Head-to-Head Comparison: P-POSSUM and ACS-NSQIP in Predicting Perioperative Risk in Robotic Surgery for Gynaecological Cancers.

: In this retrospective pilot study, we aim to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the P-POSSUM and ACS-NSQIP surgical risk calculators in predicting postoperative complications in gynaecological-oncological (GO) robotic surgery (RS). : Retrospective data collection undertaken through a dedicated GO database and patient notes at a tertiary referral cancer centre. Following data lock with the actual post-op event/complication, the risk calculators were used to measure predictive scores for each patient.

A healthy volunteer study to investigate trace element contamination of blood samples by stainless steel venepuncture needles.

Context: The trace elements cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn) and nickel (Ni) are normally present at low concentrations in blood. There has been a concern that stainless steel venepuncture needles typically used for collection of blood samples may contaminate these samples, leading to the masking of deficiency states or causing potential clinical confusion as to whether an individual has a "toxic" concentration.

Objective: To determine whether there is any difference between the concentrations of the trace elements obtained by different methods of blood sampling.

An evaluation of ontology exchange languages for bioinformatics.

Ontologies are specifications of the concepts in a given field, and of the relationships among those concepts. The development of ontologies for molecular-biology information and the sharing of those ontologies within the bioinformatics community are central problems in bioinformatics. If the bioinformatics community is to share ontologies effectively, ontologies must be exchanged in a form that uses standardized syntax and semantics.

Nutritional and hormonal regulation of the gene for malic enzyme.

In vivo, refeeding starved chickens stimulates transcription of the avian gene for malic enzyme in liver; in hepatocytes in culture, triiodothyronine (T3) and insulin stimulate transcription of this gene. In vivo, starvation, and in hepatocytes in culture, glucagon, medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) and long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) inhibit transcription of the malic enzyme gene. We have defined a T3-response unit in the 5'-flanking DNA of the malic enzyme gene; it contains one major T3 response element and several minor ones; maximum responsiveness is dependent on the presence of all of these elements.

The chicken malic enzyme gene: structural organization and identification of triiodothyronine response elements in the 5'-flanking DNA.

In vivo, feeding stimulates and starvation inhibits transcription of the malic enzyme gene. In chick-embryo hepatocytes in culture, triiodothyronine (T3) stimulates and glucagon inhibits transcription of this gene. As a first step in the characterization of the involved regulatory mechanisms, fragments of genomic DNA spanning the structural and 5'-flanking regions of the chicken malic enzyme gene were cloned.