Very low birth weight infants after discharge: What do parents describe?

Background: Morbidity and mortality in Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) infants during their hospital stay have been well described. However, there are insufficient data regarding health problems after discharge.

Study Design: In a multicenter study performed between January 2009 and December 2010 including 2493 VLBW infants, questionnaires were sent out to all participating parents in the first year of life.

Comparison of dysphagia before and after deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease.

Although dysphagia is a common problem for many Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, the effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on swallowing is unclear. Fourteen subjects with advanced PD underwent videofluorographic swallowing studies prior to bilateral DBS of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and at 3 and 12 months postprocedure. They were tested under several stimulation and medication conditions.

A NanoDrop-based method for rapid determination of viability decline in suspension cultures of animal cells.

We describe a rapid method for monitoring the cell growth and decline phases in suspension cultures of animal cells. During the cell growth phase, ultraviolet (UV)-absorbing components in the medium are consumed, but at later times as cells begin to die, UV-absorbing molecules such as proteins are released into the medium. Measuring the absorbance at 280nm (A(280)) with a NanoDrop spectrophotometer, an inverse correlation between the onset of the cell decline phase and A(280) was observed.

Epidemic microclusters of blood-culture proven sepsis in very-low-birth weight infants: experience of the German Neonatal Network.

Introduction: We evaluated blood culture-proven sepsis episodes occurring in microclusters in very-low-birth-weight infants born in the German Neonatal Network (GNN) during 2009-2010.

Methods: Thirty-seven centers participated in GNN; 23 centers enrolled ≥50 VLBW infants in the study period. Data quality was approved by on-site monitoring.

Therapy-induced neuroplasticity in chronic aphasia.

Research on the neural substrate of aphasia recovery has consistently increased since the advent of functional neuroimaging. The evidence from therapy-induced aphasia recovery studies shows that better recovery results from the reactivation of left hemisphere function; still, the specific left hemisphere key areas that sign successful outcome with a specific therapy approach remain to be identified. Nine participants suffering from aphasia received brief and intensive therapy with Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA).

Effect of gender, cadence, and water immersion on ground reaction forces during stationary running.

Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Objectives: To analyze the vertical and anteroposterior components of the ground reaction force during stationary running performed in water and on dry land, focusing on the effect of gender, level of immersion, and cadence.

Background: Stationary running, as a fundamental component of aquatic rehabilitation and training protocols, is little explored in the literature with regard to biomechanical variables, which makes it difficult to determine and control the mechanical load acting on the individuals.

Effect of physical states of binders on high-shear wet granulation and granule properties: a mechanistic approach toward understanding high-shear wet granulation process, part 3: effect of binder rheological properties.

Ternary blends consisting of efavirenz (a model drug compound), lactose monohydrate, and a polymeric binder were investigated to verify the "physical state theory" in which granulation occurs only when binders undergo transition from glassy state to rubbery solution state. Furthermore, it was found that the rheological properties of the binders can significantly affect the granulation process. The blends with binders of viscous flow [polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) K17, PVP K25, and PVP K29/32 after exposure to 96% RH] showed an increase in particle size with both binder concentration and mixing time.

Information fusion for diagnosis coding support.

All patient-related medical information during a hospital stay in France, has to be collected and coded in the compilation of medical units discharge documents, according to a standardized approach. The process of describing a patient disease in terms of appropriate diagnostic codes is nevertheless, a non-intuitive operation for the physician. As a consequence, coding errors, inaccuracies and missing data are frequent, leading to potentially severe economical upshots.

An innovative approach to develop highly performant chalcogenide glasses and glass-ceramics transparent in the infrared range.

An innovative way to produce chalcogenide glasses and glass-ceramics for infrared devices is reported. This new method of synthesis at low temperature combining ball-milling and sintering by SPS (Spark Plasma Sintering) is a technological breakthrough to produce efficient infrared chalcogenide glasses and glass-ceramics. This technique will offer the possibility to strongly decrease the cost of infrared devices and to produce new chalcogenide glasses.

[Physical therapy for parkinson's disease].

Parkinson's disease is a complex neurologic and progressive incapacitating disease. Parkinson's disease severely threatens the quality of live and the number of patients worldwide is expected to rise considerably in the coming decade due to aging of the population. Even with optimal medical management using drugs or neurosurgery, patients are faced with progressively increasing impairments (e.

Vertical reaction forces and kinematics of backward walking underwater.

The aim of this study was to compare the first and second peaks of the vertical ground reaction force (VGRF) and kinematics at initial contact (IC) and final stance (FS) during walking in one of two directions (forward×backward) and two environments (on land×underwater). Twenty-two adults (24.6±2.

Detecting outlying samples in a parallel factor analysis model.

To explore multi-way data, different methods have been proposed. Here, we study the popular PARAFAC (Parallel factor analysis) model, which expresses multi-way data in a more compact way, without ignoring the underlying complex structure. To estimate the score and loading matrices, an alternating least squares procedure is typically used.

A high-throughput spectrophotometric approach for evaluation of precipitation resistance.

Many drugs that come out of discovery today are extremely challenging to formulate because of their high hydrophobicity and low water solubility. A kinetic, spectrophotometric approach for the rapid evaluation of precipitation resistance of multiple solubilized formulations that can be run on a very small scale is proposed. Using this high-throughput approach, multiple formulations are screened for inhibition of precipitation upon dilution into an aqueous environment.

Neurocognitive development and externalizing problems: the role of inhibitory control deficits from 4 to 6 years.

Executive processes have been posited as important regulators of externalizing problems (EP), but there has been little research on the relation between executive dysfunction and EP in early childhood. During the preschool period, maturation of the prefrontostriatal circuitry parallels increases in inhibitory control (IC). Poor IC development could result in elevated levels of aggressive, disruptive, and impulsive behavior.

Mesenchymal stem cells injection in degenerated intervertebral disc: cell leakage may induce osteophyte formation.

Recent studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy might be an effective approach for the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). However, many unanswered questions remain before clinical translation, such as the most effective stem cell type, a reliable transplantation method, including the carrier choice, and the fate of stem cells after misdirected delivery, among others. The objective of the study was to evaluate the fate and effect of allogenic bone marrow MSCs after transplantation into an IDD model.

Surgical treatment of acute and chronic anterior and posterior cruciate ligament and medial-side injuries of the knee.

KD-IIIM knee injuries are challenging injuries that can do well when anatomic reconstruction techniques are used. This article describes the authors preferred reconstructions, timing of surgery, and rehabilitation techniques. The reconstructions are generally initiated 3 or 4 weeks after the injury when the local soft tissue injury allows and associated fractures have already been stabilized.

ANTEROCOD: actuarial survival curves applied to medical coding support for chronic diseases.

For the practitioner, choosing diagnosis codes is a non-intuitive operation. Mistakes are frequent, causing severe consequences on healthcare performance evaluation and funding. French physicians have to assign a code to all their activities and are frequently prone to these errors.

Cross-modality assessment and planning for pulmonary trunk treatment using CT and MRI imaging.

Congenital heart defect is the primary cause of death in newborns, due to typically complex malformation of the cardiac system. The pulmonary valve and trunk are often affected and require complex clinical management and in most cases surgical or interventional treatment. While minimal invasive methods are emerging, non-invasive imaging-based assessment tools become crucial components in the clinical setting.

Loading forces in shallow water running in two levels of immersion.

Objective: To analyse the vertical and anteroposterior components of the ground reaction force during shallow water running at 2 levels of immersion.

Subjects: Twenty-two healthy adults with no gait disorders, who were familiar with aquatic exercises.

Methods: Subjects performed 6 trials of water running at a self-selected speed in chest and hip immersion.

Involvement of transcription factor NR2F2 in human trophoblast differentiation.

Background: During the in vitro differentiation of human villous cytotrophoblast (CTB) cells to a syncytiotrophoblast (STB) phenotype, mRNA levels for the nuclear hormone receptor NR2F2 (ARP-1, COUP-TFII) increase rapidly, reaching a peak at day 1 of differentiation that is 8.8-fold greater than that in undifferentiated CTB cells. To examine whether NR2F2 is involved in the regulation of villous CTB cell differentiation, studies were performed to determine whether NR2F2 regulates the expression of TFAP2A (AP-2alpha), a transcription factor that is critical for the terminal differentiation of these cells to a STB phenotype.

Educator and participant perceptions and cost analysis of stage-tailored educational telephone calls.

Objective: To identify strengths and weaknesses of nutrition education via telephone calls as part of a larger stage-of-change tailored intervention with mailed materials.

Design: Evaluative feedback was elicited from educators who placed the calls and respondents who received the calls.

Setting: An internet and telephone survey of 10 states in the midwestern United States.

Gene therapy for the treatment of degenerative disk disease.

Recent biologic and biochemical advances have furthered our understanding of the complex environment of the intervertebral disk. This new understanding has allowed researchers to pursue novel treatments of intervertebral disk degeneration, targeting the biochemical pathways involved in the degenerative cascade. Gene therapy has shown much promise in this regard.

Form conversion of anhydrous lactose during wet granulation and its effect on compactibility.

The purpose of this study was (a) to evaluate the factors affecting the form conversion of anhydrous lactose to the monohydrate form during wet granulation using water as the granulating agent and (b) study the effect of lactose form conversion on its compaction properties. A two-level full factorial design with two center points was used to evaluate the factors affecting form conversion. The three variables evaluated were percentage of microcrystalline cellulose (low 0 and high 20), water to intragranular solids ratio (low 0.