A Coupled Double-Layer Electrical Impedance Tomography-Based Sensing Skin for Pressure and Leak Detection.

There is an extensive need for surface sensors for applications such as tactile sensing for robotics, damage and strain detection for structural health monitoring and leak detection for buried structures. One type of surface sensor is electrical impedance tomography (EIT)-based sensing skins, which use electrically conductive coatings applied on the object's surface to monitor physical or chemical phenomena on the surface. In this article, we propose a sensing skin with two electrically coupled layers separated by an insulator.

Traditional or adaptive design of experiments? A pilot-scale comparison on wood delignification.

Traditional design of experiments and response surface methodology are widely used in engineering and process development. Bayesian optimization is an alternative machine learning approach that adaptively selects successive experimental conditions based on a predefined performance measure. Here we compared the two approaches using simulations and empirical experiments on alkaline wood delignification to identify important benefits and drawbacks of Bayesian optimization in the context of design of experiments.

Progesterone, cerclage, pessary, or acetylsalicylic acid for prevention of preterm birth in singleton and multifetal pregnancies - A systematic review and meta-analyses.

Background: Preterm birth is the leading cause of childhood mortality and morbidity. We aimed to provide a comprehensive systematic review on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on progesterone, cerclage, pessary, and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) to prevent preterm birth in asymptomatic women with singleton pregnancies defined as risk of preterm birth and multifetal pregnancies.

Methods: Six databases (including PubMed, Embase, Medline, the Cochrane Library) were searched up to February 2022.

Microbial and human transcriptome in vaginal fluid at midgestation: Association with spontaneous preterm delivery.

Background: Intrauterine infection and inflammation caused by microbial transfer from the vagina are believed to be important factors causing spontaneous preterm delivery (PTD). Multiple studies have examined the relationship between the cervicovaginal microbiome and spontaneous PTD with divergent results. Most studies have applied a DNA-based assessment, providing information on the microbial composition but not transcriptional activity.

Cost-effectiveness of cervical length screening and progesterone treatment to prevent spontaneous preterm delivery in Sweden.

Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of strategies to prevent spontaneous preterm delivery (PTD) in asymptomatic singleton pregnancies, using prevalence and healthcare cost data from the Swedish healthcare context.

Methods: We designed a decision analytic model based on the Swedish CERVIX study to estimate the cost-effectiveness of strategies to prevent spontaneous PTD in asymptomatic women with a singleton pregnancy. The model was constructed as a combined decision-tree model and Markov model with a time horizon of 100 years.

Effect of second-trimester sonographic cervical length on the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery in different risk groups: A prospective observational multicenter study.

Introduction: The aim of the study is to compare the effect of cervical length measured with transvaginal ultrasound in the second trimester on the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery (PTD) between different risk groups of asymptomatic women with a singleton pregnancy.

Material And Methods: This is a pre-planned exploratory analysis of the CERVIX study, a prospective blinded multicenter diagnostic accuracy study. Asymptomatic women with a singleton pregnancy were consecutively recruited at their second-trimester routine ultrasound examination at seven Swedish ultrasound centers.

Second-trimester transvaginal ultrasound measurement of cervical length for prediction of preterm birth: a blinded prospective multicentre diagnostic accuracy study.

Objective: To estimate the diagnostic performance of sonographic cervical length for the prediction of preterm birth (PTB).

Design: Prospective observational multicentre study.

Setting: Seven Swedish ultrasound centres.

Second trimester cervical length measurements with transvaginal ultrasound: A prospective observational agreement and reliability study.

Introduction: Universal screening for preterm delivery by adding transvaginal ultrasound measurement of cervical length to routine second trimester ultrasound has been proposed. The aim is to estimate inter- and intraobserver agreement and reliability of second trimester transvaginal ultrasound measurements of cervical length performed by specially trained midwife sonographers.

Material And Methods: This is a prospective reliability and agreement study performed in seven Swedish ultrasound centers.

Bacterial biofilm in salivary stones.

Purpose: To assess the susceptibility of salivary stones to bacterial biofilm formation, which may be involved in the development of salivary gland infection, and to investigate a relation between microbiological aspects and patient characteristics.

Methods: This prospective study comprises of 54 patients with sialolithiasis attended in Helsinki University Hospital during 2014-2016. A total of 55 salivary stones were removed, and studied for biofilm formation using fluorescence microscopy and sonication.

Impact of pre-operative antimicrobial treatment on microbiological findings from endocardial specimens in infective endocarditis.

Treatment of infective endocarditis (IE) should be initiated promptly. This might hamper the chances to identify the causative organism in blood cultures. Microbiological sampling of infected valve in patients undergoing surgery might identify the causative organism.

Impact of short-incubation MALDI-TOF MS on empiric antibiotic therapy in bloodstream infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus spp. and AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae.

The impact of the short-incubation matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (si-MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry technique was evaluated in the treatment of bloodstream infections (BSIs) caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus spp., and Amp-C producing Enterobacteriaceae. A total of 124 bacteremia episodes were divided into 2 groups: i) si-MALDI-TOF group (n = 69) and ii) control group (n = 55).

Interventricular Vessel of the Heart.

The communication from right to left through the interventricular septum of the heart became identified by the anatomical study for 4 years. One thousand nine hundred years ago, Galen stated that blood seeps through the perforations in the interventricular septum of the heart. However, William Harvey, working 400 years ago, failed to find any.

Quantitative N-glycoproteomics reveals altered glycosylation levels of various plasma proteins in bloodstream infected patients.

Bloodstream infections are associated with high morbidity and mortality with rates varying from 10-25% and higher. Appropriate and timely onset of antibiotic therapy influences the prognosis of these patients. It requires the diagnostic accuracy which is not afforded by current gold standards such as blood culture.

Characterization of vB_SauM-fRuSau02, a Twort-Like Bacteriophage Isolated from a Therapeutic Phage Cocktail.

is a commensal and pathogenic bacterium that causes infections in humans and animals. It is a major cause of nosocomial infections worldwide. Due to increasing prevalence of multidrug resistance, alternative methods to eradicate the pathogen are necessary.

Streptococcus pneumoniae antimicrobial resistance decreased in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area after routine 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination of infants in Finland.

Since the introduction of 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) into the Finnish national vaccination program in September 2010, the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in children has decreased steeply in Finland. We studied the antimicrobial susceptibility of invasive and non-invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) isolated in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area during 2009-2014. We divided the data into two age groups: isolates from patients <5 years old and ≥5 years old.

Changes in plasma protein levels as an early indication of a bloodstream infection.

Blood culture is the primary diagnostic test performed in a suspicion of bloodstream infection to detect the presence of microorganisms and direct the treatment. However, blood culture is slow and time consuming method to detect blood stream infections or separate septic and/or bacteremic patients from others with less serious febrile disease. Plasma proteomics, despite its challenges, remains an important source for early biomarkers for systemic diseases and might show changes before direct evidence from bacteria can be obtained.

Transvaginal sonographic evaluation of cervical length in the second trimester of asymptomatic singleton pregnancies, and the risk of preterm delivery.

Objective: To evaluate cervical length in asymptomatic women with singleton pregnancies in the second trimester by means of transvaginal ultrasonography, and to examine the relation between cervical length and spontaneous preterm delivery.

Design: Observational, prospective study.

Setting: A university hospital and a county hospital in Western Sweden.