Search results for "techniques"

Surgeon volume and hospital volume in endocrine neck surgery: how many procedures are needed for reaching a safety level and acceptable costs? A syst…

2018

The relationship between quality of care and provider's experience is well known in all fields of surgery. Even in thyroidectomies and parathyroidectomies, the emphasis on positive volume-outcome relationships is believed. It led us to an evaluation of volume activity's impact in terms of quality of care. A systematic narrative review was performed. According to the PRISMA criteria, we selected 87 paper and, after the study selection was performed, 22 studies were finally included in this review. All articles included were unanimous in attributing to activity volume of surgeons as well as centers a substantial importance. Some differences in outcomes between these investigated categories ha…

Tumor-Associated MUC1 Tandem-Repeat Glycopeptide Microarrays to Evaluate Serum- and Monoclonal-Antibody Specificity

2009

Lentiviral transduction of face and limb flaps: implications for immunomodulation of vascularized composite allografts.

2012

Background Ex vivo introduction of an immunomodulatory transgene into a face or hand allograft may improve the risk-to-benefit ratio of vascularized composite allografts. Abrogation of the immunogenicity of the skin component of a face or hand allograft may decrease alloreactivity and permit the induction of immunologic tolerance. Proof-of-principle demonstrations of transduction of composite tissue have been established using adenoviral vectors, producing transient gene expression. The authors hypothesized that transduction, integration, and long-term expression of transgenes in a vascularized composite allograft could be achieved using lentiviral vectors. Methods Ex vivo transduction of h…

Rapid and Standardized Quantitation of Hemolytic Activity of the Fourth Component of Human Complement

1990

Based on a method that uses the fourth component of complement (C4)-deficient guinea pig serum to quantify the hemolytic activity of C4, we developed an assay that allows the processing of a large number of individual samples with high reproducibility. In contrast to the conventional procedure using titration curves of each sample to be determined, we can show that a single appropriate dilution of the sample allows accurate quantitation of hemolytic activity. The reliability of the procedure is demonstrated using either C4A- or C4B- deficient and normal individual samples.

Scientific abstracts and plain language summaries in psychology: A comparison based on readability indices.

2020

Findings from psychological research are usually difficult to interpret for non-experts. Yet, non-experts resort to psychological findings to inform their decisions (e.g., whether to seek a psychotherapeutic treatment or not). Thus, the communication of psychological research to non-expert audiences has received increasing attention over the last years. Plain language summaries (PLS) are abstracts of peer-reviewed journal articles that aim to explain the rationale, methods, findings, and interpretation of a scientific study to non-expert audiences using non-technical language. Unlike media articles or other forms of accessible research summaries, PLS are usually written by the authors of th…

Low intensity vs. self-guided Internet-delivered psychotherapy for major depression: A multicenter, controlled, randomized study

2013

Abstract Background Major depression will become the second most important cause of disability in 2020. Computerized cognitive-behaviour therapy could be an efficacious and cost-effective option for its treatment. No studies on cost-effectiveness of low intensity vs self-guided psychotherapy has been carried out. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of low intensity vs self-guided psychotherapy for major depression in the Spanish health system. Methods The study is made up of 3 phases: 1.- Development of a computerized cognitive-behaviour therapy for depression tailored to Spanish health system. 2.- Multicenter controlled, randomized study: A sample (N=450 patients) with mild/mod…

Epidemiology and Reporting Characteristics of Systematic Reviews of Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Study.

2016

Background Systematic reviews (SRs) can help decision makers interpret the deluge of published biomedical literature. However, a SR may be of limited use if the methods used to conduct the SR are flawed, and reporting of the SR is incomplete. To our knowledge, since 2004 there has been no cross-sectional study of the prevalence, focus, and completeness of reporting of SRs across different specialties. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the epidemiological and reporting characteristics of a more recent cross-section of SRs. Methods and Findings We searched MEDLINE to identify potentially eligible SRs indexed during the month of February 2014. Citations were screened using pre…

Positioning of the cross-stitch on the modified Kessler core tendon suture

2018

[EN] Cryopreserved human tendons were sutured with different variations of a modified Kessler-type grasping suture in a series of different designs in order to assess the influence of the distance between the cross-stitch on the core suture (5 and 10 mm from the cut tendon edge) on the peripheral suture. An original mathematical model was employed to explain the mechanical behavior (strength, deformation, and distribution of load) of the different suture designs. The effect of the peripheral epitendinous suture, combined with the distance of the core suture, was evaluated. The variation of core suture distance had no relevant consequences on the overall resilience of the design. However, in…

The (2'-5')Oligoadenylate Synthetase is Present in the Lowest Multicellular Organisms, the Marine Sponges. Demonstration of the Existence and Identif…

1995

We have proved the presence of (2'-5')oligoadenylates [(2'-5')An] and oligoadenylate synthetase [(2'-5')An synthetase] in the marine sponge Geodia cydonium. (2'-5')An isolated from sponge crude extract competed with authentic (2'-5')An for binding to polyclonal antiserum against (2'-5')An. HPLC analysis revealed the presence of nucleotides eluting with molecular markers for (2'-5')A oligomers. The biological activity of sponge (2'-5')An was demonstrated by inhibiting the protein biosynthesis in rabbit reticulocyte lysate. The activity of the (2'-5')An synthetase, present in crude sponge extract, was found to be high compared to that in mammalian interferon-treated cell extract. The (2'-5')A…

A novel automated segmentation method for retinal layers in OCT images proves retinal degeneration after optic neuritis.

2015

Aim The evaluation of inner retinal layer thickness can serve as a direct biomarker for monitoring the course of inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Using optical coherence tomography (OCT), thinning of the retinal nerve fibre layer and changes in deeper retinal layers have been observed in patients with MS. Here, we first compare a novel method for automated segmentation of OCT images with manual segmentation using two cohorts of patients with MS. Using this method, we also aimed to reproduce previous findings showing retinal degeneration following optic neuritis (ON) in MS. Methods Based on a 5×5 expansion of the Prewitt operator to efficie…