Radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of weight regain after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.

Background And Aims: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery is an established modality for the treatment of morbid obesity. However, approximately one-quarter of patients experience weight regain after initially successful weight loss. Endoscopic therapy targeting the gastric remnant pouch represents a novel potential strategy to re-induce weight loss in this population.

Sacral nerve stimulation for intractable constipation.

Objective: Traditional surgical procedures for intractable idiopathic constipation are associated with a variable outcome and substantial morbidity. The symptomatic response, physiological effect and effect on quality of life of sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) were evaluated in patients with constipation (slow transit and normal transit with impaired evacuation).

Methods: In a prospective study at five European sites patients who failed conservative treatment underwent 21 days test stimulation.

Design effects for highly clustered count data with varying length of follow-up--applying to the analysis of ICD shocks.

Highly clustered count data are commonly seen in medical device clinical studies such as cardiac rhythm management. For instance, anti-arrhythmia shocks delivered from an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) often occur as "storms", i.e.

A comparison of empiric to physician-tailored programming of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators: results from the prospective randomized multicenter EMPIRIC trial.

Objectives: The purpose of this randomized study was to determine whether a strategically chosen standardized set of programmable settings is at least as effective as physician-tailored choices, as measured by the shock-related morbidity of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy.

Background: Programming of ventricular tachyarrhythmia (ventricular tachycardia [VT] or ventricular fibrillation [VF]) detection and therapy for ICDs is complex, requires many choices by highly trained physicians, and directly influences the frequency of shocks and patient morbidity.

Methods: A total of 900 ICD patients were randomly assigned to standardized (EMPIRIC, n = 445) or physician-tailored (TAILORED, n = 455) VT/VF programming and followed for 1 year.

Marginalized binary mixed-effects models with covariate-dependent random effects and likelihood inference.

Marginal models and conditional mixed-effects models are commonly used for clustered binary data. However, regression parameters and predictions in nonlinear mixed-effects models usually do not have a direct marginal interpretation, because the conditional functional form does not carry over to the margin. Because both marginal and conditional inferences are of interest, a unified approach is attractive.

Imiquimod 5-percent cream does not alter the natural history of recurrent herpes genitalis: a phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Present strategies for control of herpes genitalis recurrences require multiple daily doses of antiviral medication. Imiquimod, an immune response modifier, induces alpha interferon and interleukin-12; application in the presence of local herpes antigens during a recurrence may augment herpes simplex virus (HSV)-specific cell-mediated immunity. To test this theory, we performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of imiquimod 5% cream to assess safety and efficacy for decreasing recurrences.