In this study, an analytical method has been developed that, for the first time, allows simultaneous determination of vitamin D2and vitamin D3along with their hydroxylated and esterified forms. A group of 12 vitamin D analogues including vitamin D2and vitamin D3, seven hydroxylated metabolites, and three ester forms were separated in a single 8.0 min run using ultrahigh-performance supercritical f

This research studied the preferences reported by women and men about their Ideal Body Image for the Opposite Sex (IBIOS), and its association with body mass index (BMI). It also analysed the preferences of each sex for a woman's ideal body image (W-IBI) and a man's ideal body image (M-IBI). A total of 450 participants aged 18-70 years with different weights were studied. Their IBIOS was assessed

The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges for children including access to education and limiting social and emotional connections to extended family, friends, and the community. Globally, opportunities for sharing children’s self-reported experiences during lockdown were limited. The primary aim of this project was to create an art-eBook that reflects children’s experiences of life during the

Importance: Assessment of the causative association between the COVID-19 and cause of death has been hampered by limited availability of systematically performed autopsies. We aimed to present autopsy-confirmed causes of death in patients who died with COVID-19 and to assess the association between thrombosis and diffuse alveolar damage consistent with COVID-19 (DAD). Methods: Consecutive forensic

Objective: For many years, functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) was considered negligible after treatment of left-sided heart valve surgery. The aim of the present network meta-analysis is to summarize the results of four approaches to establish the possible gold standard. Methods: A systematic search was performed to identify all publications reporting the outcomes of four approaches for FTR,

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a feature of ageing males. Up to half demonstrate bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) with associated lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) including bladder overactivity. Current therapies to reduce obstruction, such as α1-adrenoceptor antagonists and 5α-reductase inhibitors, are not effective in all patients. The phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE5I) tadalafil is

Stability enforcement remains a challenge in data-driven control paradigms, where no parametrised model of the system is available. In the Loewner Data-Driven Control framework (L-DDC) [1] for instance, the system's instabilities are estimated in order to enforce a closed-loop stability constraint on the controller reduction step. In order to avoid this preliminary estimation of instabilities, thi

This study examines the impact of boldness on foraging competition of the highly invasive round goby Neogobius melanostomus Pallas 1815. Individual risk tolerance, or boldness, was measured as the time to resume movement after a simulated predation strike. Fish that resumed movement faster were categorized as “bold,” fish that took more time to resume movement were categorized as “shy” and those t

To improve the accuracy of indoor positioning systems it can be useful to combine different types of sensor data. This paper describes deep learning methods both for estimating absolute positions and for performing pedestrian dead reckoning, and then how to combine the resulting estimates using weighted least squares optimization. The positioning model is based on a custom neural network which use

Existing studies offer little insight on how atrial fibrillation (AF) detection performance is influenced by the properties of AF episode patterns. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of AF burden and median AF episode length on detection performance. For this purpose, three types of AF detectors, using either information on rhythm, rhythm and morphology, or ECG segments, were in

Introduction: Haemophilia B (HB) is less well studied than haemophilia A (HA); despite similarities between the two inherited bleeding disorders, important differences remain that require further research. Aim: B-Natural is a multi-centre, prospective, observational study of HB, designed to increase understanding of clinical manifestations, treatment, quality-of-life (QoL), inhibitor development,

Tumor involvement of the peritoneum-peritoneal carcinomatosis-is a heterogeneous form of cancer that had been generally regarded as a sign of systemic tumor disease and as a terminal condition. The multimodal treatment approach for patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis, which had been conceived and developed, consists of what is known as cytoreductive surgery, followed by hyperthermic intraperit

Cytoreduction followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy is a treatment option for peritoneal surface malignancies in The Netherlands. This treatment has been available for more than 10 years. Therefore, long-term results on survival and quality of life can now be studied. With these results, the true long-term benefits of this new management strategy can be determined.

A mobile stroke unit (MSU) is a special type of ambulance, where stroke patients can be diagnosed and provided intravenous treatment, hence allowing to cut down the time to treatment for stroke patients. We present a discrete event simulation (DES) model to study the potential benefits of using MSUs in the southern health care region of Sweden (SHR). We included the activities and actions used in

AIMS: Selecting patients for cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intra-peritoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) remains challenging. We compared the predictive power of three intra-operative assessment tools of peritoneal involvement of colorectal cancer.METHODS: Ninety-two procedures (1999-2005) were prospectively scored using the Simplified Peritoneal Cancer Index (SPCI) and 7 Region Count. The Perito

At the Fifth International Workshop on Peritoneal Surface Malignancy, held in Milan, the consensus on technical aspects of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) for peritoneal surface malignancy was obtained through the Delphi process. General conflicting points concerning the eligibility to the local-regional therapy were discussed and voted.

BACKGROUND: Cytoreductive surgery with intraperitoneal chemotherapy has emerged as a new standard approach for peritoneal surface disease. This study investigated the learning curve of this combined modality treatment at a single institute.METHODS: Variables analysed over three consecutive treatment periods (1996-1998, 1999-2002 and 2003-2006) included number of abdominal regions affected, Simplif