Background
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of mortality following orthotopic liver transplant, yet there is no standardized protocol for pre-liver-transplant coronary artery disease ...assessment. The main objective of this study was to determine the agreement between 2 methods of cardiac risk assessment: dobutamine stress echocardiogram (DSE) and coronary calcium score (CCS) and to determine which test was best able to predict coronary calcification in low-risk patients.
Methods
A retrospective study was performed using the medical records of 436 patients who received cardiac clearance for a liver transplant. A total of 152 patients’ medical records were included based on the inclusion of patients who had received both DSE and CCS. A kappa coefficient was calculated to determine the agreement between the DSE and CCS results. In addition, the positive predictive values (PPVs) of both the CCS and DSE along with cardiac catheterization indicating abdominal occlusion were analyzed to compare the accuracy of the 2 tests.
Results
It was determined that there was a 12% agreement between DSE results and CCS. It was found that the DSE had a PPV of 56% and the CCS had a PPV of 80%.
Conclusion
From this data, it was concluded that there was no agreement between the results of the CCS and the DSE. While neither the CCS nor the DSE presents an optimal method of risk assessment, the CCS had a much higher PPV and was therefore determined to be the more accurate test.
Prevalence of obesity is growing in the general population as well as among end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients requiring dialysis. Obesity often leads to a situation when a mature outflow vein ...is located deeper than 6 mm and is difficult to cannulate. These obese patients usually require additional procedures to able to successfully cannulate the fistula. The available surgical options include: outflow vein elevation, liposuction, and lipectomy. We present a case of a 57-year-old obese female with ESRD and matured, deeply running, inadequate for cannulation arteriovenous fistula. We present a technique of lipectomy with wide resection of adipose tissue from superior and lateral surfaces of outflow vein. Postoperatively, the skin without the underlying adipose tissue collapses allowing easy cannulation of the long segment of outflow vein with two needles. Lipectomy of mature but deeply located outflow vein is a second-stage elective procedure. Wide resection of adipose tissue helps create easy to access cannulation zone in obese individuals.
Incisional Hernia: Difficult Cases 1 Wadhera, S.; Khetan, M.; Bhatia, P. ...
Hernia : the journal of hernias and abdominal wall surgery
19, Številka:
Suppl 1
Journal Article
The synthesis of new acetylenic thioquinolines containing propargyl, 2-butynyl, 4-bromo-2-butynyl, and 4-hydroxy-2-butynyl groups exhibiting anti-proliferative activity in vitro against the cells of ...human and murine cancer cell lines was investigated.
The series of new acetylenic thioquinolines containing propargyl, 2-butynyl, 4-bromo-2-butynyl, and 4-hydroxy-2-butynyl groups has been prepared and tested for antiproliferative activity in vitro against human SW707 (colorectal adenocarcinoma), CCRF/CEM (leukemia) and murine P388 (leukemia), B16 (melanoma) cancer lines. All the compounds obtained exhibited antiproliferative activity. The most active compounds
7, 16, 17, and
19 have the ID
50 values ranging from 0.2 to 4.6
μg/ml comparable to that of cisplatin used as reference compounds.
The date of exposure of spruce roots as a result of bank erosion was investigated on the Bílá Opava River in the northeastern Czech Republic. Following the exposure of roots, wood cells in the tree ...rings divide into early wood and late wood. Root cells within the tree rings also become smaller and more numerous. These processes permit dating of the erosion episodes in which roots were exposed. Sixty root samples were taken from seven sampling sites selected on two riverbed reaches. The results of root exposure dating were compared to historical data on hydrological flooding. Using the root exposure dating method, several erosion episodes were recorded for the last 100 years. The greatest bank erosion was recorded as consequence of an extraordinary flood in July 1997. In the upper, rocky part of the valley studied, bank erosion often took place during large floods that occurred in the early 20th century. In the lower, alluvial part of the valley, erosion in the exposed roots was recorded only in 1973 and has been intensive ever since. It is suggested that banks in the lower part are more frequently undercut, which leads to the falling of trees within whose roots older erosion episodes were recorded. Locally, bank erosion is often intensified by the position of 1- to 2-m boulders in the riverbed, which direct water into the parts of the banks where erosion occurs. Selective bank erosion could be intensified by debris dams and hillslope material supply to the riverbed.
This study integrates research linking academic performance with individual differences and class attendance. Whereas individual differences (ability, traits) are not controllable by students, ...students can control their attendance, study and work. Thus we sought to determine the extent to which “control” and “no control” variables predict academic performance. With
N
=
338, measures of verbal ability, the five-factor model, GPA, academic goals, and study behavior were used to predict exams, attendance, and independent projects completed. Uncontrollable factors accounted for 37% of the variance in exam scores; controllable factors accounted for an additional 6–10%. We also found an interaction such that, relative to low-ability peers, high-ability students’ attendance most enhanced their exam performance. Attendance was best accounted for by GPA, study and work. Projects were best predicted by
low verbal ability and by personality traits.
AUDIOBUS--the first Polish audiological mobile unit Sułkowski, W J; Sward-Matyja, M; Matyja, W
International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health,
2001, Letnik:
14, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Metamizol (dipyrone,
1), a widely used drug with effective analgesic and antispasmodic properties, shows severe side effects like agranulocytosis and anaphylactic shock reactions, the reasons of ...which are not known until today. After oral administration
1 is completely metabolized. All hitherto known metabolites have an intact pyrazolinone ring structure like the parent compound and are completely extractable from urine with polar organic solvents. However, only a fractional amount of the applied dosage can be recovered by this procedure.
To clarify the reason of this deficit of unknown metabolites we followed the hypothesis of oxidative rupture of the heterocyclic ring during metabolism of
1. On the basis of former in vitro results we now were able to identify in quality three oxalic acid derivatives and one acetic acid phenylhydrazide as new metabolites of metamizol in the allantoic fluid (AF) of incubated hen's eggs as well as in human urine by means of GC–MS analysis and comparison with unequivocally synthesized authentic reference compounds. Whereas the oxamazide
7, the phenylhydrazide
8 and
N-methyloxamic acid
9 are only present in trace concentrations and therefore cannot account for the deficit in the balance of metabolites, the oxalic acid monohydrazide
11 seems to be excreted in higher amount. But quantitative determination of this new metabolite would be required to answer the open questions concerning the biotransformation of metamizol and thereby to detect new facts about mode of action and side effects of this drug.
The elites in the postcommunist states of East-Central Europe influenced the transformation that took place in 1989/90. This step-by-step changeover of power took a number of different forms, & the ...balance between the old & the new elites after the end of totalitarian power was crucial for the development of democracy in these countries. The new elites have also had a decisive influence on the eastward enlargement of the European Union. There are times when the private interests of the political elites in the countries of East-Central & Eastern Europe carry more weight than the development of their democratic systems. The EU's eastward enlargement is not just a political & economic process; it also involves the social integration of the new members. Adapted from the source document.
This study examined the relationships among adult attachment, cognitive vulnerabilities for depression and anxiety, affect regulation strategies and psychological distress symptoms. To examine these ...questions, a total of 259 participants (150 females, 109 males) completed measures assessing the above mentioned variables. The structural equation modeling results indicated that attachment anxiety was related to emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff, as well as cognitive vulnerabilities for anxiety and depression. Attachment avoidance was associated with emotional cutoff and cognitive vulnerabilities for anxiety and depression. In turn, cognitive vulnerabilities for depression were related to both depression and anxiety symptoms, whereas cognitive vulnerabilities for anxiety were not related to either depression or anxiety. However, neither cognitive vulnerabilities nor affect regulation strategies mediated the relationship between adult attachment and psychological distress symptoms. Conceptual and measurement issues are addressed and clinical and treatment implications of these findings are discussed.
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