Background: A significant proportion of false positive recalls of mammography-screened women is due to benign breast cysts and simple fibroadenomas. These lesions appear mammographically as smooth-shaped dense masses and require the recalling of women for a breast ultrasound to obtain complementary imaging information. They can be identified safely by ultrasound with no need for further assessment or treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcute malnutrition (AM) causes large loss of life and disability in children in Africa. Researchers are testing innovative approaches to increase efficiency of treatment programs. This paper presents results of a cost-effectiveness analysis of one such program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) based on a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial Optimizing Treatment for Acute Malnutrition (OptiMA), conducted in DRC in 2018-20.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe introduction of mammography screening programs has significantly reduced breast cancer mortality rates. Nevertheless, some lesions remain undetected, especially in dense breast tissue. Studies have shown that phase-contrast imaging can improve breast cancer diagnosis by increasing soft tissue contrast.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe conventional computing paradigm struggles to fulfill the rapidly growing demands from emerging applications, especially those for machine intelligence because much of the power and energy is consumed by constant data transfers between logic and memory modules. A new paradigm, called "computational random-access memory (CRAM)," has emerged to address this fundamental limitation. CRAM performs logic operations directly using the memory cells themselves, without having the data ever leave the memory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInternal dosimetry supports safe and effective patient management during radionuclide therapy. Yet, it is associated with high clinical workload, costs, and patient burden, as patient scans at multiple time points (MTPs) must be acquired. Dosimetry based on imaging at a single time point (STP) has continuously gained popularity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To evaluate if single serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) level measurements are sufficient for pregnancy monitoring after single embryo transfer (sET) and to compare the hCG levels between fresh (FRET) and frozen embryo transfers (FET) in medically assisted reproduction.
Methods: This was a retrospective exploratory cohort study including all patients who met the inclusion criteria, who received a single FRET (n = 249) or FET (n = 410) of a day five blastocyst at the IVF clinic at the Johannes Kepler University Linz between 2011 and 2020. hCG levels were measured on day 14 after embryo transfer.
The past few decades of managing the uncertain risks associated with nanomaterials have provided valuable insights (knowledge gaps, tools, methods, etc.) that are equally important to promote safe and sustainable development and use of advanced materials. Based on these insights, the current paper proposes several actions to optimize the risk and sustainability governance of advanced materials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTunnel junctions comprising self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) from liquid crystal-inspired molecules show a pronounced hysteretic current-voltage response, due to electric field-driven dipole reorientation in the SAM. This renders these junctions attractive device candidates for emerging technologies such as in-memory and neuromorphic computing. Here, the novel molecular design, device fabrication, and characterization of such resistive switching devices with a largely improved performance, compared to the previously published work are reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Two in 5 US hospital stays result in rehabilitative postacute care, typically through skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) or home health agencies (HHAs). However, a lack of clear guidelines and understanding of patient and caregiver preferences make it challenging to promote high-value patient-centered care.
Objective: To assess preferences and willingness to pay for facility-based vs home-based postacute care among patients and caregivers, considering demographic variations.
Many children do not receive a full schedule of childhood vaccines, yet there is limited evidence on the cost-effectiveness of strategies for improving vaccination coverage. Evidence is even scarcer on the cost-effectiveness of strategies for reaching 'zero-dose children', who have not received any routine vaccines. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of periodic intensification of routine immunization (PIRI), a widely applied strategy for increasing vaccination coverage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Although Fr and Bi have sufficient gamma emission probabilities, quantitative SPECT after [Ac]Ac-PSMA-I&T therapy remains challenging due to low therapeutic activities. Furthermore, Fr and Bi may underlie a different pharmacokinetics due to alpha recoil. We conducted a quantitative SPECT study and a urine analysis to investigate the pharmacokinetics of Fr and Bi and the impact on image-based lesion and kidney dosimetry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA roadmap was developed to strengthen standardisation activities for risk governance of nanotechnology. Its baseline is the available standardised and harmonised methods for nanotechnology developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In order to identify improvements and needs for new themes in standardisation work, an analysis of the state-of-the-art concepts and interpretations of risk governance of nanotechnology was performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a standard tool for evaluating health programs and informing decisions about resource allocation and prioritization. Most CEAs evaluating health interventions in low- and middle-income countries adopt a health sector perspective, accounting for resources funded by international donors and country governments, while often excluding out-of-pocket expenditures and time costs borne by program beneficiaries. Even when patients' costs are included, a companion analysis focused on the patient perspective is rarely performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Over recent years, [Ac]Ac-PSMA and [Lu]Lu-PSMA radiopharmaceutical therapy have evolved as a promising treatment option for advanced prostate cancer. Especially for alpha particle emitter treatments, there is still a need for improving dosimetry, which requires accurate values of relative biological effectiveness (RBE). To achieve that, consideration of DNA damages in the cell nucleus and knowledge of the energy deposition in the location of the DNA at the nanometer scale are required.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Most low- and middle-income countries have limited access to cost data that meets the needs of health policy-makers and researchers in health intervention areas including HIV, tuberculosis, and immunization. Unit cost repositories (UCRs)-searchable databases that systematically codify evidence from costing studies-have been developed to reduce the effort required to access and use existing costing information. These repositories serve as public resources and standard references, which can improve the consistency and quality of resource needs projections used for strategic planning and resource mobilization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant phytohormone pathways are regulated by an intricate network of signaling components and modulators, many of which still remain unknown. Here, we report a forward chemical genetics approach for the identification of functional SA agonists in that revealed Neratinib (), a covalent pan-HER kinase inhibitor drug in humans, as a modulator of SA signaling. Instead of a protein kinase, chemoproteomics unveiled that covalently modifies a surface-exposed cysteine residue of epoxide hydrolase isoform 7 (AtEH7), thereby triggering its allosteric inhibition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Lu-PSMA therapy has been successfully used to prolong the survival of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Patient-specific dosimetry based on serial quantitative SPECT/CT imaging can support the understanding of dose-effect relationships. However, multiple SPECT/CT measurements can be challenging for patients, which motivates the investigation of efficient sampling schedules and their impact on dosimetry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Quantitative SPECT for patient-specific dosimetry is a valuable tool in the scope of radionuclide therapy, although its clinical application for Ac-based treatments may be limited due to low therapeutic activities. Therefore, the aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of clinical quantitative low-count SPECT imaging during [Lu]Lu-PSMA-I&T/[Ac]Ac-PSMA-I&T treatment.
Methods: Eight prostate cancer patients (1000 MBq/8 MBq [Lu]Lu-PSMA-I&T/[Ac]Ac-PSMA-I&T) received a single-bed quantitative Lu/Ac SPECT/CT acquisition (1 h) at 24 h post treatment (high-energy collimator, 16 projections p.
Despite widespread adoption of decentralization reforms, the impact of decentralization on health system attributes, such as access to health services, responsiveness to population health needs, and effectiveness in affecting health outcomes, remains unclear. This study examines how decision space, institutional capacities, and accountability mechanisms of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) in India relate to measurable performance of the immunization program. Data on decision space and its related dimensions of institutional capacity and accountability were collected by conducting structured interviews with managers based in 24 districts, 61 blocks, and 279 subcenters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Lack of anaesthesia services is a frequent barrier to emergency surgeries such as caesarean delivery in Kenya. This study aimed to estimate the survival gains and cost-effectiveness of scaling up the Every Second Matters (ESM)-Ketamine programme that trains non-anaesthetist providers to administer and monitor ketamine during emergency caesarean deliveries.
Setting: Hospitals in Kenyan counties with low rates of caesarean delivery.
Data on road-killed animals is essential for assessing the impact of roads on biodiversity. In most European countries data on road-killed huntable wildlife exists, but data on other vertebrate species (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
July 2022
We present the prototype of a ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ), which is based on a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of small, functional molecules. These molecules have a structure similar to those of liquid crystals, and they are embedded between two solid-state electrodes. The SAM, which is deposited through a short sequence of simple fabrication steps, is extremely thin (3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Botswana Combination Prevention Project tested the impact of combination prevention (CP) on HIV incidence in a community-randomized trial. Each trial arm had ∼55,000 people, 26% HIV prevalence, and 72% baseline ART coverage. Results showed intensive testing and linkage campaigns, expanded antiretroviral treatment (ART), and voluntary male medical circumcision referrals increased coverage and decreased incidence over ∼29 months of follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Differences in definitions and methodological approaches have hindered comparison and synthesis of economic evaluation results across multiple health domains, including immunization. At the request of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Immunization and Vaccines-related Implementation Research Advisory Committee (IVIR-AC), WHO convened an ad hoc Vaccine Delivery Costing Working Group, comprising experts from eight organizations working in immunization costing, to address a lack of standardization and gaps in definitions and methodological guidance. The aim of the Working Group was to develop a consensus statement harmonizing terminology and principles and to formulate recommendations for vaccine delivery costing for decision making.
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