BACKGROUND Most patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have underlying liver disease, therefore, precise preoperative evaluation of the patient's liver function is essential for surgical decision making. METHODS We developed a grading system incorporating only two variables, namely, the serum albumin level and the indocyanine green retention rate at 15 minutes (ICG R15), to assess the p...

OBJECTIVE To compare the early and late outcomes of off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and coronary artery bypass graft + mitral valve repair in elderly patients with moderate chronic ischemic mitral regurgitation. METHODS One hundred and fifty elderly (age > 70 years) patients with moderate chronic ischemic mitral regurgitation who underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (n=...

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer can be prevented by early detection and treatment for precancerous lesions. Since 1995, there has been a national cervical cancer screening program in Norway, where women aged 25-69 years are recommended to take Pap smears every three years. There are 17 cytology laboratories covering a population of 5 million people. The detection rate of cervical abnormalities varie...

BACKGROUND Currently, only one medication (risperidone) is FDA-approved for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Perhaps for this reason, the use of novel, unconventional, and off-label treatments for ASD is common, with up to 74% of children with ASD using these treatments; however, treating physicians are often unaware of this usage. METHODS A systematic literature search of el...

BACKGROUND A phase II trial was performed to evaluate the efficacy of a dose-dense, 7 days on/7 days off schedule of temozolomide for patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas (HGG). METHODS Sixty patients with recurrent HGG received temozolomide at 150 mg/m(2)/day on days 1-7 and days 15-21 during each 4-week cycle. The primary endpoint was 6-month progression-free survival (PFS-6), with a ...

OBJECTIVE To determine if electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) improves the diagnostic accuracy of colposcopy when used as an adjunct. DESIGN Prospective, comparative, multi-centre clinical study. SETTING Three colposcopy clinics: two in England and one in Ireland. POPULATION Women referred with abnormal cytology. METHODS In phase 1, EIS was assessed against colposcopic impression an...

Objective: Angiogenesis is critical for the development of tumors. Although vascular endothelial growth factor is a well-known proangiogenic factor, its impact on B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is not clear. The aim of this study is to evaluate vascular endothelial growth factor expression in subtypes of B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma . Material and Method: Fifty-one patients with diagnoses of lo...

the effects of aflatoxin (af) (0.0 and 0.5m g kg-1) and high grade sodium bentonite (hgsb) (5, 7.5 and 10 g kg-1) were tested in an in vivo study including 8 dietary treatments with three replicates of 14 birds per diet per replicate, using a total of 336 broiler chicks up to five weeks. results showed that chicks receiving af contaminated feed had significantly (p≤ 0.05) suppressed body weight...

background & aim: the most common primary brain tumors of the central nervous system are gliomas. among a number of different biomolecular events, a strong relation between oxidative stress pathways and the development of this cancer has been proved. oxidative stress (os) is the consequence of an imbalance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants towards pro-oxidants. the pro-oxidants cause lipid ...

BACKGROUND Hydronephrosis is a common congenital condition. The detection of fetal hydronephrosis by ultrasound presents a treatment dilemma. This study aims to examine postnatal follow-up and treatment for hydronephrosis diagnosed prenatally. MATERIAL AND METHODS This was a retrospective study of 210 infants with hydronephrosis diagnosed at the Qilu Hospital (Shangdong, China) between January ...