Predicting the serum digoxin concentrations of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit through an artificial neural network.

Background: Given its narrow therapeutic range, digoxin's pharmacokinetic parameters in infants are difficult to predict due to variation in birth weight and gestational age, especially for critically ill newborns. There is limited evidence to support the safety and dosage requirements of digoxin, let alone to predict its concentrations in infants. This study aimed to compare the concentrations of digoxin predicted by traditional regression modeling and artificial neural network (ANN) modeling for newborn infants given digoxin for clinically significant patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).

Therapeutic effect of laparoscopy-assisted D2 radical gastrectomy in 106 patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Purpose: To explore the feasibility and short-term effect of laparoscopy-assisted D2 radical gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer.

Methods: A total of 239 patients with advanced gastric cancer underwent D2 radical gastrectomy between March 2009 and June 2011, from which 106 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery (laparoscopy group) and 133 patients underwent open surgery (open surgery group). The intraoperative and postoperative condition, number of lymph node removed, complications and mortality rates between the two groups were compared.