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Real Advantage (real + advantage)
Selected AbstractsReal advantages of preservative-free preparations in special containers for long-term glaucoma therapyACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2002B. Boles Carenini No abstract is available for this article. [source] Cost optimization of composite floors using neural dynamics modelINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 11 2001Hojjat Adeli Abstract The design of composite beams is complicated and highly iterative. Depending on the design parameters a beam can be fully composite or partially composite. In the case of design on the basis of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) one has to consider the plastic deformations. As pointed out by Lorenz, the real advantage of the LRFD code can be realized in the minimum cost design. In this article, we present a general formulation for the cost optimization of composite beams based on the AISC LRFD specifications by including the costs of (a) concrete, (b) steel beam, and (c) shear studs. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer-discrete non-linear programming problem and solved by the recently patented neural dynamics model of Adeli and Park (U.S. patent 5,815,394 issued on September 29, 1998). It is shown that use of the cost optimization algorithm presented in this article results in substantial cost savings. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Interferon-, treatment in children and young adults with chronic hepatitis B: a long-term follow-up study in TaiwanLIVER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 9 2008Hong-Yuan Hsu Abstract Background/Aims: The short- and long-term benefits of interferon (IFN)-, therapy in young patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) acquiring infection perinatally or during early childhood have been questioned. Methods: Twenty-one Taiwanese hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg)-positive CHB patients aged 1.8,21.8 years (median 14.0 years) with alanine aminotransferase (ALT)>80 IU/L at entry were enrolled for IFN-, therapy. They received IFN-, therapy with a dose of 3 MU/m2/day three times a week for 24 weeks. A control group included untreated 21 CHB patients closely matched for gender, age, duration of ALT >80 IU/L and HBeAg status. All 42 patients were prospectively followed for 6.5,12.5 years after the end of therapy. Results: The cumulative rate of virological response [anti-HBe seroconversion and serum hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA <105 copies/ml] was not different between the IFN-treated patients and control patients at 1 year (41 vs 44%) and at 6 years (88 vs 89%) after stopping treatment. Serum hepatitis B surface antigen loss occurred in two (9.5%) treated patients and in one (4.8%) control patient. Patients with a successful treatment response (anti-HBe seroconversion, HBV-DNA <102 copies/ml and ALT normalization at 1 year after stopping treatment) were younger than those without a successful response (P=0.03). A lower pretreatment serum HBV-DNA level (<2 × 108 copies/ml) is not only a significant factor to predict successful treatment response (P=0.008) but also has a beneficial effect on the long-term cumulative rate of virological response in IFN-treated patients (P=0.021), but not in control patients. Genotype difference or emergence of a precore stop codon mutant before treatment was not predictive for HBeAg clearance. Conclusion: For young CHB patients in Taiwan with infection occurring perinatally or in early childhood, the real advantage of IFN-, therapy was not observed. IFN-, therapy showed a beneficial effect on short- and long-term virological outcomes only in those with a lower pretreatment serum HBV-DNA level. [source] Controlling the spread of carbapenemase-producing Gram-negatives: therapeutic approach and infection controlCLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTION, Issue 2 2010Y. Carmeli Clin Microbiol Infect 2010; 16: 102,111 Abstract Although the rapid spread of carbapenemase-producing Gram-negatives (CPGNs) is providing the scientific community with a great deal of information about the molecular epidemiology of these enzymes and their genetic background, data on how to treat multidrug-resistant or extended drug-resistant carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae and how to contain their spread are still surprisingly limited, in spite of the rapidly increasing prevalence of these organisms and of their isolation from patients suffering from life-threatening infections. Limited clinical experience and several in vitro synergy studies seem to support the view that antibiotic combinations should be preferred to monotherapies. But, in light of the data available to date, it is currently impossible to quantify the real advantage of drug combinations in the treatment of these infections. Comprehensive clinical studies of the main therapeutic options, broken down by pathogen, enzyme and clinical syndrome, are definitely lacking and, as carbapenemases keep spreading, are urgently needed. This spread is unveiling the substantial unpreparedness of European public health structures to face this worrisome emergency, although experiences from different countries,chiefly Greece and Israel,have shown that CPGN transmission and cross-infection can cause a substantial threat to the healthcare system. This unpreparedness also affects the treatment of individual patients and infection control policies, with dramatic scarcities of both therapeutic options and infection control measures. Although correct implementation of such measures is presumably cumbersome and expensive, the huge clinical and public health problems related to CPGN transmission, alongside the current scarcity of therapeutic options, seem to fully justify this choice. [source] Analyzing the real advantages of bifunctional initiator over monofunctional initiator in free radical polymerizationJOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, Issue 5 2010Paula F. de M. P. B. Machado Abstract Monofunctional initiators are extensively used in free radical polymerization. To enhance productivity, a higher temperature is usually used; however, this leads to lower molecular weights. Bifunctional initiators can increase the polymerization rate without decreasing the average molecular weight and this can be desirable. A bifunctional initiator is an important issue to be investigated, and it is of great interest to industries. The objective of this work is to study polymerization reactions with mono- and bi-functional initiators through comprehensive mathematical models. Polystyrene is considered as case study. This work collects and presents some experimental data available in literature for polymerization using two different types of bifunctional initiators. Model prediction showed good agreement with experimental data. It was observed that the initial initiator concentration has a huge impact on the efficiency of initiators with functionality bigger than one and high concentrations of bifunctional initiator make the system behave as if it were a system operating with monofunctional initiator. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010 [source] | ||||||||||