BACKGROUND Numerous surgical options exist to treat chondral lesions in the knee, including microfracture (MFx), osteochondral autograft transplantation (OAT), first-generation autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI-1), and next-generation ACI (ACI-2). PURPOSE To compare the cost-effectiveness of MFx, OAT, and ACI-1. The secondary purpose of this study was to compare the functional outcomes...

The class of acyclic clique-interval (ACI) graphs is introduced as the class of those graphs G=(V ,E) whose cliques are intervals (chains) of an acyclic order on the vertex set V . The class of ACI graphs is related to the classes of proper interval graphs, tree-clique graphs and to the class DV (intersection graphs of directed paths of a directed tree). Compatibility between a graph and an acy...

The acI lineage of freshwater Actinobacteria is a cosmopolitan and often numerically dominant member of lake bacterial communities. We conducted a survey of acI 16S rRNA genes and 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer regions from 18 Wisconsin lakes and used standard nonphylogenetic and phylogenetic statistical approaches to investigate the factors that determine acI community composition at...

The bile salt export pump (BSEP, ABCB11) is predominantly responsible for the efflux of bile salts, and disruption of BSEP function is often associated with altered hepatic homeostasis of bile acids and cholestatic liver injury. Accumulating evidence suggests that many drugs can cause cholestasis through interaction with hepatic transporters. To date, a relatively strong association between dru...

In this paper, twelve concrete beams with two different layers of were evaluated as a simply supported beam under four-points loading. The assembled types layers, one which was normal-weight (NWC) and the other lightweight aggregate (LWAC). investigated parameters thickness to overall depth (hLW/h), compressive strength normal concrete. Due weak aggregates used, exhibits more brittleness lower ...

In the United States, acute cardiac ischemia (ACI), including both unstable angina pectoris and acute myocardial infarction (AMI), is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, and an enormous consumer of health care resources. Accordingly, the use of hospital and intensive care beds for patients suspected to have ACI is a major health care expense. Yet of the approximately three million pat...

PURPOSE The Acute Cardiac Ischemia Time-Insensitive Predictive Instrument (ACI-TIPI) has been shown to improve diagnostic accuracy of acute cardiac ischemia (ACI) and decrease coronary care unit admissions in urban emergency departments. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the ACI-TIPI on triage and diagnosis of patients with chest pain in rural hospitals. METHODS We unde...

This study evaluated the significance of aortic calcification index (ACI), an estimate of abdominal aortic calcification by plain abdominal computed tomography (CT), in terms of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction, mortality, and nonfatal cardiovascular (CV) events in chronic hemodialysis patients. Hemodialysis patients who took both an abdominal CT and echocardiography were divided int...

OBJECTIVE CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T (Treg) cells and Th17 cells play important roles in peripheral immunity. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is an instrumental factor in atherogenesis. However, the changes of Th17/Treg cells in patients with acute cerebral Infarction (ACI) and impact on Th17/Treg by ox-LDL are not clear. Here, we examined the balance of Th17/Treg in ACI patients and ...

Experimental testing of deformed rebar anchors (DRAs) has not been performed extensively, so there is limited test data to understand their failure behavior. This study aims expand upon these tests and the behavior anchors, when loaded in tension. Analytical benchmark models were created using available a parametric was performed. Anchor diameter, spacing, embedment, number varied for total 49 ...