Objective: A major concern for cancer survivors after treatment is the Fear of Cancer Recurrence (FCR), which is the fear that cancer will reappear or progress. This fear can be exacerbated by medical uncertainty about the future, leading to harmful obsession and having a negative impact on quality of life. This study aims to develop a predictive Machine Learning (ML) model using healthcare reimbursement data to better predict FCR and understand the factors influencing FCR in women with breast cancer five years after their diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens is a major threat to global health, exacerbated by the misuse of antibiotics. In hospital practice, results of bacterial cultures and antibiograms can take several days. Meanwhile, prescribing an empirical antimicrobial treatment is challenging, as clinicians must balance the antibiotic spectrum against the expected probability of susceptibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The results and benefits of Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy (RARP) are already established in the literature. However, new robotic platforms have been released recently in the market and their outcomes are still unknown. In this scenario, our objective is to describe our experience implementing the HugoTM RAS robot and report the clinical data of patients who underwent Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: In a previous study we demonstrated that a simple training programme improved quality indicators of Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) achieving the recommended benchmarks. However, the long-term effect of this intervention is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of OGDs performed 3 years after of having completed a training programme.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of innovative solutions that allow the aging population to remain healthier and independent longer is essential to alleviate the burden that this increasing segment of the population supposes for the long term sustainability of the public health systems. It has been claimed that promoting physical activity could prevent functional decline. However, given the vulnerability of this population, the activity prescription requires to be tailored to the individual's physical condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of the study was to improve the visual functioning of people with restriction in contrast sensitivity (CS), such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), by means of a visual training program. Twenty-six volunteers with RP participated, distributed in two groups: 15 who made up the experimental group (who received the training program) and 11 who participated as a control group (without training). Participants were evaluated before beginning training, on completion, and 3 mo following completion for CS with the Pelli-Robson Contrast Sensitivity (P&R) test, visual functioning with the Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ), and in emotional state with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZebra mussel populations in Ebro and Mijares Rivers (northern Spain) were analyzed to study the mechanisms by which this aquatic species deals with pollution. Variability analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene and of one nuclear microsatellite were performed for ten populations from the Ebro River and one from the Mijares River. Comparison of these results with those from five additional European populations indicated that the Spanish populations constitute a homogeneous gene pool.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious studies have demonstrated that the commercial feed of aquacultured fish contains trace amounts of toxic and essential metals which can accumulate in tissues and finally be ingested by consumers. Recently rising temperatures, associated to the global warming phenomenon, have been reported as a factor to be taken into consideration in ecotoxicology, since temperature-dependent alterations in bioavailability, toxicokinetics and biotransformation rates can be expected. Sparus aurata were kept at 22°C, 27°C and 30°C for 3 months in order to determine the temperature effect on metallothionein induction and metal bioaccumulation from a non-experimentally contaminated commercial feed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFForty-nine wild eels (Anguilla anguilla) caught in the Albufera Lake (Spain), measuring 24.0-75.0 cm in length and 25.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious studies have demonstrated that the use of differential pulse polarography (DPP) for metallothionein (MT) determination in marine gastropod tissues, particularly the digestive gland, requires taking into account the presence of heat-stable high molecular weight compounds that exhibit polarographic signal. In the present paper, similar compounds were identified in tissues from the freshwater snail Melanopsis dufouri which also interfere with MT determination by DPP and, due to their silver binding capacity, also interfere in the silver assay for MT quantification. Ultrafiltration seems to be effective in removing these high molecular weight compounds from heat-denatured homogenate supernatant allowing direct MT quantification by DPP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetallothionein and metal content (Cd, Zn, Hg, Cu, Fe, Pb and Mn) were determined in various organs of commercially available eel (Anguilla anguilla) of similar size obtained from a local farm and from The Albufera Lake in Valencia (Spain). Farmed fish showed statistically significant higher Cd concentrations in liver and kidney whereas wild individuals had higher levels of Pb in blood and Zn in kidney. Significant positive correlations were found between metallothionein and Cd in kidney of farmed eel and between metallothionein and Cu in liver of wild ones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To describe the technique of laparoscopy-assisted undiversion of an ileal conduit into a continent orthotopic ileal neobladder performed on a patient with a previous radical cystoprostatectomy and ileal conduit.
Case Report: A 57-year-old man presented with a prolapsed stoma and a history of a right radical nephroureterectomy for grade 3 ureteral transitional-cell carcinoma and a radical cystoprostatectomy and ileal conduit urinary diversion for in-situ bladder carcinoma, performed 12 and 8 years ago, respectively. After the ileal stoma was resected, five trocars were placed transperitoneally.
Objective: To report an interesting case of a rare complication of cystourethropexy, as well as its precise diagnosis and results after treatment.
Methods: We reviewed the medical records of the patients as well as their operative report and she underwent outpatient follow-up for the following six months. We descriptively report the findings.
Chylous ascites is an infrequent complication of retroperitoneal surgery. We describe a patient who suffered massive chylous ascites after simultaneous pneumonectomy and laparoscopic excision of a post-chemotherapy tumor mass. After conservative management failed, exploratory laparoscopy identified the site of the leak, which was clipped and closed with fibrin glue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report successful laparoscopic repair of a saccular renal-artery aneurysm in a patient with renovascular hypertension. The repair was performed by clamping the renal hilum, excising the aneurysm, and suturing the vascular defect intracorporeally. Postoperative imaging studies confirmed normal arterial flow in the repaired artery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCarp (Cyprinus carpio) and barbel (Barbus graellsii) were collected from five sites along the Ebro River. The study was designed to assess levels of persistent organic pollutants and metals bioaccumulated by fish, and some biochemical responses (cytochrome P450 system, phase II activities, and metallothioneins) against those pollutants. The highest levels of PCBs and DDTs were detected in carp from industrialised areas, which also showed high levels of mercury and cadmium in the liver, and high levels of nonylphenol in bile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: As laparoscopic surgery has evolved, it has become part of the urologic surgical armamentarium and is now used to perform more complex procedures. Carbon dioxide, used to create pneumoperitoneum, produces physiologic changes in various organs, including the kidneys. Such changes are associated with altered redox status because of the release of free radicals and changes in oxidative stress signals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: We present the feasibility and results of the laparoscopic management of symptomatic and large adrenal cysts.
Materials And Methods: From June 1993 to April 2004 we performed 149 laparoscopic adrenalectomies. In this series 8 patients with symptomatic adrenal cysts or pseudocysts were treated laparoscopically.
Purpose: We present our initial experience with the laparoscopic Boari flap for long ureteral strictures.
Materials And Methods: Nine patients underwent a laparoscopic Boari flap procedure at our institution. Eight patients had 4 to 7 cm distal ureteral strictures on excretory urogram and retrograde pyelogram, and 1 had transitional cell carcinoma in the distal right ureter.
Living-donor nephrectomy has traditionally been performed through a flank incision with or without rib resection or by an anterior extraperitoneal incision, both of which reduce the willingness of potential donors to undergo the procedure. The first successful human laparoscopic donor nephrectomy was reported in 1995. In order to reduce warm ischemia and operative time and to make the operation safer and easier, some laparoscopic surgeons have used hand assistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral different procedures can be used to treat UPJ obstruction. Retrograde ureteroscopic endopyelotomy provides a safe and adequate first line of treatment for this condition. With the advent of smaller ureteroscopes and ancillary devices, this technique has evolved to include children.
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