BACKGROUND The mortality rates of older people changes with the seasons. However, it has not been properly investigated whether the seasons affect medical care expenditure (MCE) and institutionalization. Seasonal variation in MCE is plausible, as MCE rises exponentially before death. It is therefore important to investigate the impact of the seasons on MCE both mediated and unmediated by mortal...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) has four homologous mammalian cell entry (mce) operons (mce1-4) that encode exported proteins and have a possible role in the virulence mechanism of this pathogen. The expression of mce operon is considered to be complex and not completely understood. Although expression of mce operon at different in vitro growth phases has be...

Background: The ability of myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) to predict contractile reserve after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is still controversial. Given the possible reversibility of no-reflow after 30 days, we tested whether MCE predictive value depends on the timing of the test. Methods: 32 patients presenting with their first AMI and successfully recanalized IRA by either r...

When an extreme earthquake occurs, it is essential to detect the severe structural damage that affect the structural safety immediately. This paper proposes a method for quick earthquake damage detection/evaluation of reinforced concrete bridge columns. An intelligent sensor unit is developed that captures changes in the natural period of a bridge column by FFT of response acceleration recorded...

Earthquake performance of wood-frame shear walls was evaluated by comparing fully and partially anchored walls under monotonic, cyclic, and earthquake loads and comparing with code measures. Suitability of monotonic and cyclic testing to predict seismic performance was examined. Earthquake tests were conducted on 2440-mm-square walls with Douglas-fir studs. Two oriented strandboard panels were ...

STUDY DESIGN A systematic review. OBJECTIVE The aim of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of motor control exercise (MCE) in patients with nonspecific low back pain (LBP). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA MCE is a common form of exercise used for managing LBP. MCE focuses on the activation of the deep trunk muscles and targets the restoration of control and coordination of these muscle...

Magnetic properties and the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) have been investigated in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 single crystal with applied field along both the ab-plane and the c-direction. Due to the magnetocrystalline anisotropy, the crystal exhibits anisotropy in the MCE. Upon application of a 5 T field, the magnetic entropy changes (SM), reaching values of 7.668 J/(kg K) and 6.412 J/(kg K) for both the a...

BACKGROUND Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) has been shown to have a potential for apparently reversible side effects related to the interaction of ultrasound with the contrast microbubbles, including premature ventricular contractions and microvascular leakage. We investigated the potential for high-dose MCE to induce histologically definable microlesions. METHODS Myocardial contra...

Purpose Minimal change esophagitis (MCE) is a reflux disease without mucosal breaks, known to be partially associated with abnormal gastric motor function. Electrogastrography (EGG) is commonly applied to assess gastric motor function in a noninvasive fashion. We aimed to determine the relationship between MCE and gastric myoelectrical activity (GME) recorded on EGG in children. Methods We re...