Cost-effectiveness of different MRSA screening methods.

We describe a model to examine the cost-effectiveness of various laboratory-screening approaches to detect methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). A critical literature review was used to derive relevant data on the sensitivity (X), specificity (S) and time to result (T) of different tests. Additional cost information was provided by a hospital.

Management of nodular goiters and their operative indications.

It remains controversial whether or not nodular goiters should be treated surgically or conservatively. This report reviews our 9-year experience of treating nodular goiters in 334 patients, 44 of whom underwent surgery, and compares the methods of treatment employed from 1990 to 1999 with those employed from 1971 to 1989 when 171 operations were carried out. In accordance with diagnoses made using fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and ultrasonography, patients were treated as follows.

Spontaneous antibody-secreting cells in the stomach of gastric cancer patients.

The gastric mucosa has been regarded as an active site of humoral immunity since the discovery of Helicobacter pylori. The present study was conducted to determine the in vivo activity of gastric B cells in 53 gastric cancer patients. B-cell activity was measured by protein-A plaque assay, in which IgA-, IgM-, and IgG-plaque-forming cells (PFC) were counted.