Integration of Genomic and Transcriptional Features in Pancreatic Cancer Reveals Increased Cell Cycle Progression in Metastases

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Risk factors for newly developed osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures following treatment for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures

Background context

It has been reported that newly developed osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) occur at a relatively high frequency after treatment. While there are many reports on possible risk factors, these have not yet been clearly established.

Selective blocking laminoplasty in cervical laminectomy and fusion to prevent postoperative C5 palsy

BACKGROUND CONTEXT

Cervical laminectomy and fusion (CLF) is a common surgical option for multilevel cord compression. Postoperative C5 palsy occurrence after CLF has been a vexing problem for spine physicians. The posterior shift of the cord following laminectomy has been implicated as a major factor for postoperative C5 palsy, but attempts by spine surgeons to mitigate excessive shift while providing sufficient decompression have not been well reported.

The Counseling,Self-Care,Adherence Approach to Person-Centered Care and Shared Decision Making: Moral Psychology,Executive Autonomy,and Ethics in Multi-Dimensional Care Decisions

This article argues that standard models of person-centred care (PCC) and shared decision making (SDM) rely on simplistic, often unrealistic assumptions of patient capacities that entail that PCC/SDM might have detrimental effects in many applications. We suggest a complementary PCC/SDM approach to ensure that patients are able to execute rational decisions taken jointly with care professionals when performing self-care. Illustrated by concrete examples from a study of adolescent diabetes care, we suggest a combination of moral and psychological considerations to support the claim that standard PCC/SDM threatens to systematically undermine its own goals. This threat is due to a tension between the ethical requirements of SDM in ideal circumstances and more long-term needs actualized by the context of self-care handled by patients with limited capacities for taking responsibility and adhere to their own rational decisions. To improve this situation, we suggest a counseling, self-care, adherence approach to PCC/SDM, where more attention is given to how treatment goals are internalized by patients, how patients perceive choice situations, and what emotional feedback patients are given. This focus may involve less of a concentration on autonomous and rational clinical decision making otherwise stressed in standard PCC/SDM advocacy.     

Target Tracking Based on Biological-Like Vision Identity via Improved Sparse Representation and Particle Filtering

To effectively track targets under partial occlusion and illumination variation, an improved target tracking method based on combination of sparse representation and particle filtering is proposed in this paper. We regard the candidate target particle set as redundant dictionary and the target template as observation signal to reduce the computational complexity and enhance the real-time performance of target tracking. Besides, to enhance tracking robustness for better adaption to illumination and occlusion, the density histogram, local binary pattern feature fusion, trivial templates and energy control parameters are also utilized in this study. Finally, extensive simulation experiments under different circumstances show that the proposed method performs better compared with other methods, and the average computation time decreases greatly.     

Role of "diseased" root cementum in healing following treatment of periodontal disease

This study was undertaken to examine if root debridement in the treatment of periodontal disease must include the removal of the exposed cementum in order to achieve periodontal health. Five beagle dogs were used. Periodontal tissue breakdown around the second, third and fourth mandibular premolars was accomplished by placing plaque-collecting cotton floss ligatures around the necks of the teeth. When the destruction of the attachment apparatus after 4 months had progressed to a level corresponding to half the length of the roots, the ligatures were removed. During a subsequent period of 2 months the experimental teeth were left without ligatures but the dogs were still allowed to accumulate plaque. On day 180. the experimental teeth were subjected to (lap surgery. Following elevation of the Iiaps, the teeth on one side of the jaw were scaled and the exposed root cementum was removed using diamond burs. On the contralateral side no scaling was performed and the roots were only polished with the use of rubber cups, interdental rubber tips and a polishing paste. After irrigation of the roots with sterile saline the flaps were repositioned at their original level and sutured. Following a healing period of 2 months, during which both test and control teeth were subjected to regular plaque control, the dogs were sacrificed and the jaws placed in fixative. After decalcification. histological sections of the experimental teeth and their periodontal tissues were produced. The histometric data demonstrated that the result of healing was similar whether or not the previously exposed root cementum had been removed. In both situations a junctional epithelium with a non-inflamed subjacent connective tissue was formed. In addition, new connective tissue attachment was frequently observed at the apical extent of the wounds following both types of treatment. The results suggest that the removal of the root cementum for the purpose of eliminating endotoxins possibly present within the cementum is not necessary for accomplishing periodontal health.     

Effects of lidocaine and adrenaline combination on postoperative edema and ecchymosis in rhinoplasty

Nasal osteotomies are the most important cause of periorbital edema and ecchymosis. Injection of lidocaine and adrenaline is recommended to reduce bleeding. Whilst the lidocaine and adrenaline combination (LAC) is claimed to reduce postoperative ecchymosis and edema, this effect remains to be proven conclusively. This study, on 48 patients, was designed to investigate the effects of LAC injection on postoperative edema/ecchymosis in rhinoplasty. LAC was applied at a random side prior to the lateral osteotomy. The opposite side was used as a control. The relationship between edema/ecchymosis and the degree of LAC on the injected and uninjected sides was evaluated on the first, third and seventh day postoperatively. The relationships between edema and ecchymosis with operation time and intraoperative systolic blood pressure were also evaluated. Bleeding was reduced on the side treated with LAC (p = 0.050). The degrees of edema/ecchymosis increased with increases in the duration of operation and the systolic blood pressure on the first postoperative day for the LAC-applied side (p < 0.05). This correlation was not observed on the opposite side (p > 0.05). Application of LAC reduces bleeding during rhinoplasty and pain control postoperatively but reduced edema and ecchymosis should not be expected following LAC application.