Maintaining patency in totally implantable venous access devices (TIVAD): a time-to-event analysis of different lock irrigation intervals.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of irrigating totally implantable venous access devices (TIVADs) every eight weeks instead of every four in maintaining the patency of the device.

Methods: An explorative, pragmatic, prospective study design was conducted in two day hospital centres located in the northeast of Italy, from January 2011 to September 2012. Twenty patients who had skipped an appointment and were thus washing their TIVAD every eight weeks (exposed) were included, as were 17 patients following the typical wash regimen of every four weeks (controls).

Antibodies to the lens and cornea in anti-DFS70-positive subjects.

Autoantibodies against DFS70 (dense fine speckles 70) antigen have recently been identified among antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in patients with various inflammatory diseases and in patients with different types of cancer. These antibodies are recognized using indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) on HEp-2 cells, by a fine speckled nuclear staining in interphase HEp-2 cells and a positive reaction in the chromosome region of mitotic cells. Given that the DFS70 protein is also known as the lens epithelium-derived growth factor, this study was performed with two objectives: (a) to assess the prevalence of these antibodies in patients sent for ANA testing and in 334 patients with different types of neoplasia and (b) to determine whether the lens tissue was a suitable substrate for the detection of antibodies specific to lens proteins.