A model was developed for the economic evaluation of embryos for producing bull lines for use in commercial beef production. The fundamental concept underlying the model is that a cloned and sexed embryo of known genetic characteristics for beef traits is used to produce a bull. After reaching physiological maturity, the bull is used in natural matings. Equations relating feed energy requiremen...

OBJECTIVE This study tried to assess sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of procalcitonin for diagnosis of neonatal bacterial infections. METHODS This prospective cross sectional study was carried out during an 18-month period in NICU and neonatal wards of Besat Hospital in Hamedan province, Iran. 39 symptomatic infants with clinical and laboratory findings in fav...

Background/Aims Balloon expulsion test (BET) is regarded as a screening tool of dyssynergic defecation (DD). However, some patients with normal BET results may be treated effectively by biofeedback training. This study aims to validate BET as a single screening test. Methods Two hundred and thirty-two patients who were diagnosed with functional constipation or irritable bowel syndrome with co...

PURPOSE We aimed to evaluate ultrasonography (US) findings for Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category 4 lesions using BI-RADS US lexicon and determine the positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) of US with respect to biopsy results. METHODS Sonograms of 186 BI-RADS 4 nonpalpable breast lesions with a known diagnosis were reviewed retrospectively. The morphol...

The internal rate of return (IRR) is generally considered inferior to the net present value (NPV) as a tool for evaluating and ranking projects, despite its inherently useful comparability to the cost of capital and the return of other investment opportunities. We introduce the ‘‘selective IRR’’, a return criterion which, as a selection of an extended set of possible IRRs, is NPV-consistent. Th...

Background/introduction Symptomatic localized adenomyosis is generally treated conservatively, or with more radical treatments such as hysterectomy. An effective non-invasive therapy is needed, especially for those who wish to preserve their fertility. MR-guided Focused Ultrasound ablation (MRgFUS) has been shown as an effective treatment for symptomatic uterine leiomyomas with a large non-perf...

Tungsten carbonyl dimers bridged with oligo(2,5-dialkoxy-1,4-phenylene vinylene)s through coordination with pyridine as the end groups, expressed as [W(CO)5]2-(nPV-Py2) [n = 1, 3; alkoxy = O(CH2)2OSi(i)Pr3], have been prepared from W(CO)5(THF) with nPV-Py2 in THF, and their structures were determined by X-ray crystallography. Both increase in absorbance and redshift in the λmax values in [W(CO)...

Accessible online at: www.karger.com/journals/res Although negative pressure ventilation (nPV) is an effective therapy for patients with restrictive lung disease [1] its position in the management of chronic ventilatory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is less clear. In the largest study to address this question Shapiro et al. [2] randomised 184 patients to receive ei...