Notes

COVID-19 crisis readiness period by means of health care staff members' face: A new qualitative study from the Romanian health care facility.
Additionally, metabarcoding and DNA sequence-capture recovered 80%-90% of the control sample species. DNA sequence-capture was 8x more expensive, nonetheless it identified 1.5x more species for COI and 13x more genera for 18S than metabarcoding. Both approaches offer reliable results, sharing ca. 40% species and 72% families and retrieve more taxa when nuclear and mitochondrial markers are combined. eDNA metabarcoding is quite well established and low-cost, whereas DNA-sequence capture for biodiversity assessment is still in its infancy, is more time-consuming but provides more taxonomic assignments.Wearable interfaces are central to multiple healthcare and wellness strategies encompassing diet and nutrition, personalized health monitoring, and performance optimization. Specifically, the advent of flexible electronic formats coupled with microfluidic interfaces has resulted in sophisticated conformal devices for biofluid sampling and quantification. Here, a complementary approach is presented to wearable sensing by using a large-scale, conformal, distributed format that relies on the use of biomaterial-based inks to print and stabilize deterministic patterns of biochemical reporters with high resolution. Colorimetric devices can vary in size and a sensing T-shirt based on a colorimetric pattern is developed to illustrate the utility that such formats can add to the wearable interface space. Image analysis allows parameter variation to be tracked in real-time, yielding a map-like format of distributed biophysical response.Phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGL) are rare neuroendocrine tumours with a hereditary background in over one third of patients. Mutations in succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) genes increase the risk for PPGLs and several other tumours. Mutations in subunit B (SDHB) in particular are a risk factor for metastatic disease, further highlighting the importance of identifying SDH mutations for patient management. Genetic variants of unknown significance, where implications for the patient and family members are unclear, are a problem for interpretation. For such cases, reliable methods for evaluating protein functionality are required. Immunohistochemistry for SDHB (SDHB-IHC) is the method of choice but does not assess functionality at the enzymatic level. Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry-based measurements of metabolite precursors and products of enzymatic reactions provides an alternative method. Here, we compare SDHB-IHC with metabolite profiling in 189 tumours from 187 PPGL patients. Besides evaluatnt management. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Objective To assess the potential impact of the Shetty test over Ottawa ankle foot rules (OAFR) on plain imaging utilisation in the ED. Methods Nursing and medical staff assessed both Shetty test and OAFR in ED. All patients received ankle and foot radiographs. Results Fifty-four participants were assessed. Shetty test specificity at triage was 0.40 (95% CI 0.25-0.57), compared to OAFR 0.10 (95% CI 0.03-0.24), McNemar's P less then 0.01. Shetty test and OAFR sensitivity at triage was 0.92 (95% CI 0.64-0.99), McNemar's P = 1.00. Conclusion Shetty test may safely reduce unneeded radiographs in ED. Further research is warranted.Purpose To develop a practical method for predicting patient-specific collision during the treatment planning process. Materials and method Based on geometry information of the accelerator gantry and the location of plan isocenter, the collision-free space region could be determined. In this study, collision-free space region was simplified as a cylinder. Radius of cylinder was equal to the distance from isocenter to the collimator cover. The collision-free space was converted and imported into treatment planning system (TPS) in the form of region of interest (ROI) which was named as ROISS. Collision was viewed and evaluated on the fusion images of patient's CT and ROIs in TPS. If any points of patient's body or couch fell beyond the safety space, collision would occur. This method was implemented in the Pinnacle TPS. The impact of safety margin on accuracy was also discussed. Sixty-five plans of clinical patients were chosen for the clinical validation. Results When the angle of couch is zero, the ROISS displays as a series of circles on the cross section of the patient's CT. When the couch angle is not zero, ROISS is a series of ellipses in the transverse view of patient's CT. The ROISS can be generated quickly within five seconds after a single mouse click in TPS. Adding safety margin is an effective measure in preventing collisions from being undetected. Safety margin could increase negative predictive value (NPV) of test cases. Accuracy obtained was 96.3% with the 3 cm safety margin with 100% true positive collision detection. Conclusion This study provides a reliable, accurate, and fast collision prediction during the treatment planning process. Potential collisions can be discovered and prevented early before delivering. This method can integrate with the current clinical workflow without any additional required resources, and contribute to improvement in the safety and efficiency of the clinic.Objective In Australia, the current ED burden related to COVID-19 is from 'suspected' rather than 'confirmed' cases. The initial aim of the Registry for Emergency Care (REC) Project is to determine the impact of isolation processes on the emergency care of all patients. Methods The REC Project builds on the COVID-19 Emergency Department Quality Improvement (COVED) Project. Outcomes measured include times to critical assessment and management. Results Clinical tools will be generated to inform emergency care, both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions The REC Project will support ED clinicians in the emergency care of all patients.Background The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of amrubicin for previously treated malignant pleural mesothelioma. Methods The eligibility criteria were previously treated unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma; performance status 0-1; age ≤ 75; adequate hematological, hepatic, and renal function. The patients were injected with 35 mg/m2 amrubicin on days one, two, and three every 3-4 weeks. The planned number of patients was 32. Results The study was terminated due to delay in enrollment and 10 patients were subsequently enrolled (nine males and one female; median age 67 [range 49-73]), of which four had epithelioid tumors, three had sarcomatoid tumors and three had biphasic tumors, respectively. According to the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG), one, four, and four patients had stage II, III, and IV, respectively, and one had postoperative recurrence. There was one (10%) partial response, four (40%) had stable disease, and five (50%) patients exhibited disease progression. The overall response and disease control rates were 10% (95% CI 0.3-44.5%) and 60% (95% CI 26.2-87.8%), respectively. The median progression-free survival time was 1.6 months. The median overall survival time was 6.6 months, and the one-, two-, and three-year survival rates were 23%, 23%, and 0%, respectively. The observed grade 3 or 4 toxicities included neutropenia in six (60%) patients; leukopenia in five (50%) patients; and febrile neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia, and pneumonia in one (10%) patient each. Conclusions There was not enough data to evaluate the efficacy because the study was terminated early. However, amrubicin showed limited activity and acceptable toxicities when used in previously treated malignant pleural mesothelioma patients.Context Female surgical sterilization is widely used in the United States. Educational differentials in sterilization are large, but poorly understood. Improved understanding of these differences is important to ensure that all women have access to the full range of contraceptive methods. Methods Data from the National Survey of Family Growth (1973-2015) from 8,100 women aged 40-44 were used to describe trends in sterilization and other contraceptive methods by educational attainment. Demographic standardization was employed to examine how compositional changes in marital status and age at first birth contribute to aggregate changes in sterilization prevalence. selleck Results In 1982, women with a high school diploma and those with at least a bachelor's degree reported similar levels of sterilization use (38% and 32%, respectively), but by 2011-2015, prevalence had declined to 19% among college-educated women and had increased to 44% among those with a diploma. The trend among college graduates was largely attributable to delayed fertility; all other things being equal, if their age at first birth had not increased, the prevalence of sterilization would have declined by approximately 3% instead of 14% between 1982 and 2002. Increased use of sterilization among women with a high school diploma was only weakly related to changes in birth timing and marital status. Conclusions Among women with a high school diploma, elements other than childbearing and marital status-such as contraceptive preferences and access-appeared to influence their contraceptive behavior. Sterilization differentials between high school and college graduates may reflect or exacerbate other socioeconomic disparities that affect women's health and well-being.Although most plants produce all of their fruits (seeds) aboveground, amphicarpic species produce fruits (seeds) both above- and belowground. Our primary aims were to determine the number of reported amphicarpic species and their taxonomic, geographic, life form and phylogenetic distribution, to evaluate differences in the life history of plants derived from aerial and subterranean seeds, to discuss the ecological and evolutionary significance of amphicarpy, to explore the use of amphicarpic plants in agriculture, and to suggest future research directions for studies on amphicarpy. Amphicarpy occurs in at least 67 herbaceous species (31 in Fabaceae) in 39 genera and 13 families of angiosperms distributed in various geographical regions of the world and in various habitats. Seeds from aerial and subterranean fruits differ in size/mass, degree of dormancy, dispersal and ability to form a persistent seed bank, with aerial seeds generally being smaller, more dormant and more likely to be dispersed and to form a seed bank than subterranean seeds. In addition, plants produced by aerial and subterranean seeds may differ in survival and growth, competitive ability and biomass allocation to reproduction. Amphicarpic plants may exhibit a high degree of plasticity during reproduction. Subterranean fruits are usually formed earlier than aerial ones, and plants may produce only subterranean propagules under stressful environmental conditions. Differences in the life histories of plants from aerial and subterranean seeds may be an adaptive bet-hedging strategy.Background Chronic neuropathic pain is a common complication in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) but has not been investigated in dogs. Objective To determine the reliability of measuring spinal mechanical sensory thresholds (MSTs) in dogs and to compare MSTs of healthy dogs and dogs with SCI caused by acute thoracolumbar intervertebral disk extrusion after hemilaminectomy over a 1-year period. Study design Prospective study. Animals Thirty-two healthy and 40 SCI dogs. Methods Dogs were divided into group 1 (healthy Dachshunds), group 2 (healthy dogs including several breeds), and SCI group. The MSTs were measured using algometry at an incision (thoracolumbar) and control site. Dogs in group 1 were tested once; those in group 2 were tested for 5 consecutive days; and SCI dogs were tested on days 7, 14, 28, 42, 180, and 365 postoperatively. The MSTs were compared among days in healthy and SCI dogs and between SCI and healthy dogs using mixed effect models. P less then .05 was considered significant. Results At the incision site of SCI dogs, MST was significantly lower than in healthy dogs for 42 days postoperatively, but not subsequently.
My Website: https://www.selleckchem.com/