Factors Associated With the Absence of Cervical Spine Instability in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A >10-Year Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study.

Objective: To identify factors associated with the absence of cervical spine instability in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Cervical spine instability was defined as the presence of at least one of the following: atlantoaxial subluxation, vertical subluxation of the axis, or subaxial subluxation. In 2001-2002, 634 enrolled outpatients with "classical" or "definite" RA underwent a radiographic cervical spine checkup.

Evaluation of Pelvic Pathology of Subfertile Women by Transvaginal Sonography and Correlation with Laparoscopic Findings.

Damage of fallopian tube, endometriosis, fibroid uterus, adenomysis and polycystic ovary syndrome are the major pelvic pathology that causes subfertility. Although there are many diagnostic tests available, the clinical presentation of each patient can usually be linked to specific and efficient testing strategies. Transvaginal sonographic (TVS) imaging is an effective, easy to use, safe and readily available noninvasive means to evaluate fertility potential.

Second home blood pressure measurements per occasion predict incident cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetes: KAMOGAWA-HBP study.

Home blood pressure (HBP) monitoring is a better prognostic predictor than clinical BP monitoring. However, the suggested number of HBP measurements in each occasion varies across guidelines. The study aimed to identify which HBP measurements in each occasion are more closely associated with new cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes.

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Iris Segmentation on Benchmarking Datasets.

Iris is one of the most widely used biometric modalities because of its uniqueness, high matching performance, and inherently secure nature. Iris segmentation is an essential preliminary step for iris-based biometric authentication. The authentication accuracy is directly connected with the iris segmentation accuracy.

A case of mitral regurgitation due to bilateral undifferentiated papillary muscles with detailed preoperative diagnosis of associated morphological abnormalities.

Incomplete differentiation of the mitral valve structures during fetal life results in the papillary muscles and tendon cords becoming hypoplastic, a condition termed undifferentiated papillary muscles (UDPM). This fetal abnormality causes a group of diseases that cause mitral valve dysfunction in adult life. Here, we report a case of UDPM centered on the medial posterior apex in which detailed morphological abnormalities were diagnosed preoperatively using echocardiography and three-dimensional computed tomography (3DCT) analysis, contributing to plastic surgery.