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Kinds of Months Terms modified by Months Selected AbstractsAccess to Health Care Services for the Disabled ElderlyHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 3p1 2006Donald H. Taylor Jr. Objective. To determine whether difficulty walking and the strategies persons use to compensate for this deficit influenced downstream Medicare expenditures. Data Source. Secondary data analysis of Medicare claims data (1999,2000) for age-eligible Medicare beneficiaries (N=4,997) responding to the community portion of the 1999 National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS). Study Design. Longitudinal cohort study. Walking difficulty and compensatory strategy were measured at the 1999 NLTCS, and used to predict health care use as measured in Medicare claims data from the survey date through year-end 2000. Data Extraction. Respondents to the 1999 community NLTCS with complete information on key explanatory variables (walking difficulty and compensatory strategy) were linked with Medicare claims to define outcome variables (health care use and cost). Principal Findings. Persons who reported it was very difficult to walk had more downstream home health visits (1.1/month, p<.001), but fewer outpatient physician visits (,0.16/month, p<.001) after controlling for overall disease burden. Those using a compensatory strategy for walking also had increased home health visits/month (0.55 for equipment, 1.0 for personal assistance, p<.001 for both) but did not have significantly reduced outpatient visits. Persons reporting difficulty walking had increased downstream Medicare costs ranging from $163 to $222/month (p<.001) depending upon how difficult walking was. Less than half of the persons who used equipment to adapt to walking difficulty had their difficulty fully compensated by the use of equipment. Persons using equipment that fully compensated their difficulty used around $300/month less in Medicare-financed costs compared with those with residual difficulty. Conclusions. Difficulty walking and use of compensatory strategies are correlated with the use of Medicare-financed services. The potential impact on the Medicare program is large, given how common such limitations are among the elderly. [source] Rapid-cycling bipolar disorder: effects of long-term treatmentsACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 1 2003L. Tondo Objective: To compare responses to long-term treatment of rapid-cycling (RC) vs. non-RC bipolar disorder patients and assess relative effectiveness of specific agents in RC patients. Method: Studies identified by literature searching were analyzed for effects of RC status and treatment-type on clinical outcome (recurrence or non-improvement per exposure-time), using random-effects methods to estimate pooled rates and their 95% CI for quantitative meta-analytic modeling. Results: Data were obtained from 16 reports with 25 trial-arms involving 1856 (905 RC and 951 non-RC) patients treated with carbamazepine, lamotrigine, lithium, topiramate, or valproate, alone or with other agents over an average of 47.5 months (7347 total patient-years). Estimated RC prevalence was 15.4%. Crude rates (%/month) of recurrence (2.31/1.20) and clinical non-improvement (1.93/0.49) averaged 2.9-fold greater in RC vs. non-RC subjects. The pooled RC/non-RC risk ratio (RR) for inferior treatment-response (in 13 direct comparisons) was 1.40 (CI 1.26,1.56; P < 0.0001). Pooled crude recurrence and non-improvement rates suggested no clear advantage for any treatment, nor superiority for anticonvulsants over lithium. However, only lithium vs. carbamazepine could be directly compared (in four treatment-arms) meta-analytically in RC patients (RR = 0.93, CI 0.74,1.18, indicating no difference in effectiveness). Conclusion: As expected, RC was associated with lower effectiveness of all treatments evaluated. Direct comparisons of specific treatment alternatives for RC patients were rare, and provided no secure evidence of superiority of any treatment. Additional long-term studies comparing RC/non-RC patients randomized to specific treatments are required. [source] Access to Health Care Services for the Disabled ElderlyHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 3p1 2006Donald H. Taylor Jr. Objective. To determine whether difficulty walking and the strategies persons use to compensate for this deficit influenced downstream Medicare expenditures. Data Source. Secondary data analysis of Medicare claims data (1999,2000) for age-eligible Medicare beneficiaries (N=4,997) responding to the community portion of the 1999 National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS). Study Design. Longitudinal cohort study. Walking difficulty and compensatory strategy were measured at the 1999 NLTCS, and used to predict health care use as measured in Medicare claims data from the survey date through year-end 2000. Data Extraction. Respondents to the 1999 community NLTCS with complete information on key explanatory variables (walking difficulty and compensatory strategy) were linked with Medicare claims to define outcome variables (health care use and cost). Principal Findings. Persons who reported it was very difficult to walk had more downstream home health visits (1.1/month, p<.001), but fewer outpatient physician visits (,0.16/month, p<.001) after controlling for overall disease burden. Those using a compensatory strategy for walking also had increased home health visits/month (0.55 for equipment, 1.0 for personal assistance, p<.001 for both) but did not have significantly reduced outpatient visits. Persons reporting difficulty walking had increased downstream Medicare costs ranging from $163 to $222/month (p<.001) depending upon how difficult walking was. Less than half of the persons who used equipment to adapt to walking difficulty had their difficulty fully compensated by the use of equipment. Persons using equipment that fully compensated their difficulty used around $300/month less in Medicare-financed costs compared with those with residual difficulty. Conclusions. Difficulty walking and use of compensatory strategies are correlated with the use of Medicare-financed services. The potential impact on the Medicare program is large, given how common such limitations are among the elderly. [source] Can the Emergency Department Algorithm Detect Changes in Access to Care?ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 6 2008Robert A. Lowe MD Abstract Objectives:, The "emergency department algorithm" (EDA) uses emergency department (ED) diagnoses to assign probabilities that a visit falls into each of four categories: nonemergency, primary care,treatable emergency, preventable emergency needing ED care, and nonpreventable emergency. The EDA's developers report that it can evaluate the medical safety net because patients with worse access to care will use EDs for less urgent conditions. After the Oregon Health Plan (OHP, Oregon's expanded Medicaid program) underwent cutbacks affecting access to care in 2003, the authors tested the ability of the EDA to detect changes in ED use. Methods:, All visits to 22 Oregon EDs during 2002 were compared with visits during 2004. For each payer category, mean probabilities that ED visits fell into each of the four categories were compared before versus after the OHP cutbacks. Results:, The largest change in mean probabilities after the cutbacks was 2%. Attempts to enhance the sensitivity of the EDA through other analytic strategies were unsuccessful. By contrast, ED visits by the uninsured increased from 6,682/month in 2002 to 9,058/month in 2004, and the proportion of uninsured visits leading to hospital admission increased by 51%. Conclusions:, The EDA was less useful in demonstrating changes in access to care than were other, simpler measures. Methodologic concerns with the EDA that may account for this limitation are discussed. Given the widespread adoption of the EDA among health policy researchers, the authors conclude that further refinement of the methodology is needed. [source] Access to Health Care Services for the Disabled ElderlyHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 3p1 2006Donald H. Taylor Jr. Objective. To determine whether difficulty walking and the strategies persons use to compensate for this deficit influenced downstream Medicare expenditures. Data Source. Secondary data analysis of Medicare claims data (1999,2000) for age-eligible Medicare beneficiaries (N=4,997) responding to the community portion of the 1999 National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS). Study Design. Longitudinal cohort study. Walking difficulty and compensatory strategy were measured at the 1999 NLTCS, and used to predict health care use as measured in Medicare claims data from the survey date through year-end 2000. Data Extraction. Respondents to the 1999 community NLTCS with complete information on key explanatory variables (walking difficulty and compensatory strategy) were linked with Medicare claims to define outcome variables (health care use and cost). Principal Findings. Persons who reported it was very difficult to walk had more downstream home health visits (1.1/month, p<.001), but fewer outpatient physician visits (,0.16/month, p<.001) after controlling for overall disease burden. Those using a compensatory strategy for walking also had increased home health visits/month (0.55 for equipment, 1.0 for personal assistance, p<.001 for both) but did not have significantly reduced outpatient visits. Persons reporting difficulty walking had increased downstream Medicare costs ranging from $163 to $222/month (p<.001) depending upon how difficult walking was. Less than half of the persons who used equipment to adapt to walking difficulty had their difficulty fully compensated by the use of equipment. Persons using equipment that fully compensated their difficulty used around $300/month less in Medicare-financed costs compared with those with residual difficulty. Conclusions. Difficulty walking and use of compensatory strategies are correlated with the use of Medicare-financed services. The potential impact on the Medicare program is large, given how common such limitations are among the elderly. [source] Coffee, tea, caffeine and risk of breast cancer: A 22-year follow-upINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 9 2008Davaasambuu Ganmaa Abstract The relation between consumption of coffee, tea and caffeine and risk of breast cancer remains unsettled. We examined data from a large, long-term cohort study to evaluate whether high intake of coffee and caffeine is associated with increased risk of breast cancer. This was a prospective cohort study with 85,987 female participants in the Nurses' Health Study. Consumption of coffee, tea and caffeine consumption was assessed in 1980, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998 and the follow-up continued through 2002. We documented 5,272 cases of invasive breast cancer during 1,715,230 person-years. The multivariate relative risks (RRs) of breast cancer across categories of caffeinated coffee consumption were: 1.0 for <1cup/month (reference category), 1.01 (95% confidence interval: 0.92,1.12) for 1 month to 4.9 week, 0.92 (0.84,1.01) for 5 week to 1.9 days, 0.93 (0.85,1.02) for 2,3.9 days, 0.92 (0.82,1.03) for ,4 cups per day (p for trend = 0.14). Intakes of tea and decaffeinated coffee were also not significantly associated with risk of breast cancer. RRs (95% CI) for increasing quintiles of caffeine intake were 1.00, 0.98 (0.90,1.07), 0.92 (0.84,1.00), 0.94 (0.87,1.03) and 0.93 (0.85,1.01) (p for trend = 0.06). A significant inverse association of caffeine intake with breast cancers was observed among postmenopausal women; for the highest quintile of intake compared to the lowest RR 0.88 (95% CI = 0.79,0.97, p for trend = 0.03). We observed no substantial association between caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and tea consumption and risk of breast cancer in the overall cohort. However, our results suggested a weak inverse association between caffeine-containing beverages and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Efficacy and tolerability of zonisamide as add-on in brain tumor-related epilepsy: preliminary reportACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 3 2009M. Maschio Background,, Zonisamide (ZNS) is an antiepileptic drug (AED) with broad spectrum action that demonstrated a good efficacy in controlling seizures as add-on in adult and pediatric epilepsy. To date there have been no studies on ZNS in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy (BTRE). Aim of the study,, To evaluate efficacy and tolerability of ZNS as add-on in BTRE. Methods, We followed six patients suffering from BTRE who had already been treated with other AEDs and who had had not experienced adequate seizure control. Three patients underwent chemotherapy while being treated with ZNS. Mean duration of follow-up was 8 months. Results,, Mean seizure number in the last month prior to the introduction of ZNS had been 27.7/month. ZNS mean dosage was of 283.3 mg/day. At last follow-up, the mean seizure number was reduced to 8.8/month. Responder rate was 83.3%. Two patients discontinued the drug because of side effects. There were no other reported side effects. Conclusions,, Preliminary data on the use of ZNS in add-on in patients with BTRE indicate that this drug may represent a valid alternative as add-on in this particular patient population. However, larger samples are necessary to draw definitive conclusions. [source] Financial Costs of Alcoholism Treatment Programs: A Longitudinal and Comparative Evaluation Among Four Specialized CentersALCOHOLISM, Issue 1 2003B. Nalpas Background: Alcoholism is a worldwide problem. Many strategies for alcohol detoxification and relapse prevention exist, but each alcohol treatment center has its own program. The objective of this study was to analyze and compare the financial cost and effectiveness of alcohol treatment programs from inpatient stay to follow-up 1 year later. This was a prospective, open, nonrandomized study of 4 specialized alcohol treatment centers and 267 patients admitted for alcohol detoxification. Methods: We recorded all medical and nonmedical interventions related to the program during patient stay in the hospital and every 3 months after discharge for 1 year and recorded the occurrence of alcohol relapse. Financial evaluation was based on the prices of refund from the French national health insurance service. Results: The mean cost of hospitalization ranged from ,1326 to ,1917 (p= 0.001), a variation mainly due to the difference in the length of hospital stay but also to the cost of the inpatient program, routine medical checkups, and drugs administered. The mean cost of 1 year of follow-up per patient ranged from ,419 to ,1704 (p= 0.001). The efficiency, corresponding to the money spent to prevent the relapse of one patient during 1 month, was approximately ,500/month in three centers and ,658 in the fourth. However, for a similar efficiency, the effectiveness, assessed by the mean time without relapse, was significantly (p= 0.001) different; center 1, which had the highest total cost, had an effectiveness 1.56 times higher than center 3, which had the lowest cost. Conclusions: This work emphasizes the heterogeneity of the costs and effectiveness of alcoholism treatment programs and suggests that research should be conducted to determine which program is the most rational, cost-efficient, and beneficial for patients and the public health office economy. [source] Can the Emergency Department Algorithm Detect Changes in Access to Care?ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 6 2008Robert A. Lowe MD Abstract Objectives:, The "emergency department algorithm" (EDA) uses emergency department (ED) diagnoses to assign probabilities that a visit falls into each of four categories: nonemergency, primary care,treatable emergency, preventable emergency needing ED care, and nonpreventable emergency. The EDA's developers report that it can evaluate the medical safety net because patients with worse access to care will use EDs for less urgent conditions. After the Oregon Health Plan (OHP, Oregon's expanded Medicaid program) underwent cutbacks affecting access to care in 2003, the authors tested the ability of the EDA to detect changes in ED use. Methods:, All visits to 22 Oregon EDs during 2002 were compared with visits during 2004. For each payer category, mean probabilities that ED visits fell into each of the four categories were compared before versus after the OHP cutbacks. Results:, The largest change in mean probabilities after the cutbacks was 2%. Attempts to enhance the sensitivity of the EDA through other analytic strategies were unsuccessful. By contrast, ED visits by the uninsured increased from 6,682/month in 2002 to 9,058/month in 2004, and the proportion of uninsured visits leading to hospital admission increased by 51%. Conclusions:, The EDA was less useful in demonstrating changes in access to care than were other, simpler measures. Methodologic concerns with the EDA that may account for this limitation are discussed. Given the widespread adoption of the EDA among health policy researchers, the authors conclude that further refinement of the methodology is needed. [source] Efficacy and tolerability of zonisamide as add-on in brain tumor-related epilepsy: preliminary reportACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 3 2009M. Maschio Background,, Zonisamide (ZNS) is an antiepileptic drug (AED) with broad spectrum action that demonstrated a good efficacy in controlling seizures as add-on in adult and pediatric epilepsy. To date there have been no studies on ZNS in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy (BTRE). Aim of the study,, To evaluate efficacy and tolerability of ZNS as add-on in BTRE. Methods, We followed six patients suffering from BTRE who had already been treated with other AEDs and who had had not experienced adequate seizure control. Three patients underwent chemotherapy while being treated with ZNS. Mean duration of follow-up was 8 months. Results,, Mean seizure number in the last month prior to the introduction of ZNS had been 27.7/month. ZNS mean dosage was of 283.3 mg/day. At last follow-up, the mean seizure number was reduced to 8.8/month. Responder rate was 83.3%. Two patients discontinued the drug because of side effects. There were no other reported side effects. Conclusions,, Preliminary data on the use of ZNS in add-on in patients with BTRE indicate that this drug may represent a valid alternative as add-on in this particular patient population. However, larger samples are necessary to draw definitive conclusions. [source] THERE IS WEAK EVIDENCE THAT FORCED-USE THERAPY PROVIDED FOR 1,MONTH WITHOUT ADDITIONAL THERAPY IMPROVED THE FINE MOTOR FUNCTION OF CHILDREN WITH HEMIPARESISAUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 2 2004Margaret Wallen No abstract is available for this article. [source] A 7-YEAR-OLD BOY WITH MIDLINE CEREBELLAR MASSBRAIN PATHOLOGY, Issue 3 2005Azzam Ismail MD CASE OF THE MONTH: ABSTRACT January 2005. A boy aged 7 years was found to have a tumor arising from the roof of the fourth ventricle. Histopathologically, part of the tumor appeared as a PNET, while neuroglial tissue, striated and smooth muscle, cartilage and small glandular structures were present in other regions. Tumor cells in both primitive and mature elements showed a loss of chromosome 17p accompanied by a gain of 17q, a pattern consistent with the presence of an isochromosome 17q. This abnormality is not characteristic of intracranial germ cell tumors, but is present in over 30% of medulloblastomas. On the basis of the histologic and genetic abnormalities, we propose a diagnosis of PNET with multilineal differentiation. [source] NOMENCLATURAL NOTE ON A THECADINIUM SPECIES (DINOPHYCEAE, GONYAULACALES), WHICH WAS DESCRIBED AS NEW INDEPENDENTLY THREE TIMES WITHIN TWO MONTHS,JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY, Issue 6 2005Mona Hoppenrath Three Thecadinium species, independently described as new in three separate publications, are actually regarded as conspecific. The combined plate formula is Po 3, 1a 6, 5-7/8c 5s 6,, 2,,. The size range of the species is 38,65 l m in length and 23,42 lm in depth. It has one or two strongly lobed chloroplasts. The correct name of the species is Thecadinium yashimaense Yoshimatsu, Toriumi et Dodge 2004. Thecadinium mucosum Hoppenrath et Taylor 2004 and Thecadinium foveolatum Bolch 2004 are taxonomical synonyms. This note clarifies the plate tabulation and other features of the species. [source] A FIELD-BASED METHOD FOR ESTIMATING AGE IN FREE-RANGING STELLER SEA LIONS (EUMETOPIAS JUBATUS) LESS THAN TWENTY-FOUR MONTHS OF AGEMARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2007James C. King Abstract Studies of health, survival, and development of juvenile Alaskan Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus, SSL) require accurate estimates of age for wild-captured animals. However, the value and accuracy of several potential predictors of age have not been assessed with data from known-age free-ranging animals. During 2001,2005, forty-six individual SSL originally branded or tagged at ,6 mo of age were recaptured by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). Using a series of general linear models, we evaluated the ability of morphometrics measurements: permanent canine tooth length (CTL), diastema (DIAS), whisker length (WHIS), and dorsal standard length (DSL) to predict the age of forty-six known-age juveniles (n= 46 ,23 mo of age). Permanent CTL was the strongest individual predictor (r2= 0.80); followed by DSL, DIAS, and WHIS (r2= 0.70, 0.56, and 0.45, respectively). The inclusion of a single sample from a 44-mo-old sea lion suggested quadratic relationships between age and all predictors for older animals. Only models including CTL predicted age to within 6 mo of known age. The equation Age = (,3.0112 +[0.6726 * CTL]+[0.4965 * DIAS]) allows for accurate age estimates of SSL ,23 mo for both sexes. [source] THE EFFECTS OF RENAL TRANSPLANT HISTOLOGY AT 3 MONTHS ON LONG-TERM GRAFT OUTCOMENEPHROLOGY, Issue 3 2000Fenton-Lee C [source] Next Month in EpilepsiaEPILEPSIA, Issue 10 2008Article first published online: 1 OCT 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] A comparison of the relative contributions of temporal and spatial variation in the density of drifting invertebrates in a Dorset (U.K.) chalk streamFRESHWATER BIOLOGY, Issue 8 2008MARTIN W. NEALE Summary 1. Invertebrate drift is commonly investigated in streams, with the majority of studies focussed on temporal (typically diel) variation. In comparison, few studies have investigated spatial variation in drift and there is little consensus among them. We tested the hypothesis that spatial variation in invertebrate drift is as important as temporal variation. 2. The density of drifting invertebrates in a chalk stream was sampled using an array of nets arranged to determine vertical, lateral and longitudinal variation. Samples were collected at dawn, during the day, at dusk and by night, on four separate monthly occasions. Insecta and Crustacea were analysed separately to identify the effect of differing life history strategies. The density of drifting debris was also recorded, to act as a null model. 3. Time of day and vertical position together explained the majority of the variance in invertebrate drift (79% for Insecta and 97% for Crustacea), with drift densities higher at dusk and night, and nearer the stream bed. Independently, time of day (38%, Insecta; 52%, Crustacea) and vertical position (41%, Insecta; 45%, Crustacea) explained a similar amount of the observed variance. Month explained some of the variance in insect drift (9%) but none for Crustacea. 4. Variation in the density of drifting debris showed little in common with invertebrate drift. There was little variation associated with time of day and only 27% of the observed variation in debris could be explained by the factors investigated here, with month explaining the largest proportion (20%). We suggest the difference in drifting debris and invertebrates provides further evidence for a strong behavioural component in invertebrate drift. 5. Spatial variation in invertebrate drift can be of the same order of magnitude as the much-described diel temporal variation. The extent of this spatial variation poses problems when attempting to quantify invertebrate drift and we recommend that spatial replication should be incorporated into drift studies. [source] Split agent-based routing in interconnected networksINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 4 2004Constandinos X. Mavromoustakis Abstract Adaptive behaviour of swarm-based agents (BT Technol. J. 1994; 12:104,113; AAMAS Conference '02, Melbourne, Australia, Month 1,2, 2002; Softcomput. J. 2001; 5(4):313,317.) is being studied in this paper with respect to network throughput for a certain amount of data traffic. Algorithmically complex problems like routing data packets in a network need to be faced with a dynamically adaptive approach such as agent-based scheme. Particularly in interconnected networks where multiple networks are participating in order to figure a large-scale network with different QoS levels and heterogeneity in the service of delay sensitive packets, routing algorithm must adopt in frequent network changes to anticipate such situations. Split agent-based routing technique (SART) is a variant of swarm-based routing (Adapt. Behav. 1997; 5:169,207; Proceedings of 2003 International Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems,SPECTS, Montreal, Canada, July 20,24, 2003; 240,247.) where agents are split after their departure to the next node on a hop-by-hop basis. Packets that are delay sensitive are marked as prioritized which agents recognize-as being a part of a packet- and try to influence the two-way routing tables. Thorough examination is made, for the performance of the proposed algorithm in the network and the QoS offered, taking into account a number of metrics. It is shown that the split agent routing scheme applied to interconnected networks offers a decentralized control in the network and an efficient way to increase overall performance and packet control reducing at the same time the packet loss concept. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Prevalence and inheritance of canine elbow dysplasia in German RottweilerJOURNAL OF ANIMAL BREEDING AND GENETICS, Issue 6 2000R. Beuing Summary A total of 2114 scores of elbow arthrosis from the official screening programme of the German Rottweiler Breeding Association (ADRK) were analysed in respect of prevalence and genetic disposition. 45.8% showed no signs of arthritis, 40.6% were scored in Grade 1 with minor osteophytes and 13.6% were affected by arthritis of clinical relevance (Grade 2 and 3). REML estimates showed a heritability of 28% and a litter variance of 6.4%. The only significant environmental fixed effect was gender. 39.1% of the male and 51.5% of the female were free from ED which corresponds with 19.2% of the male and only 8.8% of the female in the critical ED classes of Grade 2 and 3. Differences between the years of examination could be explained by genetic gain. Month of birth as well as age at examination, in the range covered by this study, was not significant. It was stated that the effect of bodyweight should be tested before starting a breeding programme. Zusammenfassung 2114 Bewertungen der Ellbogenarthrose aus dem offiziellen Screening des Allgemeinen Deutschen Rottweiler Klub (ADRK) wurden in Hinblick auf Häufigkeit und genetische Praedisposition untersucht. 45,8% der Tiere hatten keine Anzeichen von Arthrose, 40,6% wurden mit Grad 1, geringgradige Osteophythenbildung, bewertet und 13,6% waren mit Arthrosen Grad 2 und 3 von klinischer Relevanz behaftet. REML-Schätzungen zeigten eine Heritabilität von 28% und eine wurfbedingte Varianz von 6.4%. Der einzige signifikante fixe Umwelteffekt war der Einfluß des Geschlechtes. 39,1% der Rüden und 51,5% der Hündinnen waren ED-frei. Das korrespondiert damit, daß 19,2% der Rüden und nur 8,8% der Hündinnen in die kritischen ED-Klassen 2 und 3 eingestuft wurden. Unterschiede zwischen den Untersuchungsjahren konnten als genetischer Trend erklärt werden. Der Geburtsmonat sowie das Alter beim Röntgen, zumindest in dem Altersbereich, den diese Studie umfasste, waren nicht signifikant. Es wurde als wichtig angesehen, den Einfluß des Körpergewichtes näher zu prüfen, bevor ein Zuchtprogramm begonnen wird. [source] Quantitation of cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA by real-time PCR for occurrence of CMV disease in HIV-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapyJOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY, Issue 3 2003Karine Gourlain Abstract In HIV-infected patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) included in the Predivir cohort, we have evaluated the usefulness of CMV DNA quantitation by a TaqMan® PCR assay from peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) to predict CMV disease occurrence. In parallel with the immune restoration after treatment by HAART, the percentage of positive samples decreased progressively from 7.3% at Day 0 to 3.5% at Month 12. Among the CMV markers, the smallest concordance with PBL CMV TaqMan® PCR, as evaluated by kappa, was observed with pp65 antigenemia, whereas concordance with all other CMV markers was high. Among the 16 patients with CMV DNA copies at least once >100/150,000 cells, CMV disease occurred in six during follow-up, whereas among the 159 patients with CMV DNA copies always <10/150,000 cells, CMV disease occurred in three and among the seven patients with CMV DNA copies >10 and <100 occurred in only one. In univariate Cox models, all the CMV markers including PBL CMV TaqMan® PCR >10/150,000 cells (RR: 27.6, IC95: 7.1,107.2), the CD4 cell count <75 cells/mm3 and the HIV viral load >100,000 copies/ml were predictive for CMV disease. In a stepwise multivariate analysis, which should be interpreted with caution due to the small number of events (n = 10), three covariates were associated independently with CMV disease: pp65 antigenemia >100 nuclei/200,000, PBL CMV TaqMan® PCR >10 copies/150,000 cells and HIV viral load remaining or increasing >100,000 copies/ml. J. Med. Virol. 69:401,407, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Image of the Month: AnswerJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 6 2010Article first published online: 18 JUN 2010 No abstract is available for this article. [source] Image of the Month: AnswerJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 10 2009Article first published online: 7 OCT 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] Jet fuel squeezed as gasoil demand boomsOIL AND ENERGY TRENDS, Issue 6 2005Article first published online: 15 JUN 200 As the US summer gasoline season begins (see 'The Month in Brief') it is not gasoline but middle distillate that is driving product prices in that country. Fears of a heating oil shortage next winter have pushed the price of heating oil above that of motor spirit. Diesel prices have been above those of gasoline for several weeks. Strong demand for diesel and heating oil is predicted for the rest of the year, and US refiners will have to try and structure their operations so as to maximize their output of these two fuels whilst still continuing to keep the world's largest gasoline market adequately supplied. The main effect of these attempts to squeeze more gasoline, diesel and heating oil from the crude oil barrel is likely to be experienced by the product that lies in the middle: jet kerosine. [source] Changes in Diapered and Nondiapered Infant Skin Over the First Month of LifePEDIATRIC DERMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2000Marty O. Visscher Ph.D. Diapered and nondiapered skin sites were contrasted to the volar forearm of adults (mothers). Thirty-one term infants were evaluated in the hospital on postnatal day 1 and at home on days 4, 7, 14, 21, and 28 for a total of six visits. Measurements included baseline skin hydration, continuous capacitive reactance, peak water sorption, rate of water desorption, skin pH, skin temperature, and environmental conditions. Changes in epidermal barrier properties over the first 4 weeks of life included an increase in surface hydration, a decrease in transepidermal water movement under occlusion, a decrease in surface water desorption rate, and a decrease in surface pH. Diapered and nondiapered regions were indistinguishable at birth but exhibited differential behavior over the first 14 days, with the diapered region showing a higher pH and increased hydration. Maternal measurements remained constant throughout the period. We conclude that healthy newborn skin undergoes progressive changes in epidermal barrier properties over the first 28 days. Adult skin testing does not replicate newborn skin during the first month of life. [source] Reply to D. Cummings "Response to: Strong Association Between Birth Month and Reproductive Performance of Vietnamese Women"AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Susanne Huber No abstract is available for this article. [source] This Month in LaryngoscopeTHE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 10 2010This Month in Laryngoscope No abstract is available for this article. [source] This Month in LaryngoscopeTHE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 9 2010This Month in Laryngoscope No abstract is available for this article. [source] This Month in LaryngoscopeTHE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 8 2010This Month in Laryngoscope No abstract is available for this article. [source] This Month in LaryngoscopeTHE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 7 2010This Month in Laryngoscope No abstract is available for this article. [source] This Month in LaryngoscopeTHE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 6 2010This Month in Laryngoscope No abstract is available for this article. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||