Search results for "910"
showing 10 items of 139 documents
Preoperative nasopharyngeal swab testing and postoperative pulmonary complications in patients undergoing elective surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pand…
2021
Abstract Background Surgical services are preparing to scale up in areas affected by COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the association between preoperative SARS-CoV-2 testing and postoperative pulmonary complications in patients undergoing elective cancer surgery. Methods This international cohort study included adult patients undergoing elective surgery for cancer in areas affected by SARS-CoV-2 up to 19 April 2020. Patients suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection before operation were excluded. The primary outcome measure was postoperative pulmonary complications at 30 days after surgery. Preoperative testing strategies were adjusted for confounding using mixed-effects models. Results Of 8…
Mechanisms of Water Interaction with Pore Systems of Hydrochar and Pyrochar from Poplar Forestry Waste
2014
The aim of this study was to understand the water-surface interactions of two chars obtained by gasification (pyrochar) and hydrothermal carbonization (hydrochar) of a poplar biomass. The two samples revealed different chemical compositions as evidenced by solid state (13)C NMR spectroscopy. In fact, hydrochar resulted in a lignin-like material still containing oxygenated functionalities. Pyrochar was a polyaromatic system in which no heteronuclei were detected. After saturation with water, hydrochar and pyrochar were analyzed by fast field cycling (FFC) NMR relaxometry. Results showed that water movement in hydrochar was mainly confined in very small pores. Conversely, water movement in py…
SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study
2021
Abstract Background Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18–49, 50–69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results NNVs were more favourable in su…
MOBIlity assessment with modern TEChnology in older patients’ real-life by the General Practitioner: the MOBITEC-GP study protocol
2019
Abstract Background Mobility limitations in older adults are associated with poor clinical outcomes including higher mortality and disability rates. A decline in mobility (including physical function and life-space) is detectable and should be discovered as early as possible, as it can still be stabilized or even reversed in early stages by targeted interventions. General practitioners (GPs) would be in the ideal position to monitor the mobility of their older patients. However, easy-to-use and valid instruments for GPs to conduct mobility assessment in the real-life practice setting are missing. Modern technologies such as the global positioning system (GPS) and inertial measurement units …
Use of engineered bone for sinus augmentation.
2008
Tissue-engineered bone grafts represent an appealing alternative for maxillary sinus augmentation because they eliminate the significant drawbacks associated with extra- and intraoral bone-harvesting procedures. In the present case series, we document the outcomes of sinus augmentation surgery using tissue-engineered bone grafts.Three patients requiring bilateral sinus augmentation received tissue-engineered bone grafts combined with xenograft prior to implant placement. Implants were placed and loaded 6 and 12 months postaugmentation, respectively. Radiographs were taken and clinical examinations were performed preoperatively and at 4, 6, 12, and 18 months postaugmentation. Biopsies were o…
Suture Materials: Do They Affect Fistula and Stricture Rates in Flap Urethroplasties?
2003
<i>Introduction:</i> The effect of suture materials on urethroplasty complications is debated. Indeed, materials with a delayed absorption might either reduce the incidence of fistulas by ensuring a prolonged approximation of neo-urethral edges or increase the risk of urethral strictures due to a prolonged tissue reaction during suture absorption. We retrospectively evaluated the role of suture materials in the complication rate of urethroplasty procedures performed in our institution over a 10-year period. <i>Patients and Methods:</i> Three hundred and thirty-six boys undergoing a flap procedure (parameatal based, preputial tube, or onlay preputial flap) for hypospa…
Weakly supervised alignment of multisensor images
2015
Manifold alignment has become very popular in recent literature. Aligning data distributions prior to product generation is an appealing strategy, since it allows to provide data spaces that are more similar to each other, regardless of the subsequent use of the transformed data. We propose a methodology that finds a common representation among data spaces from different sensors using geographic image correspondences, or semantic ties. To cope with the strong deformations between the data spaces considered, we propose to add nonlineari-ties by expanding the input space with Gaussian Radial Basis Function (RBF) features with respect to the centroids of a partitioning of the data. Such featur…
Immobilization and controlled release of prostaglandin E2 from poly-L-lactide-co-glycolide microspheres.
2009
Prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) is an arachidonic acid metabolite involved in physiological homeostasis and numerous pathophysiological conditions. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that prostaglandins have a stimulating effect not only on angiogenesis in situ and in vitro but also on chondrocyte proliferation in vitro. Thus, PGE(2) represents an interesting signaling molecule for various tissue engineering strategies. However, under physiological conditions, PGE(2) has a half-life time of only 10 min, which limits its use in biomedical applications. In the present study, we investigated if the incorporation of PGE(2) into biodegradable poly-L-lactide-co-glycolide microspheres results in a …
Simulating permeability reduction by clay mineral nanopores in a tight sandstone by combining computer X-ray microtomography and focussed ion beam sc…
2021
Solid earth 12(1), 1 - 14 (2021). doi:10.5194/se-12-1-2021
Charcoal and stable soil organic matter as indicators of fire frequency, climate and past vegetation in volcanic soils of Mt. Etna, Sicily
2012
Abstract Charcoal fragments in soils are useful to reconstruct past vegetation because the level of preservation is often good enough to determine the tree genus. All forest ecosystems have the potential to burn as a result of naturally occurring or human-induced fires. Forest fires are coupled to climate and are a not-negligible factor of pedogenesis in Mediterranean areas, where they occur frequently. Furthermore, soil organic matter (SOM) is prone to undergo peculiar changes due to forest fires, both in terms of quantity and quality. A soil sequence along an elevational gradient ranging from Mediterranean to subalpine climate zones on slopes of Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy) was investigated i…