Minimizing procedural cost in diagnosing small bowel bleeding: comparison of a strategy based on initial capsule endoscopy versus initial double-balloon enteroscopy.

Introduction: Capsule endoscopy (CE) and double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) detect small bowel bleeding with equal diagnostic yield. We aimed to detect factors that influence procedural cost of CE and DBE in diagnosing and treating small bowel bleeding, and to compare them with reimbursement.

Methods: A cost model analysed procedural cost for diagnostic CE versus diagnostic, unidirectional DBE(scenario 1) and CE plus directed therapeutic DBE(positive findings in CE) versus unidirectional diagnostic plus therapeutic DBE (scenario 2).

Evaluation of continuous 4-day exposure to peracetic acid as a treatment for Ichthyophthirius multifiliis.

The parasitic ciliate Ichthyophthirius multifiliis infests all species of freshwater fish and can cause severe economic losses in fish breeding. The most effective treatment, malachite green, has been banned in Europe and North America for use in food fish production. Peracetic acid (PAA) was found to be toxic to I.

Intravascular embolization of venous catheter--causes, clinical signs, and management: a systematic review.

Background: Intravascular embolization of device fragments is a rare but potentially serious complication.

Method: A systematic search of the PubMed and MEDLINE databases for all articles pertaining to central catheter related embolization published in English between 1985 and 2007 was made.

Results: A total of 215 cases of intravenous catheter embolization were identified.

Genetic susceptibility of myocardial infarction.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of genetic factors on the first episode of acute myocardial infarction. Probandwise concordances, tetrachoric correlations and quantitative genetic analyses of liability were applied to data drawn from the Swedish Twin Registry and the Swedish Acute Myocardial Infarction Register. All same-sexed twin pairs born between 1886 and 1958 who were alive in 1987 were included in the analyses.

Genetic influences on angina pectoris and its impact on coronary heart disease.

As functional properties of the coronaries may differ between coronary heart disease (CHD) patients with or without angina pectoris (AP), it is possible that different genetic mechanisms could be involved in the various CHD phenotypes. The primary aim of this study was, therefore, to determine the relative importance of genetic factors for AP as well as the impact of AP on CHD death in general. All same-sexed twins born between 1886 and 1958 included in the Swedish Twin Registry served as a base for this study.

Reduction in vegetative growth of the water mold Saprolegnia parasitica (Coker) by humic substance of different qualities.

Humic substances (HS) account for 50-80% of the dissolved organic matter in non-eutrophicated freshwater ecosystems. HS are not inert, but are taken up by and may interact with aquatic organisms. However, at present no information is available on the interaction of HS with fungi, for instance, the fish-pathogenous species Saprolegnia parasitica.

Cadmium accumulation in zebrafish (Danio rerio) eggs is modulated by dissolved organic matter (DOM).

Experiments were conducted to investigate factors influencing the accumulation of cadmium (Cd(2+)) into zebrafish (Danio rerio) eggs. The accumulation of (109)Cd was affected by: (1) concentration, (2) time, (3) presence of dissolved organic material (DOM), (4) different origin of DOM and (5) different parts of fish eggs. Over a 5-h exposure, zebrafish eggs showed a steady increase in Cd-accumulation.

A comparison of different bivariate correlated frailty models and estimation strategies.

Frailty models are becoming increasingly popular in multivariate survival analysis. Shared frailty models in particular are often used despite their limitations. To overcome their disadvantages numerous correlated frailty models were established during the last decade.

The heritability of CHD mortality in danish twins after controlling for smoking and BMI.

Cause-specific mortality data on Danish monozygotic and dizygotic twins are used to analyze heritability estimates of susceptibility to coronary heart disease (CHD) after controlling for smoking and Body Mass Index (BMI). The sample includes 1209 like-sexed twin pairs born between 1890 and 1920, where both individuals were still alive in 1966. The participants completed a questionnaire in 1966 which included questions on smoking, height and weight.

Genetic influences on CHD-death and the impact of known risk factors: comparison of two frailty models.

The importance of some recognized risk factors on genetic influences for coronary heart disease (CHD) needs further clarification. The aim of the present study was therefore to study the impact of known risk factors on genetic influences for CHD-death. Both twin (correlated gamma-frailty) and non-twin models (univariate gamma-frailty) were utilized and compared regarding their suitability for genetic analyses.

A bivariate frailty model with a cure fraction for modeling familial correlations in diseases.

We suggest a cure-mixture model to analyze bivariate time-to-event data, as motivated by the article of Chatterjee and Shih (2001, Biometrics 57, 779-786), but with a simpler estimation procedure and the correlated gamma-frailty model instead of the shared gamma-frailty model. This approach allows us to deal with left-truncated and right-censored lifetime data, and accounts for heterogeneity, as well as for an insusceptible (cure) fraction in the study population. We perform a simulation study to evaluate the properties of the estimates in the proposed model and apply it to breast cancer incidence data for 5857 Swedish female monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs from the so-called old cohort of the Swedish Twin Registry.

The heritability of cause-specific mortality: a correlated gamma-frailty model applied to mortality due to respiratory diseases in Danish twins born 1870-1930.

The genetic influence on susceptibility to diseases of the respiratory system and all-cause mortality was studied using data for identical (MZ) and fraternal (DZ) twins. Data from the Danish Twin Register include 1344 MZ and 2411 DZ male twin pairs and 1470 MZ and 2730 DZ female twin pairs born between 1870 and 1930, where both individuals were alive on 1 011943. We used the correlated gamma-frailty model.