Prevalence and pathophysiology of early dumping in patients after primary Roux-en-Y gastric bypass during a mixed-meal tolerance test

Background

Early dumping is a poorly defined and incompletely understood complication after Roux-en-Y gastric (RYGB).

Microbiological aspects of heat sterilization of drugs

International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy - In order to calculate the minimum sterilization process conditions to obtain the generally accepted sterility level (less than 1·10?6...     

To what extent does IQ 'explain' socio-economic variations in function?

Background  

The aims of this study were to examine the extent to which higher intellectual abilities protect higher socio-economic groups from functional decline and to examine whether the contribution of intellectual abilities is independent of childhood deprivation and low birth weight and other socio-economic and developmental factors in early life.     

The reliability of the 3-phase bone scan in suspected scaphoid fracture: an inter- and intraobserver variability analysis.

In the diagnosis of scaphoid fracture, the dynamic phase of the radionuclide bone scan alone has been recommended as an early test. To evaluate the independent reliability of the dynamic and static phases of the 3-phase bone scan in this diagnosis, 3 examiners reviewed the 3-phase bone scans of a series of 60 patients with clinical signs of fracture of the carpal scaphoid and with negative or non-diagnostic initial radiographs. The interpretation was performed independently and without the benefit of additional data. The bone scans were reviewed after 1 year by the same observers. The results were analyzed using kappa statistics. The bone scan was suspicious of fracture of the scaphoid in 15 patients. Irrespective of training and experience, the kappa values of the dynamic bone scan between any 2 observers did not exceed 0.57. The kappa values increased significantly when the static phase of the bone scan was examined (> 0.81). The intraobserver variability showed a similar pattern. We conclude that in suspected scaphoid fracture, the dynamic phase of the radionuclide bone scan alone cannot be used as a reliable diagnostic approach because of the low inter- and intraobserver agreement in the interpretation, irrespective of the experience and training of the observer.     

Discordant repeat size and phenotype in Kennedy syndrome

Previous reports in the literature have described correlation of increasing repeat length with severity of the phenotype, in Kennedy syndrome. We describe male siblings with different repeat lengths, with lack of expression of the phenotype in the sibling with the longer repeat length. The phenotype was identical to motor neurone disease. There is variability of expression in Kennedy syndrome and repeat length even in siblings cannot be taken as a conclusive indicator of severity. CAG repeat length cannot be used to predict the natural history of Kennedy disease. The diagnosis of Kennedy syndrome should be considered in male patients presenting with atypical motor neurone disease.