Automated nystagmus detection: Accuracy of slow-phase and quick-phase algorithms to determine the presence of nystagmus.

Purpose: To verify the accuracy of automated nystagmus detection algorithms.

Method: Video-oculography (VOG) plots were analyzed from consecutive patients with dizziness presenting to a neurology clinic. Data were recorded for 30 s in upright position with fixation block.

Subjective visual vertical imprecision during lateral head tilt in patients with chronic dizziness.

Most prior studies of the subjective visual vertical (SVV) focus on inaccuracy of subjects' SVV responses with the head in an upright position. Here we investigated SVV imprecision during lateral head tilt in patients with chronic dizziness compared to healthy controls. Forty-five dizzy patients and 45 healthy controls underwent SVV testing wearing virtual reality (VR) goggles, sitting upright (0°) and during head tilt in the roll plane (± 30°).

Test-retest reliability of subjective visual vertical measurements with lateral head tilt in virtual reality goggles.

Objective: The objective is to investigate the test-retest reliability of subjective visual vertical (SVV) in the upright position and with lateral head tilts through a computerized SVV measuring system using virtual reality (VR) goggles.

Materials And Methods: Thirty healthy controls underwent SVV test in upright position, with the head tilted to the right 30°, and with the head tilted to the left 30°. Subjects wore SVV VR goggles, which contained a gyroscope for monitoring the angle of head tilt.

No way out: Causes of duodenal and gastric outlet obstruction.

Upper gastrointestinal obstruction (UGIO), obstruction occurring at the level of the stomach or duodenum, represents only about 5% of bowel obstructions. As with other bowel obstructions, timely diagnosis is necessary to prevent complications including ischemia and death. Because the presenting symptoms of UGIO can be vague and nonspecific, the diagnosis may not be suspected clinically.

Combination Therapy of Adalimumab With an Immunomodulator Is Not More Effective Than Adalimumab Monotherapy in Children With Crohn's Disease: A Post Hoc Analysis of the PAILOT Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The PAILOT trial was a randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate proactive vs reactive therapeutic drug monitoring in children with Crohn's disease (CD) treated with adalimumab. Our aim in this post hoc analysis of the PAILOT trial was to assess the efficacy and safety of adalimumab combination treatment in comparison with monotherapy at week 72 after adalimumab induction.

Methods: Participants were children 6-17 years old, biologic naïve, with moderate to severe CD, who responded to adalimumab induction at week 4.

The impact of socioeconomic status on emergency department outcome in a low-income country setting: A registry-based analysis.

Background: The impact of socioeconomic status on health has been established via a broad body of literature, largely from high-income countries. Investigative efforts in low- and middle-income countries have suffered from a lack of reporting standardization required to draw comparisons across countries of varying economic strata. In this study we aimed to evaluate the impact of socioeconomic status on emergency department outcomes in a low-income African country using international data classification systems.

The bucket test differentiates patients with MRI confirmed brainstem/cerebellar lesions from patients having migraine and dizziness alone.

Background: Amongst the most challenging diagnostic dilemmas managing patients with vestibular symptoms (i.e. vertigo, nausea, imbalance) is differentiating dangerous central vestibular disorders from benign causes.

Elements in maternal blood and amniotic fluid determined by ICP-MS.

Objective: Knowledge about levels of toxic and non-toxic elements in amniotic fluid is limited. The aims of this study were: (1) to measure levels of trace elements Cu, Fe, Zn, B, Sr and Co in amniotic fluid and maternal serum during second trimester of pregnancy; and (2) to determine what correlations exists between elements levels in amniotic fluid and maternal serum.

Methods: The levels of, iron, copper, zinc, cobalt, strontium and boron were measured in blood and amniotic fluid during genetic amniocentesis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Increased glycemic variability in patients with elevated preoperative HbA1C predicts adverse outcomes following coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.

Background: In the setting of protocolized glycemic control, the relationship between postoperative glycemic variability on major adverse events (MAEs) after cardiac surgery is unknown for patients with increased preoperative hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C >6.5%). In this study, we sought to establish (a) whether postoperative glycemic variability is associated with MAEs after CABG surgery and (b) whether preoperative HbA1C could identify patients at increased risk of postoperative glycemic variability.

Perinatal outcome of pregnancies following in vitro fertilization and ovulation induction.

Objective: To investigate pregnancy outcome in patient who conceived by assisted reproductive techniques.

Methods: A retrospective population-based study was conducted, comparing obstetrical complications and neonatal outcomes of singleton pregnancies conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF; n = 1296) and ovulation induction (n = 1988) as compared to singleton pregnancies conceived spontaneously (n = 172 288). Multivariable models were constructed to control for confounders.

Fatty acid composition of breastmilk of Israeli mothers.

We conducted this study to determine the fatty acid composition of breastmilk of Israeli women and compare it with baby milk substitutes. Samples of mature breast milk, from 29 lactating Israeli Jewish mothers were collected during feedings. Total milk lipids extracts were transmethylated and analyzed by using an improved gas-chromatographic method.

Tomato extract and the carotenoids lycopene and lutein improve endothelial function and attenuate inflammatory NF-κB signaling in endothelial cells.

Objectives: In our previous research the antihypertensive properties of lycopene-containing tomato oleoresin have been revealed. The present study was aimed to assess if oleoresin interferes in the inflammatory signalling in endothelial cells, imitating reduction of inflammatory processes in the vessel wall and in this way to propose the mechanism for the reduction of blood pressure by oleoresin.

Methods And Results: A wide number of functional and inflammatory markers were investigated in two cultured endothelial cell models [EA.

Left ventricular geometric abnormality screening in hypertensive patients using a hand-carried ultrasound device.

The authors assessed the validity of a hand-carried cardiac ultrasound device operated by an internal medicine resident for left ventricular geometric abnormalities (LVGAs) in mild hypertensive patients. LVGAs were diagnosed when at least one of the following was present: left ventricular mass index exceeding 125 g/m(2) and 110 g/m(2) for men and women, respectively; intraventricular septum thickness > or = 10 mm; posterior wall thickness > or = 10 mm; and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter > or = 5.3 mm.

[Characteristics of morbidity and mortality from stroke in the Negev population in the years 1995 and 1999].

Goals: (1) To describe the prevalence of known risk factors for stroke morbidity and mortality in the Negev population that was hospitalized in the Soroka Hospital in the years 1995 and 1999, and to compare results. (2) To depict case fatality for those patients.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of two periods: 1995 and 1999.

A case against justified non-voluntary active euthanasia (the Groningen Protocol).

The Groningen Protocol allows active euthanasia of severely ill newborns with unbearable suffering. Defenders of the protocol insist that the protocol refers to terminally ill infants and that quality of life should not be a factor in the decision to euthanize an infant. They also argue that there should be no ethical difference between active and passive euthanasia of these infants.

The effects of natural antioxidants from tomato extract in treated but uncontrolled hypertensive patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of adding tomato extract to the treatment regime of moderate hypertensives with uncontrolled blood pressure (BP) levels.

Methods: Fifty four subjects with moderate HT treated with one or two antihypertensive drugs were recruited and 50 entered two double blind cross-over treatment periods of 6 weeks each, with standardized tomato extract or identical placebo. Plasma concentrations of lycopene, nitrite and nitrate were measured and correlated with BP changes.

For-profit and not-for-profit nursing homes in Israel: do they differ with respect to quality of care?

There has long been concern whether care is better in for-profit (FP) or not-for-profit (NFP) nursing homes (NHs). In order to answer this question in the Israeli context, a cross-sectional study of quality was undertaken, as measured by the Ministry of Health (MoH) assessment teams. We examined a convenience sample of 127 NHs (48 NFP, 79 FP), comprising approximately three quarters of Israel's 193 such institutions at the time of the study (1998-2001).

Three cases of penile paraffinoma: a conservative approach.

Injection of foreign materials into different body parts has long been performed to change the body contour. The treatment of choice should be radical excision, otherwise recurrence of the symptoms can occur. However, in selected patients, conservative treatment should be considered.

Neonatal blood is more resistant to oxidative stress induced by stable nitroxide radicals than adult blood.

Neonate erythrocytes are more susceptible to oxidizing drugs than adults; however, there are controversial reports in the literature regarding the total antioxidant capacity of neonate blood. Stable nitroxide radicals (NRs) are reduced by blood and some other biological materials to the corresponding hydroxylamines. The kinetics of the nitroxide's disappearance using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, provides useful biochemical and biophysical information about the antioxidant properties of biological systems.