			Home About us Contact

Individual Techniques (individual + techniques)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Polidocanol in the Form of Foam Compared With Liquid Form in Sclerotherapy of the Greater Saphenous Vein: Initial Results

DERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 12 2003
Claudine Hamel-Desnos MD
Background. Foamed sclerosing agents have been used with enthusiasm by phlebologists for more than 5 decades. Any type of varicose veins can and has been treated with this technique. Numerous publications have stressed the advantages of foamed sclerosing agents on the basis of empiric and experimental criteria and have described various individual techniques to prepare foams. Until now, however, no comparative study for the treatment of large varicose veins with foam or liquid exists. Objective. The purpose of this first randomized, prospective, multicenter trial was to study the elimination of reflux, the rate of recanalization, and possible side effects of foam sclerotherapy (FS) compared with conventional liquid sclerotherapy for the greater saphenous vein (GSV). Methods. Eighty-eight patients were randomized into two groups: One group was treated with sclerosing foam (45 patients) and the other with sclerosing liquid (43 cases). Sclerotherapy was performed with direct puncture of the vessel under duplex guidance. The reference sclerosing agent was polidocanol in a 3% solution. The foam was prepared using the Double Syringe System (DSS) method. Only one injection of 2.0 or 2.5 mL liquid or foam was allowed, depending on the diameter of the GSV. Results were assessed according to the protocol. Results. Follow-up after 3 weeks showed 84% elimination of reflux in the GSV with DSS foam versus 40% with liquid sclerosant (P < 0.01). At 6 months, six recanalizations were found in the liquid group versus two in the foam group. After 1 year, no additional recanalization was observed with either foam or liquid. Longer term studies are underway. Side effects did not differ between both groups. Conclusion. The efficacy of sclerosing foam (DSS) compared with sclerosing liquid in therapy of the GSV is superior, a finding that had already gained empirical recognition but for which there has not been any clinical evidence to date. [source]

Comparative single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and microscopy-based analysis of nitrogen cultivation interactive effects on the fungal community of a semiarid steppe soil

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY, Issue 2-3 2001
Jennifer L. Lowell
Abstract The effects of nitrogen accretion on fungal diversity and community structure in early-seral (cultivated) and native (uncultivated) shortgrass steppe soils were evaluated using single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and microscopy in a comparative experiment. Selected haplotypes generated from fungal 18S gene fragments were also sequenced for species identification. Microscopy-based analyses showed significantly shorter fungal hyphal lengths in the early-seral control plots in comparison with the native control plots (P<0.0003), independent of nitrogen addition. Although diversity indices did not show significant differences between the plots, SSCP analyses indicated that fungal community structure differed in the native and early-seral control sites. In nitrogen-amended sites, gene sequences from dominant haplotypes indicated a shift to a more common nitrogen-impacted fungal community. While nitrogen amendments appear to be more important than cultivation in influencing these soil fungal communities, hyphal lengths were only decreased due to cultivation. The use of microscopic and molecular techniques, as carried out in this study, provided integrative information concerning fungal community responses to wide spread stresses being imposed globally on terrestrial ecosystems, that is not provided by the individual techniques. [source]

In-line analysis of a fluid bed pellet coating process using a combination of near infrared and Raman spectroscopy

JOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS, Issue 7-8 2010
Andrey Bogomolov
Abstract Near infrared (NIR) and Raman spectroscopic analyzers applied through an immersion Lighthouse Probe (LHP) were used for simultaneous in-line monitoring of a fluid bed pellet coating process. Multivariate curve resolution analysis of data, collected from four pilot-scale batches, has shown that the two techniques deliver complementary information about the process and their combination may be synergistic. This data analysis enabled a much better understanding of some of the process observations and also gave some interesting insights into the best way to use the techniques themselves. PLS regression analysis of the product moisture and the quantity of coating material sprayed was performed using NIR and Raman data blocks both separately and in combination. The performance of method combination compared to individual techniques is analyzed and discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Lung Function Tests in Neonates and Infants with Chronic Lung Disease: Global and Regional Ventilation Inhomogeneity

PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY, Issue 2 2006
J. Jane Pillow FRACP
Abstract This review considers measurement of global and regional ventilation inhomogeneity (VI) in infants and young children with acute neonatal respiratory disorders and chronic lung disease of infancy (CLDI). We focus primarily on multiple-breath inert gas washout (MBW) and electrical impedance tomography (EIT). The literature is critically reviewed and the relevant methods, equipment, and studies are summarized, including the limitations and strengths of individual techniques, together with the availability and appropriateness of any reference data. There has been a recent resurgence of interest in using MBW to monitor lung function within individuals and between different groups. In the mechanically ventilated, sedated, and paralyzed patient, VI indices can identify serial changes occurring following exogenous surfactant. Similarly, global VI indices appear to be increased in infants with CLDI and to differentiate between infants without lung disease and those with mild, moderate, and severe lung disease following preterm birth. While EIT is a relatively new technique, recent studies suggest that it is feasible in newborn infants, and can quantitatively identify changes in regional lung ventilation following alterations to ventilator settings, positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP), and administration of treatments such as surfactant. As such, EIT represents one of the more exciting prospects for continuous bedside pulmonary monitoring. For both techniques, there is an urgent need to establish guidelines regarding data collection, analysis, and interpretation in infants both with and without CLDI. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Mixed method approaches to the investigation and mapping of buried Quaternary deposits: examples from southern England

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 2 2007
Martin R. Bates
Abstract The lower reaches of major river valleys usually present archaeologists with considerable problems where thick sequences of stratified alluvium bury archaeology. These situations are typical of the lower reaches of major river systems that are currently under intense pressure from urban development where the archaeological resource is consequently at risk. Here we demonstrate how mixed method approaches, utilizing a range of borehole methods, cone penetration testing and surface and subsurface geophysics coupled with microfossil assessment (Foraminifera/Ostracoda), can be used to model these deposits and predict locations and depths at which important archaeological remains may be located. The novelty of this approach is not in the application of individual techniques to the problem but in the combined methodology, which enables a structured and cost effective programme of works to be formulated and provides the best chance to understand the subsurface. Although this approach has been developed to facilitate the location of archaeological sites buried at depth within the route corridor of development projects it is also suitable for locating fossil-bearing sequences and mapping stratigraphical units in Quaternary science. We demonstrate the approach using two examples from southern England. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]