Nasal polyps and comorbid asthma (NPCA) is a common united airway disease. However, the inflammatory phenotyes of NPCA are not clear.
To identify inflammatory phenotypes of NPCA.
A total of 106 ...patients diagnosed with NPCA were recruited from rhinologic clinics. A combined method of biopsies from nasal polyps and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) was used to explore inflammatory phenotyes of NPCA. Patients were evaluated with respect to clinical, functional, and inflammatory parameters. Clinical outcomes after medical treatment were also assessed.
Two distinct inflammatory phenotypes (eosinophilic 64.15% and noneosinophilic phenotypes 35.85%) were identified. Inflammatory patterns of upper and lower airways were consistent in NPCA. Patients with eosinophilic NPCA had a higher nasal polyps recurrence rate than did patients with noneosinophilic NPCA, a more severe asthma phenotype (P < .001), higher exhaled nitric oxide levels (P < .001), higher IgE levels (P < .001), higher Lund-Mackay scores (P < .05), and more blood eosinophilia (P < .001). In addition, eosinophilic NPCA was associated with worse pulmonary function and responded well to an 8-week course of medical treatment based on computed tomographic findings and the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second to forced vital capacity. The total IgE concentration was a marker for eosinophilic NPCA (optimal cutoff, >55.5 kU/L; sensitivity, 86.2%; specificity, 85.4%).
Patients with NPCA had 2 inflammatory phenotypes with distinct clinical profiles. Total IgE is a marker of eosinophilic NPCA.
To determine the keratometric index based on actual measurements of the anterior and posterior corneal surfaces using a rotating Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam, Oculus) and evaluate the accuracy of ...this keratometric index in estimating total and posterior corneal powers.
Departments of Ophthalmology, Taipei Medical University Hospital and Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
The right eye of 221 subjects was measured with the Pentacam system. The radius of the best-fit sphere for the anterior corneal surface (rant) and posterior corneal surface (rpost), mean radius of simulated keratometry (rsimK), and central corneal thickness were obtained. The ratio of rant to rpost (AP ratio) and keratometric index were calculated in each eye.
The means for rant, rpost, rsimK, and AP ratio were 7.75 mm +/- 0.28 (SD), 6.34 +/- 0.28 mm, 7.75 +/- 0.27 mm, and 1.223 +/- 0.034 mm, respectively. These parameters were normally distributed. The mean calculated keratometric index (Ncal) was 1.3281 +/- 0.0018. Using the keratometric indices of 1.3281 (Ncal), 1.3315 (Gullstrand schematic eye), and 1.3375 (conventional), the mean arithmetic and absolute estimation errors for the total corneal power were, 0.00 +/- 0.24 diopter (D) and 0.17 +/- 0.17 D, 0.43 +/- 0.23 D and 0.45 +/- 0.21 D, and 1.21 +/- 0.24 D and 1.21 +/- 0.24 D, respectively. The total corneal power was predicted to within +/-0.50 D of the actual value in 95.0%, 60.2%, and 0.9% of eyes, respectively. The mean arithmetic and absolute estimation errors for the posterior corneal power using an AP ratio of 1.223 (this study) or 1.132 (Gullstrand schematic eye) were 0.00 +/- 0.17 D and 0.13 +/- 0.12 D and 0.47 +/- 0.18 D and 0.47 +/- 0.17 D, respectively. The posterior corneal power was estimated to within +/-0.50 D of the actual value in 97.7% and 60.2% of eyes, respectively.
Using the Pentacam-derived keratometric index improved the prediction accuracies of total and posterior corneal powers.
A novel vector quantisation codebook initialisation method called vector component difference is proposed for the image coding using the discrete multiwavelet transform. The simulation results show ...that it is superior to the currently available methods when using the Linde-Buzo-Gray codebook generation algorithm.
Abstract Background Laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) is now one of the main methods for treating choledocholithiasis accompanied with cholelithiasis. The objective of our study was ...to assess the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic primary closure for the treatment of common bile duct (CBD) stones compared with T-tube drainage. Methods Patients who underwent CBD stones were studied prospectively from 2002–2012 in a single center. A total of 194 patients were randomly assigned to group A (LCBDE with primary closure) with 101 cases and group B (LCBDE with T-tube drainage) with 93 cases. Intraoperative cholangiography and choledochoscopy were performed in all patients. Patient demographics, intraoperative findings, postoperative stay, complications, and hospital expenses were recorded and analyzed. Results There was no mortality in the two groups. Four patients (3.96%) of group A were converted to open surgery, and three patients (3.23%) in group B. The mean operating time was much shorter in group A than in group B (102.6 ± 15.2 min versus 128.6 ± 20.4 min, P < 0.05). The length of postoperative hospital stay was longer in group B (4.9 ± 3.2 d) than in group A (3.2 ± 2.1 d). The hospital expenses were significantly lower in group A. Three patients experienced postoperative complications, which were related to the usage of the T-tube in group B. The incidences of overall postoperative complications were insignificantly lower in group A. Conclusions Laparoscopic primary closure of CBD is safe and effective for the management of CBD stones, and can be performed routinely as an alternative to T-tube drainage.
Abstract Background The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the level of expression of tissue or plasma miR-106b can be used to predict clinical outcomes in breast cancer patients. ...Methods Both tissue and plasma samples were collected and analyzed from 173 patients with primary breast cancer and a set of 50 women with fibroadenoma. The relative expression levels of miR-106b were determined using real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization. Results The levels of miR-106b were upregulated in both tissue and plasma samples from breast cancer patients. The expression levels showed a linear correlation ( rs = 0.748, P < 0.001) and were significantly correlated with tumor size, Ki67 expression, and lymph node metastasis (all P < 0.05). Patients with high miR-106b expression levels tended to have shorter disease-free survival times and overall survival times ( P < 0.001). In a Cox regression model, high-level tissue and plasma miR-106b expression were unfavorable prognostic factors, and receiver-operating characteristic analysis revealed that the tissue and plasma miR-106b levels provided considerable diagnostic accuracy, yielding an area under the ROC curve of 0.785 and 0.856, respectively. Conclusions MiR-106b was found to be associated with a high risk of recurrence of breast cancer, and miR-106b is a putative plasma marker for risk assessment in patients with breast cancer.
Automated estimation of DNA base-sequences is an important step in genomics and in many other emerging fields in biological and medical sciences. Current automated sequencers process single strands ...only. To improve the utility of existing technologies, we propose to mix two independent strands prior to electrophoresis, and base-call jointly by applying the sum-product algorithm on factor graphs. We first present a statistical model for DNA sequencing data and examine the model parameters. A practical heuristic is then proposed to estimate the peaks, which are then separated into two source sequences (Major/Minor) by passing messages on a factor graph. Simulation results show that joint base-calling can provide less accurate but valid results for the minor. The algorithm presented provides a basis for future investigation of joint sequencing techniques.
Allergic diseases occur in most mammals, although some species such as humans, dogs and horses seem to be more prone to develop allergies than others. In horses, insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH), ...an allergic dermatitis caused by bites of midges, and recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), a hyperreactivity to stable born dust and allergens, are the two most prevalent allergic diseases.
Allergic diseases involve the interaction of three major factors: (i) genetic constitution, (ii) exposure to allergens, and (iii) a dysregulation of the immune response determined by (i) and (ii). However, other environmental factors such as infectious diseases, contact with endotoxin and degree of infestation with endoparasites have been shown to influence the prevalence of allergic diseases in humans. How these factors may impact upon allergic disease in the horse is unknown at this time. The 3rd workshop on Allergic Diseases of the Horse, with major sponsorship from the Havemeyer Foundation, was held in Hólar, Iceland, in June 2007 and focussed on immunological and genetic aspects of IBH and RAO.
This particular venue was chosen because of the prevalence of IBH in exported Icelandic horses. The incidence of IBH is significantly different between Icelandic horses born in Europe or North America and those born in Iceland and exported as adults. Although the genetic factors and allergens are the same, exported adult horses show a greater incidence of IBH. This suggests that environmental or epigenetic factors may contribute to this response. This report summarizes the present state of knowledge and summarizes important issues discussed at the workshop.
Restoring an image from its convolution with an unknown blur function is a well-known ill-posed problem in image processing. Many approaches have been proposed to solve the problem and they have ...shown to have good performance in identifying the blur function and restoring the original image. However, in actual implementation, various problems incurred due to the large data size and long computational time of these approaches are undesirable even with the current computing machines. In this paper, an efficient algorithm is proposed for blind image restoration based on the discrete periodic Radon transform (DPRT). With DPRT, the original two-dimensional blind image restoration problem is converted into one-dimensional ones, which greatly reduces the memory size and computational time required. Experimental results show that the resulting approach is faster in almost an order of magnitude as compared with the traditional approach, while the quality of the restored image is similar.
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