Purpose
Conflicting evidence exists on the complication rates after cystectomy following previous radiation (pRTC) with only a few available series. We aim to assess the complication rate of pRTC for ...abdominal–pelvic malignancies.
Methods
Patients treated with radical cystectomy following any previous history of RT and with available information on complications for a minimum of 1 year were included. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between the variable parameters and the risk of any complication.
Results
682 patients underwent pRTC after a previous RT (80.5% EBRT) for prostate, bladder (BC), gynecological or other cancers in 49.1%, 27.4%, 9.8% and 12.9%, respectively. Overall, 512 (75.1%) had at least one post-surgical complication, classified as Clavien ≥ 3 in 29.6% and Clavien V in 2.9%. At least one surgical complication occurred in 350 (51.3%), including bowel leakage in 6.2% and ureteric stricture in 9.4%. A medical complication was observed in 359 (52.6%) patients, with UTI/pyelonephritis being the most common (19%), followed by renal failure (12%). The majority of patients (86%) received an incontinent urinary diversion. In multivariable analysis adjusted for age, gender and type of RT, patients treated with RT for bladder cancer had a 1.7 times increased relative risk of experiencing any complication after RC compared to those with RT for prostate cancer (
p
= 0.023). The type of diversion (continent vs non-continent) did not influence the risk of complications.
Conclusion
pRTC carries a high rate of major complications that dramatically exceeds the rates reported in RT-naïve RCs.
Universities and Higher Education Institutions spend large sums of money to maintain and build network infrastructures. Current research and discussions in this area revolve around providing large ...amounts of bandwidth to students who live in a residence hall. However, there is a lack of information showing what is being used to support research efforts and overall administration of the institutions. There is also discussion and data that shows the growth and demand for Wi-Fi access and a concern for the number of devices that students are bringing with them. Little discussion is taking place about what the network is actively being used for. Spending money, time, and resources to grow a network and its access with no understanding on what it is used for, are these networks being used to support the academic mission or are they just giant entertainment networks? This dissertation shows through data analysis of unidentifiable anonymous data, what applications are utilizing the network by evaluating the unique application signatures in the network packets. This is then categorized with the intent to offer insight as to what the network is supporting. This dissertation can be used as a guide to help others preform their own analysis and it brings current knowledge, offers insight, and confirms the expectations of network administrators.
The BioMoby project was initiated in 2001 from within the model organism database community. It aimed to standardize methodologies to facilitate information exchange and access to analytical ...resources, using a consensus driven approach. Six years later, the BioMoby development community is pleased to announce the release of the 1.0 version of the interoperability framework, registry Application Programming Interface and supporting Perl and Java code-bases. Together, these provide interoperable access to over 1400 bioinformatics resources worldwide through the BioMoby platform, and this number continues to grow. Here we highlight and discuss the features of BioMoby that make it distinct from other Semantic Web Service and interoperability initiatives, and that have been instrumental to its deployment and use by a wide community of bioinformatics service providers. The standard, client software, and supporting code libraries are all freely available at http://www.biomoby.org/.
The Digital Mammography Imaging Screening Trial, conducted by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network, is a clinical trial designed to compare the accuracy of full-field digital mammography ...(FFDM) versus screen-film mammography in a screening population. Five FFDM systems from four manufacturers (Fischer, Fuji, General Electric, and Lorad) were employed in the study at 35 clinical sites. A core physics team devised and implemented tests to evaluate these systems. A detailed description of physics and quality control tests is presented, including estimates of: mean glandular dose, modulation transfer function (MTF), 2D noise power spectra, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The mean glandular doses for the standard breast ranged from
0.79
to
2.98
mGy
, with
1.62
mGy
being the average across all units and machine types. For the five systems evaluated, the MTF dropped to 50% at markedly different percentages (22% to 87%) of the Nyquist limit, indicating that factors other than detector element (del) size have an important effect on spatial resolution. Noise power spectra and SNR were measured; however, we found that it was difficult to standardize and compare these between units. For each machine type, the performance as measured by the tests was very consistent, and no predictive benefit was seen for many of the tests during the
2
-
year
period of the trial. It was found that, after verification of proper operation during acceptance testing, if systems failed they generally did so suddenly rather than through gradual deterioration of performance. Because of the relatively short duration of this study further, investigation of the long-term failure characteristics of these systems is advisable.
We present the HI mass inventory for the RESOLVE survey, a volume-limited, multi-wavelength census of >1500 z=0 galaxies spanning diverse environments and complete in baryonic mass down to dwarfs of ...10^9 Msun. This first 21cm data release provides robust detections or strong upper limits (1.4M_HI < 5 to 10% of stellar mass M_stars) for 94% of RESOLVE. We examine global atomic gas-to-stellar mass ratios (G/S) in relation to galaxy environment using several metrics: group dark matter halo mass M_h , central/satellite designation, relative mass density of the cosmic web, and distance to nearest massive group. We find that at fixed M_stars, satellites have decreasing G/S with increasing M_h starting clearly at M_h = 10^12 Msun, suggesting the presence of starvation and/or stripping mechanisms associated with halo gas heating in intermediate-mass groups. The analogous relationship for centrals is uncertain because halo abundance matching builds in relationships between central G/S, stellar mass, and halo mass, which depend on the integrated group property used as a proxy for halo mass (stellar or baryonic mass). On larger scales G/S trends are less sensitive to the abundance matching method. At fixed M_h < 10^12 Msun, the fraction of gas-poor centrals increases with large-scale structure density. In overdense regions, we identify a rare population of gas-poor centrals in low-mass (M_h < 10^11.4 Msun) halos primarily located within 1.5 times the virial radius of more massive (M_h > 10^12 Msun) halos, suggesting that gas stripping and/or starvation may be induced by interactions with larger halos or the surrounding cosmic web. We find that the detailed relationship between G/S and environment varies when we examine different subvolumes of RESOLVE independently, which we suggest may be a signature of assembly bias.
The Digital Mammography Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST), conducted under the auspices of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), is a clinical trial designed to compare the ...accuracy of digital versus screen-film mammography in a screening population E. Pisano et al., ACRIN 6652—Digital vs. Screen-Film Mammography, ACRIN (2001). Part I of this work described the Quality Control program developed to ensure consistency and optimal operation of the digital equipment. For many of the tests, there were no failures during the
24
months
imaging was performed in DMIST. When systems failed, they generally did so suddenly rather than through gradual deterioration of performance. In this part, the utility and effectiveness of those tests are considered. This suggests that after verification of proper operation, routine extensive testing would be of minimal value. A recommended set of tests is presented including additional and improved tests, which we believe meet the intent and spirit of the Mammography Quality Standards Act regulations to ensure that full-field digital mammography systems are functioning correctly, and consistently producing mammograms of excellent image quality.
BFORE is a NASA high-altitude ultra-long-duration balloon mission proposed to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) across half the sky during a 28-day mid-latitude flight launched from ...Wanaka, New Zealand. With the unique access to large angular scales and high frequencies provided by the balloon platform, BFORE will significantly improve measurements of the optical depth to reionization
τ
, breaking parameter degeneracies needed for a measurement of neutrino mass with the CMB. The large-angular-scale data will enable BFORE to hunt for the large-scale gravitational wave
B
-mode signal, as well as the degree-scale signal, each at the
r
∼
0.01
level. The balloon platform allows BFORE to map Galactic dust foregrounds at frequencies where they dominate, in order to robustly separate them from CMB signals measured by BFORE, in addition to complementing data from ground-based telescopes. The combination of frequencies will also lead to velocity measurements for thousands of galaxy clusters, as well as probing how star-forming galaxies populate dark matter halos. The mission will be the first near-space use of TES multichroic detectors (150/217 GHz and 280/353 GHz bands) using highly multiplexed mSQUID microwave readout, raising the technical readiness level of both technologies.
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