Introduction: Faecal calprotectin (FC) has been proposed to be a biomarker of gastrointestinal (GI) disease in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The purpose of this study was to extend cross-sectional observations and prospectively assess the variability of FC over time in SSc patients. We also aimed to examine FC in relation to immunosuppressive therapy. Finally we wanted to analyse FC in other rheumatic

Square cross-section ribbed channels with deflectors are computationally simulated to determine their optimal configuration for enhancing heat transfer with minimized pressure drop penalties. In this study, the channel inlet Reynolds number ranges from 8,000 to 24,000. The influence of deflector arrangement on the overall performance characteristics of ribbed channels is investigated with six diff

Background The Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) aims to bring together all available epidemiological data using a coherent measurement framework, standardised estimation methods, and transparent data sources to enable comparisons of health loss over time and across causes, age-sex groups, and countries. The GBD can be used to generate summary measures such as disability-adjusted life

This study reports the early and midterm to long-term experience of chimney grafts (CGs) in urgent endovascular repair of complex lesions in the thoracic aorta.

Objectives: To describe the survival rate in a cohort of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and to evaluate possible predictors for SSc-PAH in a cohort of SSc patients. Methods: Thirty patients with SSc-PAH and 150 SSc patients without PAH were included. Survival and survival on therapy were calculated. Clinical features at baseline were correlated to the

Experience with tranexamic acid, an indirect fibrinolytic inhibitor, started as soon as it was released from Shosuke Okamoto's lab in the early 1960s. It was first prescribed to females with heavy menstrual blood loss and to patients with hereditary bleeding disorders. Soon the indications were widened to elective surgery because of its blood saving effects. Contraindications are few, most importa

In recent years much interest has been shown in the process of thermohaline mixing in red giants. In low- and intermediate-mass stars this mechanism first activates at the position of the bump in the luminosity function, and has been identified as a likely candidate for driving the slow mixing inferred to occur in these stars. One particularly important consequence of this process, which is driven

Organic aerosols (OA) represent one of the major constituents of submicron particulate matter (PM1) and comprise a huge variety of compounds emitted by different sources. Three intensive measurement field campaigns to investigate the aerosol chemical composition all over Europe were carried out within the framework of the European Integrated Project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interac

Five protective garments were assessed on eight unacclimated male subjects at two WBGT temperatures: 19.0 and 24.5 °C. The thermophysiological responses and subjective sensations were reported. The PHS model (ISO7933) was used for predicting thermophysiological responses for each testing scenario. It was found that there were significant differences between clothing FIRE and other clothing on ther

Ninety-one HIV-infected individuals (61 men and 30 women) were randomized to vaccination either with quadrivalent (Gardasil™) or bivalent (Cervarix™) HPV vaccine. Neutralizing and specific HPV-binding serum antibodies were measured at baseline and 12 months after the first vaccine dose. Presence of neutralizing and binding antibodies had good agreement (average Kappa for HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 3

Metastatic melanoma is characterized by a poor response to chemotherapy. Furthermore, there is a lack of established predictive and prognostic markers. In this single institution study, we correlated mutation status and expression levels of BRAF and NRAS to dacarbazine (DTIC) treatment response as well as progression-free and overall survival in a cohort of 85 patients diagnosed with advanced mela

A low-background inclusive search for new physics in events with same-sign dileptons is presented. The search uses proton-proton collisions corresponding to 20.3 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity taken in 2012 at a centre-of-mass energy of 8TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Pairs of isolated leptons with the same electric charge and large transverse momenta of the type e(+/-) e(+/-), e(+/-) mu

The mechanism by which incretins and their effect on insulin secretion increase markedly following gastric bypass surgery (GBP) is not fully elucidated. We hypothesized that a decrease in the activity of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), the enzyme which inactivates incretins, may explain the rise in incretin levels post-GBP. Fasting plasma DPP-4 activity was measured after 10 kg equivalent weight l

Laser-induced Rayleigh scattering is commonly employed for two-dimensional temperature measurements and offers benefits such as high accuracy, easily interpreted data and low experimental complexity. Yet the approach suffers from an interference often referred to as stray light, an umbrella term used for all spurious light being detected. As Rayleigh scattering is an elastic scattering phenomenon,

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the implementation of a universal school-based cognitive behavioral program whose target is to prevent depressive symptoms in adolescents. The study had a quasi-experimental design with pretest, posttest, and a 1-year follow-up and provides an illustrative calculation for the implementation costs of the intervention. Sixty-two students (aged 14) and seve

Familial clustering of prostate, breast and colorectal cancer is well established, but the familial risk of these cancers has not been determined among adoptees. The aim was to disentangle the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to the familial transmission of prostate, breast and colorectal cancer.

To investigate and describe the content, dissemination and effects of case management interventions for informal caregivers of older adults, focusing on outcomes related to patients' activities of daily living, nutrition assessment, pain measurement, depression, length of stay and to caregivers' satisfaction and difficulties.

Objective. We evaluated in a proof-of-concept double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial the efficacy and safety of intra-articular sprifermin (recombinant human fibroblast growth factor 18) in patients with symptomatic knee OA. Methods. Sprifermin was evaluated as intra-articular injection at 10, 30, and 100μg. Primary efficacy endpoint was change in central medial femorotibial compartment

There are conflicting reports as to whether malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) have worse prognosis than non-NF1 MPNST patients. Large clinical studies to address this problem are lacking due to the rareness of MPNST. We have performed meta-analyses testing the effect of NF1 status on MPNST survival based on publications from the last 50 ye

Purpose – This study maintains that there is a need for proper execution of coordination mechanisms as a means to reduce waste. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the coordination of activities and resources on the one hand, and the occurrence of different types of waste on the other. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical context of this paper is a case study a