Efficiency and Safety of Patent Ductus Arteriosus Surgical Ligation in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants Without Chest Tube Placement.

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. Surgical ligation (SL) is generally performed in symptomatic infants when medical management is contraindicated or has failed. We retrospectively reviewed our institution's experience in surgical management of PDA for extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants without chest tube placement assessing its efficiency and safety.

A Fast and Efficient Method for Training Categorical Radial Basis Function Networks.

This brief presents a novel learning scheme for categorical data based on radial basis function (RBF) networks. The proposed approach replaces the numerical vectors known as RBF centers with categorical tuple centers, and employs specially designed measures for calculating the distance between the center and the input tuples. Furthermore, a fast noniterative categorical clustering algorithm is proposed to accomplish the first stage of RBF training involving categorical center selection, whereas the weights are calculated through linear regression.

LepChorionDB, a database of Lepidopteran chorion proteins and a set of tools useful for the identification of chorion proteins in Lepidopteran proteomes.

Chorion proteins of Lepidoptera have a tripartite structure, which consists of a central domain and two, more variable, flanking arms. The central domain is highly conserved and it is used for the classification of chorion proteins into two major classes, A and B. Annotated and unreviewed Lepidopteran chorion protein sequences are available in various databases.

Etiology and management of chylothorax following pediatric heart surgery.

Background: Chylothorax after congenital heart surgery (CHD) is a potentially challenging complication. The purpose of this study was to review our experience with the management of chylothorax following congenital heart surgery.

Methods: Between September 1997 and August 2006, of 1341 pediatric patients undergoing correction of congenital heart disease in our institution, 18 (1.

Hybrid procedures for complex congenital cardiac lesions.

Background: We present an alternative treatment employing a hybrid approach used in 3 patients with congenital heart disease. The goal was to provide optimal therapy by minimizing the potentially harmful effects of methods that accompany conventional surgical procedures.

Methods: Two patients aged 4 and 6 months underwent beating-heart closure of a muscular ventricular septal defect (VSD) with an occluding device.

Mid-term results following surgical treatment of congenital cardiac malformations in adults.

The long term consequences of untreated of residual or recurrent lesions pose unique challenges in the growing population of adults with congenitally malformed hearts. In our unit, 335 patients aged from 18 to 72 years, with a mean age of 35 plus or minus 14 years, presented for correction of congenital cardiac disease from September, 1997, through December, 2006. Of the group, 42 (12.

Partial right-sided pericardial defect associated with congenital aortic valve disease.

Partial right-sided pericardial defect is an extremely rare congenital anomaly and is often associated with other congenital abnormalities. We describe a unique case of congenital aortic valve disease associated with right-sided pericardial defect. The clinical implications are discussed and a review of the literature is presented.

Significance of QRS duration changes in the evaluation of ST-segment depression presenting exclusively during the postexercise recovery period.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of QRS prolongation in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with exercise-induced ST-segment depression exclusively during the recovery period.

Methods: The study population consisted of 107 patients (90 males and 17 females) aged 39-70 (mean 59 +/- 7) years who underwent a treadmill exercise test using Bruce protocol and presented ST-segment depression limited to the recovery period. Angiographic data were available for all studied patients.