Differentiation of Asian population samples using the Illumina ForenSeq kit.

The Kidd set of ancestry informative SNPs are included in Illumina's ForenSeq DNA Signature Kit. We had previously reported on the capability of these SNPs together with some phenotypic SNPs with ancestry informative properties in differentiating individuals from the Chinese, Malay and Indian populations in Singapore. The Singapore population is primarily made up of Chinese, Malays and Indians, with individuals from other Asian countries making up the rest.

Patient outcomes after radiofrequency ablation stratified by Clinical, Etiology, Anatomy, and Pathophysiology classification.

Objective: Venous insufficiency is a prevalent and potentially debilitating disease. Treatment guidelines and techniques such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) developed in the United States and Europe have been shown to provide significant improvements in quality of life; however, these have not been clearly assessed in the populations of developing nations. This study examined quality of life outcomes after RFA of patients treated at a single Jamaican vein center.

Ancestry prediction in Singapore population samples using the Illumina ForenSeq kit.

The ability to predict bio-geographic ancestry can be valuable to generate investigative leads towards solving crimes. Ancestry informative marker (AIM) sets include large numbers of SNPs to predict an ancestral population. Massively parallel sequencing has enabled forensic laboratories to genotype a large number of such markers in a single assay.

Trends in use of the only Food and Drug Administration-approved commercially available fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair device in the United States.

Background: Fenestrated endografts are customized, patient-specific, endovascular devices with potential to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality of short-neck infrarenal and juxtarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. The Zenith fenestrated endovascular graft (ZFEN) for abdominal aortic aneurysms (Cook Medical, Bloomington, Ind), Food and Drug Administration-approved in 2012, remains the only fenestrated device available in the United States. This technology is among the most technically complex catheter-based procedures and, therefore, inherently associated with serious risk for device-related complications.

The increased use of computed tomography angiography and magnetic resonance angiography as the sole imaging modalities prior to infrainguinal bypass has had no effect on outcomes.

Background: Angiography remains the gold standard imaging modality before infrainguinal bypass. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) have emerged as noninvasive alternatives for preoperative imaging. We sought to examine contemporary trends in the utilization of CTA and MRA as isolated imaging modalities before infrainguinal bypass and to compare outcomes following infrainguinal bypass in patients who underwent CTA or MRA versus those who underwent conventional arteriography.

Outcomes reported by the Vascular Quality Initiative and the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program are not comparable.

Objective: The Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) and National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) have emerged as the primary vascular surgery quality measurement tools with the purpose of evaluating perioperative outcomes and assessing hospital and physician quality. VQI uses self-reporting to capture all index vascular procedures during the inpatient period. NSQIP employs nurse abstractors to capture a sample of procedures and covers 30-day events.

The effects of Mozart's music on the performance of glaucoma patients on automated perimetry.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the Mozart effect on the reliability of the Humphrey visual field (HVF; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA) test in subjects with glaucoma. A previous study showed improved reliability in normal subjects undergoing HVF testing.

Methods: One hundred sixty subjects with glaucoma were randomized to three groups: control, headphones, or music for 10 minutes before HVF testing.