Primary sclerosing cholangitis as an independent risk factor for cytomegalovirus infection after liver transplant.

Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is one of the most common infectious complications after solid organ transplant; it is associated with morbidity and mortality and with many direct and indirect effects. However, monitoring and therapeutic procedures are very heterogeneous across treatment centers. Additionally, factors that place patients at risk of CMV infection are poorly defined.

How do rural-urban linkages change after an extreme flood event? Empirical evidence from rural communities in Pakistan.

Extreme flood events can lead to dramatic changes in societal processes, disrupt rural-urban linkages and affect rural vulnerabilities. Changes in rural-urban linkages due to extreme flooding have been theoretically discussed with limited empirical evidence. Therefore, this study investigates the impacts of a flood event on linkages between rural and urban areas of Pakistan.

Highly Efficient Conservative Treatment of Pectus Carinatum in Compliant Patients.

Purpose: Pectus carinatum is a thoracic deformity, which causes severe psychological problems for affected patients but almost no physical limitations. Invasive procedures are difficult to justify for this reason. We present a conservative therapy which leads to complete resolution in most cases when performed properly.

Therapeutic drug monitoring and drugs of abuse testing on the cobas 6000 analyzer series: analytical performance under routine-like conditions.

Background: The analytical performance of the clinical chemistry module c 501 (cobas 6000 analyzer series) was evaluated for therapeutic drug monitoring and drugs of abuse testing using a spectrum of representative assays. Particular attention was paid to potential interactions between reagents using a simulated routine workload.

Methods: Within-run and total imprecision were assessed using a selection of representative reagents.