Search results for "interpretation."
showing 10 items of 1040 documents
Empirical examination of the indicator ‘pediatric gastroenteritis hospitalization rate’ based on administrative hospital data in Italy
2014
Background: Awareness of the importance of strengthening investments in child health and monitoring the quality of services in the pediatric field is increasing. The Pediatric Quality Indicators developed by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), use hospital administrative data to identify admissions that could be avoided through high-quality outpatient care. Building on this approach, the purpose of this study is to perform an empirical examination of the 'pediatric gastroenteritis admission rate' indicator in Italy, under the assumption that lower admission rates are associated with better management at the primary care level and with overall better quality of care for…
3D versus 2D contrast-enhanced sonography in the evaluation of therapeutic response of hepatocellular carcinoma after locoregional therapies: prelimi…
2014
Objective: To investigate diagnostic performance of 3D contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) compared with 2D CEUS in the assessment of therapeutic response of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with locoregional therapies (LRT). Materials and methods: Twenty-three consecutive patients (13 men and 10 women; mean age 65.5 years) with 23 HCCs (size range 1.2–7.2 cm; mean size 2.9 ± 1.4 cm) treated by means of radiofrequency ablation (RFA n = 9), transarterial chemoembolization (TACE n = 8), combined RFA and TACE (n = 3), percutaneous alcoholization (n = 2), and wedge resection (n = 1) underwent 2D and 3D CEUS 1 month (30 ± 2 days) after treatment. Magnetic resonance (n = 17) and computed to…
The left occipitotemporal system in reading: disruption of focal fMRI connectivity to left inferior frontal and inferior parietal language areas in c…
2011
Developmental dyslexia is a severe reading disorder, which is characterized by dysfluent reading and impaired automaticity of visual word processing. Adults with dyslexia show functional deficits in several brain regions including the so-called "Visual Word Form Area" (VWFA), which is implicated in visual word processing and located within the larger left occipitotemporal VWF-System. The present study examines functional connections of the left occipitotemporal VWF-System with other major language areas in children with dyslexia. Functional connectivity MRI was used to assess connectivity of the VWF-System in 18 children with dyslexia and 24 age-matched controls (age 9.7-12.5 years) using f…
Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of diclofenac in the rat.
1991
Diclofenac sodium is a widely used drug with interesting absorption and disposition features when administered to laboratory animals. The present study was undertaken to assess the pharmacokinetics of the drug after iv and gastrointestinal dosing to rats. Renal excretion of unchanged drug was negligible, but biliary excretion of the drug (unchanged and conjugated) was detected in bile duct-cannulated rats; it accounted for 27.2 and 31.2% of the total dose following iv and intraduodenal administration, respectively. Most of the drug excreted in the bile was conjugated diclofenac; unchanged drug accounted for only 4.7 and 5.4% of total diclofenac excreted in the bile after iv and intraduodena…
Enhancement of Gamma Oscillations Indicates Preferential Processing of Native over Foreign Phonemic Contrasts in Infants
2013
Young infants discriminate phonetically relevant speech contrasts in a universal manner, that is, similarly across languages. This ability fades by 12 months of age as the brain builds language-specific phonemic maps and increasingly responds preferentially to the infant's native language. However, the neural mechanisms that underlie the development of infant preference for native over non-native phonemes remain unclear. Since gamma-band power is known to signal infants' preference for native language rhythm, we hypothesized that it might also indicate preference for native phonemes. Using high-density electroencephalogram/event-related potential (EEG/ERP) recordings and source-localization…
Reproducible coronary plaque quantification by multislice computed tomography
2007
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate reproducibility and accuracy of computer-assisted coronary plaque measurements by multislice computed tomography coronary angiography (QMSCT-CA). METHODS AND RESULTS: Forty-eight patients undergoing MSCT-CA and coronary arteriography for symptomatic coronary artery disease and quantitative intravascular ultrasound (IVUS, QCU) were examined. Two investigators performed the QMSCT-CA twice and a third investigator performed the QCU, all blinded for each other's results. There was no difference found for the matched region of interest (ROI) lengths (QCU 29.4 +/- 13 mm vs. QMSCT-CA 29.6 +/- 13 mm, P = 0.6; total length = 1,400 mm). The compari…
Structure of rat behavior in hole-board: II) multivariate analysis of modifications induced by diazepam.
2009
In our previous study we suggested that multivariate analysis could improve hole-board test reliability providing a more useful tool to determine behavioral effects of anxiolytic drugs. To support this hypothesis, a multivariate analysis of rat behavior in hole-board, following administration of the reference anxiolytic drug diazepam, was carried out. Four groups, each composed of thirty male Wistar rats, were used: one saline and three diazepam injected (0.25, 0.5 and 2 mg/kg IP). Rat behavior was recorded for 10 min through a digital videocamera. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were carried out. In all groups, more than 80% of whole behavioral structure encompassed walking, climbing…
Focal cortical damage parallels cognitive impairment in minimal hepatic encephalopathy
2012
Little attention has been paid to cortical integrity in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE), although cognitive functions affected in early stages of liver disease are mainly allocated in different neocortical structures. Here we used cortical surface-based analysis techniques to investigate if patterns of cortical thinning accompany the mildest form of HE. To aim this goal, cortical thickness obtained from high-resolution 31 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was measured in patients with no MHE (NMHE), MHE, and healthy controls. Further correlation analyses were performed to examine whether scores in the critical flicker frequency (CFF) test, and blood ammonia levels accounte…
Diagnostic performance of whole brain volume perfusion CT in intra-axial brain tumors: preoperative classification accuracy and histopathologic corre…
2012
Abstract Background To evaluate the preoperative diagnostic power and classification accuracy of perfusion parameters derived from whole brain volume perfusion CT (VPCT) in patients with cerebral tumors. Methods Sixty-three patients (31 male, 32 female; mean age 55.6 ± 13.9 years), with MRI findings suspected of cerebral lesions, underwent VPCT. Two readers independently evaluated VPCT data. Volumes of interest (VOIs) were marked circumscript around the tumor according to maximum intensity projection volumes, and then mapped automatically onto the cerebral blood volume (CBV), flow (CBF) and permeability Ktrans perfusion datasets. A second VOI was placed in the contra lateral cortex, as cont…
Thigh muscle function in stroke patients revealed by velocity-encoded cine phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging.
2008
Current methods of clinical assessment of muscle coordination and function after stroke do not provide information on deep muscles. The objective of this study was to examine how stroke affects both superficial and deep muscles' coordination and whether muscle function improves after rehabilitation. Muscle function, coordination, and activity of quadriceps femoris (QF) and hamstrings were evaluated in 10 stroke patients with mild hemiparesis and in 6 controls using velocity-encoded cine phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (VE-PC MRI), surface electromyography (sEMG), and maximal voluntary isometric contraction torque (MVC). At baseline, the peak muscle velocity of the rectus femoris (…