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Bauer Jones posted an update 3 months, 3 weeks ago
This analysis suggests the importance of depression in contributing to as well as confounding symptomatology in MPN patients, and suggests that this critical variable should also be addressed by clinicians and researchers alike when comprehensively assessing symptom burden etiologies.
Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) need regular examinations for uveitis to avoid visual morbidity from the most common extraarticular manifestation of disease. This study was undertaken to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and performance of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging-based diagnosis of uveitis.
This observational cross-sectional study included children with and those without uveitis. The children underwent routine clinical examinations and anterior segment OCT scanning of intraocular inflammatory cells. Acceptability of image acquisition was assessed using a visual analog scale and length of time needed to acquire images. Interobserver and intraobserver variability of manual counting of acquired images (Bland-Altman limits of agreement), correlation between imaging and routine assessment, and sensitivity and specificity of anterior segment OCT detection of active inflammation were assessed.
Of the 26 children ages 3-15 years (median age 8 years) who underwent ing for JIA uveitis surveillance is feasible, acceptable to patients, and holds the promise of transforming pediatric practice. Further work is needed to determine the analytic and clinical validity of anterior segment OCT quantification of active inflammation, and the clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of imaging-based disease monitoring.
Training surgeons to use surgical robots are becoming part of surgical training curricula. We propose a novel method of training fine-motor skills such as Microscopic Selection Task (MST) for robot-assisted surgery using virtual reality (VR) with objective quantification of performance. We also introduce vibrotactile feedback (VTFB) to study its impact on training performance.
We use a VR-based environment to perform MST with varying degrees of difficulties. Using a well-known human-computer interaction paradigm and incorporating VTFB, we quantify the performance speed, precision and accuracy.
MST with VTFB showed statistically significant improvement in performance metrics leading to faster completion of MST with higher precision and accuracy compared to that without VTFB.
The addition of VTFB to VR-based training for robot-assisted surgeries may improve performance outcomes in real robotic surgery. VTFB, along with proposed performance metrics, can be used in training curricula for robot-assisted surgeries.
The addition of VTFB to VR-based training for robot-assisted surgeries may improve performance outcomes in real robotic surgery. VTFB, along with proposed performance metrics, can be used in training curricula for robot-assisted surgeries.
The aim of this study was to examine the impact of timing of childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) diagnosis relative to menarchal status, on final height, accounting for and disease associated factors.
A cohort study of female cSLE patients <18 years of age at diagnosis, followed at a tertiary care, pediatric center from July 1982 to March 2016, restricted to patients with documented age of menarche and final height. We compared final height between patients diagnosed pre- and post-menarche. We tested the association of timing of cSLE diagnosis with final height, adjusted for ethnicity, in linear regression models. We performed subgroup analyses of patients with growth during follow-up, additionally adjusting for average daily corticosteroid dose and disease activity.
Of 401 female cSLE patients in the study, 115 patients (29%) were diagnosed pre-menarche and 286 (71%) post-menarche. Patients diagnosed pre-menarche were older at menarche compared with patients diagnosed post-menarche (13.5 ± 1.4 vs. 12.5 ± 1.3 years; p < 0.001). The mean final height for females diagnosed post-menarche (161.4 cm [SD 6.9 cm]) was greater than those diagnosed pre-menarche (158.8 cm [SD 7.3 cm], P=0.001). In regression analysis, those diagnosed post-menarche were significantly taller than those diagnosed pre-menarche, adjusted for ethnicity, and disease severity (Beta=2.6cm, [SD 0.7cm], P=0.0006).
In this large cohort study of females with cSLE, patients diagnosed post-menarche achieved a taller final height than those diagnosed pre-menarche even after accounting for ethnicity and disease severity.
In this large cohort study of females with cSLE, patients diagnosed post-menarche achieved a taller final height than those diagnosed pre-menarche even after accounting for ethnicity and disease severity.The performance of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) is highly dependent on their interfacial chemistry, which is regulated by electrolytes. Conventional electrolyte typically contains polar solvents to dissociate Li salts. Herein we report a weakly solvating electrolyte (WSE) that consists of a pure non-polar solvent, which leads to a peculiar solvation structure where ion pairs and aggregates prevail under a low salt concentration of 1.0 M. Importantly, WSE forms unique anion-derived interphases on graphite electrodes that exhibit fast-charging and long-term cycling characteristics. Wnt agonist 1 mouse First-principles calculations unravel a general principle that the competitive coordination between anions and solvents to Li ions is the origin of different interfacial chemistries. By bridging the gap between solution thermodynamics and interfacial chemistry in batteries, this work opens a brand-new way towards precise electrolyte engineering for energy storage devices with desired properties.In this investigation, folic acid has been used as an efficient and green sorbent in dispersive solid phase extraction for the extraction of di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate and three phthalate esters from the plastic-packed liquids before their determination with gas chromatography-flame ionization detection. This is the first report on the application of pure folic acid as a sorbent. In this work, limits of detection and quantification were in the ranges of 0.13-0.46 and 0.43-1.50 µg/L, respectively. Relative standard deviations were in the ranges of 2-5% for intra- (n = 6) and 4-7% for interday (n = 4) precisions at a concentration of 20 µg/L for each analyte. Enrichment factors and extraction recoveries were obtained in the ranges of 365-670 and 45-84%, respectively. Efficiency of the method was evaluated by analyzing the analytes in various plastic-packed liquids.