Case report: Prosthetic aortic valve endocarditis due to Staphylococcus epidermidis with acquired resistance in the walK gene.

We report the case of a patient with infective endocarditis on a prosthetic aortic valve due to Staphylococcus epidermidis, not a candidate for prosthetic replacement surgery. After three months of supressive treatment with dalbavancin, fever reappears, with growth of S. epidermidis.

The importance of previous season performance on world-class 200- and 400-m individual medley swimming.

We examined the degree to which 200-m and 400-m Individual Medley (IM) performance was related to sprint-, middle- and long-distance events before a swimmer reached a Top-20 world ranking. A retrospective longitudinal modelling study was conducted. Data on Top-20 swimmers between 2010 and 2018 were obtained from publicly available websites.

Percutaneous radiologic gastrostomy: a 12-year series.

Background/aims: Interventional radiologists have played a main role in the technical evolution of gastrostomy, from the first surgical/endoscopical approaches to percutaneous interventional procedures. This study evaluated the results obtained in a 12-year series.

Methods: During the period December 1996 to December 2008, 254 new consecutive gastrostomies and 275 replacement procedures were performed in selected patients.

Division scheme optimization for the molecular evaluation of the intervertebral disc by Gadolinium-Enhanced MRI.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of reducing the number of segments in which the intervertebral disc (IVD) can be subdivided on the accuracy in estimating its sGAG content by computation of the parameter DeltaT1 from delayed Gadolinium-Enhanced MRI of Cartilage (dGEMRIC) protocol.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-three herniectomy patients underwent dGEMRIC acquisitions for IVD. Thirty-one tissue samples were obtained at herniectomy from the same patients and biochemically analysed for their sGAG content.

Molecular MR imaging for the evaluation of the effect of dynamic stabilization on lumbar intervertebral discs.

The dynamic stabilization of lumbar spine is a non-fusion stabilization system that unloads the disc without the complete loss of motion at the treated motion segment. Clinical outcomes are promising but still not definitive, and the long-term effect on instrumented and adjacent levels is still a matter of discussion. Several experiments have been devised in order to gain a better understanding of the effect of the device on the intervertebral disc.