Comparison Between Different Manufacturers' 2-D and Point Shear Wave Elastography Techniques in Staging Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease Using Liver Biopsy as the Reference Standard: A Prospective Study.

The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of 2-D shear wave elastography (SWE) in assessing liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease by comparing its performance with that of point shear wave elastography (pSWE) using liver histological staging as the reference standard. In this ethics committee-approved, single-institution prospective study, pSWE and 2-D SWE velocity measurements were obtained in 121 adult patients (age: 18-70 y, median: 45 y) immediately before a liver biopsy for chronic liver disease. Shear wave velocity (SWV) and Ishak scores were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman's correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Part 1: Pressure ulcer assessment - the development of Critical Care Pressure Ulcer Assessment Tool made Easy (CALCULATE).

Introduction: Critically ill patients are at high risk of developing pressure ulcers resulting in serious untoward patient and health care system outcomes. Pressure ulcer prevention is therefore an important patient safety priority and establishing a structured approach to pressure ulcer risk assessment to identify patients at risk is a critical first step.

Methods: The literature was searched using three electronic databases from 2000 to 2011 to identify papers reporting on pressure ulcer risk factors and assessment in adult critical care.

The effects of frequency altered feedback on reading comprehension abilities of normal and reading disordered children.

The effects of frequency altered feedback (FAF) on the reading comprehension levels and error types of normal children and children with reading disorders were examined. Participants read aloud third, sixth, and ninth grade level material in non-altered auditory feedback (NAF) and FAF conditions. Comprehension improved significantly when the reading disordered children read aloud under the FAF listening condition, regardless of the reading level.

The influence of an auditory distraction on rapid naming after a mild traumatic brain injury: a longitudinal study.

Objective: The purpose of this investigation was to examine speeded performance over time and the impact of a common auditory distraction on performance after a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI).

Methods: Fourteen adults (ages 18-53) treated for a MTBI and 14 age and education-matched controls were asked to perform two speeded naming tasks. Both tasks were presented with or without the presence a common auditory distraction.

The effects of mild traumatic brain injury on confrontation naming in adults.

Primary Objective: To compare confrontation-naming in adults with MTBI to a group of normal adults under increased processing load conditions.

Research Design: A randomized block, repeated measures design was used to examine confrontation-naming response latency and accuracy using a computerized experimental program.

Methods And Procedures: Twenty-four adults having sustained a MTBI (aged 18-53) and 24 age-matched controls named pictures from three levels of vocabulary as quickly and accurately as possible.

Cortical reorganization induced by virtual reality therapy in a child with hemiparetic cerebral palsy.

Virtual reality (VR) therapy is a new, neurorehabilitation intervention aimed at enhancing motor performance in children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy (CP). This case report investigated the effects of VR therapy on cortical reorganization and associated motor function in an 8-year-old male with hemiparetic CP. Cortical activation and associated motor development were measured before and after VR therapy using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and standardized motor tests.

Influence of duration and location of pauses on comprehension of a temporarily ambiguous utterance in adults.

Despite the important influence of prosody on comprehension, it remains unclear how the individual parameters of prosody contribute to the process. Therefore, this study examined the magnitude of one prosodic cue, duration of the pause, that precipitates comprehension when the pause is located either early or late in an ambiguous phrase. Adults between the ages of 20 and 40 years (men: M = 27.

Can within-category naming identify subtle cognitive deficits in the mild traumatic brain-injured patient?

Background: This investigation examined the effect of a speeded, computer-controlled task on detecting differences in latency and accuracy of within-category name generation in adults having sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI).

Methods: Twenty-four adults in acute recovery and 24 age-matched controls were instructed to view 72 pictures on a computer monitor, and then name another item belonging to the same category as the visual stimulus as quickly as possible.

Results: The MTBI group demonstrated significantly longer latencies (p < 0.

The effect of dimension and vocabulary age on rapid picture naming in children.

Unlabelled: This investigation involved measures of the reaction times of normally developing children who were asked to name a series of centrally presented picture stimuli of varying vocabulary age and dimension. Results of the ANOVA on reaction times indicated a significant main effect of vocabulary level and an interaction of Dimension x Vocabulary level for the normally developing children. Post-hoc tests showed significant differences between two- and three-dimensional pictures for higher-level vocabulary items, but not for lower-level vocabulary items.

The sequence of the human genome.

A 2.91-billion base pair (bp) consensus sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome was generated by the whole-genome shotgun sequencing method. The 14.

Classical oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes: a comparative genomics perspective.

We have curated a reference set of cancer- related genes and reanalyzed their sequences in the light of molecular information and resources that have become available since they were first cloned. Homology studies were carried out for human oncogenes and tumor suppressors, compared with the complete proteome of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, and partial proteomes of mouse and rat and the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Our results demonstrate that simple, semi-automated bioinformatics approaches to identifying putative functionally equivalent gene products in different organisms may often be misleading.

Determination of crystalline silica in silica fume.

Silica fume is formed as a by-product in the manufacture of silicon from quartzite. This paper describes an analytical method for the determination of crystalline silica in silica fume. The crystalline silica was determined after removal of amorphous silica from the fume.

Gravimetric determination of free carbon and silicon carbide in silica fume.

Silica fume is formed as a by-product in the manufacture of silicon from quartzite. This paper describes an analytical method for the determination of free carbon and silicon carbide in silica fume. The silicon carbide was determined after removal of free carbon, amorphous silica, crystalline silica, graphite and silicon from the fume.

Bronchial reactivity to histamine and bradykinin is unchanged after rhinovirus infection in normal subjects.

We investigated the effects of rhinovirus (RV) infection on airways reactivity. Twenty seven normal volunteers (11 atopic) were inoculated with RV 2 or RV EL. The provocative concentrations of histamine and bradykinin required to produce a 15% fall in the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (PC15FEV1) were measured before, 7 and 21 days after inoculation.

Effects of zinc gluconate and nedocromil sodium on performance deficits produced by the common cold.

Two studies are reported on the effects of drugs on the performance impairments induced by experimentally- produced colds. The first study examined the effects of zinc gluconate on choice reaction time, and showed that the zinc removed the cold-induced performance impairment. The second experiment used nedocromil sodium and, again, the drug was effective in reducing the drop in performance observed in volunteers with colds.

Local hyperthermia benefits natural and experimental common colds.

Objective: To determine whether inhaling fully humidified air at 43 degrees C gave more benefit to cold sufferers than inhaling air at 30 degrees C.

Design: Randomised double blind trial. Setting--General practice and the common cold research unit.

Changes in human nasal mucosa during experimental coronavirus common colds.

Twenty-four adult volunteers were inoculated with nasal drops containing a coronavirus of 229E serotype to determine the differences in the clinical and physiological reactions which occur between clinically infected, sub-clinically infected and non-infected individuals. Thirteen volunteers were clinically infected, 8 had sub-clinical infections and 3 were uninfected. Nasal airway resistance and the temperature of the nasal mucosa increased in all infected subjects both with and without symptoms: the core temperature increased also but to a lesser extent.

Prophylaxis and treatment of rhinovirus colds with zinc gluconate lozenges.

Following a tolerance study, double-blind placebo controlled trials were conducted to determine the prophylactic effect of zinc gluconate lozenges on rhinovirus challenge and, in a third study, their therapeutic efficacy when given at the start of colds caused by virus inoculation was tested. In the prophylaxis study a total of 57 volunteers received lozenges of either zinc gluconate (23 mg) (29 volunteers) or matched placebo (28 volunteers) every 2 h while awake during a period of four and a half days. They were challenged with 10(2) tissue culture infecting dose (TCID50) of human rhinovirus 2 (HRV-2) on the second day of medication, and were monitored daily for symptoms and signs of colds and laboratory evidence of infection.

Intranasal chalcone, Ro 09-0410, as prophylaxis against rhinovirus infection in human volunteers.

The antirhinovirus agent chalcone Ro 09-0410 was tested in double-blind place-controlled volunteer trials for its protective efficacy against experimental rhinovirus infection. Fifty volunteers received either drug (26 volunteers) or placebo (24 volunteers) both before and after challenge with 20-40 tissue culture infecting dose (TCID50) of human rhinovirus 2 (RV2). There was no evidence that medication significantly reduced the incidence of infection or illness, indeed there was some increase in the nasal secretion produced.

Changes in circulating somatomedin-C levels in bromocriptine-treated acromegaly.

To determine whether the improvement in clinical status of patients with active acromegaly correlates with a reduction of circulating somatomedin-C, serum immunoreactive somatomedin-C was measured in twenty-seven patients before and during bromocriptine therapy. The patients were assessed using a clinical and metabolic score which included both subjective criteria of improved sweating and facial features, and objective criteria of a reduction in ring circumference and the area under the glucose tolerance curve. Using this, together with the change in GH levels before and during bromocriptine therapy, the patients could be divided into three groups.