Effects of different insertion methods on reducing needle deflection.

Needle steering in medical procedures has attracted considerable attention in recent years. For example, in prostate brachytherapy, it is desired to insert a flexible beveled-tip needle with minimum deflection. To date, different methods of insertion which incorporate needle rotation about its insertion axis have been proposed in order to reduce needle deflection and target displacement.

c-Kit in early onset of diabetes: a morphological and functional analysis of pancreatic beta-cells in c-KitW-v mutant mice.

c-Kit tyrosine receptor kinase, a well-established stem cell marker, is expressed in a variety of tissues including the pancreas. The involvement of c-Kit in fetal rat and human endocrine pancreatic development, survival, and function has been well characterized but primarily using in vitro experimental approaches. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine whether deficiency of a functional c-Kit receptor would have physiological and functional implications in vivo.

Minimization of needle deflection in robot-assisted percutaneous therapy.

Background: Needle deflection and tissue deformation are two problems encountered during needle insertion into soft, non-homogeneous tissue. They affect the accuracy of needle placement, which in turn affects the effectiveness of needle-based therapies and biopsies.

Methods: In this study, a needle is inserted using a robot with two degrees of freedom.

The role of hemodialysis machines dedication in reducing Hepatitis C transmission in the dialysis setting in Iran: a multicenter prospective interventional study.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a significant problem among patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (HD). We conducted a prospective multi-center study to evaluate the effect of dialysis machine separation on the spread of HCV infection.

Methods: Twelve randomly selected dialysis centers in Tehran, Iran were randomly divided into two groups; those using dedicated machines (D) for HCV infected individuals and those using non-dedicated HD machines (ND).