To examine the relationship between particle uptake by pulmonary epithelial cells and particle size, we exposed rat tracheal explants to fine particles (FPs; 0.12 μm) or ultrafine particles (UFPs; 0.021 μm) of titanium dioxide for 3 or 7 days. By electron microscopy, particles were found in the epithelium at both time points, but in the subepithelial tissues, they were found only at 7 days. The...

BACKGROUND Physicians' opinions on the feasibility of routine influenza vaccination of infants and toddlers are unknown. OBJECTIVE To assess the opinions of primary care providers regarding (1) the feasibility of an expanded influenza vaccination recommendation, (2) potential barriers, and (3) current and projected use of immunization reminder systems for influenza vaccination. METHODS In F...

One of the limitations of the current computer-aided detection (CAD) of polyps in CT colonography (CTC) is a relatively large number of false-positive (FP) detections. Rectal tubes (RTs) are one of the typical sources of FPs because a portion of a RT, especially a portion of a bulbous tip, often exhibits a cap-like shape that closely mimics the appearance of a small polyp. Radiologists can easi...

OBJECTIVES The objective was to determine the effect of apneic oxygenation (AP OX) on first pass success without hypoxemia (FPS-H) in adult patients undergoing rapid sequence intubation (RSI) in the emergency department (ED). METHODS Continuous quality improvement data were prospectively collected on all patients intubated in an academic ED from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2015. During this per...

BACKGROUND Little is known about general and family practitioners' (GP/FPs') involvement and confidence in dealing with children with common psychosocial problems and mental health conditions. The aims of this study were to ascertain GP/FPs' preferred level of involvement with, and perceived comfort and skill in dealing with children with behavioral problems, social-emotional difficulties, atte...

[(18)F]1-(Fluoropropyl)-4-[(4-cyanophenoxy)methyl]piperidine ([(18)F]FPS) is a novel high affinity (KD = 0.5 nM) sigma receptor radioligand that exhibits saturable and selective in vivo binding to sigma receptors in rats, mice and non-human primates. In order to support an IND application for the characterization of [(18)F]FPS through PET imaging studies in humans, single organ and whole body r...

BACKGROUND A discordance exists between the proportion of Canadian family physicians that we expect should be able to perform minor office procedures and the actual provision of care. This pattern has not been extensively studied. The objective of this study was to determine the current patterns and obstacles relating to the provision of four minor office procedures by GP/FPs in a small city in...

Syntactic and discourse boundaries are signalled by prosodic cues as well as linguistic cues in speech. We investigated whether there is a correspondence between prosodic or linguistic cues and the boundary strengths. We measured the rates of filled pauses (FPs) and conjunctions, and the durations of silent and filled pauses and conjunctions at four types of boundaries in casual presentations i...

In this paper a support vector machine (SVM) approach for characterizing the feasible parameter set (FPS) in non-linear set-membership estimation problems is presented. It iteratively solves a regression problem from which an approximation of the boundary of the FPS can be determined. To guarantee convergence to the boundary the procedure includes a no-derivative line search and for an appropri...