Patient navigation for pregnant individuals with opioid use disorder: Results of a randomized multi-site pilot trial.

Background And Aims: Patient navigation (PN) may benefit pregnant individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) by improving treatment adherence. We examined participant enrollment, session delivery and assessment feasibility for a PN intervention among pregnant participants and compared PN preliminary effectiveness for OUD treatment engagement with participants in usual care (UC).

Design: This study was a pilot single-blinded multi-site randomized trial.

Improving APT Systems' Performance in Air via Impedance Matching and 3D-Printed Clamp.

This paper presents a study on improving the performance of the acoustic piezoelectric transducer system in air, as the low acoustic impedance of air leads to suboptimal system performance. Impedance matching techniques can enhance the acoustic power transfer (APT) system's performance in air. This study integrates an impedance matching circuit into the Mason circuit and investigates the impact of fixed constraints on the piezoelectric transducer's sound pressure and output voltage.

Human Behavior Recognition via Hierarchical Patches Descriptor and Approximate Locality-Constrained Linear Coding.

Human behavior recognition technology is widely adopted in intelligent surveillance, human-machine interaction, video retrieval, and ambient intelligence applications. To achieve efficient and accurate human behavior recognition, a unique approach based on the hierarchical patches descriptor (HPD) and approximate locality-constrained linear coding (ALLC) algorithm is proposed. The HPD is a detailed local feature description, and ALLC is a fast coding method, which makes it more computationally efficient than some competitive feature-coding methods.

On Machine Learning in Clinical Interpretation of Retinal Diseases Using OCT Images.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a noninvasive imaging technique that provides high-resolution cross-sectional retina images, enabling ophthalmologists to gather crucial information for diagnosing various retinal diseases. Despite its benefits, manual analysis of OCT images is time-consuming and heavily dependent on the personal experience of the analyst. This paper focuses on using machine learning to analyse OCT images in the clinical interpretation of retinal diseases.

Deep Learning-Based Wrist Vascular Biometric Recognition.

The need for contactless vascular biometric systems has significantly increased. In recent years, deep learning has proven to be efficient for vein segmentation and matching. Palm and finger vein biometrics are well researched; however, research on wrist vein biometrics is limited.

Women's experience and perspectives toward genital cosmetic surgery in Erbil city/Iraq: a qualitative study.

Background: Nowadays, Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery is quite prevalent, resulting in a wide range of medical and cultural implications. The majority of women who undergo this operation suffer from anxiety, depression, and other emotional symptoms. The present study was carried out in order to explore women's perspective on and experience of genital cosmetic surgery given their special context and cultural aspects.

An efficient framework for automated screening of Clinically Significant Macular Edema.

The present study proposes a new approach to automated screening of Clinically Significant Macular Edema (CSME) and addresses two major challenges associated with such screenings, i.e., exudate segmentation and imbalanced datasets.

Quality and content analysis of fundus images using deep learning.

Automatic retinal image analysis has remained an important topic of research in the last ten years. Various algorithms and methods have been developed for analysing retinal images. The majority of these methods use public retinal image databases for performance evaluation without first examining the retinal image quality.

A new approach using high volume blood patch for prevention of post-dural puncture headache following intrathecal catheter pump exchange.

Background: In an observational study, complications of intrathecal catheter pumps necessitating surgical exchange were analyzed. Also the use of a high-volume prophylactic epidural blood patch (EBP) during surgery for preventing post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) with a follow-up for 1 year is described.

Materials And Methods: In 22 patients with refractory chronic pain of cancer/noncancer origin or severe spasticity, who were receiving intrathecal morphine including adjuvants or baclofen for symptom relief, catheter exchange with or without pump was performed.

Desired crystal oriented LiFePO4 nanoplatelets in situ anchored on a graphene cross-linked conductive network for fast lithium storage.

Electron transfer and lithium ion diffusion rates are the key factors limiting the lithium ion storage in anisotropic LiFePO4 electrodes. In this work, we employed a facile solvothermal method to synthesize a "platelet-on-sheet" LiFePO4/graphene composite (LFP@GNs), which is LiFePO4 nanoplatelets in situ grown on graphene sheets with highly oriented (010) facets of LiFePO4 crystals. Such a two-phase contact mode with graphene sheets cross-linked to form a three-dimensional porous network is favourable for both fast lithium ion and electron transports.

A new approach to preparing porous carbons with controllable pore structure and morphology.

A new approach to preparing porous carbons with desirable pore structure and morphology is demonstrated by using an appropriate pair of polycarboxylic acid/anhydride and diamine in the presence of a metal salt without a sacrificial template.

Making endotracheal intubation easy and successful, particularly in unexpected difficult airway.

Background: Difficult intubation, most often due to poor view of the vocal cords on laryngoscopy is an intermittent and often challenging problem for clinically practicing anesthesiologists, maxillofacial surgeons, ear nose, and throat (ENT), emergency, and critical care physicians.

Purpose: We present a new approach for facilitating difficult intubation and evaluate its efficacy in a retrospective observational study.

Settings And Design: Operating room, emergency department, intensive care unit (ICU), retrospective observational study.

Lesions along the upper motor neuronal pathway with locked-in features after lightning strike and cardiac arrest: a case-review analysis.

Objective: This study describes a case of lesions of the upper motor neuronal pathway with locked-in features after lightning strike and cardiac arrest.

Design: A case-review analysis.

Methods: In a 29-year-old male who was hit by a lightning strike during farming activities, cardiopulmonary resuscitation was provided first by co-workers and continued with success by the medical rescue service.

Should a percutaneous dilational tracheostomy be guided with a bronchoscope?

Objective: The aim was to evaluate the complications and practicability of percutaneous dilational tracheostomy (PDT) with and without video endoscopic guidance in critically ill patients.

Methods: In a retrospective review of patients admitted to a multidisciplinary ICU, PDT was performed under bronchoscopic control in 74 patients and without bronchoscopic control in 113 patients. Both groups were evaluated in similar technical conditions.

Efficacy of three IV non-opioid-analgesics on opioid consumption for postoperative pain relief after total thyroidectomy: a randomised, double-blind trial.

Objectives: In a randomized, double-blind trial, the synergistic action of intravenous parecoxib, metamizol or paracetamol on postoperative piritramide consumption was compared in patients recovering from total thyroidectomy during the first 24 h while evaluating pain intensity and patient satisfaction.

Methods: 120 patients were randomly allocated to four patient groups treated with normal saline and/or one of non-opioid analgesics (parecoxib 40 mg twice daily, metamizol 1 g three times daily, paracetamol 1 g three times daily) in addition to piritramide using the PCA pump. Beginning in the recovery room (PACU), patients were asked every 2 h for 6 hours and afterwards once every 6 h to quantify their pain experience and patient satisfaction while piritramide consumption was recorded.

Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study to Assess the Efficacy of Nonopioid Analgesics on Pain following Arthroscopic Knee Surgery.

Purpose. In a randomized, double-blind trial, the efficacy of nonopioid analgesics on postoperative piritramide consumption was compared for pain relief during the first 24 h in patients recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. Methods.

Root locus analysis and design of the adaptation process in active noise control.

This paper applies root locus theory to develop a graphical tool for the analysis and design of adaptive active noise control systems. It is shown that the poles of the adaptation process performed in these systems move on typical trajectories in the z-plane as the adaptation step-size varies. Based on this finding, the dominant root of the adaptation process and its trajectory can be determined.

A randomized, double-blind, controlled trial on non-opioid analgesics and opioid consumption for postoperative pain relief after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Background: Following laparoscopic cholecystectomy, an effective post-operative pain control is necessary, at least during the first 24 hours. We present a randomized, double-blind trial on the effect of the combined use of intravenous parecoxib, and metamizol or paracetamol on piritramide consumption using a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump in patients recovering from laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Methods: 120 patients were randomly allocated to four patient groups treated with normal saline or one of non-opioid analgesics (parecoxib 40 mg twice daily, metamizol 1 g three times daily, paracetamol 1 g three times daily) in addition to piritramide using the PCA pump.

Caudal normal saline injections for the treatment of post-dural puncture headache.

Background: Post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) is the most common complication of procedures in which the dura mater is penetrated.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of caudal saline injections as a therapeutic approach for handling post-dural puncture headache.

Study Design: Prospective observational study between 1995 and 2010.

On the stability of adaptation process in active noise control systems.

The stability analysis of the adaptation process, performed by the filtered-x least mean square algorithm on weights of active noise controllers, has not been fully investigated. The main contribution of this paper is conducting a theoretical stability analysis for this process without utilizing commonly used simplifying assumptions regarding the secondary electro-acoustic channel. The core of this analysis is based on the root locus theory.

Tracheostomy under jet-ventilation--an alternative approach to ventilating patients undergoing surgically created or percutaneous dilational tracheostomy.

In a prospective observational study we compared the results of 297 elective tracheostomies under jet-ventilation with regard to its complication rate and practicability. Of those, 156 patients underwent surgically created tracheostomy (SCT) and 141 patients percutaneous dilational tracheostomy (PDT). Initially, in 159 patients jet-ventilation was performed using a jet-cannula inserted intratracheally through the cricothyroid membrane.

Time-frequency evaluation of segmentation methods for neonatal EEG signals.

In order to analyse non-stationary signals, like neonatal EEG, it is sometimes easier to segment signals into pseudo-stationary segments. An evaluation was performed on three previously proposed EEG segmentation methods in order to determine which method is most suited to neonatal EEG analysis. The three methods evaluated are spectral error measurement (SEM), generalised likelihood ratio (GLR) and non-linear energy operator (NLEO).

Case report. Successful use of tenecteplase in massive pulmonary embolism with cardiopulmonary resuscitation immediately following tracheostomy.

The use of thrombolytics for the treatment of massive pulmonary embolism with cardiopulmonary resuscitation is being controversially discussed. This is one of the first reports on the successful use of tenecteplase in a 59-year-old man who survived a massive pulmonary embolism after tracheostomy followed by a 30-minute cardiopulmonary resuscitation without cerebral damage. In such a dramatic clinical event, the immediate and simple use of this modern thrombolytic appears to be a justifiable last-resort treatment option until controlled studies in sufficiently sized patient populations will have proven or refuted its efficacy and safety.