EQAS for peripheral blood morphology in Spain: a 6-year experience.

The Spanish haematology external quality assessment scheme (EQAS), established in 1984, is run by the Spanish Haematology and Haemotherapy Association (AEHH) [Quality Assurance in Health Care 3 (1991) 75] and functions to evaluate the quality and reproducibility of the assessment of diagnostic samples by clinical laboratories. The Hospital Clinic of the University of Barcelona (HCB) serves as the EQAS Coordination Centre and follows the guidelines established by the International Committee for Standardization in Haematology [Annali dell'Istituto superiore di Sanità 31 (1995) 95; International Journal of Hematology 68 (1998) 45]. During the period 2001-2006, replicates of 25 different blood films were sent to 604 EQAS participants for cell morphology evaluation.

Mechanisms of disease progression in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses a spectrum of hepatic pathology, ranging from simple steatosis (also called nonalcoholic fatty liver or NAFL) in its most benign form, to cirrhosis in its most advanced form. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an intermediate level of hepatic pathology. Hepatocyte accumulation of triglyceride is a hallmark of NAFL and NASH, but this sometimes subsides once cirrhosis has developed.

An event-related potential study of deception to self preferences.

The spatiotemporal analysis of brain activation during the execution of deceptive decision-making was performed in 14 normal young adult subjects by using high-density event-related brain potentials (ERPs) with a delayed-response paradigm (subjects were required to hide their true attitudes for a moment). Our results showed that between 400 and 700 ms after stimulus onset, Deceptive items elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N400-700) than Truthful items, and between 1000 and 2000 ms, Deceptive items elicited a more positive ERP deflection (P1000-2000) than Truthful items. Analyses using dipole locations indicated that: (1) the generators of N400-700 were localized in the medial frontal gyrus (GFM) and middle temporal gyrus (GTM), which might be involved in conflict detection and control during deceptive decision-making; and (2) the generators of P1000-2000 were localized near the cuneus (CU) and the cingulate gyrus, which might be involved in conflict coordination in working memory due to deception.

[Personality profile in alcoholic inpatients by TCI questionnaire. Differences between abusers and non abusers of benzodiazepines and between patients with personality disorders and patients without].

Objective: To find differential personality traits, through the TCI questionnaire, between alcoholic patients who abuse benzodiazepines (BZD) and those who do not, and between patients affected by personality disorders (PD) and those not affected. These traits can then be used as criteria of good prognosis and as psychotherapeutic targets.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of 218 alcoholic inpatients, comparing TCI scores between BZD abusers and non-abusers, and between PD-affected patients and non-PD-affected patients.

In the clinic. Hepatitis C.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common blood-borne infection in the United States, with an estimated overall prevalence of 3.2 million persons (1.3%) and prevalence peaks between age 40 to 49 years (1).

[Alcohol-dependent patients with benzodiazepine abuse: its relation to personality disorders and neuropsychological impairment].

Background And Objective: Alcohol and drug dependent patients present a higher psychiatric comorbidity, which increases according to the number of drugs. Moreover, there are complications from the treatment and the prognosis is aggravated. We aimed to observe the differences regarding personality disorders (PD) and cognitive deterioration between alcohol dependent patients and patients who were benzodiazepine dependent as well.

Recall Latencies, Confidence, and Output Positions of True and False Memories: Implications for Recall and Metamemory Theories.

Recall latency, recall accuracy rate, and recall confidence were examined in free recall as a function of recall output serial position using a modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm to test a strength-based theory against the dual-retrieval process theory of recall output sequence. The strength theory predicts the item output sequence to be in the descending order of memory strength. The dual-retrieval process theory postulates two phases in a free recall, a first direct access phase in which items are output verbatim in the weakest-to-strongest order (cognitive triage) and a second reconstructive phase in which reconstructed items are output in the strongest-to-weakest order.

Depth profiling of organic films with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy using C60+ and Ar+ co-sputtering.

By sputtering organic films with 10 kV, 10 nA C60+ and 0.2 kV, 300 nA Ar+ ion beams concurrently and analyzing the newly exposed surface with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, organic thin-film devices including an organic light-emitting diode and a polymer solar cell with an inverted structure are profiled. The chemical composition and the structure of each layer are preserved and clearly observable.

An efficient blocking-matching algorithm based on fuzzy reasoning.

Due to the temporal and spatial correlation of image sequence, the motion vector of a reference block is highly related to the motion vectors of its adjacent blocks in the same image frame. By using that idea, we propose a novel efficient fuzzy search (EFS) algorithm for block motion estimation. The experimental results show that the EFS performs better than other fast search algorithms, such as TSS, CS, NTSS, FSS, BBGDS, SES, and PSA in terms of picture quality, accuracy, computational complexity, and coding efficiency.

Spatiotemporal cortical activation underlies mental preparation for successful riddle solving: an event-related potential study.

Recently, Kounios J, Frymiare JL, Bowden EM, Fleck JI, Subramaniam K, Parrish TB et al. (2006) found that the mental preparation leading to insight involves heightened activity in medial frontal areas and temporal areas. In the present study, the electrophysiological correlates of successful and unsuccessful Chinese logogriph solving (riddles in which writing characters undergo several changes brought about by the addition, subtraction, omission or substitution of strokes or components of the characters) were studied in 18 healthy subjects using high-density event-related potentials (ERPs).

Optic neuritis among National Health Insurance enrollees in Taiwan, 2000-2004.

Background: The objective was to examine the incidence of optic neuritis in Taiwan. A 5-year longitudinal, nationwide, population-based study was conducted. The participants were a random sample of 191,761 subjects, or about 1% of the enrollees in the National Health Insurance program of Taiwan.

X-ray photoelectron spectrometry depth profiling of organic thin films using C60 sputtering.

A buckminsterfullerene (C(60)) ion beam was used for X-ray photoelectron spectrometry depth profiling of various organic thin films. Specimens representing different interfaces in organic light-emitting diode devices, including hole-conducting poly(ethylenedioxythiophene), poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) thin films on ITO with and without polysilicic acid doping, light-emitting Ir-containing 4,4'-bis(carbazol-9-yl)biphenyl (CBP) molecules on PEDOT:PSS, and electron-conducting 2,2',2' '(1,3,5-benzinetriyl)tris(1-phenyl-1-H-benzimidazole) (TPBi) molecules on CBP, were studied. In all cases, a clear multilayer structure was observed.

Transfer of learning in avoiding false memory: the roles of warning, immediate feedback, and incentive.

Participants learned semantic associates and were tested in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. A multiple-trial learning procedure with warning, feedback, and monetary incentive was employed to reduce false memory. Results showed that there was a progressive reduction of false memory over the trials as well as a generalization of learning to new lists of words in avoiding the critical nonpresented words attributable to explicit warning, feedback, and incentive, respectively.

Identification of dioxin and dioxin-like polychlorbiphenyls in plant tissues and contaminated soils.

The environmental analysis laboratory (EAL) of the Taiwan environmental protection administration (TEPA) has been monitoring certain sites polluted in southern Taiwan by pentachlorophenol manufacture. The analytical results revealed peculiarities in the concentration distributions in plant tissues. There are no available data on dioxin and dioxin-like polychlorbiphenyls (DL-PCBs), which can be taken up from contaminated soils by plant tissues.

Soil dioxins levels at agriculture sites and natural preserve areas of Taiwan.

In this study, agriculture soil in Taiwan has been sampled and analyzed to determine the background level of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/DF) in the agricultural and nature preserve areas. Another objective is to investigate relationship between soil characteristics and air deposition in Taiwan. The results indicate that in nature preserve areas the topsoil shows an extraordinary profile of PCDD/DF compared to that in the air deposition.

Neural substrates of resisting craving during cigarette cue exposure.

Background: In cigarette smokers, the most commonly reported areas of brain activation during visual cigarette cue exposure are the prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and visual cortices. We sought to determine changes in brain activity in response to cigarette cues when smokers actively resist craving.

Methods: Forty-two tobacco-dependent smokers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging, during which they were presented with videotaped cues.

Cigarette smoking saturates brain alpha 4 beta 2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

Context: 2-[18F]fluoro-3-(2(S)-azetidinylmethoxy) pyridine (2-F-A-85380, abbreviated as 2-FA) is a recently developed radioligand that allows for visualization of brain alpha 4 beta 2* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) with positron emission tomography (PET) scanning in humans.

Objective: To determine the effect of cigarette smoking on alpha 4 beta 2* nAChR occupancy in tobacco-dependent smokers.

Design: Fourteen 2-FA PET scanning sessions were performed.

Optic neuritis secondary to Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection.

Purpose: To describe a case of optic neuritis secondary to Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection.

Method: Case report of a patient with eosinophilic meningitis secondary to A. cantonensis infection.

Memory retrieval tasks determine the serial position curves of linear orders with categorical structures.

I examined 2 different views on organization of linear order information in memory: the linear schema view and the hierarchical structure view. The linear schema view holds that there is a strong tendency in memory to organize an array of transitively related elements into a unidimensional order. The hierarchical structure view maintains that the transitively related elements are organized in memory in a hierarchy of items.

Clinical manifestations and management of orbital mucoceles: the role of ophthalmologists.

Purpose: To report the clinical features of orbital mucoceles and discuss the role of ophthalmologists in the management of patients with orbital mucoceles.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed of all patients with orbital mucoceles treated at the National Taiwan University Hospital from 1990 through 2002. The basic profiles, clinical features, and the management of the patients with orbital mucoceles were recorded and analyzed.

Performance evaluation of the ADVIA 2120 hematology analyzer: an international multicenter clinical trial.

Automated cell counters are widely used in modern clinical laboratories to provide reliable, fast, and cost-effective complete blood counts (CBCs), white blood cell differentials, and reticulocyte measurements. In addition, some advanced instruments provide novel parameters, such as the hemoglobin content of reticulocytes or the percentage of hypochromic cells, and are capable of analysis of a variety of body fluids. Bayer recently introduced the ADVIA 2120 system as an automation-ready cell counter for mid- to high-volume testing in the clinical laboratory.

Contraction bias in memorial quantifying judgment: does it come from a stable compressed memory representation or a dynamic adaptation process?

A common response bias in psychophysical judgments is regression toward the mean (overestimation of small and underestimation of large values, or the response contraction bias). The same bias is observed in magnitude estimation from memorized quantities. Participants estimated alphabetic interval distances between 2 letters for different levels of interletter distances.

How similar is false recognition to veridical recognition objectively and subjectively?

Three recognition memory experiments were conducted using modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) and DRM paradigms. In Experiment 1, the reaction time (RT) of the false alarms to critical nonpresented words (false memory) was compared with the RT of hits to the critical presented words and with the RT of hits to the studied list words (true memory). The RT of the false alarms to the critical nonpresented words was significantly longer than that of the hits to the critical words and than that of the studied list words.