significant increase between post-treatment and 1-month follow-up. Our findings provide additional evidence that educational lecture on mental illness, coupled

Production benefits from pre- and post-lambing anthelmintic treatment of ewes on commercial farms in the southern North Island of New Zealand.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, C M; Ganesh, S; Garland, C B; Leathwick, D M

2015-07-01

To measure the magnitude and variability in production responses to anthelmintic treatments administered to adult ewes around lambing. Ewes carrying twin lambs, from sheep and beef farms (eight in Year 1 and six in Year 2) in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand, were enrolled in 14 trials (part of an experiment carried out on one farm in one year). Experiment 1 compared ewes treated 2-4 weeks pre-lambing with a controlled release capsule (CRC) containing abamectin, albendazole, Se and Co, to ewes injected pre-lambing with a long-acting Se plus vitamin B12 product, and to untreated ewes. Experiment 2 included these treatments, plus a CRC administered at pregnancy scanning. Experiment 3 included the same treatments as Experiment 1, plus administration of a CRC containing albendazole, Se and Co, injectable moxidectin or oral derquantel plus abamectin, all administered pre-lambing, or oral derquantel plus abamectin administered 4-6 weeks after lambing. Variables compared were ewe liveweight at weaning and pre-mating, lamb liveweight at weaning, total weight of lamb weaned per ewe and ewe dag score at weaning. Ewes treated with a CRC pre-lambing were heavier than untreated ewes (mean 3.2 kg) at weaning in 12/14 trials, and pre-mating (mean 2.8 kg) in 9/14 trials (pewes the mean difference was 2.8 kg pre-lambing (9/14 trials) and 1.7 kg pre-weaning (6/14 trials). Lambs reared by treated ewes were heavier (mean 1.55 kg) at weaning in 6/14 trials (pewe (p=0.507). Variation in weight of lamb weaned per ewe was largely explained by differences in lamb survival from birth to weaning (p0.65). Treatment of ewes with a CRC at pregnancy scanning was neither better nor worse than a pre-lambing treatment (p=0.065). There was no difference in the response from treatment with either of the two CRC or moxidectin. Treatment with short-acting oral anthelmintics resulted in no consistent benefit. Anthelmintic treatments administered to ewes around lambing resulted in variable responses

MRI quantitative assessment of brain maturation and prognosis in premature infants using total maturation score

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qi Ying; Wang Xiaoming

2009-01-01

Objective: To quantitatively assess brain maturation and prognosis in premature infants on conventional MRI using total maturation score (TMS). Methods: Nineteen cases of sequelae of white matter damage (WMD group )and 21 cases of matched controls (control group) in premature infants confirmed by MRI examinations were included in the study. All cases underwent conventional MR imaging approximately during the perinatal period after birth. Brain development was quantitatively assessed using Childs AM's validated scoring system of TMS by two sophisticated radiology physicians. Interobserver agreement and reliability was evaluated by using intraclass correlation (ICC). Linear regression analysis between TMS and postmenstrual age (PMA) was made(Y: TMS, X: PMA). Independent-sample t test of the two groups' TMS was made. Results: Sixteen of 19 cases revealed MRI abnormalities. Lesions showing T 1 and T 2 shortening tended to occur in clusters or a linear pattern in the deep white matter of the centrum semiovale, periventricular white matter. Diffusion-weighted MR image (DWI) showed 3 cases with greater lesions and 4 cases with new lesions in corpus callosum. There was no abnormality in control group on MRI and DWI. The average numbers of TMS between the two observers were 7.13±2.27, 7.13±2.21. Interobservcer agreement was found to be high (ICC=0.990, P 2 =0.6401,0.5156 respectively, P 0.05). Conclusion: Conventional MRI is able to quantify the brain maturation and prognosis of premature infants using TMS. (authors)

Dry ice blasting as a substitution for the conventional electroplating pre-treatments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uhlmann Eckart

2016-01-01

Full Text Available For high quality electroplated products, surfaces must be thoroughly pre-treated. For this purpose electroplating currently needs a variety of chemical baths. The used chemicals are injurious to health and harmful to the environment. In addition, the conventional pre-treatment has a long process time which results in high costs. Dry ice blasting alone or in combination with other processes has the potential to completely substitute these conventional pre-treatment processes. Three process sequences as pre-treatment methods prior to electroplating were investigated on the aluminium alloys AlSi12 and AlMg3. The used processes are dry ice blasting, tempering during dry ice blasting and glass bead blasting followed by dry ice blasting. The influence of the parameters on the surface roughness, surface topography and surface tension of the workpieces was examined. A model to describe the correlation between the dry ice blasting parameters and surface parameters was developed. Finally, an adhesion test of electroplated specimen was conducted in order to determine the suitability of these alternative pre-treatment processes.

Resistive vs. total power depositions by Alfven modes in pre-heated low aspect ratio tokamaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cuperman, S.; Bruma, C.; Komoshvili, K.

2004-01-01

The power deposition of fast waves launched by a LFS located antenna in a pre-heated, strongly non-uniform low aspect ratio tokamak (START) is investigated. The rigorous computational results indicate a total power deposition by far larger than that predicted for Alfven continuum eigenmodes in cylindrical plasmas. For toroidal wave numbers |N| > 1, the resistive and total power depositions are almost equal. (author)

Pre-dialysis patients' perceived autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation: associations with illness perceptions and treatment perceptions. A cross-sectional study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaptein Ad A

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Compared to healthy people, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD participate less in paid jobs and social activities. The aim of the study was to examine a the perceived autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation of patients in the pre-dialysis phase, b pre-dialysis patients' illness perceptions and treatment perceptions, and c the association of these perceptions with autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation. Methods Patients (N = 109 completed questionnaires at home. Data were analysed using bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results The results showed that the average autonomy levels were not very high, but the average level of self-esteem was rather high, and that drop out of the labor market already occurs during the pre-dialysis phase. Positive illness and treatment beliefs were associated with higher autonomy and self-esteem levels, but not with employment. Multiple regression analyses revealed that illness and treatment perceptions explained a substantial amount of variance in autonomy (17% and self-esteem (26%. The perception of less treatment disruption was an important predictor. Conclusions Patient education on possibilities to combine CKD and its treatment with activities, including paid work, might stimulate positive (realistic beliefs and prevent or challenge negative beliefs. Interventions focusing on these aspects may assist patients to adjust to CKD, and ultimately prevent unnecessary drop out of the labor market.

The relationship of live animal muscular and skeletal scores, ultrasound measurements and carcass classification scores with carcass composition and value in steers.

Science.gov (United States)

Conroy, S B; Drennan, M J; Kenny, D A; McGee, M

2009-11-01

This study examined the relationship of muscular and skeletal scores and ultrasound measurements in the live animal, and carcass conformation and fat scores with carcass composition and value using 336 steers, slaughtered at 2 years of age. Live animal scores and measurements were recorded at 8 to 12 months of age and pre-slaughter. Following slaughter, each carcass was classified for conformation and fatness and the right side dissected into meat, fat and bone. Carcass conformation scores and fat scores were both measured on a continuous 15-point scale and ranged from 2.0 to 12.0 and from 2.8 to 13.3, respectively. Pre-slaughter muscular scores showed positive correlations (P carcass meat proportion, proportion of high-value cuts in the carcass, conformation score and carcass value, significant negative correlations with carcass fat (r = -0.13) and bone (r = -0.81) proportions, and generally low non-significant relationships with the proportion of high-value cuts in meat and carcass fat score. Pre-slaughter ultrasound muscle depth and carcass conformation score showed similar correlations with carcass traits to those using the pre-slaughter muscular scoring procedure. Pre-slaughter ultrasound fat depth showed positive correlations (P carcass fat proportion (r = 0.59) and fat score (r = 0.63), and significant negative correlations (-0.23 to -0.50) with carcass meat and bone proportions, high-value cuts in the carcass and in meat, and carcass value. Pre-slaughter skeletal scores generally showed poor correlations ranging from -0.38 to 0.52 with the various carcass traits. Corresponding correlations (-0.26 to 0.44) involving records collected at 8 to 12 months of age were lower than those using pre-slaughter records. A one-unit increase in carcass conformation score increased carcass meat proportion and value by 11.2 g/kg and 5.6 cents/kg, respectively. Corresponding values for fat score were -8.2 g/kg and -5.1 cents/kg. In conclusion, both pre-slaughter live animal

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Heidenhain variant: case report with MRI (DWI) findings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arruda, Walter Oleschko; Bordignon, Kelly C.; Milano, Jeronimo B.; Ramina, Ricardo

2004-01-01

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a pre senile dementia characterized by rapidly progressive mental deterioration, myoclonic jerking, and other less common neurological signs. Few accentuates cases have been described in Brazil. A 54-year-old white woman, was admitted in our service with a month history of progressive, bilateral cortical blindness. After admission, she developed right partial motor seizures (right facial, upper and lower limbs), she became progressively aphasic (mixed aphasia). Seizures were controlled with phenytoine, but she developed choreoathetotic movements on her right dimidium, with partial control after introduction of chlorpromazine 25 mg q/d. She could no longer stand up or walk due to severe ataxia. The first EEG (October, 2001) showed left hemisphere severe seizure activity (status epilepticus partial is). She was delivered home with enteral nutrition, phenytoine, chlorpromazine and mepacrine 100 mg q d. The following laboratory tests were negative or normal: blood series, platelets, ESR, kidney and liver function, copper, ceruloplasmin, Vedril, HIV, HTLV-1, lactate, and cerebral Dsa (performed in other service). A spinal tap with normal opening pressure was perform and CSFR examination was normal. CSFR 14-3-3 protein was positive, CSF specific neuronal enolase 7.5 ng/ml(normal). Genetic study of PRNP gene did not disclosed any known mutation. A MRI (October, 2001) showed areas of hyperintense signal (T 2 and FLAIR) without Gd-enhancement on T1, in the left temporal lobe and in both occipital lobes; basal ganglia have a normal appearance. DWI imaging showed bright areas at the same sites. An EEG (March, 2002) disclosed a periodical sharp triphasic waves pattern, suggestive of CJD. A second MRI (April, 2002) showed mild generalized atrophy, no ventricular dilatation, and the hyperintense sites disappeared. She remained clinically stable and under use of chlorpromazine and mepacrine until she died due to pulmonary complications on April

Predicting Treatment Response for Oppositional Defiant and Conduct Disorder Using Pre-treatment Adrenal and Gonadal Hormones.

Science.gov (United States)

Shenk, Chad E; Dorn, Lorah D; Kolko, David J; Susman, Elizabeth J; Noll, Jennie G; Bukstein, Oscar G

2012-12-01

Variations in adrenal and gonadal hormone profiles have been linked to increased rates of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD). These relationships suggest that certain hormone profiles may be related to how well children respond to psychological treatments for ODD and CD. The current study assessed whether pre-treatment profiles of adrenal and gonadal hormones predicted response to psychological treatment of ODD and CD. One hundred five children, 6 - 11 years old, participating in a randomized, clinical trial provided samples for cortisol, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and androstenedione. Diagnostic interviews of ODD and CD were administered up to three years post-treatment to track treatment response. Group-based trajectory modeling identified two trajectories of treatment response: 1) a High-response trajectory where children demonstrated lower rates of an ODD or CD diagnosis throughout follow-up, and 2) a Low-response trajectory where children demonstrated higher rates of an ODD or CD diagnosis throughout follow-up. Hierarchical logistic regression predicting treatment response demonstrated that children with higher pre-treatment concentrations of testosterone were four times more likely to be in the Low-response trajectory. No other significant relationship existed between pre-treatment hormone profiles and treatment response. These results suggest that higher concentrations of testosterone are related to how well children diagnosed with ODD or CD respond to psychological treatment over the course of three years.

Whole-body MRI quantitative biomarkers are associated significantly with treatment response in patients with newly diagnosed symptomatic multiple myeloma following bortezomib induction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Latifoltojar, Arash; Dikaios, Nikolaos [University College London, Centre for Medical Imaging, London (United Kingdom); Hall-Craggs, Margaret; Taylor, Stuart A.; Halligan, Steve; Punwani, Shonit [University College London, Centre for Medical Imaging, London (United Kingdom); University College London Hospital, Department of Radiology, London (United Kingdom); Bainbridge, Alan; Sokolska, Magdalena [University College London Hospital, Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, London (United Kingdom); Rabin, Neil; Popat, Rakesh; Rismani, Ali; D' Sa, Shirley; Yong, Kwee [University College London Hospital, Department of Haematology, London (United Kingdom); Antonelli, Michela; Ourselin, Sebastien [University College London, Translational Imaging Group, Centre for Medical Imaging Computing, London (United Kingdom)

2017-12-15

To evaluate whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) parameters significantly associated with treatment response in multiple myeloma (MM). Twenty-one MM patients underwent WB-MRI at diagnosis and after two cycles of chemotherapy. Scans acquired at 3.0 T included T2, diffusion-weighted-imaging (DWI) and mDixon pre- and post-contrast. Twenty focal lesions (FLs) matched on DWI and post-contrast mDixon were selected for each time point. Estimated tumour volume (eTV), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), enhancement ratio (ER) and signal fat fraction (sFF) were derived. Clinical treatment response to chemotherapy was assessed using conventional criteria. Significance of temporal parameter change was assessed by the paired t test and receiver operating characteristics/area under the curve (AUC) analysis was performed. Parameter repeatability was assessed by interclass correlation (ICC) and Bland-Altman analysis of 10 healthy volunteers scanned at two time points. Fifteen of 21 patients responded to treatment. Of 254 FLs analysed, sFF (p < 0.0001) and ADC (p = 0.001) significantly increased in responders but not non-responders. eTV significantly decreased in 19/21 cases. Focal lesion sFF was the best discriminator of treatment response (AUC 1.0). Bone sFF repeatability was excellent (ICC 0.98) and better than bone ADC (ICC 0.47). WB-MRI derived focal lesion sFF shows promise as an imaging biomarker of treatment response in newly diagnosed MM. (orig.)

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Heidenhain variant: case report with MRI (DWI) findings; Doenca de Creutzfeldt-Jakob forma Heidenhain: relato de caso com achados de ressonancia magnetica e DWI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arruda, Walter Oleschko; Bordignon, Kelly C; Milano, Jeronimo B; Ramina, Ricardo [Instituto de Neurologia de Curitiba, PR (Brazil)

2004-06-01

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a pre senile dementia characterized by rapidly progressive mental deterioration, myoclonic jerking, and other less common neurological signs. Few accentuates cases have been described in Brazil. A 54-year-old white woman, was admitted in our service with a month history of progressive, bilateral cortical blindness. After admission, she developed right partial motor seizures (right facial, upper and lower limbs), she became progressively aphasic (mixed aphasia). Seizures were controlled with phenytoine, but she developed choreoathetotic movements on her right dimidium, with partial control after introduction of chlorpromazine 25 mg q/d. She could no longer stand up or walk due to severe ataxia. The first EEG (October, 2001) showed left hemisphere severe seizure activity (status epilepticus partial is). She was delivered home with enteral nutrition, phenytoine, chlorpromazine and mepacrine 100 mg q d. The following laboratory tests were negative or normal: blood series, platelets, ESR, kidney and liver function, copper, ceruloplasmin, Vedril, HIV, HTLV-1, lactate, and cerebral Dsa (performed in other service). A spinal tap with normal opening pressure was perform and CSFR examination was normal. CSFR 14-3-3 protein was positive, CSF specific neuronal enolase 7.5 ng/ml(normal). Genetic study of PRNP gene did not disclosed any known mutation. A MRI (October, 2001) showed areas of hyperintense signal (T 2 and FLAIR) without Gd-enhancement on T1, in the left temporal lobe and in both occipital lobes; basal ganglia have a normal appearance. DWI imaging showed bright areas at the same sites. An EEG (March, 2002) disclosed a periodical sharp triphasic waves pattern, suggestive of CJD. A second MRI (April, 2002) showed mild generalized atrophy, no ventricular dilatation, and the hyperintense sites disappeared. She remained clinically stable and under use of chlorpromazine and mepacrine until she died due to pulmonary complications on April

Pre-treatment of substrates for biogas production - A systems analysis; Foerbehandling av biogassubstrat i systemanalys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlsson, My; Holmstroem, David; Lagerkvist, Anders; Bisaillon, Mattias

2013-09-01

additional fuel gas generation of only about 5 % is enough to offset the climate impact of the pre-treatment. The available data on substrates and treatments is lacking in several aspects. There is no generic assessment methods applicable for all substrates and some of the used ones are unsuitable. Also the operational data available is limited and not well comparable. It is a serious problem for the development of the business that leads to a sole dependency on the information and assessments of suppliers. More data exchange within the community of plant operators is needed to develop the efficiency of the business. In this process a system approach like the one used here may be useful as an evaluation tool. For a single plant it may suffice with a work sheet analysis supported with multi-variate data analysis. In either case an improved documentation is essential.

Life cycle assessment of an intensive sewage treatment plant in Barcelona (Spain) with focus on energy aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

Bravo, L; Ferrer, I

2011-01-01

Life Cycle Assessment was used to evaluate environmental impacts associated to a full-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Barcelona Metropolitan Area, with a treatment capacity of 2 million population equivalent, focussing on energy aspects and resources consumption. The wastewater line includes conventional pre-treatment, primary settler, activated sludge with nitrogen removal, and tertiary treatment; and the sludge line consists of thickening, anaerobic digestion, cogeneration, dewatering and thermal drying. Real site data were preferably included in the inventory. Environmental impacts of the resulting impact categories were determined by the CLM 2 baseline method. According to the results, the combustion of natural gas in the cogeneration engine is responsible for the main impact on Climate Change and Depletion of Abiotic Resources, while the combustion of biogas in the cogeneration unit accounts for a minor part. The results suggest that the environmental performance of the WWTP would be enhanced by increasing biogas production through improved anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.

SU-E-T-148: Benchmarks and Pre-Treatment Reviews: A Study of Quality Assurance Effectiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lowenstein, J; Nguyen, H; Roll, J; Walsh, A; Tailor, A; Followill, D

2015-01-01

Purpose: To determine the impact benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews have on improving the quality of submitted clinical trial data. Methods: Benchmarks are used to evaluate a site’s ability to develop a treatment that meets a specific protocol’s treatment guidelines prior to placing their first patient on the protocol. A pre-treatment review is an actual patient placed on the protocol in which the dosimetry and contour volumes are evaluated to be per protocol guidelines prior to allowing the beginning of the treatment. A key component of these QA mechanisms is that sites are provided timely feedback to educate them on how to plan per the protocol and prevent protocol deviations on patients accrued to a protocol. For both benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews a dose volume analysis (DVA) was performed using MIM softwareTM. For pre-treatment reviews a volume contour evaluation was also performed. Results: IROC Houston performed a QA effectiveness analysis of a protocol which required both benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews. In 70 percent of the patient cases submitted, the benchmark played an effective role in assuring that the pre-treatment review of the cases met protocol requirements. The 35 percent of sites failing the benchmark subsequently modified there planning technique to pass the benchmark before being allowed to submit a patient for pre-treatment review. However, in 30 percent of the submitted cases the pre-treatment review failed where the majority (71 percent) failed the DVA. 20 percent of sites submitting patients failed to correct their dose volume discrepancies indicated by the benchmark case. Conclusion: Benchmark cases and pre-treatment reviews can be an effective QA tool to educate sites on protocol guidelines and to minimize deviations. Without the benchmark cases it is possible that 65 percent of the cases undergoing a pre-treatment review would have failed to meet the protocols requirements.Support: U24-CA-180803

Increasing Water System Efficiency with Ultrafiltration Pre-treatment in Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majamaa, Katariina; Suarez, Javier; Gasia Eduard

2012-09-01

Water demineralization with reverse osmosis (RO) membranes has a long and successful history in water treatment for power plants. As the industry strives for more efficient, reliable and compact water systems, pressurized hollow-fiber ultrafiltration (UF) has become an increasingly appealing pre-treatment technology. Compared to conventional, non- membrane based pretreatments, ultrafiltration offers higher efficiency in the removal of suspended solids, microorganisms and colloidal matter, which are all common causes for operational challenges experienced in the RO systems. In addition, UF is more capable of handling varying feed water qualities and removes the risk of particle carry-over often seen with conventional filtration techniques. Ultrafiltration is a suitable treatment technology for various water types from surface waters to wastewater, and the more fluctuating or challenging the feed water source is, the better the benefits of UF are seen compared to conventional pretreatments. Regardless of the feed water type, ultrafiltration sustains a constant supply of high quality feed water to downstream RO, allowing a more compact and cost efficient RO system design with improved operational reliability. A detailed focus on the design and operational aspects and experiences of two plants is provided. These examples demonstrate both economical UF operation and tangible impact of RO process improvement. Experience from these plants can be leveraged to new projects. (authors)

Anaerobic digestion of organic by-products from meat-processing industry. The effect of pre-treatments and co-digestion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luste, S.

2011-07-01

suitable for anaerobic co-digestion. The co-digestion of the ABPs with sewage sludge and cattle slurry resulted improved methane production and reusability of the digestate. These enhancements were further improved by the pre-treatments studied. The most suitable (ultrasound and bacterial product addition) and synergistically beneficial (pre-hygienisation) pretreatments were found to enhance the complex degradation of materials. Pre-treatments effects on the whole process and on the end-products were depended on the hydrolysis values, but especially on the content of the materials and qualities of the solubilised compounds. Economical feasibility of ultrasound and hygienisation pre-treatments is attainable. Materials and process methods studied in this thesis offer required new information and aspects about the case- and material-specific factors of process requirements, process optimisation according to the requirements in practice, degradability of the ABP materials, hygienic matters and mechanisms involved in pre-treatments and co-digestion of ABPs. The information produced could be directly utilised in the practical implementations of the anaerobic digestion of studied or corresponding materials and feed mixtures. (orig.)

Serial diffusion-weighted MRI correlates with clinical course and treatment response in children with intracranial pus collections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fanning, Noel F.; Laffan, Eoghan E.; Shroff, Manohar M.

2006-01-01

Accurate assessment of treatment response in children with intracranial pus collections is vital to guide appropriate therapy and reduce morbidity and mortality. To correlate serial MR-measurable changes in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with clinical response to treatment. We retrospectively reviewed clinical notes, conventional MR sequences and DWI in eight children with intracranial pus collections. Trace DWI signal intensity and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were compared at three time points: at initial diagnosis (eight children, 13 collections), at follow-up during continued clinical infection (three children, sp collections), and at follow-up when clinical infection had resolved (seven children, 12 collections). At initial diagnosis all patients were septic and collections showed restricted diffusion (mean ADC 0.61±0.15 x 10 -3 mm 2 /s). Patients with persistent clinical sepsis at follow-up DWI had collections with persistent low ADC values (0.66±0.21 x 10 -3 mm 2 /s), significantly (P -3 mm 2 /s, P<0.01) compared both to patients with signs of continued sepsis and to normal gray matter values. Persistent restricted diffusion in pus collections correlates with continued sepsis. Treatment response is associated with clinical resolution of sepsis and ADC value elevation significantly above normal gray matter values. (orig.)

SOME ASPECTS OF TEACHING MEDIA LITERACY TO PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN SLOVENIA FROM A PERCEPTION STANDPOINT OF TEACHERS AND PARENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jurka Lepičnik Vodopivec

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with media literacy as a multidimensional skill that parents and teachers possess. In this context we warn of the media-technical aspect of this skill and, within this aspect, of parents’ and teachers’ opinion on the presence of media in children’s lives. Following that, the paper explores teachers’ media-didactic competence as a component of educators’ media literacy. In the empiric part we used two aspects of fostering media literacy. One is the media-technical competence of parents and educators, while the other is the media-didactic competence of educators. We found that both parents and teachers believe that media have a strong presence in everyday lives of pre-school children and that they play an important role in teaching pre-school children. Teachers are aware of the importance of early teaching with media, for media and about media with the purpose of developing children’s media literacy, so they will not be afraid of media when they grow up.

Limited importance of pre-embryo pronuclear morphology (zygote score) in assisted reproduction outcome in the absence of embryo cryopreservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicoli, Alessia; Valli, Barbara; Di Girolamo, Roberta; Di Tommaso, Barbara; Gallinelli, Andrea; La Sala, Giovanni B

2007-10-01

To investigate the hypothesis that Z-score criteria represent a reliable predictor of implantation rate and pregnancy outcome in in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles, excluding the possibility of embryo selection before the embryo transfer. Retrospective clinical study. Centre of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Arcispedale S. Maria Nuova (ASMN), Reggio Emilia, Italy. We analyzed 393 pregnancies obtained by IVF or ICSI cycles. Morphologic evaluations of Z-score in pre-embryos obtained from IVF or ICSI cycles. Evaluations of Z-scores, implantation rate, and clinical pregnancy outcome. We did not find any statistically significant correlation between the Z-score of 1032 embryos transferred in 393 embryo transfers and the implantation rate or the pregnancy outcome. In particular, the best Z-score identified (Z1, 7.2%) did not seem to correlate with embryo implantation rate or pregnancy outcomes any better than those with worse scores (Z2, 6.9% and Z3, 85.9%). Our results seem to confirm that Z-score alone cannot be considered a better tool than standard morphologic criteria for identifying, controlling, or selecting embryos with a better chance of successful ongoing pregnancy.

40 CFR 141.717 - Pre-filtration treatment toolbox components.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... surface water or GWUDI source. (c) Bank filtration. Systems receive Cryptosporidium treatment credit for... paragraph. Systems using bank filtration when they begin source water monitoring under § 141.701(a) must... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Pre-filtration treatment toolbox...

TU-H-CAMPUS-IeP2-01: Quantitative Evaluation of PROPELLER DWI Using QIBA Diffusion Phantom

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yung, J; Ai, H; Liu, H; Stafford, R [The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the quantitative variability of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values when varying imaging parameters in a diffusion-weighted (DW) fast spin echo (FSE) sequence with Periodically Rotated Overlapping ParallEL Lines with Enhanced Reconstruction (PROPELLER) k-space trajectory. Methods: Using a 3T MRI scanner, a NIST traceable, quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diffusion phantom (High Precision Devices, Inc, Boulder, Colorado) consisting of 13 vials filled with various concentrations of polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in aqueous solution was imaged with a standard Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance (QIBA) DWI spin echo, echo planar imaging (SE EPI) acquisition. The same phantom was then imaged with a DWI PROPELLER sequence at varying echo train lengths (ETL) of 8, 20, and 32, as well as b-values of 400, 900, and 2000. QIBA DWI phantom analysis software was used to generate ADC maps and create region of interests (ROIs) for quantitative measurements of each vial. Mean and standard deviations of the ROIs were compared. Results: The SE EPI sequence generated ADC values that showed very good agreement with the known ADC values of the phantom (r2 = 0.9995, slope = 1.0061). The ADC values measured from the PROPELLER sequences were inflated, but were highly correlated with an r2 range from 0.8754 to 0.9880. The PROPELLER sequence with an ETL=20 and b-value of 0 and 2000 showed the closest agreement (r2 = 0.9034, slope = 0.9880). Conclusion: The DW PROPELLER sequence is promising for quantitative evaluation of ADC values. A drawback of the PROPELLER sequence is the longer acquisition time. The 180° refocusing pulses may also cause the observed increase in ADC values compared to the standard SE EPI DW sequence. However, the FSE sequence offers an advantage with in-plane motion and geometric distortion which will be investigated in future studies.

Treatment Foster Care Pre-Service Trainings: Changes in Parenting Attitudes and Fostering Readiness

Science.gov (United States)

Strickler, Amy; Trunzo, Annette C.; Kaelin, Michael S.

2018-01-01

Background: Pre-service training of treatment parents is a requirement for all foster care models to ensure safety and well-being of children in care. Researchers theorize treatment parents benefit more from enhanced pre-service trainings; however, no rigorous studies exist indicating the effectiveness of these trainings for treatment parents.…

Characterization of lignin during oxidative and hydrothermal pre-treatment processes of wheat straw and corn stover.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaparaju, Prasad; Felby, Claus

2010-05-01

The objective of the study was to characterize and map changes in lignin during hydrothermal and wet explosion pre-treatments of wheat straw and corn stover. Chemical composition, microscopic (atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy) and spectroscopic (attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ATR-FTIR) analyses were performed. Results showed that both pre-treatments improved the cellulose and lignin content with substantial removal of hemicellulose in the pre-treated biomasses. These values were slightly higher for hydrothermal compared to wet explosion pre-treatment. ATR-FTIR analyses also confirmed these results. Microscopic analysis showed that pre-treatments affected the biomass by partial difibration. Lignin deposition on the surface of the hydrothermally pre-treated fibre was very distinct while severe loss of fibril integrity was noticed with wet exploded fibre. The present study thus revealed that the lignin cannot be removed by the studied pre-treatments. However, both pre-treatments improved the accessibility of the biomass towards enzymatic hydrolysis. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of chemical, thermobaric and thermochemical pre-treatment on anaerobic digestion of high-fat cattle slaughterhouse waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Peter W; Schmidt, Thomas; McCabe, Bernadette K

2017-11-01

This work aimed to enhance the anaerobic digestion of fat-rich dissolved air flotation (DAF) sludge through chemical, thermobaric, and thermochemical pre-treatment methods. Soluble chemical oxygen demand was enhanced from 16.3% in the control to 20.84% (thermobaric), 40.82% (chemical), and 50.7% (thermochemical). Pre-treatment altered volatile fatty acid concentration by -64% (thermobaric), 127% (chemical) and 228% (thermochemical). Early inhibition was reduced by 20% in the thermochemical group, and 100% in the thermobaric group. Specific methane production was enhanced by 3.28% (chemical), 8.32% (thermobaric), and 8.49% (thermochemical) as a result of pre-treatment. Under batch digestion, thermobaric pre-treatment demonstrated the greatest improvement in methane yield with respect to degree of pre-treatment applied. Thermobaric pre-treatment was also the most viable for implementation at slaughterhouses, with potential for heat-exchange to reduce pre-treatment cost. Further investigation into long-term impact of pre-treatments in semi-continuous digestion experiments will provide additional evaluation of appropriate pre-treatment options for high-fat slaughterhouse wastewater. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Antisense pre-treatment increases gene therapy efficacy in dystrophic muscles.

Science.gov (United States)

Peccate, Cécile; Mollard, Amédée; Le Hir, Maëva; Julien, Laura; McClorey, Graham; Jarmin, Susan; Le Heron, Anita; Dickson, George; Benkhelifa-Ziyyat, Sofia; Piétri-Rouxel, France; Wood, Matthew J; Voit, Thomas; Lorain, Stéphanie

2016-08-15

In preclinical models for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, dystrophin restoration during adeno-associated virus (AAV)-U7-mediated exon-skipping therapy was shown to decrease drastically after six months in treated muscles. This decline in efficacy is strongly correlated with the loss of the therapeutic AAV genomes, probably due to alterations of the dystrophic myofiber membranes. To improve the membrane integrity of the dystrophic myofibers at the time of AAV-U7 injection, mdx muscles were pre-treated with a single dose of the peptide-phosphorodiamidate morpholino (PPMO) antisense oligonucleotides that induced temporary dystrophin expression at the sarcolemma. The PPMO pre-treatment allowed efficient maintenance of AAV genomes in mdx muscles and enhanced the AAV-U7 therapy effect with a ten-fold increase of the protein level after 6 months. PPMO pre-treatment was also beneficial to AAV-mediated gene therapy with transfer of micro-dystrophin cDNA into muscles. Therefore, avoiding vector genome loss after AAV injection by PPMO pre-treatment would allow efficient long-term restoration of dystrophin and the use of lower and thus safer vector doses for Duchenne patients. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Extent of early ischemic changes on computed tomography (CT) before thrombolysis: prognostic value of the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score in ECASS II.

Science.gov (United States)

Dzialowski, Imanuel; Hill, Michael D; Coutts, Shelagh B; Demchuk, Andrew M; Kent, David M; Wunderlich, Olaf; von Kummer, Rüdiger

2006-04-01

The significance of early ischemic changes (EICs) on computed tomography (CT) to triage patients for thrombolysis has been controversial. The Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) semiquantitatively assesses EICs within the middle cerebral artery territory using a10-point grading system. We hypothesized that dichotomized ASPECTS predicts response to intravenous thrombolysis and incidence of secondary hemorrhage within 6 hours of stroke onset. Data from the European-Australian Acute Stroke Study (ECASS) II study were used in which 800 patients were randomized to recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) or placebo within 6 hours of symptom onset. We retrospectively assessed all baseline CT scans, dichotomized ASPECTS at 7, defined favorable outcome as modified Rankin Scale score 0 to 2 after 90 days, and secondary hemorrhage as parenchymal hematoma 1 (PH1) or PH2. We performed a multivariable logistic regression analysis and assessed for an interaction between rt-PA treatment and baseline ASPECTS score. We scored ASPECTS >7 in 557 and < or =7 in 231 patients. There was no treatment-by-ASPECTS interaction with dichotomized ASPECTS (P=0.3). This also applied for the 0- to 3-hour and 3- to 6-hour cohorts. However, a treatment-by-ASPECTS effect modification was seen in predicting PH (0.043 for the interaction term), indicating a much higher likelihood of thrombolytic-related parenchymal hemorrhage in those with ASPECTS < or =7. In ECASS II, the effect of rt-PA on functional outcome is not influenced by baseline ASPECTS. Patients with low ASPECTS have a substantially increased risk of thrombolytic-related PH.

Improving the sludge disintegration efficiency of sonication by combining with alkalization and thermal pre-treatment methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Şahinkaya, S; Sevimli, M F; Aygün, A

2012-01-01

One of the most serious problems encountered in biological wastewater treatment processes is the production of waste activated sludge (WAS). Sonication, which is an energy-intensive process, is the most powerful sludge pre-treatment method. Due to lack of information about the combined pre-treatment methods of sonication, the combined pre-treatment methods were investigated and it was aimed to improve the disintegration efficiency of sonication by combining sonication with alkalization and thermal pre-treatment methods in this study. The process performances were evaluated based on the quantities of increases in soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD), protein and carbohydrate. The releases of soluble COD, carbohydrate and protein by the combined methods were higher than those by sonication, alkalization and thermal pre-treatment alone. Degrees of sludge disintegration in various options of sonication were in the following descending order: sono-alkalization > sono-thermal pre-treatment > sonication. Therefore, it was determined that combining sonication with alkalization significantly improved the sludge disintegration and decreased the required energy to reach the same yield by sonication. In addition, effects on sludge settleability and dewaterability and kinetic mathematical modelling of pre-treatment performances of these methods were investigated. It was proven that the proposed model accurately predicted the efficiencies of ultrasonic pre-treatment methods.

Improved mechanical properties of retorted carrots by ultrasonic pre-treatments.

Science.gov (United States)

Day, Li; Xu, Mi; Øiseth, Sofia K; Mawson, Raymond

2012-05-01

The use of ultrasound pre-processing treatment, compared to blanching, to enhance mechanical properties of non-starchy cell wall materials was investigated using carrot as an example. The mechanical properties of carrot tissues were measured by compression and tensile testing after the pre-processing treatment prior to and after retorting. Carrot samples ultrasound treated for 10 min at 60 °C provided a higher mechanical strength (P<0.05) to the cell wall structure than blanching for the same time period. With the addition of 0.5% CaCl(2) in the pre-treatment solution, both blanching and ultrasound treatment showed synergistic effect on enhancing the mechanical properties of retorted carrot pieces. At a relatively short treatment time (10 min at 60 °C) with the use of 0.5% CaCl(2), ultrasound treatment achieved similar enhancement to the mechanical strength of retorted carrots to blanching for a much longer time period (i.e. 40 min). The mechanism involved appears to be related to the stress responses present in all living plant matter. However, there is a need to clarify the relative importance of the potential stress mechanisms in order to get a better understanding of the processing conditions likely to be most effective. The amount of ultrasound treatment required is likely to involve low treatment intensities and there are indications from the structural characterisation and mechanical property analyses that the plant cell wall tissues were more elastic than that accomplished using low temperature long time blanching. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SU-E-J-149: Establishing the Relationship Between Pre-Treatment Lung Ventilation, Dose, and Toxicity Outcome

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mistry, N; D'Souza, W; Sornsen de Koste, J; Senan, S

2014-01-01

Purpose: Recently, there has been an interest in incorporating functional information in treatment planning especially in thoracic tumors. The rationale is that healthy lung regions need to be spared from radiation if possible to help achieve better control on toxicity. However, it is still unclear whether high functioning regions need to be spared or have more capacity to deal with the excessive radiation as compared to the compromised regions of the lung. Our goal with this work is to establish the tools by which we can establish a relationship between pre-treatment lung function, dose, and radiographic outcomes of lung toxicity. Methods: Treatment planning was performed using a single phase of a 4DCT scan, and follow-up anatomical CT scans were performed every 3 months for most patients. In this study, we developed the pipeline of tools needed to analyze such a large dataset, while trying to establish a relationship between function, dose, and outcome. Pre-treatment lung function was evaluated using a recently published technique that evaluates Fractional Regional Ventilation (FRV). All images including the FRV map and the individual follow-up anatomical CT images were all spatially matched to the planning CT using a diffusion based Demons image registration algorithm. Change in HU value was used as a metric to capture the effects of lung toxicity. To validate the findings, a radiologist evaluated the follow-up anatomical CT images and scored lung toxicity. Results: Initial experience in 1 patient shows a relationship between the pre-treatment lung function, dose and toxicity outcome. The results are also correlated to the findings by the radiologist who was blinded to the analysis or dose. Conclusion: The pipeline we have established to study this enables future studies in large retrospective studies. However, the tools are dependent on the fidelity of 4DCT reconstruction for accurate evaluation of regional ventilation. Patent Pending for the technique

Pre-treatment of oil palm fronds biomass for gasification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sulaiman Shaharin Anwar

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Oil Palm Fronds (OPF has been proven as one of the potential types of biomass feedstock for power generation. The low ash content and high calorific value are making OPF an attractive source for gasification. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of pre-treatments of OPF residual on gasification. The pre-treatments included the briquetting process and extensive drying of OPF which are studied separately. In briquetting process, the OPF were mixed with some portions of paper as an additives, leaflets, and water, to form a soupy slurry. The extensive drying of OPF needs to cut down OPF in 4–6 cm particle size and left to dry in the oven at 150°C for 24 hours. Gasification process was carried out at the end of each of the pre-treated processes. It was found that the average gas composition obtained from briquetting process was 8.07%, 2.06%, 0.54%,and 11.02% for CO, H2, CH4, and CO2 respectively. A good composition of syngas was produced from extensive dried OPF, as 16.48%, 4.03%, 0.91%,and 11.15% for CO, H2, CH4, and CO2 contents respectively. It can be concluded that pre-treatments improved the physical characteristics of biomass. The bulk density of biomass can be increased by briquetting but the stability of the structure is depending on the composition of briquette formulation. Furthermore, the stability of gasification process also depended on briquette density, mechanical strength, and formulation.

The effect of length, duration, and intensity of psychological therapy on CORE global distress scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Lauren Jayne; Beck, Alison; Burdett, Mark

2017-09-01

This study explores whether improvements, as measured by the CORE-OM/10, as a result of psychological therapy were related to length of treatment in weeks, number of treatment sessions, or treatment intensity, as well as any effect of diagnostic group. Pre- and post-therapy CORE-OM/10 scores were extracted from the clinical records of all secondary care adult psychological therapy team patients who undertook psychological therapy between 2010 and 2013 in one mental health trust. Of the 4,877 patients identified, 925 had complete records. Length of therapy was divided by the number of sessions to create 'treatment intensity' (sessions per week). Nonparametric analyses were used, initial score was controlled for, and diagnostic group was explored. No relationship was found between change in score and the number of sessions, therapy length, or treatment intensity; however, change in score was positively correlated with first-session score. Patients with higher initial scores had longer therapies; however, treatment intensity was similar for patients with lower pre-therapy distress. There were differences in treatment length (weeks) between diagnostic groups. Demographic differences were found between patients with and without complete records, prompting caution in terms of generalizability. These findings are consistent with the responsive regulation model (Barkham et al., 1996) which proposes that patients vary in their response to treatment, resulting in no associations between session numbers or treatment intensity and therapeutic gain with aggregated scores. Patients with higher CORE scores at the outset of psychological therapy had longer not more intensive therapy. There was variation in treatment intensity between diagnostic clusters. Number of sessions, length of therapy (in weeks), and treatment intensity (the number of sessions per week between the first and last therapy sessions) were not related to therapeutic gains. These results fit with a responsive

Urgent Bypass Surgery Following Failed Endovascular Treatment in Acute Symptomatic Stroke Patient With MCA Occlusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Chang Yeob; Kim, Chang Hyun; Lee, Chang-Young; Sohn, Sung-Il; Hong, Jeong-Ho

2017-01-01

Although the benefits of extracranial-intracranial bypass surgery remain controversial, there is some surgical rationale for the augmentation of cerebral blood flow in cases of acute ischemic stroke with hemodynamic instability. We report a case of a 62-year-old woman who suddenly developed right hemiplegia and global aphasia. Initial magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance angiography revealed a small acute ischemic lesion in left parietal lobe with occlusion at the left middle cerebral artery. We performed an endovascular thrombectomy, which failed. Her neurological deficits remained unchanged. On the basis of immediate postendovascular magnetic resonance perfusion, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and neurological examination, an obvious clinical-DWI and a DWI-perfusion-weighted imaging mismatch were detected. We decided to perform emergency superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery bypass to prevent further progression of cerebral ischemia. On a 3-month follow-up, neurological deficits remained minimal motor aphasia and dysarthria. Following failed endovascular treatment in patients with acute symptoms attributed to major cerebral artery occlusion, we recommend immediate multimodal neuroimaging. If there are clinical-DWI and DWI-perfusion-weighted imaging mismatch indications, surgical revascularization could be considered as the next salvageable strategy.

MR Imaging Features of Acute Enterovirus 71 Encephalitis in a Patient with Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease: A Case Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Byung Sa; Yu, In Kyu; Lee, Byung Hee

2011-01-01

We report here on the MR findings of the first Korean case of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) complicated by acute enterovirus 71 (EV 71) encephalitis in a 33-month old girl. Conventional MR images of the patient showed the increased signal intensity (SI) on a T2-weighted image (WI) at the posterior aspect of the medulla, the pontine tegmen, the bilateral dentate nuclei of the cerebellum and the midbrain. There was no evidence of abnormal SI or contrast enhancement at the same areas of the brain on the pre- and post-contrast T1-WI. The diffusion weighted images (DWI) also revealed the bilateral symmetrical strong high SI at the posterior aspect of the medulla and pontine tegmen and there was low SI at the same areas on the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map. DWI in addition to the conventional MR imaging may be helpful for the early detection of acute EV 71 encephalitis in a patient with HFMD

MR Imaging Features of Acute Enterovirus 71 Encephalitis in a Patient with Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease: A Case Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Byung Sa; Yu, In Kyu; Lee, Byung Hee [Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2011-02-15

We report here on the MR findings of the first Korean case of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) complicated by acute enterovirus 71 (EV 71) encephalitis in a 33-month old girl. Conventional MR images of the patient showed the increased signal intensity (SI) on a T2-weighted image (WI) at the posterior aspect of the medulla, the pontine tegmen, the bilateral dentate nuclei of the cerebellum and the midbrain. There was no evidence of abnormal SI or contrast enhancement at the same areas of the brain on the pre- and post-contrast T1-WI. The diffusion weighted images (DWI) also revealed the bilateral symmetrical strong high SI at the posterior aspect of the medulla and pontine tegmen and there was low SI at the same areas on the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map. DWI in addition to the conventional MR imaging may be helpful for the early detection of acute EV 71 encephalitis in a patient with HFMD

SBR treatment of olive mill wastewaters: dilution or pre-treatment?

Science.gov (United States)

Farabegoli, G; Chiavola, A; Rolle, E

2012-01-01

The olive-oil extraction industry is an economically important activity for many countries of the Mediterranean Sea area, with Spain, Greece and Italy being the major producers. This activity, however, may represent a serious environmental problem due to the discharge of highly polluted effluents, usually referred to as 'olive mill wastewaters' (OMWs). They are characterized by high values of chemical oxygen demand (COD) (80-300 g/L), lipids, total polyphenols (TPP), tannins and other substances difficult to degrade. An adequate treatment before discharging is therefore required to reduce the pollutant load. The aim of the present paper was to evaluate performances of a biological process in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) fed with pre-treated OMWs. Pre-treatment consisted of a combined acid cracking (AC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption process. The efficiency of the system was compared with that of an identical SBR fed with the raw wastewater only diluted. Combined AC and GAC adsorption was chosen to be used prior to the following biological process due to its capability of providing high removal efficiencies of COD and TPP and also appreciable improvement of biodegradability. Comparing results obtained with different influents showed that best performances of the SBR were obtained by feeding it with raw diluted OMWs (dOMWs) and at the lowest dilution ratio (1:25): in this case, the removal efficiencies were 90 and 76%, as average, for COD and TPP, respectively. Feeding the SBR with either the pre-treated or the raw dOMWs at 1:50 gave very similar values of COD reduction (74%); however, an improvement of the TPP removal was observed in the former case.

Effects of Mothers against Drunk Driving's (MADD's) Victim Impact Panels on First-Time DWI Offenders: Some Initial Results.

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Nagesh; And Others

A study assessed the effects of victim impact panels (VIP) on first-time DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) offenders in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The VIP is an emotional presentation by the victim or their parents about how they were injured or their child was killed by a drunk driver. Subjects, 350 first-time offenders participated in a Mothers…

SONO-OXIDATIVE PRE-TREATMENT OF WASTE ACTIVATED SLUDGE BEFORE ANAEROBIC BIODEGRADATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Şahinkaya

Full Text Available Abstract The effects of sonication, potassium ferrate (K2FeO4 oxidation and their simultaneous combination (called "sono-oxidative pre-treatment" on chemical properties and anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS were investigated and compared comprehensively. Based on chemical parameters, the optimum operating conditions were found to be 0.3 g K2FeO4/g total solids (TS dosage for 2-h individual K2FeO4 oxidation, 0.50 W/mL ultrasonic power density for 10-min individual sonication and, lastly, the combination of 2.5-min sonication at 0.75 W/mL ultrasonic power density with 2-h chemical oxidation at 0.3 g K2FeO4/g TS dosage for sono-oxidative pre-treatment. The disintegration efficiencies of these methods under the optimized conditions were in the following descending order: 37.8% for sono-oxidative pre-treatment > 26.3% for sonication > 13.1% for K2FeO4 oxidation. The influences of these methods on anaerobic biodegradability were tested with the biochemical methane potential assay. It was seen that the cumulative methane production increased by 9.2% in the K2FeO4 oxidation reactor, 15.8% in the sonicated reactor and 18.6% in the reactor with sono-oxidative pre-treatment, compared to the control (untreated reactor.

Histogram analysis parameters identify multiple associations between DWI and DCE MRI in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Hans Jonas; Leifels, Leonard; Schob, Stefan; Garnov, Nikita; Surov, Alexey

2018-01-01

Nowadays, multiparametric investigations of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are established. These approaches can better characterize tumor biology and behavior. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) can by means of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) quantitatively characterize different tissue compartments. Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE MRI) reflects perfusion and vascularization of tissues. Recently, a novel approach of data acquisition, namely histogram analysis of different images is a novel diagnostic approach, which can provide more information of tissue heterogeneity. The purpose of this study was to analyze possible associations between DWI, and DCE parameters derived from histogram analysis in patients with HNSCC. Overall, 34 patients, 9 women and 25 men, mean age, 56.7±10.2years, with different HNSCC were involved in the study. DWI was obtained by using of an axial echo planar imaging sequence with b-values of 0 and 800s/mm 2 . Dynamic T1w DCE sequence after intravenous application of contrast medium was performed for estimation of the following perfusion parameters: volume transfer constant (K trans ), volume of the extravascular extracellular leakage space (Ve), and diffusion of contrast medium from the extravascular extracellular leakage space back to the plasma (Kep). Both ADC and perfusion parameters maps were processed offline in DICOM format with custom-made Matlab-based application. Thereafter, polygonal ROIs were manually drawn on the transferred maps on each slice. For every parameter, mean, maximal, minimal, and median values, as well percentiles 10th, 25th, 75th, 90th, kurtosis, skewness, and entropy were estimated. Сorrelation analysis identified multiple statistically significant correlations between the investigated parameters. Ve related parameters correlated well with different ADC values. Especially, percentiles 10 and 75, mode, and median values showed stronger correlations in comparison to other

Time dependent pre-treatment EPID dosimetry for standard and FFF VMAT.

Science.gov (United States)

Podesta, Mark; Nijsten, Sebastiaan M J J G; Persoon, Lucas C G G; Scheib, Stefan G; Baltes, Christof; Verhaegen, Frank

2014-08-21

Methods to calibrate Megavoltage electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs) for dosimetry have been previously documented for dynamic treatments such as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) using flattened beams and typically using integrated fields. While these methods verify the accumulated field shape and dose, the dose rate and differential fields remain unverified. The aim of this work is to provide an accurate calibration model for time dependent pre-treatment dose verification using amorphous silicon (a-Si) EPIDs in volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for both flattened and flattening filter free (FFF) beams. A general calibration model was created using a Varian TrueBeam accelerator, equipped with an aS1000 EPID, for each photon spectrum 6 MV, 10 MV, 6 MV-FFF, 10 MV-FFF. As planned VMAT treatments use control points (CPs) for optimization, measured images are separated into corresponding time intervals for direct comparison with predictions. The accuracy of the calibration model was determined for a range of treatment conditions. Measured and predicted CP dose images were compared using a time dependent gamma evaluation using criteria (3%, 3 mm, 0.5 sec). Time dependent pre-treatment dose verification is possible without an additional measurement device or phantom, using the on-board EPID. Sufficient data is present in trajectory log files and EPID frame headers to reliably synchronize and resample portal images. For the VMAT plans tested, significantly more deviation is observed when analysed in a time dependent manner for FFF and non-FFF plans than when analysed using only the integrated field. We show EPID-based pre-treatment dose verification can be performed on a CP basis for VMAT plans. This model can measure pre-treatment doses for both flattened and unflattened beams in a time dependent manner which highlights deviations that are missed in integrated field verifications.

Pre-treatment social anxiety severity moderates the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction and aerobic exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Jazaieri, Hooria; Lee, Ihno A; Goldin, Philippe R; Gross, James J

2016-06-01

We examined whether social anxiety severity at pre-treatment would moderate the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) or aerobic exercise (AE) for generalized social anxiety disorder. MBSR and AE produced equivalent reductions in weekly social anxiety symptoms. Improvements were moderated by pre-treatment social anxiety severity. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and aerobic exercise (AE) are effective in reducing symptoms of social anxiety. Pre-treatment social anxiety severity can be used to inform treatment recommendations. Both MBSR and AE produced equivalent reductions in weekly levels of social anxiety symptoms. MBSR appears to be most effective for patients with lower pre-treatment social anxiety symptom severity. AE appears to be most effective for patients with higher pre-treatment social anxiety symptom severity. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Pilot scale digestion of source-sorted household waste as a tool for evaluation of different pre-sorting and pre-treatment strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svärd, Å; Gruvberger, C.; Aspegren, H.

2002-01-01

Pilot scale digestion of the organic fraction of source-sorted household waste from Sweden and Denmark was performed during one year. The study includes 17 waste types with differences in originating municipality, housing type, kitchen wrapping, sack type, pre-treatment method and season. The pilot...... scale digestion has been carried out in systems with a 35-litres digester connected to a 77-litres gas tank. Four rounds of digestion were performed including start-up periods, full operation periods for evaluation and post-digestion periods without feeding. Different pre-sorting and pre-treatment...

Using Pre-TMIn Treatment to Improve the Optical Properties of Green Light Emitting Diodes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bing Xu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We investigated the effects of pre-TMIn treatment on the optical properties of green light emitting diodes (LEDs. Although pre-TMIn treatment did not affect the epitaxial structure of quantum wells, it significantly improved the quality of the surface morphology relative to that of the untreated sample. Indium cluster can be seen by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM, which is the explanation for the red-shift of photoluminescence (PL. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements indicated that the sample prepared with pre-TMIn treatment had a shorter radiative decay time. As a result, the light output power of the treated green LED was higher than that of the conventional untreated one. Thus, pre-TMIn treatment appears to be a simple and efficient means of improving the performance of green LEDs.

Assessments of whole body scan images (PCI) obtained in patients undergoing treatment of radioiodine (pre and post-treatment); Avaliacoes das imagens de pesquisa de corpo inteiro (PCI) obtidas em pacientes submetidos ao tratamento de radioiodoterapia (pre e pos-tratamento)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costa, Fernanda Karolina Mendonca da; Lopes Filho, Ferdinand de Jesus; Vieira, Jose Wilson; Souza, Milena Thays Barbosa de, E-mail: fernanda.radiologia8@gmail.com, E-mail: milena_thays@hotmail.com, E-mail: jose.wilson59@uol.com.br, E-mail: ferdinand.lopes@oi.com.br [Instituto Federal de Educacao, Ciencia e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (IFPE), Recife, PE (Brazil)

2014-07-01

Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty used for diagnosis and therapy of some diseases. For the treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (papillary and follicular) Radioiodine therapy is employed, in order to eliminate the rest of thyroid tissue after removal of the thyroid (thyroidectomy). In radioiodine therapy is used radioisotope iodine-131 ({sup 131}I) as Sodium Iodide (NaI). The amount of the activity (dose) of {sup 131}I administered is generally the responsibility of nuclear medicine, which is based on an image Research Length of the patient (pre-dose therapy PCI). PCI is also used after treatment (post-PCI therapeutic dose) to evaluate possible metastasis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of biokinetic {sup 131}I at length and in some organs of the patient, in order to note any similarity. Exams PCI pre-dose and post-dose were analyzed, the anterior and posterior projections of ten patients. Contours in these images (ROI - Region Of Interest) were made in the whole body and in areas with high uptake of {sup 131}I. The total score was used in the calculation to obtain the percentage distribution of {sup 13I} in the organs of the patient. The results showed that there similarity on the biodistribution of {sup 131}I between pre-dose and post-dose PCI. Therefore, it was found that it is valuable images of PCI pre-dose therapy as a way to assist the nuclear medicine physician in choosing the best activity to be administered to the patient in order to minimize the dose to adjacent organs. (author)

Effectiveness of different pre-treatments in recovering pre-burial isotopic ratios of charred plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Brinkkemper, O; Braadbaart, F; van Os, B; van Hoesel, A; van Brussel, A A N; Fernandes, R

2018-02-15

Isotopic analysis of archaeological charred plant remains offers useful archaeological information. However, adequate sample pre-treatment protocols may be necessary to provide a contamination-free isotopic signal while limiting sample loss and achieving a high throughput. Under these constraints, research was undertaken to compare the performance of different pre-treatment protocols. Charred archaeological plant material was selected for isotopic analysis (δ 13 C and δ 15 N values) by isotope ratio mass spectrometry from a variety of plant species, time periods and soil conditions. Preservation conditions and the effectiveness of cleaning protocols were assessed through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. An acid-base-acid protocol, successfully employed in radiocarbon dating, was used to define a contamination-free isotopic reference. Acid-base-acid isotopic measurements were compared with those obtained from untreated material and an acid-only protocol. The isotopic signals of untreated material and the acid-only protocol typically did not differ more than 1‰ from those of the acid-base-acid reference. There were no significant isotopic offsets between acid-base-acid and acid-only or untreated samples. Sample losses in the acid-base-acid protocol were on average 50 ± 17% (maximum = 98.4%). Elemental XRF measurements showed promising results in the detection of more contaminated samples albeit with a high rate of false positives. For the large range of preservation conditions described in the study, untreated charred plant samples, water cleaned of sediments, provide reliable stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen. The use of pre-treatments may be necessary under different preservation conditions or more conservative measurement uncertainties should be reported. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Motor skill delays in pre-school children with leukemia one year after treatment: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation therapy as an important risk factor.

Science.gov (United States)

Taverna, Livia; Tremolada, Marta; Bonichini, Sabrina; Tosetto, Barbara; Basso, Giuseppe; Messina, Chiara; Pillon, Marta

2017-01-01

CNS-directed therapies for the treatment of leukemia can adversely affect the acquisition of new skills, such as reading/writing and math. Two years after the end of treatments, children show gross and fine motor skill delays that may persist even when patients are considered healed. The goal of the present study was to assess motor skills difficulties in pre-school children with leukemia one year after treatment. Particular attention has been paid to those patients who had undergone Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) and to the relationship between motor delays and age bands. Participants were 60 children (median age of 5; inter quartile range: 3.07-5.76), including 31 females and 29 males, 91.7% of them were affected by acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and 8.3% by acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Five children had undergone HCST. Parents were interviewed by Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) on children's motor skills and filled in the Italian Temperament Questionnaire (QUIT). VABS's total scores were converted into equivalent mental age scores (EMA). A score difference of at least three months between current age and equivalent mental age was considered a developmental delay. Non-parametric analyses were run to understand if HSCT treatment and a specific age band influence children's motor skills. Significant delays were found in global motor skills (56.7%) as well as in fine and gross motor domains. Mann Whitney U tests showed that children with HSCT were reported to have lower gross motor mean ranks (U = 62; p = 0.004; Mean rank = 15.40) than peers without HSCT (Mean rank = 31.87) and lower mean rank values on motor temperament scale (U = 9; p = 0.003; HSCT Mean rank = 4.75 versus no HSCT Mean rank = 27.81). Kruskal Wallis' tests identified the high risk treatment showing that HSCT experience negatively impacted the motor skills and temperamental motor activity of pre-school children one year after the diagnosis of leukemia.

Motor skill delays in pre-school children with leukemia one year after treatment: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation therapy as an important risk factor.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Livia Taverna

Full Text Available CNS-directed therapies for the treatment of leukemia can adversely affect the acquisition of new skills, such as reading/writing and math. Two years after the end of treatments, children show gross and fine motor skill delays that may persist even when patients are considered healed. The goal of the present study was to assess motor skills difficulties in pre-school children with leukemia one year after treatment. Particular attention has been paid to those patients who had undergone Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT and to the relationship between motor delays and age bands. Participants were 60 children (median age of 5; inter quartile range: 3.07-5.76, including 31 females and 29 males, 91.7% of them were affected by acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, and 8.3% by acute myeloid leukemia (AML. Five children had undergone HCST. Parents were interviewed by Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS on children's motor skills and filled in the Italian Temperament Questionnaire (QUIT. VABS's total scores were converted into equivalent mental age scores (EMA. A score difference of at least three months between current age and equivalent mental age was considered a developmental delay. Non-parametric analyses were run to understand if HSCT treatment and a specific age band influence children's motor skills. Significant delays were found in global motor skills (56.7% as well as in fine and gross motor domains. Mann Whitney U tests showed that children with HSCT were reported to have lower gross motor mean ranks (U = 62; p = 0.004; Mean rank = 15.40 than peers without HSCT (Mean rank = 31.87 and lower mean rank values on motor temperament scale (U = 9; p = 0.003; HSCT Mean rank = 4.75 versus no HSCT Mean rank = 27.81. Kruskal Wallis' tests identified the high risk treatment showing that HSCT experience negatively impacted the motor skills and temperamental motor activity of pre-school children one year after the diagnosis of leukemia.

Motor skill delays in pre-school children with leukemia one year after treatment: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation therapy as an important risk factor

Science.gov (United States)

Bonichini, Sabrina; Tosetto, Barbara; Basso, Giuseppe; Messina, Chiara; Pillon, Marta

2017-01-01

CNS-directed therapies for the treatment of leukemia can adversely affect the acquisition of new skills, such as reading/writing and math. Two years after the end of treatments, children show gross and fine motor skill delays that may persist even when patients are considered healed. The goal of the present study was to assess motor skills difficulties in pre-school children with leukemia one year after treatment. Particular attention has been paid to those patients who had undergone Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) and to the relationship between motor delays and age bands. Participants were 60 children (median age of 5; inter quartile range: 3.07–5.76), including 31 females and 29 males, 91.7% of them were affected by acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and 8.3% by acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Five children had undergone HCST. Parents were interviewed by Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) on children’s motor skills and filled in the Italian Temperament Questionnaire (QUIT). VABS’s total scores were converted into equivalent mental age scores (EMA). A score difference of at least three months between current age and equivalent mental age was considered a developmental delay. Non-parametric analyses were run to understand if HSCT treatment and a specific age band influence children’s motor skills. Significant delays were found in global motor skills (56.7%) as well as in fine and gross motor domains. Mann Whitney U tests showed that children with HSCT were reported to have lower gross motor mean ranks (U = 62; p = 0.004; Mean rank = 15.40) than peers without HSCT (Mean rank = 31.87) and lower mean rank values on motor temperament scale (U = 9; p = 0.003; HSCT Mean rank = 4.75 versus no HSCT Mean rank = 27.81). Kruskal Wallis’ tests identified the high risk treatment showing that HSCT experience negatively impacted the motor skills and temperamental motor activity of pre-school children one year after the diagnosis of leukemia. PMID

Inflammation and nutritional status assessment by malnutrition inflammation score and its outcome in pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Jagadeswaran, D; Indhumathi, E; Hemamalini, A J; Sivakumar, V; Soundararajan, P; Jayakumar, M

2018-01-09

Malnutrition-inflammation complex syndrome (MICS), hyperhomocysteinemia, calcium and phosphate levels derangement have been predicted as important contributing factors for the progression of cardiovascular burden. Among patients with earlier stage of CKD, hypoalbuminaemia and inflammation deliberated as non-traditional cardiovascular risk factors, which add more burden to circulatory disease, mortality and rapid advancement to CKD stage 5. The aim of the study is to evaluate inflammation and nutritional status of CKD patients not on dialysis using Malnutrition inflammation score (MIS) and to verify the association with mortality in the follow-up period. In this prospective cohort study 129 (66 males, 63 females) pre-dialysis CKD patients enrolled between June 2013 to August 2014 and censored until March 2017. Malnutrition and Inflammation assessed using Malnutrition inflammation score. Blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, albumin, Interleukin - 6, highly sensitive C reactive protein (hsCRP), total cholesterol and anthropometric data were analyzed. The Malnutrition inflammation score in pre-dialysis CKD patients ranged from 0 to 18 with the median score of two. During 36 or more months of follow-up, there were 30 (23.2%) deaths, 35 (27%) patients initiated on hemodialysis, one (0.7%) patient was initiated on peritoneal dialysis, two (1.4%) patients underwent renal transplantation and two (1.4%) patients were lost for follow-up. In this study, 33% had varying degree of malnutrition and inflammation. Patients who had MIS ≥7 had significant increase in IL-6 (p = 0.003) and HsCRP levels (p < 0.001) when compared with other tertiles of MIS. ROC curve analysis of MIS showed 56.5% sensitivity and 81% specificity in predicting death rate (AUC 0.709; 95% CI 0.604-0.815, p < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed MIS ≥7 had a strong association (log rank test, p < 0.001) with mortality during 36 and more months of follow-up time. In unadjusted analyses

Pre-germination treatments on palm tree seeds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maitê dos Santos Ribeiro

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Palm tree seeds present slow and uneven germination. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the efficiency of pre-germination treatments in promoting germination and early seedling growth of palm tree (Euterpe edulis Martius. Treatments were: control, immersion in GA3 solution, exposure to ethylene, water immersion, H2SO4 immersion, mechanical scarification, stratification for 30 days at 10 °C, and scarification followed by stratification. Soaking seeds in gibberellic acid (GA3; 2000 µL L-1 for 24 h or their exposure to ethylene (1000 µL L-1 for 24 h are effective for promoting emergence, which started 30 days after seed treatment, and for early seedling growth of palm tree.

[Pre- and post-surgical orthodontic treatment for skeletal open bite].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Y; Hu, W; Sun, Y

2001-05-01

To Study the principles and rules of pre- and post-surgical orthodontic treatment for skeletal open bite patients. Thirty-two surgically treated open bite cases were analyzed, of which 9 were males, and 23 were females, aged from 16 to 38. Open bite was from 1 to 8.5 mm, average was 4 mm. 31 patients were Class III malocclusion, while 1 patient was Class II malocclusion. 1. Totally 21 patients were treated with orthodontics before and after orthognathic surgery, while 8 patients had pre-surgical orthodontics only, and other 3 had post-surgical orthodontics only. The duration for pre-surgical orthodontics was from 4 to 33 months, average was 12 months. The duration for post-surgical orthodontics was from 3 to 17 months, average was 8.5 months. 2. Presurgical orthodontic treatment included: Alignment of arches, decompensation of incisors, avoiding extrusion of incisors, and slight expansion of arches for coordination of arches. 3. Post-surgical orthodontic treatment included: Closure of residual spaces in the arches, realignment of arches, vertical elastics and Class II or III intermaxillary elastics. Skeletal open bites require combined orthodontic-orthognathic surgery for optimal and esthetical pleasing results.

Improvement of quantum efficiency in green light-emitting diodes with pre-TMIn flow treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Ya-Ju; Chen, Yi-Ching; Lu, Tien-Chang

2011-01-01

The effects of pre-trimethlyindium (TMIn) flow on the improved electrical characteristics and highly stable temperature properties of InGaN green light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are discussed. For the LED sample with a pre-TMIn flow treatment, the tunnelling of injected carriers associated with threading defects is significantly reduced, which promotes the diffusion-recombination of injected carriers, as well as the overall emission efficiency of the LED. In addition, the pre-TMIn flow treatment evidently reduces the dependence of external quantum efficiency on temperature and efficiency droop of green LEDs. As a result, we conclude that the pre-TMIn flow treatment is a promising scheme for the improvement of output performance of InGaN-based green LEDs.

Optimisation of dilute acid pre-treatment of artisan rice hulls for ethanol production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez, Yoney; Martin, Carlos; Gullon, Beatriz; Parajo, Juan Carlos

2011-01-01

Rice hulls are potential low-cost feedstocks for fuel ethanol production in many countries. In this work, the dilute-acid pre-treatment of artisan rice hulls was investigated using a central composite rotatable experimental design. The experimental variables were temperature (140-210 C), biomass load (5-20%) and sulphuric acid concentration (0.5-1.5 g per 100 g of reaction mixture). A total of 16 experimental runs, including a 23-plan, two replicates at the central point and six star points, were carried out. Low temperatures were found to be favourable for the hydrolysis of xylan and of the easily hydrolyzable glucan fraction. High glucose formation (up to 15.3 g/100 g), attributable to starch hydrolysis, was detected in the hydrolysates obtained under the least severe pre-treatment conditions. Using the experimental results, several models for predicting the effect of the operational conditions on the yield of pretreated solids, xylan and glucan conversion upon pre-treatment, and on enzymatic convertibility of cellulose were developed. Optimum results were predicted for the conversion of easily-hydrolyzable glucan in the material pretreated at 140.7 C, and for the enzymatic saccharification of cellulose in the material pretreated at 169 C. These results suggested the use of two-step acid hydrolysis as future pre-treatment strategy for artisan rice hulls. Key words: Dilute acid hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, pre-treatment, rice hulls. (author)

Free ammonia pre-treatment of secondary sludge significantly increases anaerobic methane production.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Wei; Zhou, Xu; Wang, Dongbo; Sun, Jing; Wang, Qilin

2017-07-01

Energy recovery in the form of methane from sludge/wastewater is restricted by the poor and slow biodegradability of secondary sludge. An innovative pre-treatment technology using free ammonia (FA, i.e. NH 3 ) was proposed in this study to increase anaerobic methane production. The solubilisation of secondary sludge was significantly increased after FA pre-treatment at up to 680 mg NH 3 -N/L for 1 day, under which the solubilisation (i.e. 0.4 mg SCOD/mg VS; SCOD: soluble chemical oxygen demand; VS: volatile solids) was >10 times higher than that without FA pre-treatment (i.e. 0.03 mg SCOD/mg VS). Biochemical methane potential assays showed that FA pre-treatment at above 250 mg NH 3 -N/L is effective in improving anaerobic methane production. The highest improvement in biochemical methane potential (B 0 ) and hydrolysis rate (k) was achieved at FA concentrations of 420-680 mg NH 3 -N/L, and was determined as approximately 22% (from 160 to 195 L CH 4 /kg VS added) and 140% (from 0.22 to 0.53 d -1 ) compared to the secondary sludge without pre-treatment. More analysis revealed that the FA induced improvement in B 0 and k could be attributed to the rapidly biodegradable substances rather than the slowly biodegradable substances. Economic and environmental analyses showed that the FA-based technology is economically favourable and environmentally friendly. Since this FA technology aims to use the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) waste (i.e. anaerobic digestion liquor) to enhance methane production from the WWTPs, it will set an example for the paradigm shift of the WWTPs from 'linear economy' to 'circular economy'. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

APLIKASI THERMAL PRE-TREATMENT LIMBAH TANAMAN JAGUNG (Zea mays SEBAGAI CO·SUBSTRAT PADA PROSES ANAEROBIK DIGESTI UNTUK PRODUKSI BIOGAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darwin Darwin

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Thermal pre-treatment was given on corn stover in the purpose of breaking the lignin content; thus, it may help anaerobic microorganisms to convert polymer including cellulose and hemicelluloses into biogas. This study aimed to investigate the effects of thermal pre-treatment on corn stover in anaerobic digestion process related to the production of biogas as well as digestion process efficiency. This research was carried out by utilizing batch reactors where the temperature was maintained at mesophilic conditions above room temperature (33 ± 2 oC. Based on the result, it was known that thermal pre-treatment given on the corn stover may enhance anaerobic digestion process for biogas production at the first 10 days. This condition reduced the time of lag phase during anaerobic digestion. The biogas production of corn stover given thermal pre-treatment was slow at 26 days where their average total production were 12,412.5 mL,12,310 mL at 15 and 25 minutes thermal pre-treatment, respectively while biogas production of non pre-treated corn stover was 12,557 mL. The highest daily biogas production was accomplished by corn stover that was given thermal pre-treatment at 25 minutes (915 mL. Corn stover given with 15 minutes thermal pre-treatment also generated higher daily biogas production at day 9 (772.5 mL compared with corn stover that was not pre-treated (405 mL. This research also revealed that corn stover given thermal pre-treatment reached higher biogas yield compared with non pre-treated corn stover where their biogas yield were 670.39, 690.65 mL/g volatile solids added at 15 and 25 minutes thermal pre- treatment respectively, and 456.37 mL/g volatile solids added of non pre-treated corn stover. Keywords: Thermal pre-treatment, corn stover, anaerobic digestion, biogas   ABSTRAK Thermal pre-treatment diberikan pada limbah tanaman jagung dengan tujuan untuk memecahkan kandungan lignin yang terdapat pada limbah tanaman jagung sehingga memudahkan

Stress, pre-term labour and birth outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

MacKey, M C; Williams, C A; Tiller, C M

2000-09-01

Stress, pre-term labour and birth outcomes Preliminary studies have suggested that stress may be associated with the onset, treatment and outcomes of pre-term labour; however, a systematic comparison of the stress of women with and without pre-term labour has not been reported. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to compare the stress (daily hassles and mood states) and birth outcomes of black and white women who experienced pre-term labour (PTL) during pregnancy with those who did not. The convenience sample consisted of 35 pregnant women hospitalized in 1996-1997 for the treatment of PTL (24-35 weeks gestation) and 35 controls matched on age, race, parity, gestational age and method of hospital payment. Women in the PTL group had significantly higher tension-anxiety and depression-dejection on the Profile of Mood States (POMS), lower mean birthweight and mean gestational age, and a higher percentage of babies born <37 weeks and weighing 2500 g or less. Black women in the PTL group and white women in the control group had significantly higher scores on the fatigue sub-scale of the POMS and the work and future security sub-scales of the Daily Hassles Scale. Women in the PTL group whose babies weighed 2500 g or less had significantly higher scores on the health, inner concern and financial responsibility sub-scales of the Daily Hassles Scale. The findings from this study indicate the need for further exploration of the interaction of race and stress in understanding and preventing PTL and low birthweight and the need to examine the role of social support in preventing pre-term birth after an episode of PTL.

THE INFLUENCE OF PRE-HEAT TREATMENT ON WHITE CAST IRONS PLASTICITY

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T. M. Myronova

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The development of heat treatment modes of white cast irons for structure changes in their eutectic constituent, namely in disturbing the monolithic structure of ledeburite colonies cementite structure and eutectic net continuity. Also the mentioned heat treatment modes are targeted to the eutectic net shift for the most suitable position from the point of plastic deforming. Methodology. The hypoeutectic white cast irons with 2.92…3.35 % carbon content and additionally alloyed by 3.18 % vanadium have been used as the research materials. The mentioned alloys have been pre-heat treated and hot twist tested. Findings. The research results showed that the carbide net breaking by plastic deforming leads to cast irons mechanical properties increasing but has difficulties in implementation due to the white cast irons low plasticity. The influence of different pre-heat treatment modes on structure and plasticity of white hypoeutectic cast irons have been investigated. They include the isotherm soaking under the different temperatures as well as multiply soakings and thermo-cycling. The influence of eutectic level, as well as pre heat treatment modes on different composition white cast irons hot plasticity have been investigated. Originality. It was determined that the heat treatment, which leads to double α→γ recrystallization under 860 – 950 °С and reperlitization under 720-680 °С results in significant increase of plasticity, as well as in un-alloyed and alloyed by vanadium white cast irons. It takes place due to carbide matrix phase separation in ledeburite colonies by new phase boundaries forming especially due to carbide transformations under vanadium alloying. Practical value. The implementation of pre-heat treatment with phase recrystallization resulted in hypoeutectic white cast irons plasticity increasing. The obtained level of cast iron plasticity corresponds to the one of carbide class steels, which ensures the successful

Evaluation of focused ultrasound algorithms: Issues for reducing pre-focal heating and treatment time.

Science.gov (United States)

Yiannakou, Marinos; Trimikliniotis, Michael; Yiallouras, Christos; Damianou, Christakis

2016-02-01

Due to the heating in the pre-focal field the delay between successive movements in high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) are sometimes as long as 60s, resulting to treatment time in the order of 2-3h. Because there is generally a requirement to reduce treatment time, we were motivated to explore alternative transducer motion algorithms in order to reduce pre-focal heating and treatment time. A 1 MHz single element transducer with 4 cm diameter and 10 cm focal length was used. A simulation model was developed that estimates the temperature, thermal dose and lesion development in the pre-focal field. The simulated temperature history that was combined with the motion algorithms produced thermal maps in the pre-focal region. Polyacrylimde gel phantom was used to evaluate the induced pre-focal heating for each motion algorithm used, and also was used to assess the accuracy of the simulation model. Three out of the six algorithms having successive steps close to each other, exhibited severe heating in the pre-focal field. Minimal heating was produced with the algorithms having successive steps apart from each other (square, square spiral and random). The last three algorithms were improved further (with small cost in time), thus eliminating completely the pre-focal heating and reducing substantially the treatment time as compared to traditional algorithms. Out of the six algorithms, 3 were successful in eliminating the pre-focal heating completely. Because these 3 algorithms required no delay between successive movements (except in the last part of the motion), the treatment time was reduced by 93%. Therefore, it will be possible in the future, to achieve treatment time of focused ultrasound therapies shorter than 30 min. The rate of ablated volume achieved with one of the proposed algorithms was 71 cm(3)/h. The intention of this pilot study was to demonstrate that the navigation algorithms play the most important role in reducing pre-focal heating. By evaluating in

Treatment Integrity in a Home-Based Pre-Reading Intervention Programme

Science.gov (United States)

van Otterloo, Sandra G.; van der Leij, Aryan; Veldkamp, Esther

2006-01-01

Treatment integrity is an underexposed issue in the phonological awareness intervention research. The current study assessed the integrity of treatment of the families (N = 32) participating in the experimental condition of a home-based pre-reading intervention study. The participating kindergartners were all genetically at risk for developing…

Response surface methodology for the optimization of sludge solubilization by ultrasonic pre-treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Mingyue; Zhang, Xiaohui; Lu, Peng; Cao, Qiguang; Yuan, Yuan; Yue, Mingxing; Fu, Yiwei; Wu, Libin

2018-02-01

The present study examines the optimization of the ultrasonic pre-treatment conditions with response surface experimental design in terms of sludge disintegration efficiency (solubilisation of organic components). Ultrasonic pre-treatment for the maximum solubilization with residual sludge enhanced the SCOD release. Optimization of the ultrasonic pre-treatment was conducted through a Box-Behnken design (three variables, a total of 17 experiments) to determine the effects of three independent variables (power, residence time and TS) on COD solubilization of sludge. The optimal COD was obtained at 17349.4mg/L, when the power was 534.67W, the time was 10.77, and TS was 2%, while the SE of this condition was 28792J/kg TS.

Microwave-Assisted Alkali Pre-Treatment, Densification and Enzymatic Saccharification of Canola Straw and Oat Hull.

Science.gov (United States)

Agu, Obiora S; Tabil, Lope G; Dumonceaux, Tim

2017-03-26

The effects of microwave-assisted alkali pre-treatment on pellets' characteristics and enzymatic saccharification for bioethanol production using lignocellulosic biomass of canola straw and oat hull were investigated. The ground canola straw and oat hull were immersed in distilled water, sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide solutions at two concentrations (0.75% and 1.5% w/v) and exposed to microwave radiation at power level 713 W and three residence times (6, 12 and 18 min). Bulk and particle densities of ground biomass samples were determined. Alkaline-microwave pre-treated and untreated samples were subjected to single pelleting test in an Instron universal machine, pre-set to a load of 4000 N. The measured parameters, pellet density, tensile strength and dimensional stability were evaluated and the results showed that the microwave-assisted alkali pre-treated pellets had a significantly higher density and tensile strength compared to samples that were untreated or pre-treated by microwave alone. The chemical composition analysis showed that microwave-assisted alkali pre-treatment was able to disrupt and break down the lignocellulosic structure of the samples, creating an area of cellulose accessible to cellulase reactivity. The best enzymatic saccharification results gave a high glucose yield of 110.05 mg/g dry sample for canola straw ground in a 1.6 mm screen hammer mill and pre-treated with 1.5% NaOH for 18 min, and a 99.10 mg/g dry sample for oat hull ground in a 1.6 mm screen hammer mill and pre-treated with 0.75% NaOH for 18 min microwave-assisted alkali pre-treatments. The effects of pre-treatment results were supported by SEM analysis. Overall, it was found that microwave-assisted alkali pre-treatment of canola straw and oat hull at a short residence time enhanced glucose yield.

Females, younger patients and patients with high BMI have the highest pre-operative knee awareness measured using the Forgotten Joint Score

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Dana; Troelsen, A; Ingelsrud, L

2018-01-01

PURPOSE: The Forgotten Joint Score (FJS) is a novel measurement for patients' awareness of their knee in daily life. By identifying factors that could explain pre-operative FJS levels, the clinician could better prioritize and single out patients who would benefit most from TKA. The aim of this s...

Pre-Service Physics Teachers’ Perception toward Hands-on Lab Activity and 21st Century Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Putri, D. H.; Risdianto, E.; Sutarno, S.

2017-09-01

This study aimed to describe the hands-on lab activities and 21st century skills of pre-service physics teachers at a university in Bengkulu. The respondents of this study were 113 students who have been finished and were following the laboratory course. The research instrument was questionnaire. The explored aspects of laboratory activities were motivation, the importance of laboratory activities, equipment, laboratory activities process, suitability of curriculum, assessment, laboratory design, and the 21st century skills training. The 21st century skills explored consist of learning and innovation skills, life and careers skills, and media, information and technology skills. The data obtained will be analyzed descriptively. Based on the results of data analysis was obtained that they have a good perception toward the aspect of motivation, the importance of hands-on lab activities, and laboratory activities process; and the perception was fair for other aspects. The lowest perception score was obtained in the aspects of the 21st century skills training. This result was in accordance with the 21st century skills of pre-service physics teachers which were still in moderate category. So it is necessary to develop a model of laboratory activities design that can training and enhancing the 21st century skills for pre-service physics teachers.

Radioprotection by caffeine pre-treatment and post-treatment in the bone marrow chromosomes of mice given whole-body γ-irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farooqi, Z.; Kesavan, P.C.

1992-01-01

The effect of caffeine given as pre- and post-treatment in mice exposed to whole-body γ-irradiation (1.5 Gy 60 Co γ-rays) was studied. The pre-treatment was either acute or chronic. The acute dose (5 mg/kg and 15 mg/kg body weight) was in the form of an injection given intraperitoneally, 30 min before irradiation. The chronic administration was in the form of caffeine solution (4.208x10 -3 M and 7.72x10 -4 M) contained in drinking water for 5 weeks prior to radiation exposure. The acute pre-treatment with caffeine reduced the radiation-induced frequency of chromosomal aberrations discernibly, whereas chronic pre-treatment afforded a much more significant degree of radioprotection. The caffeine post-treatment (5 mg/kg and 15 mg/kg body weight) was given in the form of an intraperitoneal injection to the mice immediately following whole-body γ-irradiation. It is noted that both post-treatment concentrations of caffeine also significantly reduced the frequency of chromosomal aberrations induced by γ-rays. These data are briefly discussed in terms of possible mechanistic considerations. (author). 33 refs.; 3 tabs

Radioprotection by caffeine pre-treatment and post-treatment in the bone marrow chromosomes of mice given whole-body [gamma]-irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farooqi, Z.; Kesavan, P.C. (Jawaharlal Nehru Univ., New Delhi (India). School of Life Sciences)

1992-10-01

The effect of caffeine given as pre- and post-treatment in mice exposed to whole-body [gamma]-irradiation (1.5 Gy [sup 60]Co [gamma]-rays) was studied. The pre-treatment was either acute or chronic. The acute dose (5 mg/kg and 15 mg/kg body weight) was in the form of an injection given intraperitoneally, 30 min before irradiation. The chronic administration was in the form of caffeine solution (4.208x10[sup -3] M and 7.72x10[sup -4] M) contained in drinking water for 5 weeks prior to radiation exposure. The acute pre-treatment with caffeine reduced the radiation-induced frequency of chromosomal aberrations discernibly, whereas chronic pre-treatment afforded a much more significant degree of radioprotection. The caffeine post-treatment (5 mg/kg and 15 mg/kg body weight) was given in the form of an intraperitoneal injection to the mice immediately following whole-body [gamma]-irradiation. It is noted that both post-treatment concentrations of caffeine also significantly reduced the frequency of chromosomal aberrations induced by [gamma]-rays. These data are briefly discussed in terms of possible mechanistic considerations. (author). 33 refs.; 3 tabs.

Psychological aspects of male fertility treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mikkelsen, Alice Toft; Madsen, Svend Aage; Humaidan, Peter

2013-09-01

To explore and to identify the possible need for psychological communicative support in men undergoing fertility treatment. Male infertility affects many aspects of a man's life and may cause a life crisis. Although infertility treatment is now commonplace in men, they often feel remote and disconnected from the treatment process. A descriptive survey. A questionnaire with structured and open-ended questions was completed by 210 Danish men undergoing fertility treatment. The questionnaire covered three issues: individual perception of male infertility, gender equality issues, and communication with health professionals in the clinic. Data were collected during 2008. Of the participants, 28% believed that their reduced sperm quality affected their perception of masculinity. 46% stated that equal involvement between partners was a very important element of the treatment; however, 63% said that the health professionals communicated primarily with their female partner. Finally, 62% found that there was a need for a deeper dialogue with the nurses concerning male infertility and 72% lacked information about the psychological consequences of male infertility. In general, participants wanted a more open and balanced dialogue about infertility treatment and the role of the male partner during this process. Infertile men want health professionals to view them on equal terms with their partner. When treating the infertile man, there is a further need to develop more inclusive communication skills. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Previously unclassified bacteria dominate during thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic pre-treatment of primary sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Pervin, Hasina M; Batstone, Damien J; Bond, Philip L

2013-06-01

Thermophilic biological pre-treatment enables enhanced anaerobic digestion for treatment of wastewater sludges but, at present, there is limited understanding of the hydrolytic-acidogenic microbial composition and its contribution to this process. In this study, the process was assessed by comparing the microbiology of thermophilic (50-65 °C) and mesophilic (35 °C) pre-treatment reactors treating primary sludge. A full-cycle approach for the 16S rRNA genes was applied in order to monitor the diversity of bacteria and their abundance in a thermophilic pre-treatment reactor treating primary sludge. For the thermophilic pre-treatment (TP), over 90% of the sequences were previously undetected and these had less than 97% sequence similarity to cultured organisms. During the first 83 days, members of the Betaproteobacteria dominated the community sequences and a newly designed probe was used to monitor a previously unknown bacterium affiliated with the genus Brachymonas. Between days 85 and 183, three phylotypes that affiliated with the genera Comamonas, Clostridium and Lysobacter were persistently dominant in the TP community, as revealed by terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). Hydrolytic and fermentative functions have been speculated for these bacteria. Mesophilic pre-treatment (MP) and TP communities were different but they were both relatively dynamic. Statistical correlation analysis and the function of closely allied reference organisms indicated that previously unclassified bacteria dominated the TP community and may have been functionally involved in the enhanced hydrolytic performance of thermophilic anaerobic pre-treatment. This study is the first to reveal the diversity and dynamics of bacteria during anaerobic digestion of primary sludge. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Brief aikido training versus karate and golf training and university students' scores on self-esteem, anxiety, and expression of anger.

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, Y A

1997-04-01

The purpose of this research was to investigate if aikido training for 10 weeks for 69 beginning students is effective in improving selected aspects of personality. The hypothesis was that subjects' scores would significantly increase on self-esteem but decrease on anxiety and anger expression. Change in means from pre- to posttest did not support the hypothesis.

The effect of dilute acid pre-treatment process in bioethanol production from durian (Durio zibethinus) seeds waste

Science.gov (United States)

Ghazali, K. A.; Salleh, S. F.; Riayatsyah, T. M. I.; Aditiya, H. B.; Mahlia, T. M. I.

2016-03-01

Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the promising feedstocks for bioethanol production. The process starts from pre-treatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, distillation and finally obtaining the final product, ethanol. The efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass depends heavily on the effectiveness of the pre-treatment step which main function is to break the lignin structure of the biomass. This work aims to investigate the effects of dilute acid pre-treatment on the enzymatic hydrolysis of durian seeds waste to glucose and the subsequent bioethanol fermentation process. The yield of glucose from dilute acid pre-treated sample using 0.6% H2SO4 and 5% substrate concentration shows significant value of 23.4951 g/L. Combination of dilute acid pre-treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis using 150U of enzyme able to yield 50.0944 g/L of glucose content higher compared to normal pre-treated sample of 8.1093 g/L. Dilute acid pre-treatment sample also shows stable and efficient yeast activity during fermentation process with lowest glucose content at 2.9636 g/L compared to 14.7583g/L for normal pre-treated sample. Based on the result, it can be concluded that dilute acid pre-treatment increase the yield of ethanol from bioethanol production process.

Palonosetron and hydroxyzine pre-treatment reduces the objective signs of experimentally-induced acute opioid withdrawal in humans: a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study.

Science.gov (United States)

Erlendson, Matthew J; D'Arcy, Nicole; Encisco, Ellen M; Yu, Jeffrey J; Rincon-Cruz, Lorena; Peltz, Gary; Clark, J David; Chu, Larry F

2017-01-01

Treatments for reducing opioid withdrawal are limited and prone to problematic side effects. Laboratory studies, clinical observations, and limited human trial data suggest 5-HT3-receptor antagonists and antihistamines may be effective. This double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study employing an acute physical dependence model evaluated whether (i) treatment with a 5-HT3-receptor antagonist (palonosetron) would reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms, and (ii) co-administration of an antihistamine (hydroxyzine) would enhance any treatment effect. At timepoint T = 0, healthy (non-opioid dependent, non-substance abuser) male volunteers (N = 10) were pre-treated with either a) placebo, b) palonosetron IV (0.75 mg), or c) palonosetron IV (0.75 mg) and hydroxyzine PO (100 mg) in a crossover study design. This was followed at T = 30 by intravenous morphine (10 mg/70kg). At T = 165, 10 mg/70kg naloxone IV was given to precipitate opioid withdrawal. The objective opioid withdrawal score (OOWS) and subjective opioid withdrawal score (SOWS) were determined 5 and 15 minutes after naloxone administration (T = 170, 180, respectively). Baseline measurements were recorded at T = -30 and T = -15. Comparison of average baseline OOWS scores with OOWS scores obtained 15 minutes after naloxone was significant (p = 0.0001). Scores from 15 minutes post-naloxone infusion showed significant differences in OOWS scores between treatment groups: placebo, 3.7 ± 2.4; palonosetron, 1.5 ± 0.97; and palonosetron with hydroxyzine, 0.2 ± 0.1333. Pretreatment with palonosetron significantly reduced many signs of experimentally-induced opioid withdrawal. Co-administration with hydroxyzine further reduced opioid withdrawal severity. These results suggest that 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, alone or in combination with an antihistamine, may be useful in the treatment of opioid withdrawal.

Is Inconsistent Pre-treatment Bedtime Related to CPAP Non-Adherence?

Science.gov (United States)

Sawyer, Amy M.; King, Tonya S.; Sawyer, Douglas A.; Rizzo, Albert

2014-01-01

Lack of adherence to continuous positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP) limits the effectiveness of treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We hypothesized that an irregular bedtime would be negatively related to regular use of CPAP treatment. If so, modifying bedtime schedule may address the persistent problem of inconsistent CPAP use in adults with OSA. In a prospective longitudinal study, we examined whether inconsistent self-reported bedtime before initiation of CPAP treatment, operationalized as bedtime variability, was (1) different among those adherent (≥ 4 hours per night) and non-adherent to CPAP treatment at one week and one month; and/or (2) was related to one-week and one-month CPAP use when other variables were accounted for. Consecutively-recruited newly-diagnosed OSA adults (N=79) completed sleep diaries prior to CPAP treatment. One-week and one-month objective CPAP use data were collected. Pre-treatment bedtime variability was different among CPAP non-adherers and adherers at one month and was a significant predictor of non-adherence at one month in multivariate analyses. The odds of one-month CPAP non-adherence were 3.5 times greater in those whose pre-treatment bedtimes varied by >75 minutes. Addressing sleep schedule prior to CPAP initiation may be an opportunity to improve CPAP adherence. PMID:25353159

Propensity scores as a basis for equating groups: basic principles and application in clinical treatment outcome research.

Science.gov (United States)

West, Stephen G; Cham, Heining; Thoemmes, Felix; Renneberg, Babette; Schulze, Julian; Weiler, Matthias

2014-10-01

A propensity score is the probability that a participant is assigned to the treatment group based on a set of baseline covariates. Propensity scores provide an excellent basis for equating treatment groups on a large set of covariates when randomization is not possible. This article provides a nontechnical introduction to propensity scores for clinical researchers. If all important covariates are measured, then methods that equate on propensity scores can achieve balance on a large set of covariates that mimics that achieved by a randomized experiment. We present an illustration of the steps in the construction and checking of propensity scores in a study of the effectiveness of a health coach versus treatment as usual on the well-being of seriously ill individuals. We then consider alternative methods of equating groups on propensity scores and estimating treatment effects including matching, stratification, weighting, and analysis of covariance. We illustrate a sensitivity analysis that can probe for the potential effects of omitted covariates on the estimate of the causal effect. Finally, we briefly consider several practical and theoretical issues in the use of propensity scores in applied settings. Propensity score methods have advantages over alternative approaches to equating groups particularly when the treatment and control groups do not fully overlap, and there are nonlinear relationships between covariates and the outcome. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Algorithm for the automatic computation of the modified Anderson-Wilkins acuteness score of ischemia from the pre-hospital ECG in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fakhri, Yama; Sejersten-Ripa, Maria; Schoos, Mikkel Malby

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: The acuteness score (based on the modified Anderson-Wilkins score) estimates the acuteness of ischemia based on ST-segment, Q-wave and T-wave measurements obtained from the electrocardiogram (ECG) in patients with ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI). The score (range 1 (least...... the acuteness score. METHODS: We scored 50 pre-hospital ECGs from STEMI patients, manually and by the automated algorithm. We assessed the reliability test between the manual and automated algorithm by interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plot. RESULTS: The ICC was 0.84 (95% CI 0.......72-0.91), PECGs, all within the upper (1.46) and lower (-1.12) limits...

lop-DWI: A Novel Scheme for Pre-Processing of Diffusion-Weighted Images in the Gradient Direction Domain.

Science.gov (United States)

Sepehrband, Farshid; Choupan, Jeiran; Caruyer, Emmanuel; Kurniawan, Nyoman D; Gal, Yaniv; Tieng, Quang M; McMahon, Katie L; Vegh, Viktor; Reutens, David C; Yang, Zhengyi

2014-01-01

We describe and evaluate a pre-processing method based on a periodic spiral sampling of diffusion-gradient directions for high angular resolution diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. Our pre-processing method incorporates prior knowledge about the acquired diffusion-weighted signal, facilitating noise reduction. Periodic spiral sampling of gradient direction encodings results in an acquired signal in each voxel that is pseudo-periodic with characteristics that allow separation of low-frequency signal from high frequency noise. Consequently, it enhances local reconstruction of the orientation distribution function used to define fiber tracks in the brain. Denoising with periodic spiral sampling was tested using synthetic data and in vivo human brain images. The level of improvement in signal-to-noise ratio and in the accuracy of local reconstruction of fiber tracks was significantly improved using our method.

Fibrillation of Aspen by Alkaline Cold Pre-treatment and Vibration Milling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kärt KÄRNER

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In this article an attempt to fibrillate aspen bleached chemi-thermo mechanical pulp (BCTMP fibre in an environmentally friendly way is reported. The effects of various NaOH, KOH, urea and ethanol aqueous solutions at lowered temperature were tested for pre-treatment. The pre-treatment was followed by vibration milling aiming to peel off outer cell wall layers and to fibrillate S2 layer of the aspen wood fibre. The effects of the treatments were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM. The results show that it is possible to fibrillate BCTMP aspen fibres by using alkaline aqueous solutions at low temperatures followed by a mechanical treatment. A strong dependence on fibrillation of cellulose on temperature, time and alkali concentration was established.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.3.7412

Legal aspects of auxillary reproductive technologies in infertility treatment

OpenAIRE

V.Yu. Albitskiy; N.D. Odinayeva; V.O. Mansimova

2011-01-01

The article presents several aspects of legal regulation of auxillary reproductive technologies in treatment of infertility in Russia and other countries.Key words: auxillary reproductive technologies, method of extracorporeal fertilization, newborn, premature newborn, multiple pregnancy, embryo, infertility, law.

Prognostic factors in Chinese patients with prostate cancer receiving primary androgen deprivation therapy: validation of Japan Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (J-CAPRA) score and impacts of pre-existing obesity and diabetes mellitus.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Meng-Bo; Yang, Tian; Hu, Ji-Meng; Zhu, Wen-Hui; Jiang, Hao-Wen; Ding, Qiang

2018-06-01

Our aim was to determine the prognostic factors in Chinese patients with prostate cancer receiving primary androgen deprivation therapy (PADT), validate the Japan Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (J-CAPRA) score, and investigate the impacts of pre-existing obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM). The study enrolled Chinese patients diagnosed with prostatic adenocarcinoma and treated with bilateral orchiectomy as PADT at Huashan Hospital, Fudan University (Shanghai, China), from January 2003 to December 2015. The overall survival (OS) and prognostic value of J-CAPRA score, pre-existing obesity, DM, and various clinicopathological variables were analyzed. Of the 435 patients enrolled, 174 (40.0%) deaths occurred during follow-up; 3- and 5-year OS were 74.0 and 58.9%, respectively. Multivariate analysis identified that higher Gleason score and metastasis were both correlated with worse OS and that higher J-CAPRA score was correlated with worse OS [hazard ratio (HR) 1.110, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.035-1.190, P = 0.003). Different risk categories based on J-CAPRA score showed good stratification in OS (log-rank P = 0.015). In subgroup analysis, pre-existing obesity as a protective factor in younger patients (age ≤ 65, HR 0.271, 95% CI 0.075-0.980, P = 0.046) and pre-existing DM as a risk factor in older patients (> 75, HR 1.854, 95% CI 1.026-3.351, P = 0.041) for OS were recognized, and the prediction accuracy of J-CAPRA was elevated after incorporating pre-existing obesity and DM. The J-CAPRA score presented with good OS differentiation among Chinese patients under PADT. Younger patients (age ≤ 65) had better OS with pre-existing obesity, while older patients (age > 75) had worse OS with pre-existing DM.

Influence of pre-treatments on the desorption isotherm ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Influence of pre-treatments on the desorption isotherm characteristics of plaintain. P-N T Johnson. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/gjs.v39i1.15851 · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for ...

PET/CT及DWI-MRI早期评估兔VX2肉瘤射频消融效果%FDG-PET/CT and diffusion-weighted MRI evaluation of the early therapeutic effect of radiofrequency ablation for VX2 sarcomas in rabbits

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

石华铮; 刘士远; 朱海云; 杨春山; 高欣; 平照福; 寿毅; 华威; 吴翔

2015-01-01

目的：探讨弥散加权(DWI)-MRI和18F-FDG-PET/CT评估兔VX2肉瘤射频消融(RFA)治疗早期效果的价值。方法14只新西兰白兔双侧后肢接种VX2肉瘤建模,一侧后肢VX2肉瘤接受超声引导下RFA治疗(RFA组),对侧后肢不进行射频治疗(对照组)。 RFA治疗后2 d行DWI-MRI检查,治疗后3 d行PET/CT检查。分别计算肿瘤病灶和消融灶表观弥散系数(ADC)值和标准摄取值(SUV)值。根据外科切除病灶组织病理学检查结果金标准,分别对DWI-MRI、PET/CT及两者联合等3种方法评估RFA瘤灶行临床诊断一致性Kappa检验。结果 VX2肉瘤RFA前,DWI-MRI显示T1低信号,T2高信号,T1加权像环状强化,PET/CT显示18F-FDG呈结节状或环状聚集；消融后DWI-MRI显示T1高信号, T2轻度高密度,T1加权像轻度强化,PET/CT显示18F-FDG浓聚程度减低。消融瘤灶ADC值为(1．52±0．24)×10－3 mm2/s,明显高于未消融瘤灶(1．09±0．12)×10－3 mm2/s(P0．05),DWI-MRI联合PET/CT评估结果与组织病理学诊断结果的一致性Kappa值为0．786,与前两者均有显著性差别(P0.05). The Kappa value of the consistency between combination of DWI-MRI with PET/CT and pathology was 0.786, which was significantly different from the result by simple DWI-MRI or simple PET/CT evaluation (P< 0.05). Conclusion Both ADC value of DWI-MRI and SUV value of PET/CT are useful indexes for evaluating the early therapeutic effect of RFA. Both DWI-MRI and PET/CT have their respective advantages, nevertheless, combination use of both can effectively improve the evaluation of curative effect for VX2 tumor after RFA in experimental rabbits.

Pre-hospital Management of the Fractured Femur Using the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Two aspects of the early management of the fractured femur are discussed: firstly the immediate treatment in the pre-hospital phase and secondly the transportation of this injury case over a long distance where necessary. In both instances there is considerable room for improvement, and this is discussed, particularly with ...

A Conversation on Data Mining Strategies in LC-MS Untargeted Metabolomics: Pre-Processing and Pre-Treatment Steps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fidele Tugizimana

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Untargeted metabolomic studies generate information-rich, high-dimensional, and complex datasets that remain challenging to handle and fully exploit. Despite the remarkable progress in the development of tools and algorithms, the “exhaustive” extraction of information from these metabolomic datasets is still a non-trivial undertaking. A conversation on data mining strategies for a maximal information extraction from metabolomic data is needed. Using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS-based untargeted metabolomic dataset, this study explored the influence of collection parameters in the data pre-processing step, scaling and data transformation on the statistical models generated, and feature selection, thereafter. Data obtained in positive mode generated from a LC-MS-based untargeted metabolomic study (sorghum plants responding dynamically to infection by a fungal pathogen were used. Raw data were pre-processed with MarkerLynxTM software (Waters Corporation, Manchester, UK. Here, two parameters were varied: the intensity threshold (50–100 counts and the mass tolerance (0.005–0.01 Da. After the pre-processing, the datasets were imported into SIMCA (Umetrics, Umea, Sweden for more data cleaning and statistical modeling. In addition, different scaling (unit variance, Pareto, etc. and data transformation (log and power methods were explored. The results showed that the pre-processing parameters (or algorithms influence the output dataset with regard to the number of defined features. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the pre-treatment of data prior to statistical modeling affects the subspace approximation outcome: e.g., the amount of variation in X-data that the model can explain and predict. The pre-processing and pre-treatment steps subsequently influence the number of statistically significant extracted/selected features (variables. Thus, as informed by the results, to maximize the value of untargeted metabolomic data

Legal aspects of auxillary reproductive technologies in infertility treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.Yu. Albitskiy

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents several aspects of legal regulation of auxillary reproductive technologies in treatment of infertility in Russia and other countries.Key words: auxillary reproductive technologies, method of extracorporeal fertilization, newborn, premature newborn, multiple pregnancy, embryo, infertility, law.

Depression and state anxiety scores during assisted reproductive treatment are associated with outcome: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Purewal, Satvinder; Chapman, Sarah C E; van den Akker, Olga B A

2018-06-01

This meta-analysis investigated whether state anxiety and depression scores during assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment and changes in state anxiety and depression scores between baseline and during ART treatment are associated with treatment outcome. PubMed, PsycInfo, Embase, ScienceDirect, Web of Science and Scopus were searched and meta-analytic data analysed using random effects models to estimate standardized mean differences. Eleven studies (2202 patients) were included. Women who achieved pregnancy had significantly lower depression scores during treatment than women who did not become pregnant (-0.302; 95% CI: -0.551 to -0.054, z = -2.387, P = 0.017; I 2 = 77.142%, P = 0.001). State anxiety scores were also lower in women who became pregnant (-0.335; 95% CI: -0.582 to -0.087, z = -2.649, P = 0.008; I 2 = 81.339%, P = 0.001). However, changes in state anxiety (d = -0.056; 95% CI: -0.195 to 0.082, z = -0.794; I 2 = 0.00%) and depression scores (d = -0.106; 95% CI: -0.296 to 0.085, z = -1.088; I 2 = 0.00%) from baseline to treatment were not associated with ART outcome. Clinics should aim to promote better psychosocial care to help patients manage the psychological and physical demands of ART treatment, giving realistic expectations. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Storage and pre-neutron-activation-analysis treatment for trace-element analysis in urine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blotcky, A.J.; Rack, E.P.

1985-01-01

The problems regarding storage and pre-neutron-activation-analysis treatment for the elements aluminum, calcium, vanadium, selenium, copper, iodine, zinc, manganese, and magnesium in a urine matrix are reviewed. The type of collection and storage procedure and pre-neutron activation analysis treatment of urine depend on the specific trace element; that is, its inherent physical and chemical properties. Specifically polyethylene in teflon containers are the most suitable for general determinations. Whether any preservative is added would depend upon the stability of the trace element and its tendency for surface adsorption. Preferably, preservatives should contain no radioactivatable elements for maximum efficacy. Freeze drying or packing urine shipments under dry ice needs to be explored on an individual basis. Each pre- or post-neutron activation analysis treatment is specific and optimized for the trace element analyzed

Effects of chemical-physical pre-treatment processes on hemp fibres for reinforcement of composites and textiles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Anne Belinda; Thygesen, Anders; Bohn, Vibeke

2006-01-01

Retted hemp fibres were treated using chemical-physical pre-treatments and the material was characterised chemically in order to evaluate the effect of the pre-treatments, respectively, wet oxidation (WO), hydrothermal treatment (HT) and steam explosion (STEX). Process variables were addition...

Pre-treatment with a sinus node blockade, ivabradine, before coronary CT angiography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lambrechtsen, J; Egstrup, K

2013-01-01

To evaluate whether a simple pre-treatment regimen of sinus node inhibition by ivabradine taken at home for only 1 day resulted in a lower pre-scanning heart rate (HR) and reduced the need for intravenous beta-blockers (BB) prior to coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA)....

Atypical and Typical Winter Depressive Symptoms and Responsiveness to Light Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, or Combination Treatment

Science.gov (United States)

2005-01-01

064 -.053 Anxiety Somatic (H13) .248 .148 .246 .370 Hypochondriasis (H14) .179 .432 -.016 .156 Retardation (H16) .157...TREATMENT BDI-II SCORE, POST-TREATMENT SOMATIC SUBSCALE SCORE, AND POST-TREATMENT COGNITIVE-AFFECTIVE SUBSCALE SCORE ……………………………76...Post-Treatment, Percent BDI-II Improvement From Pre- to Post-Treatment, Post-Treatment BDI-II Score, Post-Treatment Somatic

Medico-legal aspects of altered sensation following endodontic treatment: a retrospective case series

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Givol, Navot; Rosen, Eyal; Bjørndal, Lars

2011-01-01

The objective of this study was to analyze cases of liability claims related to persistent altered sensation following endodontic treatments so as to characterize the medico-legal aspects of this complication.......The objective of this study was to analyze cases of liability claims related to persistent altered sensation following endodontic treatments so as to characterize the medico-legal aspects of this complication....

Waste washing pre-treatment of municipal and special waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Cossu, Raffaello; Lai, Tiziana; Pivnenko, Kostyantyn

2012-03-15

Long-term pollution potential in landfills is mainly related to the quality of leachate. Waste can be conveniently treated prior to landfilling with an aim to minimizing future emissions. Washing of waste represents a feasible pre-treatment method focused on controlling the leachable fraction of residues and relevant impact. In this study, non-recyclable plastics originating from source segregation, mechanical-biological treated municipal solid waste (MSW), bottom ash from MSW incineration and automotive shredder residues (ASR) were treated and the removal efficiency of washing pre-treatment prior to landfilling was evaluated. Column tests were performed to simulate the behaviour of waste in landfill under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The findings obtained revealed how waste washing treatment (WWT) allowed the leachability of contaminants from waste to be reduced. Removal rates exceeding 65% were obtained for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN). A percentage decrease of approximately 60% was reached for the leachable fraction of chlorides, sulphates, fluoride and metals, as proved by a reduction in electric conductivity values (70%). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of ultrasonication and Fenton oxidation pre-treatment on rheological characteristics of wastewater sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, T T H; Brar, S K; Tyagi, R D; Surampalli, R Y

2010-01-01

The effect of ultrasonication and Fenton oxidation as physico-chemical pre-treatment processes on the change of rheology of wastewater sludge was investigated in this study. Pre-treated and raw sludges displayed non-Newtonian rheological behaviour with shear thinning as well as thixotropic properties for total solids ranging from 10 g/L to 40 g/L. The rheological models, namely, Bingham plastic, Casson law, NCA/CMA Casson, IPC Paste, and power law were also studied to characterize flow of raw and pre-treated sludges. Among all rheological models, the power law was more prominent in describing the rheology of the sludges. Pre-treatment processes resulted in a decrease in pseudoplasticity of sludge due to the decrease in consistency index K varying from 42.4 to 1188, 25.6 to 620.4 and 52.5 to 317.9; and increase in flow behaviour index n changing from 0.5 to 0.35, 0.62 to 0.55 and 0.63 to 0.58, for RS, UlS and FS, respectively at solids concentration 10-40 g/L. The correlation between improvement of biodegradability and dewaterability, decrease in viscosity, and change in particle size as a function of sludge pre-treatment process was also investigated. Fenton oxidation facilitated sludge filterability resulting in capillary suction time values which were approximately 50% of the raw sludges, whereas ultrasonication with high input energy deteriorated the filterability. Biodegradability was also enhanced by the pre-treatment processes and the maximum value was obtained (64%, 77% and 73% for raw, ultrasonicated and Fenton oxidized sludges, respectively) at total solids concentration of 25 g/L. Hence, pre-treatment of wastewater sludge modified the rheological properties so that: (1) the flowability of sludge was improved for transport through the treatment train (via pipes and pumps); (2) the dewaterability of wastewater sludge was enhanced for eventual disposal and; (3) the assimilation of nutrients by microorganisms for further value-addition was increased.

Effects of glycyrrhizin pre-treatment on transient ischemic brain ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effects of glycyrrhizin pre-treatment on transient ischemic brain injury in mice. ... on transient ischemic brain injury in mice. Chiyeon Lim, Sehyun Lim, Young-Jun Lee, Bokcheul Kong, Byoungho Lee, Chang-Hyun Kim, Buyeo Kim, Suin Cho ... induced brain damage. Keywords: Glycyrrhizin, licorice, stroke, apoptosis ...

Ultrasound pre-treatment for anaerobic digestion improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez-Elvira, S; Fdz-Polanco, M; Plaza, F I; Garralón, G; Fdz-Polanco, F

2009-01-01

Prior research indicates that ultrasounds can be used in batch reactors as pre-treatment before anaerobic digestion, but the specific energy required at laboratory-scale is too high. This work evaluates both the continuous ultrasound device performance (efficiency and solubilisation) and the operation of anaerobic digesters continuously fed with sonicated sludge, and presents energy balance considerations. The results of sludge solubilisation after the sonication treatment indicate that, applying identical specific energy, it is better to increase the power than the residence time. Working with secondary sludge, batch biodegradability tests show that by applying 30 kWh/m3 of sludge, it is possible to increase biogas production by 42%. Data from continuous pilot-scale anaerobic reactors (V=100 L) indicate that operating with a conventional HRT=20 d, a reactor fed with pre-treated sludge increases the volatile solids removal and the biogas production by 25 and 37% respectively. Operating with HRT=15 d, the removal efficiency is similar to the obtained with a reactor fed with non-hydrolysed sludge at HTR=20 d, although the specific biogas productivity per volume of reactor is higher for the pretreated sludge. Regarding the energy balance, although for laboratory-scale devices it is negative, full-scale suppliers state a net generation of 3-10 kW per kW of energy used.

Hydrolysis of Miscanthus for bioethanol production using dilute acid presoaking combined with wet explosion pre-treatment and enzymatic treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Annette; Teller, Philip Johan; Hilstrøm, Troels

2008-01-01

xylose prior to wet explosion. The acid presoaking extracted 63.2% xylose and 5.2% glucose. Direct enzymatic hydrolysis of the presoaked biomass was found to give only low sugar yields of 24-26% glucose. Wet explosion is a pre-treatment method that combines wet-oxidation and steam explosion. The effect...... of wet explosion on non-presoaked and presoaked Miscanthus was investigated using both atmospheric air and hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizing agent. All wet explosion pre-treatments showed to have a disrupting effect on the lignocellulosic biomass, making the sugars accessible for enzymatic hydrolysis......Miscanthus is a high yielding bioenergy crop. In this study we used acid presoaking, wet explosion, and enzymatic hydrolysis to evaluate the combination of the different pre-treatment methods for bioethanol production with Miscanthus. Acid presoaking is primarily carried out in order to remove...

The diagnostic value of SE MRI and DWI of the spine in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, smouldering myeloma and multiple myeloma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dutoit, Julie C.; Vanderkerken, Matthias A.; Dochy, Frederick; Verstraete, Koenraad L. [Ghent University Hospital, Department of Radiology, Ghent (Belgium); Anthonissen, Joris [Ghent University, Ghent (Belgium)

2014-11-15

To evaluate DWI of the bone marrow in the differentiation of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), smouldering myeloma (SMM) and multiple myeloma (MM). The retrospective study includes 64 patients with MGUS, 27 with SMM, 64 with new MM and 12 controls. Signal intensity (SI) of spinal SE-MRI and DWI (b0-1000) as well as apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were measured in the T10 and L3. Qualitative assessment of b-images was performed by one experienced radiologist. ADC600 and ADC1000 are the best ADC values in differentiating patient groups (p < 0.030). SIT2, SIb1000 and ADC1000 are higher and SIT1 lower in L3 compared to T10 (p < 0.050). All quantitative parameters of L3 can differentiate significantly between MGUS and MM (p < 0.050) and between patients with percentage plasma cells (PC%) between 0-10 % compared to >50 % (p = 0.001). Only SIT2 for L3 can differentiate MGUS from SMM (p = 0.044) and PC%0-10 from PC%10-25 (p = 0.033). Qualitative interpretation of b1000 images allows differentiating MM patients from those with MGUS or SMM (p < 0.001). Spinal SE-MRI can differentiate among MGUS, SMM, MM and control subjects. DWI based on the SI on b1000 images and ADC values is increased in MM compared to MGUS and SMM. Qualitative assessment of b-images can differentiate MM from MGUS or SMM. (orig.)

Pediatric dentistry clinical education venues evaluation by pre and post-doctoral students.

Science.gov (United States)

Bimstein, E; Mayes, A; Mittal, Hc

2014-01-01

To evaluate dental students' perspectives about pre- and post-doctoral pediatric dentistry education venues. Surveys with visual analog scales (from 0 to 100) measuring the educational contribution of pediatric dentistry venues were conducted. The pre-doctoral venues included a 3rd year university twilight clinic (UTC), a 3rd year urban community based clinic (CBC) and 4th year mobile clinics (MCs). The post-doctoral venues included treatment of children under general anesthesia, oral sedations, a regular clinic (no sedations), seminars, journal club, case conferences and studding for the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. Analyses of variance between the scores indicated that the 3rd year CBC score (68.2 ± 4.5) was statistically significant higher (p= .007) than the one for the 3rd year UTC score (44.9 ± 6.1). The 4th year students' MCs score (61.4 ± 4.0) was statistically significant higher than their retrospective scores for the 3rd year CBC (56.4 ± 4.4) or UTC (42.2 ± 4.9) scores (p= .03 and .004 respectively). Among the didactic or clinical post-doctoral venues, the regular clinic and the seminars received the highest scores (84.3 ± 1.7 and 71.6 ± 2.8 respectively). pre-doctoral community-based clinical education and post-doctoral regular university based clinic are considered by students to provide the main contribution to pediatric dental education.

MRI and Diffusion-weighted MRI Volumetry for Identification of Complete Tumor Responders After Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy in Patients With Rectal Cancer: A Bi-institutional Validation Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambregts, Doenja M J; Rao, Sheng-Xiang; Sassen, Sander; Martens, Milou H; Heijnen, Luc A; Buijsen, Jeroen; Sosef, Meindert; Beets, Geerard L; Vliegen, Roy A; Beets-Tan, Regina G H

2015-12-01

Retrospective single-center studies have shown that diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) is promising for identification of patients with rectal cancer with a complete tumor response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT), using certain volumetric thresholds. This study aims to validate the diagnostic value of these volume thresholds in a larger, independent, and bi-institutional patient cohort. A total of 112 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (2 centers) treated with a long course of CRT were enrolled. Patients underwent standard T2W-magnetic resonance imaging and DWI, both pre- and post-CRT. Two experienced readers independently determined pre-CRT and post-CRT tumor volumes (cm) on T2W-magnetic resonance image and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance image by means of freehand tumor delineation. Tumor volume reduction rates (Δvolume) were calculated. Previously determined T2W and DWI threshold values for prevolume, postvolume, and Δvolume were tested to "prospectively" assess their respective diagnostic value in discriminating patients with a complete tumor response from patients with residual tumor. Twenty patients had a complete response. Using the average measurements between the 2 readers, areas under the curve for the pre-/post-/Δvolumes was 0.73/0.82/0.78 for T2W-magnetic resonance imaging and 0.77/0.92/0.86 for DWI, respectively. For T2W-volumetry, sensitivity and specificity using the predefined volume thresholds were 55% and 74% for pre-, 60% and 89% for post-, and 60% and 86% for Δvolume. For DWI volumetry, sensitivity and specificity were 65% and 76% for pre-, 70% and 98% for post-, and 70% and 93% for Δvolume. Previously established DWI volume thresholds can be reproduced with good results. Post-CRT DWI volumetry offers the best results for the detection of patients with a complete response after CRT with an area under the curve of 0.92, sensitivity of 70%, and specificity of 98%.

Wilms' tumour: a comparison of surgical aspects in patients with or without pre-operative chemotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Safdar, C.A.; Aslam, M.; Awan, S.H.; Ahmed, I.; Badshah, S.

2006-01-01

To compare the technical aspects of Wilms' tumour (WT) surgery in patients with and without pre-operative chemotherapy. Patients of WT, presenting between January 1999 and December 2001, were treated, using the NWTSG protocol, with primary surgery (group I). Between January 2001 and December 2004, WT patients were treated according to SIOP protocol, with pre-operative chemotherapy followed by surgery (group II). Volume reduction with chemotherapy, duration of surgery, rupture of tumour, extent of excision, adherence and damage to surrounding structures, blood loss, complications, stay in hospital and event-free survival (EFS) were compared in the two groups. Out of 22 patients in group I, 19 (86.4%) underwent primary surgery. Of the 23 patients in group II, 21 (91.3%) received pre-operative chemotherapy followed by surgery. Average volume reduction in this group was 54% with chemotherapy. Difference in duration of surgery and blood loss was significantly low in group II (p=0.003 and p<0.001, respectively). In group I, rupture (6 vs 2), adherence (14 vs 10) and damage to surrounding structures (5 vs 2) were more. Complete macroscopic excision was possible in 90.5% of WT in group II as compared to 73.7% in group I. Immediate postoperative complications and length of hospital stay were similar in both groups. There was no difference in EFS. (author)

Translation and validation of the new version of the Knee Society Score - The 2011 KS Score - into Brazilian Portuguese.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Adriana Lucia Pastore E; Croci, Alberto Tesconi; Gobbi, Riccardo Gomes; Hinckel, Betina Bremer; Pecora, José Ricardo; Demange, Marco Kawamura

2017-01-01

Translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the new version of the Knee Society Score - The 2011 KS Score - into Brazilian Portuguese and verification of its measurement properties, reproducibility, and validity. In 2012, the new version of the Knee Society Score was developed and validated. This scale comprises four separate subscales: (a) objective knee score (seven items: 100 points); (b) patient satisfaction score (five items: 40 points); (c) patient expectations score (three items: 15 points); and (d) functional activity score (19 items: 100 points). A total of 90 patients aged 55-85 years were evaluated in a clinical cross-sectional study. The pre-operative translated version was applied to patients with TKA referral, and the post-operative translated version was applied to patients who underwent TKA. Each patient answered the same questionnaire twice and was evaluated by two experts in orthopedic knee surgery. Evaluations were performed pre-operatively and three, six, or 12 months post-operatively. The reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the two applications. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. The ICC found no difference between the means of the pre-operative, three-month, and six-month post-operative evaluations between sub-scale items. The Brazilian Portuguese version of The 2011 KS Score is a valid and reliable instrument for objective and subjective evaluation of the functionality of Brazilian patients who undergo TKA and revision TKA.

Pre-treatment of Biomass By Rolling - A Combined Experimental and Numerical Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Klaus Schütt; Ravn, Christian; Nielsen, Emil Krabbe

2017-01-01

Pre-treatment of bulk straw material by rolling is studied as a possible method to prepare for subsequent biogas production. A combined experimental and theoretical study is presented. A pilot rolling mill with a double screw feeder is designed and constructed for crushing of bulk straw. Experime...... process window for pre-treatment of wheat straw by roll pressing varying the feed, the roll gap, the roll speed and the moisture content of the bulk straw.......Pre-treatment of bulk straw material by rolling is studied as a possible method to prepare for subsequent biogas production. A combined experimental and theoretical study is presented. A pilot rolling mill with a double screw feeder is designed and constructed for crushing of bulk straw....... Experiments show that the roll speed and the roll reduction should be chosen within a specific range depending on the injection screw speed to avoid blocking or insufficient compaction. A mechanical testing procedure of the bulk straw material including closed die compaction testing as well as simple...

Impact of pre-treatment technologies on soil aquifer treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Besançon

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the impact of pre-treatment options on the performances of soil columns simulating soil aquifer treatment (SAT. For this purpose a conventional activated sludge (CAS process, a membrane bioreactor (MBR and vertical flow reed beds were used as single units or in combination before SAT. The influent and effluent from each treatment train were monitored over three successive 6-month periods, corresponding to changes in the operational conditions of the MBR and CAS units from 6 days' sludge retention time (SRT to 12 and 20 days. All the columns acted as efficient polishing steps for solids and bacteria. The column receiving effluent from the CAS system running at 6 days' SRT also presented high total nitrogen and total phosphorus removals, but this column was also associated with the lowest infiltration rates over that period. While the quality of the effluent from the column following the CAS process increased over 18 months of operation, the effluent quality of the columns receiving MBR effluent degraded. No correlations were found between variations in SRT of the MBR and CAS processes and the columns' performances. Overall, all columns, except the one receiving CAS effluent, underwent a reduction in infiltration rate over 18 months.

Effects of pre-treatment technologies on quantity and quality of source-sorted municipal organic waste for biogas recovery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Trine Lund; Jansen, J.l.C.; Davidsson, Å.

2007-01-01

, collection bag material (plastic or paper) and easily degradable organic matter. Furthermore, the particle size of the biomass was related to the pre-treatment technology. The content of plastic in the biomass depended both on the actual collection bag material used in the system and the pre......Source-sorted municipal organic waste collected from different dwelling types in five Danish cities and pre-treated at three different plants was sampled and characterized several times during one year to investigate the origin of any differences in composition of the pre-treated waste introduced...... by city, pre-treatment technology, dwelling type or annual season. The investigated pre-treatment technologies were screw press, disc screen and shredder + magnet. The average quantity of pre-treated organic waste (biomass) produced from the incoming waste varied between the investigated pre...

Pre-treatments applied to oxidized aluminum surfaces to modify the interfacial bonding with bis-1,2-(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTSE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, J.; Teo, M.; Wong, P.C.; Wong, K.C.; Mitchell, K.A.R.

2005-01-01

The methods of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been used to investigate aspects of the bonding of bis-1,2-(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTSE) onto anodized samples of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy that have been subjected to the various pre-treatments considered in Part I. The oxide layer thins when this sample is subjected to a Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) treatment; topographical changes are detected by SEM after only 5 min, and the 'scallop structures' increase in size for longer times of the FPL treatment. These 7075-Al surfaces adsorb more BTSE than the high-purity Al samples considered in Part I, although the interfacial bonding indicated by the [AlOSi] + /[Al 2 O] + SIMS ratios measured for the former samples are constant for different times of FPL treatment, unlike the situation for high-purity Al. Heating anodized 7075-Al samples, either before or after FPL treatment, has no significant effect on the subsequent BTSE adsorption, but a H 2 plasma treatment can enhance the interfacial Al-O-Si bonding with a decrease in the total BTSE polymerization

Pre-treatments applied to oxidized aluminum surfaces to modify the interfacial bonding with bis-1,2-(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTSE)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, J. [Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Teo, M. [Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Wong, P.C. [Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Wong, K.C. [Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Mitchell, K.A.R. [Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1 (Canada)]. E-mail: karm@chem.ubc.ca

2005-12-15

The methods of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been used to investigate aspects of the bonding of bis-1,2-(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTSE) onto anodized samples of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy that have been subjected to the various pre-treatments considered in Part I. The oxide layer thins when this sample is subjected to a Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) treatment; topographical changes are detected by SEM after only 5 min, and the 'scallop structures' increase in size for longer times of the FPL treatment. These 7075-Al surfaces adsorb more BTSE than the high-purity Al samples considered in Part I, although the interfacial bonding indicated by the [AlOSi]{sup +}/[Al{sub 2}O]{sup +} SIMS ratios measured for the former samples are constant for different times of FPL treatment, unlike the situation for high-purity Al. Heating anodized 7075-Al samples, either before or after FPL treatment, has no significant effect on the subsequent BTSE adsorption, but a H{sub 2} plasma treatment can enhance the interfacial Al-O-Si bonding with a decrease in the total BTSE polymerization.

The influence of pre-and perioperative administration of gabapentin on pain 3-4 years after total knee arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjær Petersen, Kristian; Lunn, Troels Haxholdt; Husted, Henrik

2018-01-01

study is a secondary follow-up of a primary RCT investigating the effect of gabapentin on acute postoperative pain after TKA and exploring the effect of pre- and perioperative administration of gabapentin on chronic postoperative pain and psychological state 3-4 years after TKA. METHODS: Patients...... not associated with gabapentin treatment (p>0.19). Significantly lower postoperative PCS and HADS-A scores were seen compared with preoperative scores (p0.55). CONCLUSIONS: The current study found that pre- and perioperative administrations...

USE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY PRE-TREATMENT IN AUTOMOTIVE PAINTING LINE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto Nei Carvalho Costa

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The current safety requirements, environmental impacts and performance have been ledding the automotive industry to search for new alternatives, not just for new car bodies materials, also for new sheet surface treatments as well, used in the painting process in order to fit simultaneous, environmental requirements and corrosion resistance maintenance, that are the key feature guarantees offered by automakers and are also vital to the durability of the vehicle. This fact is of great importance considering that, besides the various types of steels and their metalic coatings, another factor that directly influences the corrosion resistance is the painting system used. Within this context, the GMB, in partnership with CSN, has been performing several works by adding the knowledge of the supplier to automotive technology. An example of this partnership we have the present study, which aimed to, comparatively, evaluate the corrosion resistance of two systems of painted galvanized steel, the first one with pre-treatment based on a traditional phosphate, and the another one based on a nano-ceramic film. In this study, was found out that materials with pre-treatment based on results of nanotechnology showed similar corrosion resistance comparing the phosphatized materials in a traditional way.

A new plan-scoring method using normal tissue complication probability for personalized treatment plan decisions in prostate cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kwang Hyeon; Lee, Suk; Shim, Jang Bo; Yang, Dae Sik; Yoon, Won Sup; Park, Young Je; Kim, Chul Yong; Cao, Yuan Jie; Chang, Kyung Hwan

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to derive a new plan-scoring index using normal tissue complication probabilities to verify different plans in the selection of personalized treatment. Plans for 12 patients treated with tomotherapy were used to compare scoring for ranking. Dosimetric and biological indexes were analyzed for the plans for a clearly distinguishable group ( n = 7) and a similar group ( n = 12), using treatment plan verification software that we developed. The quality factor ( QF) of our support software for treatment decisions was consistent with the final treatment plan for the clearly distinguishable group (average QF = 1.202, 100% match rate, n = 7) and the similar group (average QF = 1.058, 33% match rate, n = 12). Therefore, we propose a normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) based on the plan scoring index for verification of different plans for personalized treatment-plan selection. Scoring using the new QF showed a 100% match rate (average NTCP QF = 1.0420). The NTCP-based new QF scoring method was adequate for obtaining biological verification quality and organ risk saving using the treatment-planning decision-support software we developed for prostate cancer.

Exploring Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Beliefs About Their Roles in an Elementary School Classroom in Regard to Pedagogical and Emotional Aspects of Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iván Aguirre Sánchez

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This article aims at exploring the beliefs of a group of pre-service teachers from a B.Ed. program in Bilingual Education in Bogotá (Colombia, regarding their role as teachers in some general pedagogical and emotional aspects of their primary school students inside the classroom. They were observed over 16 weeks during their pre-service practice and were asked to submit weekly log entries with pedagogical reflections on their performance. Results show that these pre-service teachers believe motivation and identification of their students’ academic needs to be their main role inside the classroom.

The effect of thermal pre-treatment of titanium hydride (TiH2) powder in argon condition

Science.gov (United States)

Franciska P., L.; Erryani, Aprilia; Annur, Dhyah; Kartika, Ika

2018-04-01

Titanium hydride (TiH2) powders are used to enhance the foaming process in the formation of a highly porous metallic material with a cellular structure. But, the low temperature of hydrogen release is one of its problems. The present study, different thermal pre-treatment temperatures were employed to investigate the decomposition behavior of TiH2 to retard or delay a hydrogen gas release process during foaming. As a foaming agent, TiH2 was subjected to various heat treatments prior at 450 and 500°C during 2 hours in argon condition. To study the formation mechanism, the thermal behavior of titanium hydride and hydrogen release are investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The morphology of pre-treated titanium hydride powders were examined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) while unsure mapping and elemental composition of the pre-treated powders processed by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). To study the phase formation was characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). In accordance with the results, an increase in pre-treatment temperature of TiH2 to higher degrees are changing the process of releasing hydrogen from titanium hydride powder. DTA/TGA results showed that thermal pre-treatment TiH2 at 450°C, released the hydrogen gas at 560°C in heat treatment when foaming process. Meanwhile, thermal pre-treatment in TiH2 at 500°C, released the hydrogen gas at 670°C when foaming process. There is plenty of direct evidence for the existence of oxide layers that showed by EDS analysis obtained in SEM. As oxygen is a light element and qualitative proof shows that the higher pre-treatment temperature produces more and thicker oxygen layers on the surface of the TiH2 powder particles. It might the thickness of oxide layer are different from different pre-treatment temperatures, which leading to the differences in the decomposition temperature. But from SEM result that oxidation of the powder does not

Old and new aspects in the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federico Prefumo

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Pre-eclampsia is a condition affecting the feto-placental unit and the mother. Three to five percent of pregnancies are complicated by pre-eclampsia, a multisystem disorder characterized by hypertension and proteinuria that occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Pre-eclampsia is associated with substantial risks. For the fetus, these include intrauterine growth restriction, death, and prematurity with attendant complications, whereas the mother is at risk for complications of widespread alterations in endothelial function such as seizures (eclampsia, renal failure, pulmonary edema, stroke, and death. The establishment of pathological uterine perfusion raises the problem of stage two. The problem at stage three describes pre-eclampsia as a syndrome with the global maternal endothelial damage as the central pathophysiological feature.\tIt has been suggested that the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia can be thought of as a ‘three-stage problem’, where each stage generates one, so far unsolved problem. An impaired trophoblast invasion is thought to be the central factor (first step regarding the etiology of pre-eclampsia. An increased uterine artery Doppler findings (PI, RI, lower maternal serum PAPP-A and free ßhCG levels, ischaemia modified albumin (IMA may be associated with pre-eclampsia.

Botulinum toxin type-A effect as a preemptive treatment in a model of acute trigeminal pain: a pre-clinical double-blind and placebo-controlled study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elcio Juliato Piovesan

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to investigate if botulinum neurotoxin type-A (BoNT/A had a preemptive antinociceptive effect in a formalin-induced orofacial pain model (FT. To test this hypothesis, male Rattus norvegicus were injected with isotonic saline solution 0.9% or BoNT/A administered as a 40 μl bolus, lateral to their nose, at 24 hours, 8, 15, 22, 29 or 36 days pre-FT. The procedures were repeated 42 days later. Influence on motor activity was assessed through the open-field test. Pain scores corresponded to the time spent rubbing and flicking the injected area. Animals pre-treated with BoNT/A at the first protocol (8 days subgroup showed reduced inflammatory scores (p=0.011. For the other groups no significant results were observed at any phase. Motor activity was similar in both groups. BoNT/A showed to be effective preventing inflammatory pain up to eight days after the first treatment, an effect not reproduced on the second dose administration.

Potential of filter-vermicomposter for household wastewater pre-treatment and sludge sanitisation on site.

Science.gov (United States)

Gajurel, D; Deegener, S; Shalabi, M; Otterpohl, R

2007-01-01

Septic tank systems have been widely used to separate and digest solid matter in the household wastewater for a long time. However, they contaminate groundwater with pathogens and nutrients and deprive agriculture of valuable nutrients and soil conditioner from human excreta. Compared with septic tank systems the filter-composter (Rottebehaelter), which usually consists of an underground monolithic concrete tank having two filter beds at its bottom or two filter bags that are hung side by side and used alternately at intervals of 6-12 months, is an efficient component for solid-liquid separation, pre-treatment and collection/storage of solid matter in household wastewater. The solids are retained and decompose in the filter bags or on the filter bed while the liquid filters through. However, because of the high moisture content of the retained solids decomposition is slow. Therefore, secondary treatment of the retained solids is required for sanitisation. The breakthrough was the combination of vermicomposting with the filter-composter system. Relatively dry and stable retained materials were obtained in the filter bags in about 3 months only. No secondary treatment is required as the human excreta will be converted to vermicastings, which are hygienically safe and can be reused as soil conditioner. Therefore, further development of the filter-composter with vermicomposting is worthwhile, especially the aspects of sanitisation of the faecal matter and its reuse as a soil conditioner.

Value of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in assessing radiotherapy and chemotherapy success in cervical cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Zhan-Zhao; Peng, Yong; Cao, Li-Yan; Chen, Yan-Sheng; Li, Kun; Fu, Bao-Hong

2015-06-01

We investigated the clinical significance of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) in monitoring the efficacy of radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy (CT) treatments in cervical cancer. In order to identify relevant high quality clinical cohort studies reporting the use of DWI in cervical cancers, the following electronic databases in English and Chinese languages were comprehensively searched: MEDLINE, Science Citation Index database, Cochrane Library Database, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Current Contents Index; Chinese Biomedical Database, Chinese Journal Full-Text Database. All selected studies were published prior to March 2014, and data extracted from these studies were analyzed using STATA 12.0 statistical software. We initially retrieved 196 articles (79 Chinese articles and 117 English articles) through database searches and finally selected sixteen cohort studies for this meta-analysis. The 16 studies contained a combined total of 517 subjects, and all selected studies reported the mean ADC value (10(-3) mm(2)/s) in DWI in cervical cancer patients treated with RT and CT. Combined standardized mean difference (SMD) suggested that the mean post-RT and mean post-CT ADC values were significantly higher than the mean pre-RT and mean pre-CT ADC values, respectively, in cervical cancer patients (SMD=2.95, 95% CI=2.19-3.72, P900 (SMD=2.55, 95% CI=1.78-3.32, P<0.001). The mean ADC value in patients without residual tumor post-RT and post-CT treatment was significantly higher than seen in patients with residual tumors (SMD=0.80, 95% CI=0.49-1.12, P<0.001). Our meta-analysis revealed a significant correlation between mean ADC values and the clinical response to RT and CT treatment. Thus, ADC values in DWI may be effective in evaluating the clinical outcome of treatments in cervical cancer patients. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improvement of Haramay Fiber by Pre-treatment of Retting Process withPhosphoric Acid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuntari-Sasas; Neni-Rustini Eriawati

2000-01-01

Haramay as bast fiber contains of cellulose fiber as the main part, mixedwith hemi cellulose, pectin, and lignin as binding material for cellulosefiber to keep it together in the bundle form. For textile material, this bastfiber has to be freed from its binding material, called as retting process,before subjecting to scouring, dyeing and finishing process in textileindustry. In the retting process the dissolve of binding material can be doneeither by using enzyme in bio technology or extraction with strong alkalinecondition in common technology. Using sodium hydroxide for dissolving thebinding material can be carried out easily with good dissolving ability, butcan render the strength retention of the cellulose fiber. Pre-treatment ofthe bast fiber with phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ), is expected to hydrolyze someof the binding materials that can not be dissolved in alkaline condition,including natural pigment that colored the fiber with creamy white. In thisstudy, the pre-treatment process before retting with phosphoric acid wascarried out in various condition, such as concentration of phosphoric acid (5ml/l- 25 ml/l), time and temperature of pre-treatment (1-3 hours at 50 o C or12-24 hours at room temperature), followed by neutralization in dilutealkaline. The retting process was carried out by means of scouring in variousconcentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH 38 o Be, 10 ml/l-30 m/l), and then wascontinued with bleaching process in hydrogen peroxide solution. Aftercarrying out those experiment, the bast fiber that called haramay wassubjected to testing for weight reduction, strength retention and degree ofwhiteness. From the testing results it is concluded that pre-treatment withphosphoric acid can increase the weight reduction, strength retention ortenacity and degree of whiteness of haramay fiber compared to the oneswithout pre-treatment with phosphoric acid. The best result was obtained bypre-treatment with 5 ml/l H 3 PO 4 at 50 o C for 2 hours, continued by

Tailoring degradation of AZ31 alloy by surface pre-treatment and electrospun PCL fibrous coating

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hanas, T. [Medical Materials Laboratory, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036 (India); School of Nano Science and Technology, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Calicut, Kerala 673601 (India); Sampath Kumar, T.S., E-mail: tssk@iitm.ac.in [Medical Materials Laboratory, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036 (India); Perumal, Govindaraj; Doble, Mukesh [Department of Biotechnology - Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036 (India)

2016-08-01

AZ31 magnesium alloy was coated with polycaprolactone (PCL) nano-fibrous layer using electrospinning technique so as to control degradation in physiological environment. Before coating, the alloy was treated with HNO{sub 3} to have good adhesion between the coating and substrate. To elucidate the role of pre-treatment and coating, samples only with PCL coating as well as HNO{sub 3} treatment only were prepared for comparison. Best coating adhesion of 4B grade by ASTM D3359–09 tape test was observed for pre-treated samples. The effect of coating on in vitro degradation and biomineralization was studied using supersaturated simulated body fluid (SBF 5 ×). The weight loss and corrosion results obtained by immersion test showed that the combination of HNO{sub 3} pre-treatment and PCL coating is very effective in controlling the degradation rate and improving bioactivity. Cytotoxicity studies using L6 cells showed that PCL coated sample has better cell adhesion and proliferation compared to uncoated samples. Nano-fibrous PCL coating combined with prior acid treatment seems to be a promising method to tailor degradation rate with enhanced bioactivity of Mg alloys. - Highlights: • PCL electrospun coating on HNO{sub 3} pre-treated AZ31 alloy controls biodegradation. • Acid pre-treatment stabilizes the substrate - coating interface. • Electrospun porous coating improves biomineralization. • Coating similar to extracellular matrix enhances cell adhesion.

Design of the Growth hormone deficiency and Efficacy of Treatment (GET) score and non-interventional proof of concept study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kann, Peter H; Bergmann, Simona; Bidlingmaier, Martin; Dimopoulou, Christina; Pedersen, Birgitte T; Stalla, Günter K; Weber, Matthias M; Meckes-Ferber, Stefanie

2018-02-13

The adverse effects of growth hormone (GH) deficiency (GHD) in adults (AGHD) on metabolism and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) can be improved with GH substitution. This investigation aimed to design a score summarising the features of GHD and evaluate its ability to measure the effect of GH substitution in AGHD. The Growth hormone deficiency and Efficacy of Treatment (GET) score (0-100 points) assessed (weighting): HRQoL (40%), disease-related days off work (10%), bone mineral density (20%), waist circumference (10%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (10%) and body fat mass (10%). A prospective, non-interventional, multicentre proof-of-concept study investigated whether the score could distinguish between untreated and GH-treated patients with AGHD. A 10-point difference in GET score during a 2-year study period was expected based on pre-existing knowledge of the effect of GH substitution in AGHD. Of 106 patients eligible for analysis, 22 were untreated GHD controls (9 females, mean ± SD age 52 ± 17 years; 13 males, 57 ± 13 years) and 84 were GH-treated (31 females, age 45 ± 13 years, GH dose 0.30 ± 0.16 mg/day; 53 males, age 49 ± 15 years, GH dose 0.25 ± 0.10 mg/day). Follow-up was 706 ± 258 days in females and 653 ± 242 days in males. The GET score differed between the untreated control and treated groups with a least squares mean difference of + 10.01 ± 4.01 (p = 0.0145). The GET score appeared to be a suitable integrative instrument to summarise the clinical features of GHD and measure the effects of GH substitution in adults. Exercise capacity and muscle strength/body muscle mass could be included in the GET score. NCT number: NCT00934063 . Date of registration: 02 July 2009.

Dynamic study of efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) of primary liver carcinoma with the MR diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shang Quanliang; Xiao Enhua; He Zhong; Tan Lihua; Situ Weijun; Bao Moliao; Yuan Shiwen; Du Wanping

2006-01-01

Objective: To dynamically evaluate the efficacy of treatment of primary liver carcinoma (PLC) by transcatheter arterial ehemoembolization(TACE) with the MR diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI). Methods: DWI and the measurement of mean apparent diffusion coeffecient (ADC) value were performed in 25 masses of PLC with the same SE-EPI sequence (b=800 s/mm 2 and 0) at 1.5 T MRI within the 24- 48 hours before TACE (group A) and 36-48 hours, 7-10 days, 30-38 days after TACE (group B, group C, group D). The differences of the mean ADC values of PLC between groups were analyzed. Results: The mean ADC values of the three groups after TACE the mean ADC value of group B: (1.598±0.012) x 10 -3 mm 2 /s, the mean ADC value of group C: (1.723±0.012) x 10 -3 mm 2 /s, the mean ADC value of group D: (1.684±0.012) x 10 -3 mm 2 /s were significantly greater than that of the group before TACE the mean ADC value of group A: (1.376±0.012) x 10 -3 mm 2 /s (p<0.05). The mean ADC values of the group C and the group D were significantly greater than that of the group B (P<0.05). The mean ADC values of the group D was lower than that of the group C (P<0.05). Through contrasting the digital subtraction angiography (DSA) imaging of the second TACE with that of the first TACE, we found that every PLC whose mean ADC value after 30-38 days of the TACE was lower than that after 7-10 days of the TACE could be found the recurrence, especially in those PLC whose mean ADC values were decreased greatly. Conclusion: With the measurement of ADC value of the different time of the PLC we could excellently evaluate the necrosis and the recurrence of the PLC after the operation of the TACE. (authors)

Endoscopic bursectomy for the treatment of septic pre-patellar bursitis: a case series.

Science.gov (United States)

Dillon, John P; Freedman, Ilan; Tan, James S M; Mitchell, David; English, Shaun

2012-07-01

Operative treatment for septic pre-patellar bursitis generally involves open debridement in addition to an extended course of intravenous antibiotics. Skin necrosis and wound breakdown are potential complications of this procedure in addition to scar sensitivity and a prolonged recovery. We report endoscopic bursectomy for the treatment of septic pre-patellar bursitis in eight patients over a 3-year period. All patients had microbiological confirmation of an infective process. The average age was 36 years (23-68 years). The average hospital stay was 6 days (4-9 days). No patient had a recurrence or complained of tenderness or hypoaesthesia around their wound. No patient experienced wound complications or skin necrosis. The average return to work time was 18 days (7-22 days). We conclude that endoscopic bursectomy is a safe and effective treatment for septic pre-patellar bursitis with a shortened hospital stay and a quicker return to work than conventional open debridement.

CASPer, an online pre-interview screen for personal/professional characteristics: prediction of national licensure scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Dore, Kelly L; Reiter, Harold I; Kreuger, Sharyn; Norman, Geoffrey R

2017-05-01

Typically, only a minority of applicants to health professional training are invited to interview. However, pre-interview measures of cognitive skills predict for national licensure scores (Gauer et al. in Med Educ Online 21 2016) and subsequently licensure scores predict for performance in practice (Tamblyn et al. in JAMA 288(23): 3019-3026, 2002; Tamblyn et al. in JAMA 298(9):993-1001, 2007). Assessment of personal and professional characteristics, with the same psychometric rigour of measures of cognitive abilities, are needed upstream in the selection to health profession training programs. To fill that need, Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal characteristics (CASPer)-an on-line, video-based screening test-was created. In this paper, we examine the correlation between CASPer and Canadian national licensure examination outcomes in 109 doctors who took CASPer at the time of selection to medical school. Specifically, CASPer scores were correlated against performance on cognitive and 'non-cognitive' subsections of both the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) Parts I (end of medical school) and Part II (18 months into specialty training). Unlike most national licensure exams, MCCQE has specific subcomponents examining personal/professional qualities, providing a unique opportunity for comparison. The results demonstrated moderate predictive validity of CASPer to national licensure outcomes of personal/professional characteristics three to six years after admission to medical school. These types of disattenuated correlations (r = 0.3-0.5) are not otherwise predicted by traditional screening measures. These data support the ability of a computer-based strategy to screen applicants in a feasible, reliable test, which has now demonstrated predictive validity, lending evidence of its validation for medical school applicant selection.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of brain surface anatomy: technique comparison between flash and diffusion-weighted imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Jianzhong; Wang Zhikang; Gong Xiangyang

2006-01-01

Objective: To compare two methods 3D flash and diffusion-weighted images (DWI) in reconstructing the brain surface anatomy, and to evaluate their displaying ability, advantages, limitations and clinical application. Methods: Thrity normal cases were prospectively examined with 3D flash sequence and echo-planar DWI. Three-dimensional images were acquired with volume-rendering on workstation. Brain surface structures were evaluated and scored by a group of doctors. Results: Main structures of brain surface were clearly displayed on three-dimensional images based on 3D flash sequence. Average scores were all above 2.50. For images based on DWI, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, superior parietal lobule, superior frontal gyrus, precentral sulcus, central sulcus, postcentral sulcus, intraparietal sulcus and superior frontal sulcus were best shown with average scores between 2.60-2.75, However, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, lateral sulcus, inferior frontal sulcus could not be well shown, with average scores between 1.67-2.48. Middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, superior temporal sulcus and inferior temporal sulcus can only get scores from 0.88 to 1.27. Scores of images based on 3D flash were much higher than that based on DWI with distinct differentiations, P values were all below 0.01. Conclusion: Three-dimensional images based on 3D flash can really display brain surface structures. It is very useful for anatomic researches. Three-dimensional reconstruction of brain surface based on DWI is a worthy technique to display brain surface anatomy, especially for frontal and parietal structures. (authors)

Predicting Long-Term Cognitive Outcome Following Breast Cancer with Pre-Treatment Resting State fMRI and Random Forest Machine Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Kesler, Shelli R; Rao, Arvind; Blayney, Douglas W; Oakley-Girvan, Ingrid A; Karuturi, Meghan; Palesh, Oxana

2017-01-01

We aimed to determine if resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquired at pre-treatment baseline could accurately predict breast cancer-related cognitive impairment at long-term follow-up. We evaluated 31 patients with breast cancer (age 34-65) prior to any treatment, post-chemotherapy and 1 year later. Cognitive testing scores were normalized based on data obtained from 43 healthy female controls and then used to categorize patients as impaired or not based on longitudinal changes. We measured clustering coefficient, a measure of local connectivity, by applying graph theory to baseline resting state fMRI and entered these metrics along with relevant patient-related and medical variables into random forest classification. Incidence of cognitive impairment at 1 year follow-up was 55% and was predicted by classification algorithms with up to 100% accuracy ( p breast cancer. This information could inform treatment decision making by identifying patients at highest risk for long-term cognitive impairment.

The influence of early feeding practices on healthy diet variety score among pre-school children in four European birth cohorts.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Louise; Moschonis, George; Oliveira, Andreia; de Lauzon-Guillain, Blandine; Manios, Yannis; Xepapadaki, Paraskevi; Lopes, Carla; Moreira, Pedro; Charles, Marie Aline; Emmett, Pauline

2015-07-01

The present study examined whether maternal diet and early infant feeding experiences relating to being breast-fed and complementary feeding influence the range of healthy foods consumed in later childhood. Data from four European birth cohorts were studied. Healthy Plate Variety Score (HPVS) was calculated using FFQ. HPVS assesses the variety of healthy foods consumed within and across the five main food groups. The weighted numbers of servings consumed of each food group were summed; the maximum score was 5. Associations between infant feeding experiences, maternal diet and the HPVS were tested using generalized linear models and adjusted for appropriate confounders. The British Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), the French Etude des Déterminants pre et postnatals de la santé et du développement de L'Enfant study (EDEN), the Portuguese Generation XXI Birth Cohort and the Greek EuroPrevall cohort. Pre-school children and their mothers. The mean HPVS for each of the cohorts ranged from 2.3 to 3.8, indicating that the majority of children were not eating a full variety of healthy foods. Never being breast-fed or being breast-fed for a short duration was associated with lower HPVS at 2, 3 and 4 years of age in all cohorts. There was no consistent association between the timing of complementary feeding and HPVS. Mother's HPVS was strongly positively associated with child's HPVS but did not greatly attenuate the relationship with breast-feeding duration. Results suggest that being breast-fed for a short duration is associated with pre-school children eating a lower variety of healthy foods.

Treatment outcome of schizophrenia co-morbid with obsessive-compulsive disorder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, M.N.S.; Arshad, N.; Naeem Ullah

2004-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the pharmacological treatment outcome of schizophrenia, co-morbid with obsessive-compulsive disorder by comparing the effects of typical neuroleptic, atypical neuroleptic and a combination of typical with anti-obsessional drugs on positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and obsessional symptoms. Subjects and Methods: The sample consisted of 39 patients suffering from schizophrenia co-morbid with obsessive- compulsive disorder. They were divided in three groups according to the pharmacological treatment given by the treating psychiatrists. Sample was assessed at the start of treatment and twelve weeks later. Results: Patients receiving typical neuroleptics and anti-obsessional drugs showed better outcome (p < .05) both in psychotic (pre-intervention mean scores of positive scale of PANSS 26.90 as compared to postinterventional mean scores 19.00) and obsessional symptoms (pre-intervention mean scores on Padua Inventory 165.00 compared to 84.00 postinterventional mean scores) than those receiving typical and atypical neuroleptics alone. Conclusion: Treatment outcome of schizophrenia co-morbid with obsessive-compulsive disorder shows better results if anti-obsessional drugs are added to the neuroleptics. (author)

Effect of ultrasound pre-treatment on the physicochemical composition of Agave durangensis leaves and potential enzyme production.

Science.gov (United States)

Contreras-Hernández, M G; Ochoa-Martínez, L A; Rutiaga-Quiñones, J G; Rocha-Guzmán, N E; Lara-Ceniceros, T E; Contreras-Esquivel, J C; Prado Barragán, L A; Rutiaga-Quiñones, O M

2018-02-01

Approximately 1 million tons of agave plants are processed annually by the Mexican tequila and mezcal industry, generating vast amounts of agroindustrial solid waste. This type of lignocellulosic biomass is considered to be agroindustrial residue, which can be used to produce enzymes, giving it added value. However, the structure of lignocellulosic biomass makes it highly recalcitrant, and results in relatively low yield when used in its native form. The aim of this study was to investigate an effective pre-treatment method for the production of commercially important hydrolytic enzymes. In this work, the physical and chemical modification of Agave durangensis leaves was analysed using ultrasound and high temperature as pre-treatments, and production of enzymes was evaluated. The pre-treatments resulted in modification of the lignocellulosic structure and composition; the ultrasound pre-treatment improved the production of inulinase by 4 U/mg and cellulase by 0.297 U/mg, and thermal pre-treatment improved β-fructofuranosidase by 30 U/mg. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-centre audit of VMAT planning and pre-treatment verification.

Science.gov (United States)

Jurado-Bruggeman, Diego; Hernández, Victor; Sáez, Jordi; Navarro, David; Pino, Francisco; Martínez, Tatiana; Alayrach, Maria-Elena; Ailleres, Norbert; Melero, Alejandro; Jornet, Núria

2017-08-01

We performed a multi-centre intercomparison of VMAT dose planning and pre-treatment verification. The aims were to analyse the dose plans in terms of dosimetric quality and deliverability, and to validate whether in-house pre-treatment verification results agreed with those of an external audit. The nine participating centres encompassed different machines, equipment, and methodologies. Two mock cases (prostate and head and neck) were planned using one and two arcs. A plan quality index was defined to compare the plans and different complexity indices were calculated to check their deliverability. We compared gamma index pass rates using the centre's equipment and methodology to those of an external audit (global 3D gamma, absolute dose differences, 10% of maximum dose threshold). Log-file analysis was performed to look for delivery errors. All centres fulfilled the dosimetric goals but plan quality and delivery complexity were heterogeneous and uncorrelated, depending on the manufacturer and the planner's methodology. Pre-treatment verifications results were within tolerance in all cases for gamma 3%-3mm evaluation. Nevertheless, differences between the external audit and in-house measurements arose due to different equipment or methodology, especially for 2%-2mm criteria with differences up to 20%. No correlation was found between complexity indices and verification results amongst centres. All plans fulfilled dosimetric constraints, but plan quality and complexity did not correlate and were strongly dependent on the planner and the vendor. In-house measurements cannot completely replace external audits for credentialing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Treatment with magnesium sulphate in pre-term birth

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wolf, Hans; Hegaard, H K; Greisen, G

2012-01-01

Premature birth increases a child's risk of cerebral palsy and death. The aim of this work is to investigate the association between treatment with magnesium sulphate during premature deliveries and infants' cerebral palsy and mortality through a meta-analysis of observational studies....... A comprehensive search of the Cochrane Library, EMBASE and the PubMed database from their inceptions to 1 October, 2010 using the keywords 'magnesium sulphate, children/infant/pre-term/premature and cerebral palsy/mortality/morbidity/adverse effects/outcome' identified 11 reports of observational studies. Two...... authors working independently extracted the data. A meta-analysis of the data found an association between magnesium sulphate treatment and a significantly reduced risk of mortality (RR 0.73; 95% CI 0.61-0.89) and cerebral palsy (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.47-0.89). Antenatal treatment with magnesium sulphate...

Effect of the pre-treatment on the performance of MBR, Berghausen WWTP. Germany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Medhat A.E. Moustafa

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Pilot scale experiments were carried out to examine the effect of the pre-treatment methods on the performance of MBR. The PURON® MBR module was used in this study. In order to investigate the effect of pre-treatment on the behaviour of membrane, samples were withdrawn at different locations in Berghausen WWTP. During the first period samples have been collected directly from the main source as raw sewage to determine its main characteristics. During the second period samples have been screened with screening 1 mm filter material to prevent debris from damaging the membrane. During the third phase samples have been taken after the primary settling tank to have the benefits of filtering out unwanted trash, removing scum and floating debris. The study showed that the membrane bio-reactor filters out nearly all solids, the pre-treatment has a positive effect on the MBR performance, and the pre-sedimentation is more effective than fine screening. Moreover, aeration is considered as one of the intrinsic parameters in both hydraulic and biological process performances because of its ability to maintain solids in suspension, scours the membrane surface, limits fouling, and provide oxygen to the biomass, which results in a better biodegradability.

Pre-treatment predictors and in-treatment factors associated with change in avoidant and dependent personality disorder traits among patients with social phobia.

Science.gov (United States)

Borge, Finn-Magnus; Hoffart, Asle; Sexton, Harold; Martinsen, Egil; Gude, Tore; Hedley, Liv Margaret; Abrahamsen, Gun

2010-01-01

We examined changes in avoidant and dependent personality disorder dimensions, and pre-treatment and in-treatment factors associated with such changes in 77 patients, randomized to medication-free residential cognitive (CT) or residential interpersonal therapy for social phobia. Personality disorders and personality dimensions according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) were assessed at pre-treatment and at one-year post-treatment. Both treatments were associated with a decrease in avoidant and dependent personality dimensions; dependent dimension decreased more in CT. Changes in cognitive factors predicted changes in both personality dimensions, whereas changes in symptoms or interpersonal factors did not. Change in the cognitive factor estimated cost was the most powerful predictor in the avoidant dimension, as it was the only predictor that remained significant in the forward regression analyses. Change in the cognitive factor estimated cost, and treatment were the most powerful predictors of change in the dependent dimension. Pre-treatment use of anxiolytics predicted larger changes in both PD dimensions.

Radiopaque marker motion during pre-treatment CBCT as a predictor of intra-fractional prostate movement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernchou, Uffe; Brink, Carsten; Agergaard, Soeren N.

2013-01-01

The intra-fractional movement of the prostate constitutes a hindrance for the reduction of the planning target volume margin for prostate cancer patients. Monitoring the movement of the prostate during treatment is a promising but in most centres not feasible solution. However, the projection images of the pre-treatment cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) provide information about the motion of the target immediately preceding the treatment. This motion information can be extracted from any standard CBCT scan which is available in many institutions. In this study we measure the motion of the prostate during the pre-treatment CBCT and investigate whether this motion is correlated with the intra-fractional movement of the prostate. Material and methods: Pre- and post-treatment CBCT scans were made during a number of the fractions (average 11 range 8-12) for 13 prostate cancer patients during the radiation treatment course. The displacement of the post-treatment CBCT scans relative to the pre-treatment position was used to assess the intra-fractional motion. Automated image analysis was used to track the 2D position of radiopaque markers in the projection images of the scans. The most probable 3D trajectory of the markers during the CBCT scan was estimated based on a probability density function which was established for each individual scan. Results: The accuracy of the tracking algorithm was found satisfactory and the motion of the markers during the CBCT scans was successfully extracted from the projection images. This motion was generally small and uncorrelated with the subsequent intra-fractional movement of the prostate. The correlation coefficients were - 0.05, 0.07, and - 0.05 in the LR, AP, and CC direction, respectively. Conclusion: It is tempting to exploit the pre-treatment CBCT to predict the intra-fractional movement of the prostate but, unfortunately, we have found no correlation between the intra-fractional movement and the motion of the prostate

Comparative Effects of Biomass Pre-Treatments for Direct and Indirect Transesterification to Enhance Microalgal Lipid Recovery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghasemi Naghdi, Forough; Thomas-Hall, Skye R.; Durairatnam, Reuben; Pratt, Steven; Schenk, Peer M.

2014-01-01

Microalgal lipid recovery for biodiesel production is currently considered suboptimal, but pre-treatment of algal biomass, the use of solvent mixtures and the positioning of transesterification can lead to increased yields. Here, the effect of various reportedly successful pre-treatments and solvent mixtures were directly compared to each other and combined with direct and indirect transesterification methods using the oleaginous microalga Tetraselmis sp. M8. Microwave and thermal pre-treatments were applied and the total lipid and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) recoveries were investigated. The application of pre-treatments increased FAME recovery through indirect transesterification when a Soxhlet system was used but they had no significant effect for direct transesterification. Gravimetric analyses of total lipids revealed that lipid recovery was highest when utilizing the chloroform-based Bligh and Dyer extraction method; however, FAME yield was the highest when applying a Soxhlet system utilizing a solvent mixture of hexane–ethanol (3:1). Total lipid recovery did not necessarily correlate with the recovery of FAMEs. The highest FAME recovery was achieved from thermal or microwave pre-treated biomass followed by indirect transesterification through Soxhlet extraction. FAME recovery could be more than doubled (increase of up to 171%) under these conditions. We conclude that a simple thermal pre-treatment (80°C for 10 min) in combination with solvent mixture extraction through indirect transesterification may present a cost-effective and scalable option for large-scale lipid extraction from microalgae.

Comparative effects of biomass pre-treatments for direct and indirect transesterification to enhance microalgal lipid recovery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Forough eGhasemi Naghdi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Microalgal lipid recovery for biodiesel production is currently considered suboptimal, but pre-treatment of algal biomass, the use of solvent mixtures and the positioning of transesterification can lead to increased yields. Here, the effect of various reportedly successful pre-treatments and solvent mixtures were directly compared to each other and combined with direct and indirect transesterification methods using the oleaginous microalga Tetraselmis sp. M8. Microwave and thermal pre-treatments were applied and the total lipid and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME recoveries were investigated. The application of pre-treatments increased FAME recovery through indirect transesterification when a Soxhlet system was used but they had no significant effect for direct transesterification. Gravimetric analyses of total lipids revealed that lipid recovery was highest when utilizing the chloroform-based Bligh and Dyer extraction method; however FAME yield was the highest when applying a Soxhlet system utilizing a solvent mixture of hexane-ethanol (3:1. Total lipid recovery did not necessarily correlate with the recovery of FAMEs. The highest FAME recovery was achieved from thermal or microwave pre-treated biomass followed by indirect transesterification through Soxhlet extraction. FAME recovery could be more than doubled (increase of up to 171% under these conditions. We conclude that a simple thermal pre-treatment (80°C for 10 min in combination with solvent mixture extraction through indirect transesterification may present a cost-effective and scalable option for large-scale lipid extraction from microalgae.

Comparative Effects of Biomass Pre-Treatments for Direct and Indirect Transesterification to Enhance Microalgal Lipid Recovery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ghasemi Naghdi, Forough; Thomas-Hall, Skye R.; Durairatnam, Reuben [Algae Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia); Pratt, Steven [School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia); Schenk, Peer M., E-mail: p.schenk@uq.edu.au [Algae Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia)

2014-12-04

Microalgal lipid recovery for biodiesel production is currently considered suboptimal, but pre-treatment of algal biomass, the use of solvent mixtures and the positioning of transesterification can lead to increased yields. Here, the effect of various reportedly successful pre-treatments and solvent mixtures were directly compared to each other and combined with direct and indirect transesterification methods using the oleaginous microalga Tetraselmis sp. M8. Microwave and thermal pre-treatments were applied and the total lipid and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) recoveries were investigated. The application of pre-treatments increased FAME recovery through indirect transesterification when a Soxhlet system was used but they had no significant effect for direct transesterification. Gravimetric analyses of total lipids revealed that lipid recovery was highest when utilizing the chloroform-based Bligh and Dyer extraction method; however, FAME yield was the highest when applying a Soxhlet system utilizing a solvent mixture of hexane–ethanol (3:1). Total lipid recovery did not necessarily correlate with the recovery of FAMEs. The highest FAME recovery was achieved from thermal or microwave pre-treated biomass followed by indirect transesterification through Soxhlet extraction. FAME recovery could be more than doubled (increase of up to 171%) under these conditions. We conclude that a simple thermal pre-treatment (80°C for 10 min) in combination with solvent mixture extraction through indirect transesterification may present a cost-effective and scalable option for large-scale lipid extraction from microalgae.

Whole Tumor Histogram-profiling of Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Images Reflects Tumorbiological Features of Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Schob, Stefan; Münch, Benno; Dieckow, Julia; Quäschling, Ulf; Hoffmann, Karl-Titus; Richter, Cindy; Garnov, Nikita; Frydrychowicz, Clara; Krause, Matthias; Meyer, Hans-Jonas; Surov, Alexey

2018-04-01

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) quantifies motion of hydrogen nuclei in biological tissues and hereby has been used to assess the underlying tissue microarchitecture. Histogram-profiling of DWI provides more detailed information on diffusion characteristics of a lesion than the standardly calculated values of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)-minimum, mean and maximum. Hence, the aim of our study was to investigate, which parameters of histogram-profiling of DWI in primary central nervous system lymphoma can be used to specifically predict features like cellular density, chromatin content and proliferative activity. Pre-treatment ADC maps of 21 PCNSL patients (8 female, 13 male, 28-89 years) from a 1.5T system were used for Matlab-based histogram profiling. Results of histopathology (H&E staining) and immunohistochemistry (Ki-67 expression) were quantified. Correlations between histogram-profiling parameters and neuropathologic examination were calculated using SPSS 23.0. The lower percentiles (p10 and p25) showed significant correlations with structural parameters of the neuropathologic examination (cellular density, chromatin content). The highest percentile, p90, correlated significantly with Ki-67 expression, resembling proliferative activity. Kurtosis of the ADC histogram correlated significantly with cellular density. Histogram-profiling of DWI in PCNSL provides a comprehensible set of parameters, which reflect distinct tumor-architectural and tumor-biological features, and hence, are promising biomarkers for treatment response and prognosis. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Dosimetric pre-treatment verification of IMRT using an EPID; clinical experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zijtveld, Mathilda van; Dirkx, Maarten L.P.; Boer, Hans C.J. de; Heijmen, Ben J.M.

2006-01-01

Background and purpose: In our clinic a QA program for IMRT verification, fully based on dosimetric measurements with electronic portal imaging devices (EPID), has been running for over 3 years. The program includes a pre-treatment dosimetric check of all IMRT fields. During a complete treatment simulation at the linac, a portal dose image (PDI) is acquired with the EPID for each patient field and compared with a predicted PDI. In this paper, the results of this pre-treatment procedure are analysed, and intercepted errors are reported. An automated image analysis procedure is proposed to limit the number of fields that need human intervention in PDI comparison. Materials and methods: Most of our analyses are performed using the γ index with 3% local dose difference and 3 mm distance to agreement as reference values. Scalar parameters are derived from the γ values to summarize the agreement between measured and predicted 2D PDIs. Areas with all pixels having γ values larger than one are evaluated, making decisions based on clinically relevant criteria more straightforward. Results: In 270 patients, the pre-treatment checks revealed four clinically relevant errors. Calculation of statistics for a group of 75 patients showed that the patient-averaged mean γ value inside the field was 0.43 ± 0.13 (1 SD) and only 6.1 ± 6.8% of pixels had a γ value larger than one. With the proposed automated image analysis scheme, visual inspection of images can be avoided in 2/3 of the cases. Conclusion: EPIDs may be used for high accuracy and high resolution routine verification of IMRT fields to intercept clinically relevant dosimetric errors prior to the start of treatment. For the majority of fields, PDI comparison can fully rely on an automated procedure, avoiding excessive workload

Pre-treatment step with Leuconostoc mesenteroides or L. pseudomesenteroides strains removes furfural from Zymomonas mobilis ethanolic fermentation broth.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, William J; Manter, Daniel K

2014-10-01

Furfural is an inhibitor of growth and ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis. This study used a naturally occurring (not GMO) biological pre-treatment to reduce that amount of furfural in a model fermentation broth. Pre-treatment involved inoculating and incubating the fermentation broth with strains of Leuconostoc mesenteroides or Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides. The Leuconostoc strains converted furfural to furfuryl alcohol without consuming large amounts of dextrose in the process. Coupling this pre-treatment to ethanolic fermentation reduced furfural in the broth and improved growth, dextrose uptake and ethanol formation. Pre-treatment permitted ethanol formation in the presence of 5.2 g L(-1) furfural, which was otherwise inhibitive. The pre-treatment and presence of the Leuconostoc strains in the fermentation broth did not interfere with Z. mobilis ethanolic fermentation or the amounts of ethanol produced. The method suggests a possible technique for reducing the effect that furfural has on the production of ethanol for use as a biofuel. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Volleyball Scoring Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Calhoun, William; Dargahi-Noubary, G. R.; Shi, Yixun

2002-01-01

The widespread interest in sports in our culture provides an excellent opportunity to catch students' attention in mathematics and statistics classes. One mathematically interesting aspect of volleyball, which can be used to motivate students, is the scoring system. (MM)

A cost-benefit analysis of pre- and post-lambing anthelmintic treatments to twin-bearing ewes on commercial farms in the southern North Island of New Zealand.

Science.gov (United States)

Garland, C B; Leathwick, D M

2015-07-01

To conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the administration of anthelmintics to adult ewes around lambing. Production data from comparisons of different anthelmintic treatments with no treatment were used in a cost-benefit analysis. The data were from 14 trials (part of an experiment carried out on one farm in 1 year) conducted on sheep and beef farms (eight in 2011 and six in 2012) in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. The cost structure involved the purchase price of products and the labour cost of administration. The four key benefits identified for the calculation of economic returns, relative to untreated ewes, were: increased value of ewes sold (culled) at weaning, additional lambs weaned related to ewe liveweight at mating, increased total weight of lamb weaned per ewe, and reduced number of ewes requiring removal of soiled wool at weaning due to a lower dag score. Commercial values for these variables as at December 2013 were used, with the measured production data, to calculate a net (NZ$) benefit for every treatment-trial combination. The economic return on treating ewes around lambing with anthelmintics was highly variable and across all trials treatment resulted in a financial loss in 18/38 (47%) groups of ewes. The mean net benefit from pre-lambing administration of a controlled release capsule (CRC) containing albendazole and abamectin was 5.36 (95% CI=-2.64 to 13.35) $/ewe, but overall was not different from zero (p=0.171). A breakdown of the overall gross benefit into its various components showed that weight of lamb weaned per ewe had the largest influence (a mean benefit of $5.68/ewe), followed by ewe liveweight pre-mating ($2.45/ewe), ewe liveweight at weaning ($0.66/ewe) and reduced dag score ($0.15/ewe). Other anthelmintic treatments all showed highly variable responses amongst trials, with some negative cost-benefits. There was no significant difference between any of the treatments except a short-acting oral treatment at tail-docking had a

Effects of thermo-chemical pre-treatment on anaerobic biodegradability and hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fernandes, T.; Klaasse Bos, G.J.; Zeeman, G.; Sanders, J.P.M.; Lier, van J.B.

2009-01-01

The effects of different thermo-chemical pre-treatment methods were determined on the biodegradability and hydrolysis rate of lignocellulosic biomass. Three plant species, hay, straw and bracken were thermo-chemically pre-treated with calcium hydroxide, ammonium carbonate and maleic acid. After

Effect of sample pre-treatment on the determination of steroid esters in hair of bovine calves

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aqai, P.; Stolker, A.A.M.; Lasaroms, J.J.P.

2009-01-01

The effect of three sample pre-treatment steps, washing, cutting and grinding on the determination of steroid esters in hair is studied. The study is performed by using hair samples obtained after pour-on application of steroid esters to bovine calves. After sample pre-treatment the hair is treated

Eldecalcitol normalizes bone turnover markers regardless of their pre-treatment levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiraki, Masataka; Saito, Hitoshi; Matsumoto, Toshio

2012-09-01

Three-year treatment with eldecalcitol has been shown to improve lumbar and total hip bone mineral density (BMD), decrease bone turnover markers, and lower the incidences of vertebral and wrist fractures in patients with osteoporosis more than with treatment with alfacalcidol under vitamin D repletion. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a risk of eldecalcitol causing severely suppressed bone turnover in osteoporosis patients with low pre-treatment levels of bone turnover markers. Post-hoc analysis was conducted on the data from a 3-year, randomized, double-blind, active-comparator, clinical trial of eldecalcitol versus alfacalcidol under vitamin D repletion conducted in Japan. Enrolled patients with baseline measurements of bone turnover markers were stratified into tertiles according to their pre-treatment levels of serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, serum procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide, or urinary collagen-N-telopeptide. Eldecalcitol treatment rapidly reduced bone turnover markers, and kept them within the normal range. However, in the patients whose baseline values for bone turnover were low, eldecalcitol treatment did not further reduce bone turnover markers during the 3-year treatment period. Further long-term observation may be required to reach the conclusion. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV NUMBER: NCT00144456. Eldecalcitol normalizes, but does not overly suppress, bone turnover regardless of baseline levels of bone turnover markers. Thus, it is unlikely that eldecalcitol treatment will increase the risk of severely suppressed bone turnover and therefore deterioration of bone quality, at least for a treatment duration of 3 years.

Enhancing translation: guidelines for standard pre-clinical experiments in mdx mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Willmann, Raffaella; De Luca, Annamaria; Benatar, Michael; Grounds, Miranda; Dubach, Judith; Raymackers, Jean-Marc; Nagaraju, Kanneboyina

2012-01-01

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is an X-linked disorder that affects boys and leads to muscle wasting and death due to cardiac involvement and respiratory complications. The cause is the absence of dystrophin, a large structural protein indispensable for muscle cell function and viability. The mdx mouse has become the standard animal model for pre-clinical evaluation of potential therapeutic treatments. Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the number of experimental compounds being evaluated in the mdx mouse. There is, however, much variability in the design of these pre-clinical experimental studies. This has made it difficult to interpret and compare published data from different laboratories and to evaluate the potential of a treatment for application to patients. The authors therefore propose the introduction of a standard study design for the mdx mouse model. Several aspects, including animal care, sampling times and choice of tissues, as well as recommended endpoints and methodologies are addressed and, for each aspect, a standard procedure is proposed. Testing of all new molecules/drugs using a widely accepted and agreed upon standard experimental protocol would greatly improve the power of pre-clinical experimentations and help identifying promising therapies for the translation into clinical trials for boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of pre-sowing treatments on seed germination and seedling ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Pre-sowing treatments were evaluated for Tetracarpidium conophorum. Mechanically scarified T. conophorum seeds soaked in indole acetic acid for 24 h yielded 90% seed germination. Smoked- and sun-dried seeds for 14 days yielded 73 and 33.3% seed germination, respectively. Poorest values were obtained from acid ...

Effects of pre-harvest methyl jasmonate treatment on post-harvest ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... quality and bioactive compounds of three different Japanese plums under storage conditions. Materials and Methods: The effects of pre-harvest methyl jasmonate treatment (MeJA) on weight loss, color characteristics (L*, C* and h°), firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), total phenolics (TP) and total ...

[Rasagiline in daily clinical use. Results of a treatment study of Parkinson patients with a combination treatment].

Science.gov (United States)

Jost, W H; Klasser, M; Reichmann, H

2008-10-01

, rigidity, bradykinesia) the total score was reduced from 6.2 to 4.8, within the other items from 14.7 to 11.5. The proportion of patients without OFF-periods increased from 33.3% to 49.5%. Determined from "24-hours" home diaries, time spend in the OFF-state during wake time decreased from 120 minutes to 45 minutes. In all 8 aspects of quality of life rated by the patients an reduction of the disability could be documented. The PDQ-39 total score was reduced from 36.4 by 7.3 points (20.1%). In total, 29 of the 545 patients who received rasagiline as combination therapy had switched directly from previous combination therapy with selegiline. In this subgroup CURS total score improved from 17.0 to 12.9 points during treatment. The proportion of patients without OFF-periods increased from 36% to 48% and the daily time spent in the OFF-state was reduced from 45 minutes to 30 minutes. The PDQ-39 total score improved by 6.5 points (22.2%). All in all, adverse events were reported by 8.4% of the patients. In conclusion this post-marketing observational study has shown that in patients with pre-existing combination therapy the add-on medication of rasagiline resulted in improvements of motor and non-motor functions. Furthermore, motor complications were significantly reduced and led to an improved quality of life in the self-estimation of the patients. This also applies to those patients with selegiline pre-treatment.

Effect of some pre-treatments on the adsorption of methylene blue by Balkaya lignite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karaca, S.; Guerses, A.; Bayrak, R.

2004-01-01

In this study, the effects of some pre-treatments, such as HCl treatment, demineralization and pyrolysis, under a CO 2 atmosphere at different temperatures on the adsorption of methylene blue by Balkaya lignite were investigated. The adsorption capacities of the samples were determined before and after these pre-treatments. In addition, the removals of pyritic and organic sulfur and ash contents for the same coal samples were also defined. It was found that the adsorption capacities of the samples decreased after these pre-treatments. The decrease in adsorption capacity with pyrolysis can be attributed to the changes in surface morphology and/or pore size distribution of the coal samples. On the other hand, the observed decrease in adsorption capacity with removal of carbonates and silicates shows that these minerals have an important effect on methylene blue adsorption, and the adsorption considerably occurs through electrostatic interactions. In addition, the obtained results showed that the organic sulfur presence in the coal matrix have a positive effect on the methylene blue adsorption

Team-based learning on a third-year pediatric clerkship improves NBME subject exam blood disorder scores

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Kris Saudek

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: At our institution, speculation amongst medical students and faculty exists as to whether team-based learning (TBL can improve scores on high-stakes examinations over traditional didactic lectures. Faculty with experience using TBL developed and piloted a required TBL blood disorders (BD module for third-year medical students on their pediatric clerkship. The purpose of this study is to analyze the BD scores from the NBME subject exams before and after the introduction of the module. Methods: We analyzed institutional and national item difficulties for BD items from the NBME pediatrics content area item analysis reports from 2011 to 2014 before (pre and after (post the pilot (October 2012. Total scores of 590 NBME subject examination students from examinee performance profiles were analyzed pre/post. t-Tests and Cohen's d effect sizes were used to analyze item difficulties for institutional versus national scores and pre/post comparisons of item difficulties and total scores. Results: BD scores for our institution were 0.65 (±0.19 compared to 0.62 (±0.15 nationally (P=0.346; Cohen's d=0.15. The average of post-consecutive BD scores for our students was 0.70(±0.21 compared to examinees nationally [0.64 (±0.15] with a significant mean difference (P=0.031; Cohen's d=0.43. The difference in our institutions pre [0.65 (±0.19] and post [0.70 (±0.21] BD scores trended higher (P=0.391; Cohen's d=0.27. Institutional BD scores were higher than national BD scores for both pre and post, with an effect size that tripled from pre to post scores. Institutional BD scores increased after the use of the TBL module, while overall exam scores remained steadily above national norms. Conclusions: Institutional BD scores were higher than national BD scores for both pre and post, with an effect size that tripled from pre to post scores. Institutional BD scores increased after the use of the TBL module, while overall exam scores remained steadily above

Pre-treatment Social Anxiety Severity Moderates the Impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Aerobic Exercise

Science.gov (United States)

Jazaieri, Hooria; Lee, Ihno A.; Goldin, Philippe R.; Gross, James J.

2015-01-01

We examined whether social anxiety severity at pre-treatment would moderate the impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or Aerobic Exercise (AE) for generalized social anxiety disorder. MBSR and AE produced equivalent reductions in weekly social anxiety symptoms. Improvements were moderated by pre-treatment social anxiety severity. PMID:25684277

Ultrasound assisted biogas production from co-digestion of wastewater sludges and agricultural wastes: Comparison with microwave pre-treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Aylin Alagöz, B; Yenigün, Orhan; Erdinçler, Ayşen

2018-01-01

This study investigates the effect of ultrasonication and microwave sludge disintegration/pre-treatment techniques on the anaerobic co-digestion efficiency of wastewater sludges with olive and grape pomaces. The effects of both co-digestion and sludge pre-treatment techniques were evaluated in terms of the organic removal efficiency and the biogas production. The "co-digestion" of wastewater sludge with both types of pomaces was revealed to be a much more efficient way for the biogas production compared to the single (mono) sludge digestion. The ultrasonication and microwave pre-treatments applied to the sludge samples caused to a further increase in biogas and methane yields. Based on applied specific energies, ultrasonication pre-treatment was found much more effective than microwave irradiation. The specific energy applied in microwave pre-treatment (87,000kj/kgTS) was almost 9 times higher than that of used in ultrasonication (10,000kj/kgTS), resulting only 10-15% increases in biogas/methane yield. Co-digestion of winery and olive industry residues with pre-treated wastewater sludges appears to be a suitable technique for waste management and energy production. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Safety Aspects of Nuclear Waste Treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glubrecht, H.

1986-01-01

In the nuclear fuel cycle - like in most other industrial processes - some waste is produced which can be harmful to the environment and has to be stored safely and isolated from the Biosphere. This radioactive waste can be compared with toxic chemical waste under many aspects, but it has some special features, some of which make its handling more difficult, others make it easier. The difficulties are that radioactive waste does not only affect living organisms after incorporation, but also from some distance through its radiation. Therefore this waste has not only to be encapsuled, but also shielded. At higher concentrations radioactive waste produces heat and this has to be continuously derived from the storage area. On the other hand the control of even extremely small amounts of radioactive waste is very much easier than that of toxic chemical waste due to the high sensitivity of radiation detection methods. Furthermore radioactive waste is not persistent like most of the chemical waste. Of course some components will decay only after millennia, but a high percentage of radioactive waste becomes inactive after days, weeks or years. An important feature of safety aspects related to nuclear waste is the fact that problems of its treatment and storage have been discussed from the very beginning of Nuclear Energy Technology - what has not been the case in relation to most other industrial wastes

Studies on some quantitative characters in the M2 generation in jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) originating after pre-irradiation treatments with hydroxylamine and pre- and post-irradiation treatments with colchicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bose, S.; Chakrabarti, C.C.; Banerjee, B.

1977-01-01

Studies on quantitative characters have been made on M 2 mutants like - slender plants with many branches and oval shaped leaves, plants with bifurcation at the base of the stem, stout dwarf plants with many branches, slender plants with many branches, small, slender plants with lesser number of branches, slender, tall plants with many branches, tall plants with crincked leaves and many branches and in the bulk type having many branches and tall habit. The bulk types originated after pre-irradiation treatment with hydroxylamine, colchicine and post-irradiation treatment with colchicine and the mutants originated after pre-irradiation treatment with hydroxylamine and distilled water. The quantitative characters taken into consideration were plant height, basal diameter, number of nodes per plant, number pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and 100 seed weight. (author)

Diffusion-weighted MRI characteristics of the cerebral metastasis to brain boundary predicts patient outcomes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zakaria, Rasheed; Das, Kumar; Radon, Mark; Bhojak, Maneesh; Rudland, Philip R; Sluming, Vanessa; Jenkinson, Michael D

2014-01-01

Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) has been used in neurosurgical practice mainly to distinguish cerebral metastases from abscess and glioma. There is evidence from other solid organ cancers and metastases that DWI may be used as a biomarker of prognosis and treatment response. We therefore investigated DWI characteristics of cerebral metastases and their peritumoral region recorded pre-operatively and related these to patient outcomes. Retrospective analysis of 76 cases operated upon at a single institution with DWI performed pre-operatively at 1.5T. Maps of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were generated using standard protocols. Readings were taken from the tumor, peritumoral region and across the brain-tumor interface. Patient outcomes were overall survival and time to local recurrence. A minimum ADC greater than 919.4 × 10 -6 mm 2 /s within a metastasis predicted longer overall survival regardless of adjuvant therapies. This was not simply due to differences between the types of primary cancer because the effect was observed even in a subgroup of 36 patients with the same primary, non-small cell lung cancer. The change in diffusion across the tumor border and into peritumoral brain was measured by the “ADC transition coefficient” or ATC and this was more strongly predictive than ADC readings alone. Metastases with a sharp change in diffusion across their border (ATC >0.279) showed shorter overall survival compared to those with a more diffuse edge. The ATC was the only imaging measurement which independently predicted overall survival in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio 0.54, 95% CI 0.3 – 0.97, p = 0.04). DWI demonstrates changes in the tumor, across the tumor edge and in the peritumoral region which may not be visible on conventional MRI and this may be useful in predicting patient outcomes for operated cerebral metastases

Pre- and Peri-/Post-Compaction Follistatin Treatment Increases In Vitro Production of Cattle Embryos.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guo Zhenhua

Full Text Available Our previous studies demonstrated that maternal (oocyte derived follistatin (FST expression is positively associated with bovine oocyte competence and exogenous follistatin treatment during the pre-compaction period of development (d 1-3 post insemination is stimulatory to bovine early embryogenesis in vitro [blastocyst rates and cell numbers/allocation to trophectoderm (TE]. In the present study, bovine embryos were treated with exogenous follistatin during d 1-3, d 4-7 and d 1-7 post insemination to test the hypothesis that embryotropic effects of exogenous follistatin are specific to the pre-compaction period (d 1-3 of early embryogenesis. Follistatin treatment during d 4-7 (peri-/post-compaction period of embryo culture increased proportion of embryos reaching blastocyst and expanded blastocyst stage and total cell numbers compared to controls, but blastocyst rates and total cell numbers were lower than observed following d 1-3 (pre-compaction follistatin treatment. Follistatin supplementation during d 1-7 of embryo culture increased development to blastocyst and expanded blastocyst stages and blastocyst total cell numbers compared to d 1-3 and d 4-7 follistatin treatment and untreated controls. A similar increase in blastocyst CDX2 mRNA and protein (TE cell marker was observed in response to d 1-3, d 4-7 and d 1-7 follistatin treatment. However, an elevation in blastocyst BMP4 protein (TE cell regulator was observed in response to d 1-3 and d 1-7, but not d 4-7 (peri-/post-compaction follistatin treatment. In summary, our study revealed the potential utility of follistatin treatment for increasing the success rate of in vitro embryo production in cattle. Such results also expand our understanding of the embryotropic actions of follistatin and demonstrate that follistatin actions on blastocyst development and cell allocation to the TE layer are not specific to the pre-compaction period.

Interpreting patient decisional conflict scores: behavior and emotions in decisions about treatment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Knops, Anouk M.; Goossens, Astrid; Ubbink, Dirk T.; Legemate, Dink A.; Stalpers, Lukas J.; Bossuyt, Patrick M.

2013-01-01

Patient decision aids facilitate treatment decisions. They are often evaluated in terms of their effect on decisional conflict, as measured by the Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS). It is unclear to what extent lower DCS scores are accompanied by observable patient behavior or emotions. To help

[Relieving pre-exam anxiety syndrome with wrist-ankle acupuncture: a randomized controlled trial].

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Shi; Li, Tong-ming; Fang, Fan-fu; He, Hou-luo; Zhou, Qing-hui; Gu, Wei; Zhou, Shuang

2011-06-01

Pre-exam anxiety syndrome is a common condition occurring in pre-exam students and directly affects their examination performance and physical state. Wrist-ankle acupuncture has significant therapeutic effects in treating mental disorders and may also relieve the symptoms of pre-exam anxiety syndrome. To assess the therapeutic effect of wrist-ankle acupuncture on pre-exam anxiety syndrome. A total of 60 students who met the inclusion criteria of pre-exam anxiety syndrome were enrolled from a university in Shanghai and they were randomly divided into treatment group and control group. There were 30 cases in each group, and no case failed to follow-up. In the treatment group, wrist-ankle acupuncture was adopted to point upper 1 bilaterally (impression between flexor carpi ulnaris tendon and ulnar margin), and there was no requirement for Deqi (arrival of qi). In the control group, sham acupuncture was adopted. The treatment was applied 3 times totally in both groups one week before the exam, once every other day, each time with the needles retained for 30 min. The therapeutic effects were compared between two groups. Before and after 3 treatments, Sarason Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) and Expectation and Treatment Credibility Scale (ETCS) were measured and evaluated. The therapeutic effect experienced by the treatment group was better than that of the control group (PETCS before treatment between the two groups. The scores of TAS after treatment in two groups were higher than those before treatment (PETCS than those in the control group (P<0.05, P<0.01). No adverse reaction was reported. Wrist-ankle acupuncture can relieve the symptoms of pre-exam anxiety syndrome significantly, and this therapy is highly safe.

Sleep quality and psychobiological aspects of Brazilian Paralympic athletes in the London 2012 pre-Paralympics period

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dayane Ferreira Rodrigues

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of the study was to evaluate the psychobiological aspects of the Paralympic athletes athletics mode, before the London Paralympic Games 2012. We evaluated 40 athletes without 31 men and 9 women who were selected by the Brazilian Paralympic Committee to be part of the Brazilian delegation. For the evaluation of psychobiological aspects used questionnaires: Trait Anxiety Inventory-State, POMS, the Beck Depression questionnaire Pittsburgh Epworth Scale to assess, respectively, anxiety, mood, depression, sleep and sleepiness. For trait anxiety and state anxiety, athletes exhibited a mean level of anxiety in relation to the profile of mood states and higher intensity values than any other dimensions. The lower total sleep time was in athletes with bad sleep, sleep deficiency was lower in athletes with poor sleep and total sleep time was lower for those who had efficiency < 85%. All psychobiological variables evaluated in pre-competition period were normal for the athletes of the Brazilian Paralympic athletics team that took part in the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

EMC Pre-Compliance Tests and Educational Aspects

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Lia Elena Aciu

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to present the obtained results at the pre-compliance EMC measurements according to the European standards for a microcontroller based device. The EMC measurements fulfils the students’ education in electronics and electrical engineering, who after building microcontroller devices can see the impact on the environment and the immunity to electromagnetic disturbances.

Optimization of the pre-aging treatment for an AA6022 alloy at various temperatures and holding times

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Lipeng; He, Yang; Wen, Zhang; Zhao, Pizhi; Jia, Zhihong; Liu, Qing

2015-01-01

The effect of pre-aging at four different temperatures and three holding times on the natural aging and the bake hardening response of an AA6022 alloys were studied by Vickers microhardness measurement, tensile test, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was revealed that pre-aging immediately after quenching is effective in suppressing the natural aging and improving the bake hardening response (BHR), which is attributed to the readily formation of Cluster(2) during pre-aging treatment as well as depressing of Cluster(1). The optimum pre-aging treatments were exploited as: 80 °C for 8 h; 100 °C for 3 h; 130 °C for 20 min and 170 °C for 5 min. By considering the practical process requirement pre-aging at 100 °C for 3 h gives a better BHR without impairing the formability in T4P temper, which has the potential to be used in industrial production. - Highlights: • Pre-aging treatment improves T4 hardness and BHR by modifying the cluster forming. • The suitable holding time for each pre-aging temperature is given. • The optimum pre-aging process of 100 °C for 3 h is suggested

DWI-associated entire-tumor histogram analysis for the differentiation of low-grade prostate cancer from intermediate-high-grade prostate cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Chen-Jiang; Wang, Qing; Li, Hai; Wang, Xiao-Ning; Liu, Xi-Sheng; Shi, Hai-Bin; Zhang, Yu-Dong

2015-10-01

To investigate diagnostic efficiency of DWI using entire-tumor histogram analysis in differentiating the low-grade (LG) prostate cancer (PCa) from intermediate-high-grade (HG) PCa in comparison with conventional ROI-based measurement. DW images (b of 0-1400 s/mm(2)) from 126 pathology-confirmed PCa (diameter >0.5 cm) in 110 patients were retrospectively collected and processed by mono-exponential model. The measurement of tumor apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) was performed with using histogram-based and ROI-based approach, respectively. The diagnostic ability of ADCs from two methods for differentiating LG-PCa (Gleason score, GS ≤ 6) from HG-PCa (GS > 6) was determined by ROC regression, and compared by McNemar's test. There were 49 LG-tumor and 77 HG-tumor at pathologic findings. Histogram-based ADCs (mean, median, 10th and 90th) and ROI-based ADCs (mean) showed dominant relationships with ordinal GS of Pca (ρ = -0.225 to -0.406, p Histogram 10th ADCs had dominantly high Az (0.738), Youden index (0.415), and positive likelihood ratio (LR+, 2.45) in stratifying tumor GS against mean, median and 90th ADCs, and ROI-based ADCs. Histogram mean, median, and 10th ADCs showed higher specificity (65.3%-74.1% vs. 44.9%, p histogram analysis had higher specificity, Az, Youden index, and LR+ for differentiation of PCa Gleason grade than ROI-based approach.

Renal zoomed EPI-DWI with spatially-selective radiofrequency excitation pulses in two dimensions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He, Yong-Lan, E-mail: ylhe_526@163.com [Department of Radiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing (China); Hausmann, Daniel, E-mail: daniel.hausmann@medma.uni-heidelberg.de [Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim – Heidelberg University, Mannheim (Germany); Morelli, John N., E-mail: dr.john.morelli@gmail.com [St. John' s Medical Center, Tulsa, OK (United States); Attenberger, Ulrike I., E-mail: ulrike.attenberger@medma.uni-heidelberg.de [Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim – Heidelberg University, Mannheim (Germany); Schoenberg, Stefan O., E-mail: stefan.schoenberg@umm.de [Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim – Heidelberg University, Mannheim (Germany); Riffel, Philipp, E-mail: philipp.riffel@umm.de [Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim – Heidelberg University, Mannheim (Germany)

2016-10-15

Highlights: • Renal zoomed diffusion-weighted imaging with spatially-selective radiofrequency excitation pulses is feasible. • z-EPI offers considerable potential for mitigating the limitations of conventional EPI techniques. • z-EPI of kidney may lead to substantial image quality improvements with reduced artifacts. - Abstract: Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and clinical robustness of zoomed diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging (z-EPI) relative to conventional single-shot EPI (c-EPI) for DWI of the kidneys. Materials and methods: This retrospective study was approved by the institutional research ethics board. 66 patients (median age 58.5 years ± 13.4, range 23–83 years, 45 men, 21 women) undergoing 3T (Magnetom Skyra{sup ®}, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany) using a dynamic parallel transmit array (TimTX TrueShape, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany) for renal MRI were included in this study. Both c-EPI and z-EPI images were obtained. For z-EPI, a two-dimensional spatially-selective radiofrequency (RF) pulse was applied for echo planar imaging with the FOV reduced by a factor of 3. Two radiologists, blinded to clinical data and scan parameters evaluated the images with respect to their diagnostic confidence, overall preference, overall image quality, delineation of the kidney, spatial distortion, and image blur. Sequences were compared using a paired Wilcoxon test. ADC values for the upper pole, mid-zone, lower pole of the normal kidneys were compared between sequences as well as ADC values for renal lesions, using a paired t-test. Results: With z-EPI, the kidney was significantly better delineated with sharper boundaries, less image blur and distortion, and overall better image quality relative to c-EPI (all p < 0.001). The z-EPI technique led to greater diagnostic confidence than c-EPI (p = 0.020). z-EPI was preferred to c-EPI in 60 cases (90.9%, 60/66). No statistically significant differences in the ADC values of renal parenchyma or

Renal zoomed EPI-DWI with spatially-selective radiofrequency excitation pulses in two dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Yong-Lan; Hausmann, Daniel; Morelli, John N.; Attenberger, Ulrike I.; Schoenberg, Stefan O.; Riffel, Philipp

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Renal zoomed diffusion-weighted imaging with spatially-selective radiofrequency excitation pulses is feasible. • z-EPI offers considerable potential for mitigating the limitations of conventional EPI techniques. • z-EPI of kidney may lead to substantial image quality improvements with reduced artifacts. - Abstract: Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and clinical robustness of zoomed diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging (z-EPI) relative to conventional single-shot EPI (c-EPI) for DWI of the kidneys. Materials and methods: This retrospective study was approved by the institutional research ethics board. 66 patients (median age 58.5 years ± 13.4, range 23–83 years, 45 men, 21 women) undergoing 3T (Magnetom Skyra ® , Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany) using a dynamic parallel transmit array (TimTX TrueShape, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany) for renal MRI were included in this study. Both c-EPI and z-EPI images were obtained. For z-EPI, a two-dimensional spatially-selective radiofrequency (RF) pulse was applied for echo planar imaging with the FOV reduced by a factor of 3. Two radiologists, blinded to clinical data and scan parameters evaluated the images with respect to their diagnostic confidence, overall preference, overall image quality, delineation of the kidney, spatial distortion, and image blur. Sequences were compared using a paired Wilcoxon test. ADC values for the upper pole, mid-zone, lower pole of the normal kidneys were compared between sequences as well as ADC values for renal lesions, using a paired t-test. Results: With z-EPI, the kidney was significantly better delineated with sharper boundaries, less image blur and distortion, and overall better image quality relative to c-EPI (all p < 0.001). The z-EPI technique led to greater diagnostic confidence than c-EPI (p = 0.020). z-EPI was preferred to c-EPI in 60 cases (90.9%, 60/66). No statistically significant differences in the ADC values of renal parenchyma or of

Fungicidal Effects of Plasma and Radio-Wave Pre-treatments on Seeds of Grain Crops and Legumes

Science.gov (United States)

Filatova, Irina; Azharonok, Viktor; Shik, Alexander; Antoniuk, Alexandra; Terletskaya, Natalia

An influence of RF plasma and RF electromagnetic field pre-treatments on level of fungal infection of some important agricultural plants has been studied. It is shown that pre-sowing plasma and radio-wave seeds treatments contribute to their germination enhancement and plant productivity improvement owing to stimulative and fungicidal effect of plasma and RF electromagnetic field irradiation.

Combination laser treatment for immediate post-surgical scars: a retrospective analysis of 33 immature scars.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yongsoo; Kim, Wooram

2017-07-01

The application of laser treatments beginning on the day of stitch removal has been demonstrated to improve scar quality. However, there are few guidelines for the treatment of immature scars (ISs), which are defined as "scars whose features are not yet expressed." The purpose of this study was to extract information about early combination laser treatment (CLT) beyond what is currently known by analyzing 33 pairs of pre-treatment and post-treatment photographs of ISs. Two hundred fifty medical records of patients with scars were reviewed, and 33 scars were included in the study. The included scars were treated with vascular lasers (585 or 532 nm) followed by 1550-nm fractional lasers from May 2014 to July 2015 (fewer than 52 days after stitch removal, Fitzpatrick's skin types III-IV, mean age = 16.0 years). Blinded evaluators (one plastic surgeon and two dermatologists) evaluated the pre-treatment and post-treatment photographs. The pre-treatment photographs were scored on a spectrum from "0," when no difference with the surrounding unaffected skin was observed, to "100," when the worst scarring was present. The pre-treatment and post-treatment photographs were compared, and the results were graded on a spectrum from 0, when no difference between the pre-treatment and post-treatment photographs was observed, to 100, when no difference was observed between the post-treatment skin and the surrounding unaffected skin. Statistical analyses were performed with PASW 17.0, SPSS Korea, Seoul, Korea (p laser groups. Patient age and Wtd score were negatively correlated, and a significant difference was observed in the Wtd scores between the age groups (≥15 and lasers are equally effective for CLT of ISs.

Ozonation and thermal pre-treatment of municipal sewage sludge – Implications for toxicity and methane potential

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsson, A.; Eriksson, Eva; Fick, J.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects on the methane potential and the overall sludge quality from two different sludge pre-treatment technologies (ozonation high/low dosage and thermal treatment 55/70 °C). In general both treatments gave an increased methane potential. The thermal t...... treatment resulted in higher chemical oxygen demand (COD)-solubilisation, while the highest volatile fatty acids (VFA) increase was obtained with ozonation. The sludges had inhibiting effects in a barley seed germination assay and a yeast oestrogen screen both before and after pre...

Treatment time and occlusal outcome of orthognathic therapy in the East of England region.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeremiah, Huw G; Cousley, Richard R; Newton, Tim; Abela, Stefan

2012-09-01

To evaluate the process of combined orthognathic and orthodontic care. To identify factors that affect treatment time and percentage Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) reduction, and the PAR efficiency factor for such cases. Retrospective multi centre study of patients who underwent orthognathic treatment in the East of England region. Analysis of consecutive cases that underwent orthognathic surgery in 2008. Inclusion criteria included pre- and post-surgery orthodontic treatment. Ten orthodontic units submitted data for a total of 118 patients. Within the sample, 64% were class III, 35% class II/1 and 1% class II/2. Overall extraction rate, excluding third molars, was 58%. Median age at bond up was 17 years. Mean total number of orthodontic attendances was 23. Median length of pre-surgical orthodontics was 23 months and post-surgical orthodontics was 7 months. Median length of total treatment was 29 months. Mean wait for surgery was 3·6 months. Diagnosis of incisor relationship and skeletal base, transfer of operator, total number of visits, tooth extraction and treatment unit affected treatment duration. Median pre- and post-treatment PAR scores were 43 and 4, respectively. Median change in PAR score was 38·5. Median per cent reduction in PAR was 90·6%. The median PAR efficiency factor (reduction in PAR score divided by treatment time in months) was 1·24. Diagnosis of incisor relationship and skeletal base correlated with percentage reduction in PAR score. Combined orthognathic treatment was effective. Factors affecting treatment duration and percentage reduction in PAR have been established.

Fifteen-minute music intervention reduces pre-radiotherapy anxiety in oncology patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lee-Chen; Wang, Tze-Fang; Shih, Yi-Nuo; Wu, Le-Jung

2013-08-01

Oncology patients may respond to radiation treatment with anxiety expressed as stress, fear, depression, and frustration. This study aimed to investigate effects of music intervention on reducing pre-radiotherapy anxiety in oncology patients. Quasi-experimental study with purposeful sampling was conducted in the Department of Radiation Oncology, at Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Subjects were assigned into a music group (n = 100) receiving 15 min of music therapy prior to radiation and a control group (n = 100) receiving 15 min rest prior to radiation. Both groups were evaluated for pre- and post-test anxiety using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Physiological indicators of anxiety were measured pre- and post-test. Baseline State/Trait scores and vital signs were comparable between groups (P > 0.05). Mean change in pre- and post-test State/Trait scores showed significant decreases from baseline to post-test in both groups (all P music therapy and control groups in mean change of State anxiety scores (mean decreases 7.19 and 1.04, respectively; P music and control groups (-5.69 ± 0.41 mmHg vs. -0.67 ± 1.29 mmHg, respectively; P = 0.009). Music therapy decreased State anxiety levels, Trait anxiety levels and systolic blood pressure in oncology patients who received the intervention prior to radiotherapy. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of pre-fermentation and pulsed-electric-field treatment of primary sludge in microbial electrochemical cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Ki, Dongwon; Parameswaran, Prathap; Popat, Sudeep C; Rittmann, Bruce E; Torres, César I

2015-11-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the combination of two technologies - pulsed electric field (PEF) pre-treatment and semi-continuous pre-fermentation of primary sludge (PS) - to produce volatile fatty acids (VFAs) as the electron donor for microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). Pre-fermentation with a 3-day solids retention time (SRT) led to the maximum generation of VFAs, with or without pretreatment of the PS through pulsed-electric-fields (PEF). PEF treatment before fermentation enhanced the accumulation of the preferred VFA, acetate, by 2.6-fold. Correspondingly, MEC anodes fed with centrate from 3-day pre-fermentation of PEF-treated PS had a maximum current density ∼3.1 A/m(2), which was 2.4-fold greater than the control pre-fermented centrate. Over the full duration of batch MEC experiments, using pre-fermented centrate led to successful performance in terms of Coulombic efficiency (95%), Coulombic recovery (80%), and COD-removal efficiency (85%). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of thermal, chemical and thermo-chemical pre-treatments to enhance methane production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rafique, Rashad; Nizami, Abdul-Sattar; Murphy, Jerry D.; Kiely, Gerard [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University College Cork (Ireland); Poulsen, Tjalfe Gorm [Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Aalborg University (Denmark); Asam, Zaki-ul-Zaman [Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway (Ireland)

2010-12-15

The rise in oil price triggered the exploration and enhancement of various renewable energy sources. Producing biogas from organic waste is not only providing a clean sustainable indigenous fuel to the number of on-farm digesters in Europe, but also reducing the ecological and environmental deterioration. The lignocellulosic substrates are not completely biodegraded in anaerobic digesters operating at commercial scale due to their complex physical and chemical structure, which result in meager energy recovery in terms of methane yield. The focus of this study is to investigate the effect of pre-treatments: thermal, thermo-chemical and chemical pre-treatments on the biogas and methane potential of dewatered pig manure. A laboratory scale batch digester is used for these pre-treatments at different temperature range (25 C-150 C). Results showed that thermo-chemical pretreatment has high effect on biogas and methane potential in the temperature range (25-100 C). Maximum enhancement is observed at 70 C with increase of 78% biogas and 60% methane production. Thermal pretreatment also showed enhancement in the temperature range (50-10 C), with maximum enhancement at 100 C having 28% biogas and 25% methane increase. (author)

Diagnostic accuracy of pre-treatment biopsy for grading cutaneous mast cell tumours in dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, T; Kudnig, S T; Firestone, S M

2018-06-01

Mast cell tumours (MCTs) are common tumours of the canine skin, and are estimated to represent up to 20% of all skin tumours in dogs. Tumour grade has a major impact on the incidence of local recurrence and metastatic potential. In addition to helping the clinician with surgical planning, knowledge of the tumour grade also assists in proper prognostication and client education. For pre-treatment biopsies to be useful, there must exist a high level of correlation between the histopathological grade obtained from the pre-treatment biopsy and the actual histopathological grade from the excisional biopsy. The aim of this study was to determine concordance of tumour grade between various biopsy techniques (wedge, punch, needle core) and the "gold standard" excisional biopsy method. We found an overall concordance rate of 96% based on the Patnaik grading system, and an overall concordance rate of 92% based on the Kiupel grading system. The accuracy of the various biopsy techniques (wedge, punch and needle core) when compared with excisional biopsy was 92%, 100% and 100%, respectively, based on the Patnaik grading system, and 90%, 95% and 100%, respectively, based on the Kiupel grading system. Of the cases with discordant results, the pre-treatment biopsies tended to underestimate the grade of the tumour. Based on these results, we conclude that pre-treatment biopsies are sufficiently accurate for differentiating low-grade from high-grade MCTs, regardless of biopsy technique or tumour location. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Changes in conjunctival cytology and tear function tests with radioiodine treatment for hyperthyroidism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koca, Gökhan; Atilgan, Hasan Ikbal; Acar, Ugur

2013-01-01

Radioiodine (RAI) is used in the treatment of hyperthyroidism and differentiated thyroid cancer. Radioiodine therapy is associated with dry eyes and some side effects are seen especially due to beta rays. In this study, the functional and cytological status of lacrimal glands after RAI therapy was evaluated. Twenty-five patients with a mean age of 55.16 years with planned low-dose RAI therapy were evaluated. Just before and 6 months after the treatment, the lacrimal glands were evaluated with tear break-up time (BUT), Schirmer's test, impression cytology and ''Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI)'' questionnaire. The mean value of Schirmer's test was 16.20±3.61 pre-treatment and 11.28±4.39 post-treatment for the right eye, and 15.76±3.27 and 10.60±4.42 for the left eye, respectively. The mean value of Schirmer's test decreased significantly post-treatment in both eyes (p=0.0001). The BUT score also decreased significantly post-treatment (p=0.001). The mean value of OSDI score was 27.5±8.02 pre-treatment and 46.36±10.27 post-treatment. The mean value of OSDI score increased post-treatment (p=0.0001). The impression scores also increased post-treatment in both eyes (p=0.0001). Even low-dose (≤30 mci) RAI treatment affects lacrimal gland functions. Low-dose RAI causes a decrease in the value of Schirmer's test and the BUT test, and an increase in the value of OSDI score and impression scores. (author)

Environmentally friendly hybrid coatings for corrosion protection: silane based pre-treatments and nanostructured waterborne coatings

OpenAIRE

Fedel, Michele

2009-01-01

This thesis considers a nanotechnology approach based on the production of metals pre-treatments and organic coatings (a complete protection system at all) designed from the nanoscale. The final aim is to develop protection systems with improved corrosion protection properties and a low environmental impact. In particular, multifunctional silane hybrid molecules were used to design sol-gel pre-treatments for metals and to modify the inner structure of UV curable waterborne organic coatings...

Modification of Bi:YIG film properties by substrate surface ion pre-treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaposhnikov, A.N.; Prokopov, A.R.; Karavainikov, A.V.; Berzhansky, V.N.; Mikhailova, T.V.; Kotov, V.A.; Balabanov, D.E.; Sharay, I.V.; Salyuk, O.Y.; Vasiliev, M.; Golub, V.O.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Effects of substrates ion beam treatment on magnetoptical properties Bi:YIG films. • Substrate surface damage results in sign inversion of the magneto-optical effects. • Atomically smooth films growth takes place on low energy ions treated substrates. • High energy ions treatment results in selective nucleation mechanism of the growth. - Abstract: The effect of a controlled ion beam pre-treatment of (1 1 1)-oriented Gd 3 Ga 5 O 12 substrates on the magneto-optical properties and surface morphology of the ultrathin bismuth-substituted yttrium–iron garnet films with a composition Bi 2.8 Y 0.2 Fe 5 O 12 was studied. It has been shown that the observed sign inversion of magneto-optical effects (Faraday rotation and magnetic circular dichroism) observed in films that were deposited on the GGG substrate pre-treated by 1 keV and 4 keV Ar + ion beams is a result of the substrate surface amorphization caused by the ion bombardment

Liver Stiffness Decreases Rapidly in Response to Successful Hepatitis C Treatment and Then Plateaus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sweta Chekuri

Full Text Available To investigate the impact of a sustained virological response (SVR to hepatitis C virus (HCV treatment on liver stiffness (LS.LS, measured by transient elastography (FibroScan, demographic and laboratory data of patients treated with interferon (IFN-containing or IFN-free regimens who had an SVR24 (undetectable HCV viral load 24 weeks after the end of treatment were analyzed using two-tailed paired t-tests, Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon Signed-rank tests and linear regression. Two time intervals were investigated: pre-treatment to SVR24 and SVR24 to the end of follow-up. LS scores ≥ 12.5 kPa indicated LS-defined cirrhosis. A p-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant.The median age of the patients (n = 100 was 60 years [IQR (interquartile range 54-64; 72% were male; 60% were Caucasian; and 42% had cirrhosis pre-treatment according to the FibroScan measurement. The median LS score dropped from 10.40 kPa (IQR: 7.25-18.60 pre-treatment to 7.60 kPa (IQR: 5.60-12.38 at SVR24, p <0.01. Among the 42 patients with LS-defined cirrhosis pre-treatment, 25 (60% of patients still had LS scores ≥ 12.5 kPa at SVR24, indicating the persistence of cirrhosis. The median change in LS was similar in patients receiving IFN-containing and IFN-free regimens: -1.95 kPa (IQR: -5.75 --0.38 versus -2.40 kPa (IQR: -7.70 --0.23, p = 0.74. Among 56 patients with a post-SVR24 LS measurement, the LS score changed by an additional -0.90 kPa (IQR: -2.98-0.5 during a median follow-up time of 1.17 (IQR: 0.88-1.63 years, which was not a statistically significant decrease (p = 0.99.LS decreased from pre-treatment to SVR24, but did not decrease significantly during additional follow-up. Earlier treatment may be needed to reduce the burden of liver disease.

Optimizing the Risk Assessment in Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Comparison of 5 Scores Predicting 7 Outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tiago Cúrdia Gonçalves

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Although different scores have been suggested to predict outcomes in the setting of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB, few comparative studies between simplified versions of older scores and recent scores have been published. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of pre- (PreRS and postendoscopic Rockall scores (PostRS, the Glasgow-Blatchford score (GBS and its simplified version (sGBS, as well as the AIMS65 score in predicting different clinical outcomes. Methods: In this retrospective study, PreRS, PostRS, GBS, sGBS, and AIMS65 score were calculated, and then, areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were used to evaluate the performance of each score to predict blood transfusion, endoscopic therapy, surgery, admission to intensive/intermediate care unit, length of hospital stay, as well as 30-day rebleeding or mortality. Results: PreRS, PostRS, GBS, and sGBS were calculated for all the 433 included patients, but AIMS65 calculation was only possible for 315 patients. Only the PreRS and PostRS were able to fairly predict 30-day mortality. The GBS and sGBS were good in predicting blood transfusion and reasonable in predicting surgery. None of the studied scores were good in predicting the need for endoscopic therapy, admission to intensive/intermediate care unit, length of hospital stay, and 30-day rebleeding. Conclusions: Owing to the identified limitations, none of the 5 studied scores could be singly used to predict all the clinically relevant outcomes in the setting of UGIB. The sGBS was as precise as the GBS in predicting blood transfusion and surgery. The PreRS and PostRS were the only scores that could predict 30-day mortality. An algorithm using the PreRS and the sGBS as an initial approach to patients with UGIB is presented and suggested.

Pre-treatment technology for electrochemical detection of heavy metal lead and cadmium in food

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ke YAN

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Wet digestion is used as the pre-treatment technology for the electrochemical detection of heavy metals in food, and the complete wet digestion condition of food sample is optimized by electrochemical experiments. The results show that the experimental samples can be digested completely using the Nitric acid-hydrogen peroxide system and is not pre-digested after adding 10 mL nitric acid at 120~140 ℃ and adding 10~15 mL of hydrogen peroxide during the heating process. The correlation coefficient of electrochemical detect is 0.99 for digestion solution of the samples, and the recovery of standard addition is 82%~115%. Wet digestion as a pre-treatment technology of food samples. It can digest sample fully and meet the requirements of electrochemical detection.

Inhibition of ethanol-producing yeast and bacteria by degradation products produced during pre-treatment of biomass

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klinke, H.B.; Thomsen, A.B.; Ahring, Birgitte Kiær

2004-01-01

for ethanol fermentation. The resulting hydrolyzsates contain substances inhibitory to fermentation-depending on both the raw material (biomass) and the pre-treatment applied. An overview of the inhibitory effect on ethanol production by yeast and bacteria is presented. Apart from furans formed by sugar......An overview of the different inhibitors formed by pre-treatment of lignocellulosic materials and their inhibition of ethanol production in yeast and bacteria is given. Different high temperature physical pre-treatment methods are available to render the carbohydrates in lignocellulose accessible...... degradation, phenol monomers from lignin degradation are important co-factors in hydrolysate inhibition, and inhibitory effects of these aromatic compounds on different ethanol producing microorganisms is reviewed. The furans and phenols generally inhibited growth and ethanol production rate (Q...

The value of muscular and skeletal scores in the live animal and carcass classification scores as indicators of carcass composition in cattle.

Science.gov (United States)

Drennan, M J; McGee, M; Keane, M G

2008-05-01

The objective was to determine the relationship of muscular and skeletal scores taken on the live animal and carcass conformation and fat scores with carcass composition and value. Bulls (n = 48) and heifers (n = 37) of 0.75 to 1.0 late-maturing breed genotypes slaughtered at 16 and 20 months of age, respectively, were used. At 8 months of age (weaning) and immediately pre-slaughter, visual muscular scores were recorded for each animal and additionally skeletal scores were recorded pre-slaughter. Carcass weight, kidney and channel fat weight, carcass conformation and fat scores, fat depth over the longissimus dorsi muscle at the 12th (bulls) or 10th (heifers) rib and carcass length were recorded post-slaughter. Each carcass was subsequently dissected into meat, fat and bone using a commercial dissection procedure. Muscular scores taken pre-slaughter showed positive correlations with killing-out rate (r ≈ 0.65), carcass meat proportion (r ≈ 0.60), value (r ≈ 0.55) and conformation score (r ≈ 0.70), and negative correlations with carcass bone (r ≈ -0.60) and fat (r ≈ -0.4) proportions. Corresponding correlations with muscular scores at weaning were lower. Correlations of skeletal scores taken pre-slaughter, carcass length and carcass weight with killing-out rate and the various carcass traits were mainly not significant. Carcass fat depth and kidney and channel fat weight were negatively correlated with carcass meat proportion and value, and positively correlated with fat proportion. Correlations of carcass conformation score were positive (r = 0.50 to 0.68) with killing-out rate, carcass meat proportion and carcass value and negative with bone (r ≈ -0.56) and fat (r ≈ -0.40) proportions. Corresponding correlations with carcass fat score were mainly negative except for carcass fat proportion (r ≈ 0.79). A one-unit (scale 1 to 15) increase in carcass conformation score increased carcass meat proportion by 8.9 and 8.1 g/kg, decreased fat proportion by

Provision of Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) restorations to Chinese pre-school children--a 30-month evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, E C; Holmgren, C J

2001-01-01

The objectives of this study were: to provide restorations using the ART approach to pre-school children in Southern China in a kindergarten environment, using a high-strength glass-ionomer restorative material; to assess the acceptability of this approach and to evaluate on a longitudinal basis the restorations placed. A total of 170 ART restorations were placed in 95 children, aged 5.1 +/- 0.7 years, by seven final-year dental students using standard ART procedures and hand instruments. The restorations were evaluated every six months thereafter by two calibrated independent examiners using explorers and mouth-mirrors. 93% of the children reported that they did not feel pain during treatment and 86% were willing to receive ART restorations again. The cumulative 12- and 30-month survival rates of Class I restorations were 91% and 79%, respectively. The corresponding figures for Class V restorations were 79% and 70%, while those for Class II restorations were 75% and 51%. The failure rates of Class III and IV restorations were high with more than half of them scored as missing within the first year. The ART approach was shown to be acceptable to Chinese pre-school children for providing restorative dental care outside the traditional clinical setting. The success rates were high for Class I and V restorations in primary teeth, modest for Class II, and low for Class III and IV restorations.

Pre-operative assessment of residual disease in locally advanced breast cancer patients: A sequential study by quantitative diffusion weighted MRI as a function of therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Agarwal, Khushbu; Sharma, Uma; Sah, Rani G; Mathur, Sandeep; Hari, Smriti; Seenu, Vurthaluru; Parshad, Rajinder; Jagannathan, Naranamangalam R

2017-10-01

The potential of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) in assessing pathologic response and surgical margins in locally advanced breast cancer patients (n=38) undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy was investigated. DWI was performed at pre-therapy (Tp0), after I (Tp1) and III (Tp3) NACT at 1.5T. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of whole tumor (ADC WT ), solid tumor (ADC ST ), intra-tumoral necrosis (ADC Nec ) was determined. Further, ADC of 6 consecutive shells (5mm thickness each) including tumor margin to outside tumor margins (OM1 to OM5) was calculated and the data analyzed to define surgical margins. Of 38 patients, 6 were pathological complete responders (pCR), 19 partial responders (pPR) and 13 were non-responders (pNR). Significant increase was observed in ADC ST and ADC WT in pCR and pPR following therapy. Pre-therapy ADC was significantly lower in pCR compared to pPR and pNR indicating the heterogeneous nature of tumor which may affect drug perfusion and consequently the response. ADC of outside margins (OM1, OM2, and OM3) was significantly different among pCR, pPR and pNR at Tp3 which may serve as response predictive parameter. Further, at Tp3, ADC of outside margins (OM1, OM2, and OM3) was significantly lower compared to that seen at Tp0 in pCR, indicating the presence of residual disease in these shells. Pre-surgery information may serve as a guide to define cancer free margins and the extent of residual disease which may be useful in planning breast conservation surgery. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

MBR technology: a promising approach for the (pre-)treatment of hospital wastewater.

Science.gov (United States)

Beier, S; Cramer, C; Mauer, C; Köster, S; Schröder, H Fr; Pinnekamp, J

2012-01-01

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology is a very reliable and extensively tested solution for biological wastewater treatment. Nowadays, separate treatment of highly polluted wastewater streams especially from hospitals and other health care facilities is currently under investigation worldwide. In this context, the MBR technology will play a decisive role because an effluent widely cleaned up from solids and nutrients is absolutely mandatory for a subsequent further elimination of organic trace pollutants. Taking hospital wastewater as an example, the aim of this study was to investigate to what extent MBR technology is an adequate 'pre-treatment' solution for further elimination of trace pollutants. Therefore, we investigated - within a 2-year period - the performance of a full-scale hospital wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) equipped with a MBR by referring to conventional chemical and microbiological standard parameters. Furthermore, we measured the energy consumption and tested different operating conditions. According to our findings the MBR treatment of the hospital wastewater was highly efficient in terms of the removal of solids and nutrients. Finally, we did not observe any major adverse effects on the operation and performance of the MBR system which potentially could derive from the composition of the hospital wastewater. In total, the present study proved that MBR technology is a very efficient and reliable treatment approach for the treatment of highly polluted wastewater from hospitals and can be recommended as a suitable pre-treatment solution for further trace pollutant removal.

Pre-test probability risk scores and their use in contemporary management of patients with chest pain: One year stress echo cohort study

Science.gov (United States)

Demarco, Daniela Cassar; Papachristidis, Alexandros; Roper, Damian; Tsironis, Ioannis; Byrne, Jonathan; Monaghan, Mark

2015-01-01

Objectives To compare how patients with chest pain would be investigated, based on the two guidelines available for UK cardiologists, on the management of patients with stable chest pain. The UK National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline which was published in 2010 and the European society of cardiology (ESC) guideline published in 2013. Both guidelines utilise pre-test probability risk scores, to guide the choice of investigation. Design We undertook a large retrospective study to investigate the outcomes of stress echocardiography. Setting A large tertiary centre in the UK in a contemporary clinical practice. Participants Two thirds of the patients in the cohort were referred from our rapid access chest pain clinics. Results We found that the NICE risk score overestimates risk by 20% compared to the ESC Risk score. We also found that based on the NICE guidelines, 44% of the patients presenting with chest pain, in this cohort, would have been investigated invasively, with diagnostic coronary angiography. Using the ESC guidelines, only 0.3% of the patients would be investigated invasively. Conclusion The large discrepancy between the two guidelines can be easily reduced if NICE adopted the ESC risk score. PMID:26673458

Pre-Session Satiation as a Treatment for Stereotypy During Group Activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Rispoli, Mandy; Camargo, Síglia Hoher; Neely, Leslie; Gerow, Stephanie; Lang, Russell; Goodwyn, Fara; Ninci, Jennifer

2014-05-01

Individuals with developmental disabilities may engage in automatically reinforced behaviors that may interfere with learning opportunities. Manipulation of motivating operations has been shown to reduce automatically maintained behavior in some individuals. Considering behavioral indicators of satiation may assist in identifying the point at which an abolishing operation has begun to effect behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of pre-session satiation of automatic reinforcement on subsequent levels of stereotypy and activity engagement during group activities for three males ages 5 to 13 years with developmental disabilities. Following functional analyses with analogue conditions, an alternating treatment design compared a pre-session access to stereotypy condition with a no-pre-session access condition prior to group activity sessions. Results indicated that pre-session satiation of the putative reinforcer produced by stereotypy was effective in decreasing stereotypy and increasing activity engagement during subsequent group activities for all participants. These findings add to the literature supporting the effectiveness of abolishing operations to decrease automatically maintained stereotypy. © The Author(s) 2013.

Use of chemical pre-treatment based chromic acid; Uso de pre-tratamento quimico a base de acido cromico. Beneficios versus desvantagens

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Campos, Paulo Henrique Leite [TENARIS CONFAB S.A., Pindamonhangaba, SP (Brazil); Bibiano, Paulo de Tarso [SOCO-RIL do Brasil S.A., Pindamonhangaba, SP (Brazil); Koebsch, Andre; Mollica, Eduardo de Oliveira [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2005-07-01

In this work were going compared the polyethylene and FBE coatings performances in triple layer for tubes done with and without the presence of the pre-treatment chemist with chromic acid of the tube surface. The performance test chosen for accomplishes the comparison was the cathodic disbondment and hot water soak, for being this the test that has objective to improve the performance with the chromic acid application. The obtained results were going extracted of a factory database of TENARIS CONFAB S.A. in Pindamonhangaba - Sao Paulo. The adopted technical specification like reference for the tried coatings belonged to PETROBRAS S.A. Were compared also tests results of jobs using chromate and jobs that were not used pre-treatment. (author)

Process, engineering and design aspects of contaminated soil bioremediation. Pt. 1 In situ treatments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Fraja Frangipane, E.; Andreottola, G.; Tatano, F.

1995-01-01

The present paper is an up-to-date overview of contaminated soil bioremediation techniques, which are analyzed in detail with regard to main process, engineering and design aspects. General biochemical/kinetic aspects of bioremediation of contaminated soil, and in situ treatments, are discussed in this part one

Barley Seed Germination/Root Elongation Toxicity Test For Evaluation Of Sludge Pre-Treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eriksson, Eva; Kusk, Kresten Ole; Barrett Sørensen, Mie

Application of sludge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) on agricultural land is an approach for nutrient recycling that rise challenges due to recalcitrant and harmful pollutants. In this study we assessed the feasibility of a seed germination test to evaluate sludge ecotoxicity and compared...... germination responses from two test parameters, root elongation and seed germination (sprouts elongation) of the barley (Hordeum vulgare). 2nd objective was to evaluate sewage sludge pre-treatments at batch-scale of sludge samples from two WWTPs using anaerobic digestion, and thermal and ozonation pre......-treatments. Glyphosate and eco-labelled soil were used as references. Inhibition of germination of seeds exposed to the glyphosate and sludge was registered and thus germination was successfully applied for sludge ecotoxicity assessment, and using the root elongation as the end-point was both faster and more precise...

Stress perception among patients in pre-colonoscopy period and those undergoing chemotherapy treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graziela de Souza Alves da Silva

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: comparing the perception of stress among patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy with those in pre-colonoscopy period. Methods: a comparative descriptive study developed with 144 people receiving chemotherapy and 100 patients in the pre-colonoscopy period, using biosocial and clinical data, Stress Assessment Tool and Perceived Stress Scale. Results: a predominance of females (73%, aged over 65 (50% were predominant for the pre-colonoscopy period patients. In patients receiving chemotherapy, gender parity with ages ranging from 40-64 years (68.1% was observed. Pre-colonoscopy patients showed higher perceived stress compared to those receiving chemotherapy (p <0.001. Conclusion: the phase of diagnostic definition represents greater stress to patients in comparison to period of treatment, even despite the characteristic manifestations of chemotherapy.

Detrimental effects of rat mesenchymal stromal cell pre-treatment in a model of acute kidney rejection

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Martina eSeifert

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC have shown immunomodulatory and tissue repair potential including partial tolerance induction by pre-treatment of donor-specific cells in a rat heart transplantation model. Very recently, we could show that autologous MSC attenuated ischemia reperfusion injury in a highly mismatched donor-recipient rat kidney transplant model. Therefore, we investigated donor-specific MSC pre-treatment in this rat kidney transplantation model to study whether graft function could be improved, or if tolerance could be induced.Donor- and recipient-type MSC or PBS as a control were injected i.v. four days before kidney transplantation. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF immunosuppression (20 mg/kg body weight was applied for 7 days. Kidney grafts and spleens were harvested between days 8-10 and analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistology. In addition, creatinine levels in the blood were measured and serum was screened for the presence of donor-specific antibodies.Surprisingly, application of both donor- and recipient-specific MSC resulted in enhanced humoral immune responses verified by intragraft B cell infiltration and complement factor C4d deposits. Moreover, signs of inflammation and rejection were generally enhanced in both MSC-treated groups relative to PBS control group. Additionally, pre-treatment with donor-specific MSC significantly enhanced the level of donor-specific antibody formation when compared with PBS- or recipient-MSC-treated groups. Pre-treatment with both MSC types resulted in a higher degree of kidney cortex tissue damage and elevated creatinine levels at the time point of rejection. Thus, MSC pre-sensitization in this model impairs the allograft outcome.Our data from this pre-clinical kidney transplantation model indicate that pre-operative MSC administration may not be optimal in kidney transplantation and caution must be exerted before moving forward with clinical studies in order to avoid adverse effects.

Laboratory recommendations for scoring deep molecular responses following treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cross, N. C. P.; White, H. E.; Colomer, D.

2015-01-01

Treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with tyrosine kinase inhibitors has advanced to a stage where many patients achieve very low or undetectable levels of disease. Remarkably, some of these patients remain in sustained remission when treatment is withdrawn, suggesting that they may be at ...... of sensitivity. Here we present detailed laboratory recommendations, developed as part of the European Treatment and Outcome Study for CML (EUTOS), to enable testing laboratories to score MR in a reproducible manner for CML patients expressing the most common BCR-ABL1 variants....

The effect of lime pre-treatments of date palm leaves on delignification and in vitro rumen degradability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ghorbani, M.; Ahmadi, F.; Rajaee Rad, A.; Zamiri, M.J.; Cone, J.W.; Polikarpov, I.

2017-01-01

Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of lime pre-treatment on the chemical composition and in vitro rumen degradability of date palm leaves (DPL). Lime pre-treatments, with or without oxygen supply, were applied for 1, 2 and 3 weeks at 25 and 40 °C. Lime was neutralized by the

Clinical Course Score (CCS): a new clinical score to evaluate efficacy of neurotrauma treatment in traumatic brain injury and subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandner, Sebastian; Kellermann, Isabel; Hore, Nirjhar; Bozhkov, Yavor; Buchfelder, Michael

2015-01-01

Neurotrauma continues to represent a challenging public health issue requiring continual improvement in therapeutic approaches. As no such current system exists, we present in this study the Clinical Course Score (CCS) as a new clinical score to evaluate the efficacy of neurotrauma treatment. The CCS was calculated in neurotrauma patients to be the difference between the grade of the Glasgow Outcome Scale 6 months after discharge from our department and the grade of a 1 to 5 point reduced Glasgow Coma Scale on admission. We assessed the CCS in a total of 248 patients (196 traumatic brain injury [TBI] patients and 52 subarachnoid hemorrhage [SAH] patients) who were treated in our Department of Neurosurgery between January 2011 and December 2012. We found negative CCS grades both in mild TBI and in mild SAH patients. In patients with severe TBI or SAH, we found positive CCS grades. In SAH patients, we found higher CCS scores in younger patients compared with elderly subjects in both mild and severe cases. The CCS can be useful in evaluating different therapeutic approaches during neurotrauma therapy. This new score might improve assessment of beneficial effects of therapeutic procedures.

MR imaging of urinary bladder cancer for T-staging: a review and a pictorial essay of diffusion-weighted imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeuchi, Mitsuru; Sasaki, Shigeru; Naiki, Taku; Kawai, Noriyasu; Kohri, Kenjiro; Hara, Masaki; Shibamoto, Yuta

2013-12-01

Treatment decisions for bladder cancer patients are mainly based on the depth of bladder wall invasion by the tumor. In this article, we review the conventional MRI and exhibit a recently emerged diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of urinary bladder cancer for T-staging. We discuss limitations of conventional MRI, scanning protocols of DWI, normal pelvic findings on DWI, determination of T-stage using DWI, and pitfalls of DWI. DWI provides high contrast between bladder cancer and background tissue because the cancer shows markedly high SI. DWI has high sensitivity for detecting the stalk seen in stage Ta or T1. An inflammatory change or fibrosis surrounding the tumor mimics the invasion of bladder cancer on T2-weighted imaging or enhanced MRI and could lead to over-staging, but DWI could differentiate them clearly because these benign changes do not show high SI on DWI. DWI is also useful for detecting ureteral, urethral, and prostatic extension by means of the urethra. DWI provides more accurate information on the extent of bladder cancer and contributes to determination of the treatment strategy. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparison of Pre and Post-Treatment Orexin A Levels in Patients with Subclinical Hypothyroidism

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Muhammed Erdal

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: Subclinical hypothyroidism is a clinical condition mostly observed in women, the prevalence of which increases by age. Sleepiness and appetite problems are observed in subclinical hypothyroidism. Orexins play a role in the physiological regulations like the stabilization of cardiovascular functions and the sleep-alert cycle. Similarities in the physiological regulation areas of orexins and the clinical findings of hypothyroidism were influential in the planning of this research. Additionally, homosisteine, which is influential on the cardiovascular system and the plasma level of which changes by eating (as is the case with orexins, was also analyzed. Besides, the change in the lipid profiles of the patients was also observed. Material and Methods: Nineteen pre-menopausal female patients (mean age=39.58±12.58, mean BMI= 26.7±4.9 included in this study. Following 12 hours fasting blood samples were taken from brachial vein. All patients were given 50µg/day L-T4 TSH levels were examined in every 4-6 weeks to adjust the L-T4 doses. When euthyroidism was ensured, a re-evaluation was made 4 months later. Results:  Pre-treatment plasma orexin A levels of 19 patients with pre-menopausal subclinical hypothyroidism increased significantly following a treatment of l-tiroxin for 4 months (pre-treatment orexin level median=1.20 mg/dl (mean: 1.33±0.28 post-treatment median=1.82 mg/dl (mean: 1.70±0.42 p=0.007. A significant change in the level of plasma total homosisteine and lipid profile was not detected. Conclusions: Advanced studies are needed to study the physiological effects of orexin levels in cases with subclinical hypothyroidism and the possible benefits in treatment.

Effect of ultrasound, low-temperature thermal and alkali pre-treatments on waste activated sludge rheology, hygienization and methane potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Hernando, M; Martín-Díaz, J; Labanda, J; Mata-Alvarez, J; Llorens, J; Lucena, F; Astals, S

2014-09-15

Waste activated sludge is slower to biodegrade under anaerobic conditions than is primary sludge due to the glycan strands present in microbial cell walls. The use of pre-treatments may help to disrupt cell membranes and improve waste activated sludge biodegradability. In the present study, the effect of ultrasound, low-temperature thermal and alkali pre-treatments on the rheology, hygienization and biodegradability of waste activated sludge was evaluated. The optimum condition of each pre-treatment was selected based on rheological criteria (reduction of steady state viscosity) and hygienization levels (reduction of Escherichia coli, somatic coliphages and spores of sulfite-reducing clostridia). The three pre-treatments were able to reduce the viscosity of the sludge, and this reduction was greater with increasing treatment intensity. However, only the alkali and thermal conditioning allowed the hygienization of the sludge, whereas the ultrasonication did not exhibit any notorious effect on microbial indicators populations. The selected optimum conditions were as follows: 27,000 kJ/kg TS for the ultrasound, 80 °C during 15 min for the thermal and 157 g NaOH/kg TS for the alkali. Afterward, the specific methane production was evaluated through biomethane potential tests at the specified optimum conditions. The alkali pre-treatment exhibited the greatest methane production increase (34%) followed by the ultrasonication (13%), whereas the thermal pre-treatment presented a methane potential similar to the untreated sludge. Finally, an assessment of the different treatment scenarios was conducted considering the results together with an energy balance, which revealed that the ultrasound and alkali treatments entailed higher costs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comprehensive review on pre-treatment strategy for lignocellulosic food industry waste: Challenges and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Ravindran, Rajeev; Jaiswal, Amit Kumar

2016-01-01

Lignocellulose is a generic term used to describe plant biomass. It is the most abundant renewable carbon resource in the world and is mainly composed of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses. Most of the food and food processing industry waste are lignocellulosic in nature with a global estimate of up to 1.3 billion tons/year. Lignocellulose, on hydrolysis, releases reducing sugars which is used for the production of bioethanol, biogas, organic acids, enzymes and biosorbents. However, structural conformation, high lignin content and crystalline cellulose hinder its use for value addition. Pre-treatment strategies facilitate the exposure of more cellulose and hemicelluloses for enzymatic hydrolysis. The present article confers about the structure of lignocellulose and how it influences enzymatic degradation emphasising the need for pre-treatments along with a comprehensive analysis and categorisation of the same. Finally, this article concludes with a detailed discussion on microbial/enzymatic inhibitors that arise post pre-treatment and strategies to eliminate them. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Study on the pre-treatment of oxidized zinc ore prior to flotation

Science.gov (United States)

He, Dong-sheng; Chen, Yun; Xiang, Ping; Yu, Zheng-jun; Potgieter, J. H.

2018-02-01

The pre-treatment of zinc oxide bearing ores with high slime content is important to ensure that resources are utilized optimally. This paper reports an improved process using hydrocyclone de-sliming, dispersion reagents, and magnetic removal of iron minerals for the pre-treatment of zinc oxide ore with a high slime and iron content, and the benefits compared to traditional technologies are shown. In addition, this paper investigates the damage related to fine slime and iron during zinc oxide flotation, the necessity of using hydrocyclone de-sliming together with dispersion reagents to alleviate the influence of slime, and interactions among hydrocyclone de-sliming, reagent dispersion, and magnetic iron removal. Results show that under optimized operating conditions the entire beneficiation technology results in a flotation concentrate with a Zn grade of 34.66% and a recovery of 73.41%.

Modification of Bi:YIG film properties by substrate surface ion pre-treatment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shaposhnikov, A.N.; Prokopov, A.R.; Karavainikov, A.V.; Berzhansky, V.N.; Mikhailova, T.V. [Taurida National V.I. Vernadsky University, Vernadsky Avenue, 4, Simferopol, 95007 (Ukraine); Kotov, V.A. [V.A. Kotelnikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, RAS, 11 Mohovaya Street, Moscow, 125009 (Russian Federation); Balabanov, D.E. [Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, 141700 (Russian Federation); Sharay, I.V.; Salyuk, O.Y. [Institute of Magnetism, NAS of Ukraine, 03142, Kiev (Ukraine); Vasiliev, M. [Electron Science Research Institute, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup 6027 (Australia); Golub, V.O., E-mail: v_o_golub@yahoo.com [Institute of Magnetism, NAS of Ukraine, 03142, Kiev (Ukraine)

2014-07-01

Highlights: • Effects of substrates ion beam treatment on magnetoptical properties Bi:YIG films. • Substrate surface damage results in sign inversion of the magneto-optical effects. • Atomically smooth films growth takes place on low energy ions treated substrates. • High energy ions treatment results in selective nucleation mechanism of the growth. - Abstract: The effect of a controlled ion beam pre-treatment of (1 1 1)-oriented Gd{sub 3}Ga{sub 5}O{sub 12} substrates on the magneto-optical properties and surface morphology of the ultrathin bismuth-substituted yttrium–iron garnet films with a composition Bi{sub 2.8}Y{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 5}O{sub 12} was studied. It has been shown that the observed sign inversion of magneto-optical effects (Faraday rotation and magnetic circular dichroism) observed in films that were deposited on the GGG substrate pre-treated by 1 keV and 4 keV Ar{sup +} ion beams is a result of the substrate surface amorphization caused by the ion bombardment.

Pre-treatment step with Leuconostoc mesenteroides or L. pseudomesenteroides strains removes furfural from Zymomonas mobilis ethanolic fermentation broth

Science.gov (United States)

Furfural (furan-2-carboxaldehyde), formed during dilute acid hydrolysis of biomass, is an inhibitor of growth and ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis. The present study used a biological pre-treatment to reduce that amount of furfural in a model biofuel fermentation broth. The pre-treatment in...

Effect of copper surface pre-treatment on the properties of CVD grown graphene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Min-Sik Kim

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Here, we report the synthesis of high quality monolayer graphene on the pre-treated copper (Cu foil by chemical vapor deposition method. The pre-treatment process, which consists of pre-annealing in a hydrogen ambient, followed by diluted nitric acid etching of Cu foil, helps in removing impurities. These impurities include native copper oxide and rolling lines that act as a nucleation center for multilayer graphene. Raman mapping of our graphene grown on pre-treated Cu foil primarily consisted of ∼98% a monolayer graphene with as compared to 75 % for the graphene grown on untreated Cu foil. A high hydrogen flow rate during the pre-annealing process resulted in an increased I2D/IG ratio of graphene up to 3.55. Uniform monolayer graphene was obtained with a I2D/IG ratio and sheet resistance varying from 1.84 – 3.39 and 1110 – 1290 Ω/□, respectively.

Impact of mechanical, chemical and enzymatic pre-treatments on the methane yield from the anaerobic digestion of switchgrass

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frigon, Jean-Claude; Mehta, Punita; Guiot, Serge R.

2012-01-01

The conversion of cellulosic crops into biofuels, including methane, is receiving a lot of attention lately. Panicum vergatum, or switchgrass, is a warm season perennial grass well adapted to grow in North America. Different pre-treatments were tested in 0.5 l batch reactors, at 35 °C, in order to enhance the methane production from switchgrass, including temperature, sonication, alkalinization and autoclaving. The methane production on the basis of volatile solids (VS) added to the fermentation were 112.4 ± 8.4, 132.5 ± 9.7 and 139.8 ml g −1 after 38 days of incubation for winter harvested switchgrass (WHS) after grinding, grinding with alkalinization, and grinding with alkalinization and autoclaving, respectively. The methane production was higher for fresh summer harvested switchgrass (SHS), with a production of 256.6 ± 8.2 ml g −1 VS after mulching, alkalinization and autoclaving. The methane production from SHS was improved by 29 and 42% when applying lignin (LiP) or manganese peroxidase (MnP), at 202.1 ± 9.8 and 222.9 ± 22.5 ml g −1 VS, respectively. The combination of an alkali pre-treatment with the MnP increased the methane production furthermore at 297.7 ml g −1 VS. The use of pectinases without chemical pre-treatment showed promising yields at 287.4 and 239.5 ml g −1 VS for pectate-lyase and poly-galacturonase, respectively. An estimation of the methane yield per hectare of crop harvested resulted in net energy production of 29.8, 49.7 and 78.1 GJ for winter harvested switchgrass, mulched and pretreated summer harvested switchgrass, respectively. Switchgrass represents an interesting candidate as a lignocellulosic crop for methane production. -- Highlights: ► Switchgrass is a model energy crops for biofuels production. ► This study evaluated different pre-treatments to enhance methane production. ► Pre-treatments increase significantly the methane produced from switchgrass. ► Enzymatic pre-treatments were superior to physical and

Impact of ozonation, anion exchange resin and UV/H2O2 pre-treatments to control fouling of ultrafiltration membrane for drinking water treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Pramanik, Biplob Kumar; Pramanik, Sagor Kumar; Sarker, Dipok Chandra; Suja, Fatihah

2017-06-01

The effects of ozonation, anion exchange resin (AER) and UV/H 2 O 2 were investigated as a pre-treatment to control organic fouling (OF) of ultrafiltration membrane in the treatment of drinking water. It was found that high molecular weight (MW) organics such as protein and polysaccharide substances were majorly responsible for reversible fouling which contributed to 90% of total fouling. The decline rate increased with successive filtration cycles due to deposition of protein content over time. All pre-treatment could reduce the foulants of a Ultrafiltration membrane which contributed to the improvement in flux, and there was a greater improvement of flux by UV/H 2 O 2 (61%) than ozonation (43%) which in turn was greater than AER (23%) treatment. This was likely due to the effective removal/breakdown of high MW organic content. AER gave greater removal of biofouling potential components (such as biodegradable dissolved organic carbon and assimilable organic carbon contents) compared to UV/H 2 O 2 and ozonation treatment. Overall, this study demonstrated the potential of pre-treatments for reducing OF of ultrafiltration for the treatment of drinking water.

Prediction of early neurological deterioration using diffusion- and perfusion-weighted imaging in hyperacute middle cerebral artery ischemic stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Arenillas, Juan F; Rovira, Alex; Molina, Carlos A; Grivé, Elisenda; Montaner, Joan; Alvarez-Sabín, José

2002-09-01

Early neurological deterioration (END) occurs in approximately one third of all ischemic stroke patients and is associated with a poor outcome. Our study sought to assess the value of ultra-early MRI in the prediction of END in stroke patients. Between August 1999 and November 2001, 38 stroke patients with a proven middle cerebral artery (MCA) or intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion on MR angiography underwent perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) within 6 hours after onset, and 30 fulfilled all inclusion criteria. Control DWI and MR angiography were performed between days 3 and 5. Cranial CT was performed to rule out hemorrhagic transformation. Vascular risk factors, temperature, blood pressure, glycemia, and blood count were assessed on admission. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores were obtained at baseline and at 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours. At the same time points, transcranial Doppler (TCD) examinations were conducted to assess arterial recanalization. END was defined as an increase in the NIHSS score >4. A logistic regression model was applied to detect independent predictors of END. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to evaluate the relationship between infarct growth and duration of vessel occlusion. Initial MR angiography showed an occlusion of intracranial ICA in 7 patients (23.3%), of proximal MCA in 14 (46.6%), and of distal MCA in the remaining 9 (30%). A PWI-DWI mismatch >20% was observed in 28 patients (93.3%). END occurred in 7 patients (23.3%). Baseline NIHSS score (P=0.05), proximal site of occlusion (P=0.002), initial DWI (P=0.002) and PWI (P=0.003) volumes, and reduced PWI-DWI mismatch (P=0.038) were associated with END in the univariate analysis. Only hyperacute DWI volume remained as a predictor of END when a logistic regression model was applied (odds ratio, 11.5; 95% CI, 2.31 to 57.10; P=0.0028). A receiver operator characteristic curve identified a cutoff point of DWI >89 cm(3

Redefining the target early during treatment. Can we visualize regional differences within the target volume using sequential diffusion weighted MRI?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lambrecht, Maarten; Van Herck, Hans; De Keyzer, Frederik; Vandecaveye, Vincent; Slagmolen, Pieter; Suetens, Paul; Hermans, Robert; Nuyts, Sandra

2014-01-01

Purpose: In head and neck cancer, diffusion weighted MRI (DWI) can predict response early during treatment. Treatment-induced changes and DWI-specific artifacts hinder an accurate registration between apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. The aim of the study was to develop a registration tool which calculates and visualizes regional changes in ADC. Methods: Twenty patients with stage IV HNC treated with primary radiotherapy received an MRI including DWI before and early during treatment. Markers were manually placed at anatomical landmarks on the different modalities at both time points. A registration method, consisting of a fully automatic rigid and nonrigid registration and two semi-automatic thin-plate spline (TPS) warps was developed and applied to the image sets. After each registration step the mean registration errors were calculated and ΔADC was compared between good and poor responders. Results: Adding the TPS warps significantly reduced the registration error (in mm, 6.3 ± 6.2 vs 3.2 ± 3.3 mm, p < 0.001). After the marker based registration the median ΔADC in poor responders was significantly lower than in good responders (7% vs. 21%; p < 0.001). Conclusions: This registration method allowed for a significant reduction of the mean registration error. Furthermore the voxel-wise calculation of the ΔADC early during radiotherapy allowed for a visualization of the regional differences of ΔADC within the tumor

Pavement Pre- and Post-Treatment Performance Models Using LTPP Data

OpenAIRE

Lu, Pan; Tolliver, Denver

2012-01-01

This paper determines that pavement performance in International Roughness Index (IRI) is affected by exogenous interventions such as pavement age, precipitation level, freeze-thaw level, and lower level preservation maintenance strategies. An exponential function of pavement age was used to represent pavement IRI performance curves. Moreover, this paper demonstrates a method which calculates short-term post-pavement performance models from maintenance effect models and pre-treatment performa...

Diffusion weighted imaging of liver lesions suspect for metastases: Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and lesion contrast are independent from Gd-EOB-DTPA administration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benndorf, Matthias; Schelhorn, Juliane; Dietzel, Matthias; Kaiser, Werner A.; Baltzer, Pascal A.T.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) enhanced liver MRI is widely used for detection and differentiation of focal liver lesions. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) including apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements is increasingly utilised as a fast and, with limitations, quantitative method for liver lesion detection and characterisation. Herein we investigate whether the administration of Gd-EOB-DTPA affects DWI. Materials and methods: 31 consecutive patients referred to standardised liver MRI (1.5 T, Gd-EOB-DTPA, 0.025 mmol/kg) were retrospectively reviewed. All underwent a breathhold DWI sequence before and after contrast agent administration (EPI-DWI, TR/TE (effective): 2100/62 ms, b-values: 0 and 800 s/mm 2 ). Patients with previously treated liver lesions were excluded. Signal intensity of lesion, parenchyma and noise on DWI images as well as the ADC value were measured after identification by two observers in consensus using manually placed regions of interest. The reference standard was imaging follow-up determined separately by two radiologists. Data analysis included signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) calculations, comparisons were drawn by employing multiple Bonferroni corrected Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Results: 50 malignant and 39 benign lesions were identified. Neither SNR, CNR nor ADC values showed significant differences between pre- and postcontrast DWI. Both pre- and postcontrast ADC values differed significantly between benign and malignant lesions (P < 0.001). Conclusion: We did not identify a significant influence of Gd-EOB-DTPA on DWI of liver lesions. This allows for individual tailoring of imaging protocols according to clinical needs.

Clicker Score Trajectories and Concept Inventory Scores as Predictors for Early Warning Systems for Large STEM Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Un Jung; Sbeglia, Gena C.; Ha, Minsu; Finch, Stephen J.; Nehm, Ross H.

2015-12-01

Increasing the retention of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors has recently emerged as a national priority in undergraduate education. Since poor performance in large introductory science and math courses is one significant factor in STEM dropout, early detection of struggling students is needed. Technology-supported "early warning systems" (EWSs) are being developed to meet these needs. Our study explores the utility of two commonly collected data sources—pre-course concept inventory scores and longitudinal clicker scores—for use in EWS, specifically, in determining the time points at which robust predictions of student success can first be established. The pre-course diagnostic assessments, administered to 287 students, included two concept inventories and one attitude assessment. Clicker question scores were also obtained for each of the 37 class sessions. Additionally, student characteristics (sex, ethnicity, and English facility) were gathered in a survey. Our analyses revealed that all variables were predictive of final grades. The correlation of the first 3 weeks of clicker scores with final grades was 0.53, suggesting that this set of variables could be used in an EWS starting at the third week. We also used group-based trajectory models to assess whether trajectory patterns were homogeneous in the class. The trajectory analysis identified three distinct clicker performance patterns that were also significant predictors of final grade. Trajectory analyses of clicker scores, student characteristics, and pre-course diagnostic assessment appear to be valuable data sources for EWS, although further studies in a diversity of instructional contexts are warranted.

Assessing the application and downstream effects of pulsed mode ultrasound as a pre-treatment for alum coagulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Juboori, Raed A; Aravinthan, Vasantha; Yusaf, Talal; Bowtell, Leslie

2016-07-01

The application of pulsed mode ultrasound (PMU) as a pre-treatment for alum coagulation was investigated at various alum dosages and pH levels. The effects of the treatments on turbidity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal and residual Al were evaluated. Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to optimize the operating conditions of the applied treatments. The results showed that PMU pre-treatment increased turbidity and DOC removal percentages from maximum of 96.6% and 43% to 98.8% and 52%, respectively. It also helped decrease the minimum residual Al from 0.100 to 0.094 ppm. The multiple response optimization was carried out using the desirability function. A desirability value of >0.97 estimated respective turbidity removal, DOC removal and Al residual of 89.24%, 45.66% and ∼ 0.1 ppm for coagulation (control) and 90.61%, >55% and ∼ 0 for coagulation preceded by PMU. These figures were validated via confirmatory experiments. PMU pre-treatment increased total coliform removal from 80% to >98% and decreased trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP) from 250 to 200 ppb CH3Cl. Additionally, PMU application prior to coagulation improved the settleability of sludge due to the degassing effects. The results of this study confirms that PMU pre-treatment can significantly improve coagulation performance. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quality aspects of ex vivo root canal treatments done by undergraduate dental students using four different endodontic treatment systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Jungnickel, Luise; Kruse, Casper; Vaeth, Michael; Kirkevang, Lise-Lotte

2018-04-01

To evaluate factors associated with treatment quality of ex vivo root canal treatments performed by undergraduate dental students using different endodontic treatment systems. Four students performed root canal treatment on 80 extracted human teeth using four endodontic treatment systems in designated treatment order following a Latin square design. Lateral seal and length of root canal fillings was radiographically assessed; for lateral seal, a graded visual scale was used. Treatment time was measured separately for access preparation, biomechanical root canal preparation, obturation and for the total procedure. Mishaps were registered. An ANOVA mirroring the Latin square design was performed. Use of machine-driven nickel-titanium systems resulted in overall better quality scores for lateral seal than use of the manual stainless-steel system. Among systems with machine-driven files, scores did not significantly differ. Use of machine-driven instruments resulted in shorter treatment time than manual instrumentation. Machine-driven systems with few files achieved shorter treatment times. With increasing number of treatments, root canal-filling quality increased, treatment time decreased; a learning curve was plotted. No root canal shaping file separated. The use of endodontic treatment systems with machine-driven files led to higher quality lateral seal compared to the manual system. The three contemporary machine-driven systems delivered comparable results regarding quality of root canal fillings; they were safe to use and provided a more efficient workflow than the manual technique. Increasing experience had a positive impact on the quality of root canal fillings while treatment time decreased.

Conservative treatment of soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities. Functional evaluation with LENT-SOMA scales and the Enneking score

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tawfiq, N.; Lagarde, P.; Thomas, L.; Kantor, G.; Stockle, E.; Bui, B.N.

2000-01-01

Objective. - The aim of this prospective study is the feasibility of late effects assessment by LENT-SOMA scales after conservative treatment of soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities and a comparison with the functional evaluation by the Enneking score. Patients and methods. - During the systematic follow-up consultations, a series of 32 consecutive patients was evaluated in terms of late effects by LENT SOMA scales and functional results by the Enneking score. The median time after treatment was 65 months. The treatment consisted of conservative surgery (all cases) followed by radiation therapy (29 cases), often combined with adjuvant therapy (12 concomitant radio-chemotherapy association cases out of 14). The assessment of the toxicity was retrospective for acute effects and prospective for the following late tissue damage: skin/subcutaneous tissues, muscles/soft tissues and peripheral nerves. Results. -According to the Enneking score, the global score for the overall series was high (24/30) despite four the scores zero for the psychological acceptance. According to LENT SOMA scales, a low rate of severe sequelae (grade 3-4) was observed. The occurrence of high-grade sequelae and their functional consequences were not correlated with quality of exeresis, dose of radiotherapy or use of concomitant chemotherapy. A complementarity was observed between certain factors of the Enneking score and some criteria of the LENTSOMA scales, especially of muscles/soft tissues. Conclusion. -The good quality of functional results was confirmed by the two mean scoring systems for late normal tissue damage. The routine use of LENT-SOMA seems to be more time consuming than the Enneking score (mean time of scoring: 1 3 versus five minutes). The LENT-SOMA scales are aimed at a detailed description of late toxicity and sequelae while the Enneking score provides a more global evaluation, including the psychological acceptance of treatment. The late effects assessment by the LENT

Pre-treatment of Used-Cooking Oil as Feed Stocks of Biodiesel Production by Using Activated Carbon and Clay Minerals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rudy Syah Putra

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Many low-cost feedstock i.e. used-cooking oil (UCO for the production of biodiesel fuel (BDF has contained a large amount of water and high proportion of free fatty acids (FFAs. Therefore, a pre-treatment process to reduce the water content (<0.1 wt.% and FFAs (<2.0 wt.% were necessary in order to avoid an undesirable side reactions, such as saponification, which could lead to serious problem of product separation and low fatty acid methyl ester (FAME yield. . In this study, a pre-treatment process of used cooking oil as a feedstock for the production of BDF by using various adsorbents such as Activated Carbon (AC and various clay minerals, for example Smectite (S, Bentonite (B, Kaolinite (K, and Powdered Earthenware (PE were evaluated. The oil obtained from pre-treatment was compared with oil without pre-treatment process. In this study, we reported a basic difference in material ability to the oil, depending on the adsorption condition with respect to the physico-chemical parameters, e.g. refractive index (R, density (ρ, FFAs, and water content (W. The results showed that the water content and FFAs in the oil has decreased when using AC as an adsorbent compared with clay minerals. However, the refractive index of oil has similar with the oil without pre-treatment process as well; meanwhile, the density of oil has increased after the pre-treatment process by using clay minerals.

Effects of Pre-germination Treatment on the Phytate and Phenolic Contents of Almond Nuts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liang Lin Lin

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This study examined if pre-germination altered the water content and water activity, contents of phytate, total phenolic, (±-catechin, quercetin and total antioxidant capacity of almond  (Prunus dulciskernel. Raw almond kernels were submerged for 15 hours in water, 0.02 mol dm-3 phosphate buffer solution (pH 5.0 and 0.02 mol dm-3 phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.0 at 25 and 40ºC, respectively. The content and activity of water in the kernels before and after the pre-germination treatments were measured by oven drying and dew point water analysis, respectively. The total phenolic and phytic acid contents of the kernels were quantified by using Folin-Ciocalteu and a published spectrophotometric assay, respectively. (±-Catechin and quercetin contents in the almond kernels were determined using gas-chromatography mass spectrometry. The total antioxidant capacity of the kernels were measured by 2,2’-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl assay. Treatment with water, PBS pH 5 and PBS pH 7 significantly increased the water, total phenolic, (±-catechin contents and total antioxidant capacity of the almond kernels regardless of the treatment temperatures (25 or 40°C. The phytic acid and quercetin contents were significantly elevated after the  three treatments at 40°C. The total phenolic, (±-catechin, quercetin and phytate contents in the almond kernels contributed significantly to its antioxidant property. Our results suggested that the phytochemical compositions of the almond kernels changed during pre-germination. The temperature and pH of the medium exert differential influence on the phytochemical compositions of the pre-germinated almond kernels.

Allergic contact dermatitis from ophthalmic products: can pre-treatment with sodium lauryl sulfate increase patch test sensitivity?

Science.gov (United States)

Corazza, Monica; Virgili, Annarosa

2005-05-01

In patients suspected of allergic contact dermatitis because of topical ophthalmic medicaments, patch tests performed with patients' own products are often negative. The irritant anionic surfactant sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) may alter the stratum corneum and increase antigen penetration. Pre-treatment of the skin with SLS 0.5% for 24 h was performed in the sites of patch tests with patients' own products in 15 selected patients. In patients previously negative to their own products tested with conventional patch tests, SLS pre-treatment showed 6 new relevant positive reactions and induced a stronger positive reaction in 1 patient. SLS pre-treatment could be proposed as an alternative promising method, which may increase sensitivity of patch tests with patients' own products.

Connecting Lignin-Degradation Pathway with Pre-Treatment Inhibitor Sensitivity of Cupriavidus necator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, W. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Yang, S. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hunsinger, G. B. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Pienkos, P. T. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Johnson, D. K. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2014-05-27

In order to produce lignocellulosic biofuels economically, the complete release of monomers from the plant cell wall components, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, through pre-treatment and hydrolysis (both enzymatic and chemical), and the efficient utilization of these monomers as carbon sources, is crucial. In addition, the identification and development of robust microbial biofuel production strains that can tolerate the toxic compounds generated during pre-treatment and hydrolysis is also essential. In this work, Cupriavidus necator was selected due to its capabilities for utilizing lignin monomers and producing polyhydroxylbutyrate (PHB), a bioplastic as well as an advanced biofuel intermediate. We characterized the growth kinetics of C. necator in pre-treated corn stover slurry as well as individually in the pre-sence of 11 potentially toxic compounds in the saccharified slurry. We found that C. necator was sensitive to the saccharified slurry produced from dilute acid pre-treated corn stover. Five out of 11 compounds within the slurry were characterized as toxic to C. necator, namely ammonium acetate, furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), benzoic acid, and p-coumaric acid. Aldehydes (e.g., furfural and HMF) were more toxic than the acetate and the lignin degradation products benzoic acid and p-coumaric acid; furfural was identified as the most toxic compound. Although toxic to C. necator at high concentration, ammonium acetate, benzoic acid, and p-coumaric acid could be utilized by C. necator with a stimulating effect on C. necator growth. Consequently, the lignin degradation pathway of C. necator was reconstructed based on genomic information and literature. The efficient conversion of intermediate catechol to downstream products of cis,cis-muconate or 2-hydroxymuconate-6-semialdehyde may help improve the robustness of C. necator to benzoic acid and p-coumaric acid as well as improve PHB productivity.

Ozonation and Thermal Pre-Treatment of Municipal Sewage Sludge-Implications for Toxicity and Methane Potential

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsson, A.; Eriksson, Eva; Fick, J.

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine effects on methane potential and overall sludge quality from two different sludge pre-treatment technologies (ozonation high/low dosage and thermal treatment 55/70 degrees C). In general both treatments produced increased methane potential. Thermal treatment...... by ozone treatment and digestion. No statistical significant reduction in concentrations of included pharmaceuticals could be observed....

Evaluation of pre-breeding reproductive tract scoring as a predictor of long term reproductive performance in beef heifers.

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, D E; Nielen, M; Jorritsma, R; Irons, P C; Thompson, P N

2015-01-01

In a 7-year longitudinal study 292 Bovelder beef cows in a restricted breeding system in South Africa were observed from 1 to 2 days before their first breeding season, when reproductive tract scoring (RTS, scored from 1 to 5) was performed, until weaning their 5th calves. The objective was to determine whether pre-breeding RTS in heifers is a valid tool to predict long-term reproductive performance. Outcomes measured were failure to show oestrus during the first 24 days of the first 50-day AI season (24-day anoestrus), failure to become pregnant during each yearly artificial insemination (AI) season (reproductive failure), number of days from the start of each AI season to calving, and number of years to reproductive failure. The effect of RTS on each outcome was adjusted for year of birth, pre-breeding age, BW and body condition score (BCS), and for 24-day anoestrus, bull, gestation length, previous days to calving and previous cow efficiency index, the latter two in the case of the 2nd to the 5th calving season. During their first breeding season, heifers with RTS 1 and 2 combined were more likely to be in anoestrus for the first 24 days (OR=3.0, 95% CI 1.5, 6.4, P=0.003), and were also more likely to fail to become pregnant even after adjusting for 24-day anoestrus (OR=2.1, 95% CI 1.1, 3.9, P=0.025), compared to those with RTS 4 and 5 combined. Animals with RTS 1 and 2 combined were at increased risk of early reproductive failure compared to those with RTS 4 and 5 combined (HR=1.4, 95% CI 1.0, 1.9, P=0.045) although RTS was not associated with calving rate or days to calving after the second calving season. Low RTS at a threshold of 1 had consistent specificity of ≥94% for both 24-day anoestrus and pregnancy failure, however its predictive value was lower in the age cohort with a higher prevalence of anoestrus. We conclude that RTS is a valid management tool for culling decisions intended to improve long-term reproductive success in a seasonal breeding system

Effectiveness of a pre-treatment snack on the uptake of mass treatment for schistosomiasis in Uganda

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Muhumuza, Simon; Olsen, Annette; Katahoire, Anne

2014-01-01

-treatment snack on uptake of mass treatment.Methods and Findings:In a cluster randomized trial carried out in Jinja district, Uganda, 12 primary schools were randomized into two groups; one received education messages for schistosomiasis prevention for two months prior to mass treatment, while the other......, in addition to the education messages, received a pre-treatment snack shortly before mass treatment. Four weeks after mass treatment, uptake of praziquantel was assessed among a random sample of 595 children in the snack schools and 689 children in the non-snack schools as the primary outcome. The occurrence...... of side effects and the prevalence and mean intensity of Schistosoma mansoni infection were determined as the secondary outcomes. Uptake of praziquantel was higher in the snack schools, 93.9% (95% CI 91.7%-95.7%), compared to that in the non-snack schools, 78.7% (95% CI 75.4%-81.7%) (p = 0...

Evaluation of stratification factors and score-scales in clinical trials of treatment of clinical mastitis in dairy cows.

Science.gov (United States)

Hektoen, L; Ødegaard, S A; Løken, T; Larsen, S

2004-05-01

There is often a need to reduce sample size in clinical trials due to practical limitations and ethical considerations. Better comparability between treatment groups by use of stratification in the design, and use of continuous outcome variables in the evaluation of treatment results, are two methods that can be used in order to achieve this. In this paper the choice of stratification factors in trials of clinical mastitis in dairy cows is investigated, and two score-scales for evaluation of clinical mastitis are introduced. The outcome in 57 dairy cows suffering from clinical mastitis and included in a clinical trial comparing homeopathic treatment, placebo and a standard antibiotic treatment is investigated. The strata of various stratification factors are compared across treatments to determine which other factors influence outcome. The two score scales, measuring acute and chronic mastitis symptoms, respectively, are evaluated on their ability to differentiate between patients classified from clinical criteria as responders or non-responders to treatment. Differences were found between the strata of the factors severity of mastitis, lactation number, previous mastitis this lactation and bacteriological findings. These factors influence outcome of treatment and appear relevant as stratification factors in mastitis trials. Both score scales differentiated between responders and non-responders to treatment and were found useful for evaluation of mastitis and mastitis treatment.

The role of pre-treatment proactive coping skills in successful weight management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vinkers, Charlotte D. W.; Adriaanse, Marieke A.; Kroese, Floor M.; de Ridder, Denise T. D.

2014-01-01

Objectives: Proactive coping encompasses future-oriented self-regulatory skills that help people prepare for future difficulties before they occur, such as planning and monitoring. The aim of the present study was to examine the interplay between pre-treatment proactive coping skills and expected

Predictors of course and outcome in hypochondriasis after cognitive-behavioral treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hiller, Wolfgang; Leibbrand, Rolf; Rief, Winfried; Fichter, Manfred M

2002-01-01

Predictors of treatment outcome were evaluated in a clinical sample suffering from hypochondriasis. The sample consisted of 96 patients with hypochondriacal disorder according to DSM-IV or high syndrome scores on the Illness Attitude Scales (IAS) or Whiteley Index (WI). After intense inpatient cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT), 60% of the patients were classified as responders because of substantial improvements or recovery from hypochondriacal symptomatology. Non-responders were characterized by a higher degree of pre-treatment hypochondriasis, more somatization symptoms and general psychopathology (SCL-90R), more dysfunctional cognitions related to bodily functioning, higher levels of psychosocial impairments, and more utilization of the health care system as indicated by the number of hospital days and costs for inpatient treatments and medication. No predictive value was found for sociodemographic variables, comorbidity with other mental disorders and chronicity. Multiple linear regression showed that pre-treatment variables significantly predicted IAS scores at post-treatment (R(2) = 0.59), changes during treatment (0.10), IAS scores at follow-up two years later (0.41) and changes between baseline and follow-up (0.25). The results demonstrate the relevance of various psychopathological variables and health care utilization as important indicators for outcome and further course of clinical hypochondriasis. Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel