A detailed report of the resource use and costs associated with implementation of a short stay programme for breast cancer surgery.

Background: Despite the increased attention for assessing the effectiveness of implementation strategies, most implementation studies provide little or no information on its associated costs. The focus of the current study was to provide a detailed report of the resource use and costs associated with implementation of a short stay programme for breast cancer surgery in four Dutch hospitals.

Methods: The analysis was performed alongside a multi-centre implementation study.

How does context influence performance of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries? Evidence from the literature.

Background: Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly recognized as an integral component of the health workforce needed to achieve public health goals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many factors intersect to influence CHW performance. A systematic review with a narrative analysis was conducted to identify contextual factors influencing performance of CHWs.

Risk stratification with cervical length and fetal fibronectin in women with threatened preterm labor before 34 weeks and not delivering within 7 days.

Objective: To stratify the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery using cervical length (CL) and fetal fibronectin (fFN) in women with threatened preterm labor who remained pregnant after 7 days.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Nationwide cohort of women with threatened preterm labor from the Netherlands.

Hydrodynamic characterisation of chitosan and its interaction with two polyanions: DNA and xanthan.

Chitosan, a soluble polycationic derivative of insoluble chitin, has been widely considered for use in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Commercial ("C") and in-house laboratory ("L") prepared chitosan samples extracted from crustaceous shells with different molecular weight and degrees of acetylation (25% and 15%) were compared with regards to (i) weight-average molecular weight (Mw); (ii) sedimentation coefficient (s(o)(20,w)) distribution, and (iii) intrinsic viscosity ([η]). These parameters were estimated using a combination of analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), size exclusion chromatography coupled to multi-angle laser light scattering (SEC-MALS) and differential pressure viscometry.

Computed Tomography Angiography With High Flow Rates: An In Vitro and In Vivo Feasibility Study.

Objective: The aims of this study were to test high-flow application of contrast media (CM) using novel high-flow needles and to assess injection- and flow-related parameters in a circulation phantom and in an in vivo population.

Materials And Methods: A circulation phantom simulating physiological parameters was used. Preheated CM (300 mg/mL) was injected at flow rates varying between 5 and 15 mL/s through a novel 18-gauge high-flow intravenous injection needle.

Decreased expression of ABAT and STC2 hallmarks ER-positive inflammatory breast cancer and endocrine therapy resistance in advanced disease.

Background: Patients with Estrogen Receptor α-positive (ER+) Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) are less responsive to endocrine therapy compared with ER+ non-IBC (nIBC) patients. The study of ER+ IBC samples might reveal biomarkers for endocrine resistant breast cancer.

Materials & Methods: Gene expression profiles of ER+ samples from 201 patients were explored for genes that discriminated between IBC and nIBC.

Amplified somatosensory and visual cortical projections to a core auditory area, the anterior auditory field, following early- and late-onset deafness.

Cross-modal reorganization following the loss of input from a sensory modality can recruit sensory-deprived cortical areas to process information from the remaining senses. Specifically, in early-deaf cats, the anterior auditory field (AAF) is unresponsive to auditory stimuli but can be activated by somatosensory and visual stimuli. Similarly, AAF neurons respond to tactile input in adult-deafened animals.

Recent advances in the analysis of macromolecular interactions using the matrix-free method of sedimentation in the analytical ultracentrifuge.

Sedimentation in the analytical ultracentrifuge is a matrix free solution technique with no immobilisation, columns, or membranes required and can be used to study self-association and complex or "hetero"-interactions, stoichiometry, reversibility and interaction strength of a wide variety of macromolecular types and across a very large dynamic range (dissociation constants from 10-12 M to 10-1 M). We extend an earlier review specifically highlighting advances in sedimentation velocity and sedimentation equilibrium in the analytical ultracentrifuge applied to protein interactions and mucoadhesion and to review recent applications in protein self-association (tetanus toxoid, agrin), protein-like carbohydrate association (aminocelluloses), carbohydrate-protein interactions (polysaccharide-gliadin), nucleic-acid protein (G-duplexes), nucleic acid-carbohydrate (DNA-chitosan) and finally carbohydrate-carbohydrate (xanthan-chitosan and a ternary polysaccharide complex) interactions.

MDCT evaluation of aortic root and aortic valve prior to TAVI. What is the optimal imaging time point in the cardiac cycle?

Objectives: To determine the optimal imaging time point for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) therapy planning by comprehensive evaluation of the aortic root.

Methods: Multidetector-row CT (MDCT) examination with retrospective ECG gating was retrospectively performed in 64 consecutive patients referred for pre-TAVI assessment. Eighteen different parameters of the aortic root were evaluated at 11 different time points in the cardiac cycle.

Implementation of client versus care-provider strategies to improve external cephalic version rates: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of a client or care-provider strategy to improve the implementation of external cephalic version.

Design: Cluster randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Twenty-five clusters; hospitals and their referring midwifery practices randomly selected in the Netherlands.

Preterm birth in singleton and multiple pregnancies: evaluation of costs and perinatal outcomes.

Objective: To estimate costs of preterm birth in singleton and multiple pregnancies.

Study Design: Cost analysis based on data from a prospective cohort study and three multicentre randomised controlled trials (2006-2012) in a Dutch nationwide consortium for women's health research. Women with preterm birth before 37 completed weeks were included for analysis.

Impact of a randomized trial on maintenance tocolysis on length of hospital admission of women with threatened preterm labor in The Netherlands.

Introduction: The APOSTEL-II trial was a multicenter randomized placebo-controlled trial, assessing the effectiveness of maintenance tocolysis with nifedipine. The trial showed maintenance tocolysis not to have an effect on perinatal outcome. Objective of the current study is to evaluate the effect of a negative trial on the length of hospital admission of women with threatened preterm labor.

Feasibility of low contrast media volume in CT angiography of the aorta.

Objectives: Using smaller volumes of contrast media (CM) in CT angiography (CTA) is desirable in terms of cost reduction and prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN). The purpose was to evaluate the feasibility of low CM volume in CTA of the aorta.

Methods: 77 patients referred for CTA of the aorta were scanned using a standard MDCT protocol at 100 kV.

Which intervention design factors influence performance of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries? A systematic review.

Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly recognized as an integral component of the health workforce needed to achieve public health goals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many factors influence CHW performance. A systematic review was conducted to identify intervention design related factors influencing performance of CHWs.

Three-year clinical outcome of patients with bifurcation treatment with second-generation Resolute and Xience V stents in the randomized TWENTE trial.

Background: Only limited data from large randomized clinical trials have been published on the long-term performance of second-generation drug-eluting stents in bifurcation lesions.

Methods: We investigated in patients in the randomized TWENTE trial the long-term safety and efficacy of treating bifurcation lesions with 2 widely applied second-generation drug-eluting stents, the zotarolimus-eluting Resolute stent (Medtronic Inc, Santa Rosa, CA) and the everolimus-eluting Xience V stent (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA). Three-year follow-up was available in 99.

Comparison of capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry and hydrophilic interaction chromatography-mass spectrometry for anionic metabolic profiling of urine.

In order to assess the utility of a recently developed capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) method for the study of anionic metabolites in urine, a comparison was made with hydrophilic interaction chromatography-MS (HILIC-MS) using negative electrospray ionization. After optimization of the HILIC conditions, a gradient employing 10mM ammonium acetate (pH 6.8) in acetonitrile-water (5 min 90% acetonitrile followed by 90%-50% acetonitrile in 10 min) was selected, providing baseline separation of five representative anionic test metabolites.

Myocardial scar characteristics based on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is associated with ventricular tachyarrhythmia in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Objectives: We hypothesized that myocardial scar characterization using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) may be associated with the occurrence of ventricular tachyarrhythmia (VT), appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy and mortality.

Background: Since a minority of patients with prophylactic ICD implantation receive appropriate ICD therapy, there is a need for more effective risk stratification for primary prevention in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Methods And Results: In 99 patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, CMR was performed prior to ICD implantation.

Dissociable influences of primary auditory cortex and the posterior auditory field on neuronal responses in the dorsal zone of auditory cortex.

Current models of hierarchical processing in auditory cortex have been based principally on anatomical connectivity while functional interactions between individual regions have remained largely unexplored. Previous cortical deactivation studies in the cat have addressed functional reciprocal connectivity between primary auditory cortex (A1) and other hierarchically lower level fields. The present study sought to assess the functional contribution of inputs along multiple stages of the current hierarchical model to a higher order area, the dorsal zone (DZ) of auditory cortex, in the anaesthetized cat.

Implementation of external cephalic version in the Netherlands: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: External cephalic version (ECV) reduces the rate of elective cesarean sections as a result of breech presentation. Several studies have shown that not all eligible women undergo an ECV attempt. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of ECV in the Netherlands and to explain variation in implementation rates with hospital characteristics and individual factors.

Term breech deliveries in the Netherlands: did the increased cesarean rate affect neonatal outcome? A population-based cohort study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the increased cesarean rate for term breech presentation on neonatal outcome. We also investigated whether the clinical case selection for vaginal delivery applied by Dutch obstetricians led to an optimization of neonatal outcome, or whether there is still room for improvement in terms of perinatal outcome.

Design: Retrospective cohort.

Individual with subclinical atherosclerosis have impaired proliferation of blood outgrowth endothelial cells, which can be restored by statin therapy.

Background: To study the regenerative capacity of the endothelium in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), we cultured blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOECs) of patients with premature CAD and their first degree relatives (FDR). Additionally we evaluated the influence of statin treatment on circulating BOEC precursors in subjects with subclinical atherosclerosis.

Methods And Results: Patients with premature CAD (men <51 yr, women <56 yr) and their FDRs were included.

Mode of delivery after successful external cephalic version: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To assess the mode of delivery in women after a successful external cephalic version by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data Sources: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the Cochrane Library for studies reporting on the mode of delivery in women after successful external cephalic version at term and women with a spontaneous cephalic-presenting fetus.