Abstract Background The treatment of posttransplant secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHP) with vitamin D analogues is determined by their effectiveness to reverse hypercalcemia. Calcimimetics inhibit ...parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion by modulating the calcium-sensing receptor in the parathyroid gland. Cinacalcet, a calcimimetic drug, has proven its effectiveness for the treatment of SHP among patients in phase V of chronic renal disease. Patients and Methods This retrospective analysis included 48 patients with SHP who were treated with cinacalcet. The initial dose of 30 mg/d could be increased to 180 mg, administering calcitriol also, depending on the serum calcium and PTH levels. The objectives were a PTH level between 75 and 125 pg/mL or a decrease >40%, and a serum calcium level below 10.5 mg/dL. Results The average PTH at baseline was 244 pg/mL, decreasing to 131 pg/mL at 1 year ( P < .01). The average calcium at baseline was 10.1 mg/dL descending to 9.2 mg/dL at 1 year ( P < .01). Among patients with hypercalcemia, the calcium decreased from 11 to 9.6 mg/dL at 1 year ( P < .01). Seventy percent of patients without hypercalcemia reached the desired value of PTH, and 100% of those with hypercalcemia. Among patients with hypercalcemia, the desired calcium level was reached in 91% of cases. Ten patients developed hypocalcemia. In 3 cases we stopped the treatment with cinacalcet due to digestive intolerance. Conclusions Treatment with cinacalcet controlled hyperparathyroidism and hypercalcemia among patients with posttransplant SHP. It was a safe drug, with a low incidence of side effects.
Intermediate silicon layers detector for the CDF experiment Affolder, A; Azzi-Bacchetta, P; Bacchetta, N ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
10/2000, Letnik:
453, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Intermediate Silicon Layers (ISL) detector is currently being built as part of the CDF II detector upgrade project. The ISL detector will significantly improve tracking in the central region and, ...together with the Silicon Vertex detector, provide stand-alone 3D track information in the forward/backward regions. In this article, we present the quality of the production sensors manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics, which account for roughly half of the silicon sensors used in the ISL detector.
This paper describes the development of the optical multiplexer board (OMB), also known as PreROD board, for the TileCal readout system in the ATLAS experiment. The aim of this board is to overcome ...the problems that may arise in the integrity of data due to radiation effects. The solution adopted has been to add redundancy to data transmission and so two optical fibers with the same data come out from the detector front end boards. The OMB has to decide in real time which fiber, eventually, carries data with no errors switching it to the output link connected to the read out driver (ROD) motherboard where data processing takes place. Besides, the board may be also used as a data injector for testing purposes of the ROD motherboard. The paper describes the design and tests of the first prototype, implemented as a 6U VME64x slave module, including both hardware aspects, focusing on signal integrity problems, and firmware aspects, dealing with the cyclic redundancy code algorithms used to check data consistency used to make the decision
Trichosporon asahii es un hongo patógeno emergente reportado en la literatura médica principalmente en pacientes inmunocomprometidos. No obstante, el presente caso es inusual debido a que se trata de ...un paciente adulto joven inmunocompetente que presentó fungemia por T. asahii y al mismo tiempo desarrolló insuficiencia respiratoria aguda por bronquiolitis respiratoria y neumonía descamativa, la cual resolvió posterior al tratamiento antimicótico instaurado, soporte ventilatorio y vigilancia en Unidad de Cuidado Intesivo (UCI)
The ATLAS Inner Detector consists of three sub-systems, the Pixel Detector at the innermost radius, the Semi-Conductor Tracker at intermediate radii, and the Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) at the ...outermost radius in front of the electromagnetic calorimeter. The TRT provides a combination of continuous tracking with many projective measurements based on individual drift-tubes (or straws) and of electron identification based on radiator fibres or foils interleaved between the straws themselves. This paper describes the current status of design and construction of the various components of the TRT: the assembly of the barrel modules has recently been completed, that of the end-cap wheels is well underway, and the on-detector front-end electronics is in production. The detector modules and front-end electronics boards will be integrated together over the next year, the barrel and end-cap TRT parts will be assembled and tested with their SCT counterparts during 2005 and installation and commissioning in the ATLAS pit will take place at the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006.
Background: Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent joint disease and a frequent cause of joint pain, functional loss, and disability. Osteoarthritis often becomes chronic, and conventional treatments ...have demonstrated only modest clinical benefits without lesion reversal. Cell-based therapies have shown encouraging results in both animal studies and a few human case reports. We designed a pilot study to assess the feasibility and safety of osteoarthritis treatment with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in humans and to obtain early efficacy information for this treatment. Methods: Twelve patients with chronic knee pain unresponsive to conservative treatments and radiologic evidence of osteoarthritis were treated with autologous expanded bone marrow MSCs by intra-articular injection (40x10 super(6) cells). Clinical outcomes were followed for 1 year and included evaluations of pain, disability, and quality of life. Articular cartilage quality was assessed by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging T2 mapping. Results: Feasibility and safety were confirmed, and strong indications of clinical efficacy were identified. Patients exhibited rapid and progressive improvement of algofunctional indices that approached 65% to 78% by 1 year. This outcome compares favorably with the results of conventional treatments. Additionally, quantification of cartilage quality by T2 relaxation measurements demonstrated a highly significant decrease of poor cartilage areas (on average, 27%), with improvement of cartilage quality in 11 of the 12 patients. Conclusions: MSC therapy may be a valid alternative treatment for chronic knee osteoarthritis. The intervention is simple, does not require hospitalization or surgery, provides pain relief, and significantly improves cartilage quality.
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