AIM The aim of this study was to describe the demographic characteristics and disease patterns among patients with thyroid nodular abnormalities (goiter) and benign tumors of the thyroid gland in Albania, a transitional country in South Eastern Europe. METHODS Our study included all patients diagnosed with goiter and/or benign tumors of the thyroid gland who were hospitalized at the Universit...

Factor VIII acts as an essential compound of the tenase complex of the coagulation system. Herein we report the cDNA of the rat factor VIII. The rat cDNA comprises 6777 nucleotides and encodes a protein of 2258 amino acids, 61 amino acids less than mouse and 92 amino acids less than human factor VIII. The over-all identity compared to human cDNA is 61% on the cDNA and 51% on the amino acid leve...

IMP researchers’ interest in China and Asia as a source of inspiration for understanding the nature of relationships and networks has been growing (Björkman & Kock 1995; Fang 2001; Fang & Kriz 2000; Yeoh & Wilkinson 2003). Guanxi, the mandarin word for “relationships”, “connections”, or “personal connects”, has been widely regarded as the most important success factors in the Chinese business l...

OBJECTIVES To conduct a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the therapeutic outcome of fluorescence cystoscopy (FC) guided transurethral resection (TUR) in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). MATERIALS AND METHODS Relevant RCTs were identified from electronic database (MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library). The proceedings of relevant congress were also ...

INTRODUCTION Early prediction of the efficacy of treatment in peritonitis complicating peritoneal dialysis (PD) is the best way to reduce morbidity. We studied the prognostic value of the third-day dialysis effluent leukocyte count after antibiotic therapy for prediction of treatment outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Medical records of 31 children on PD, younger than 15 years old, admitted in A...

Purpose: To evaluate postoperative outcomes between pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and posterior episcleral buckle procedure (PEBP) in myopic eyes with retinal detachment (RD) and macular hole (MH). Design: Retrospective nonrandomized comparative interventional trial. Participants and Intervention: The study included 30 phakic, highly myopic eyes (from 19–30 negative diopters) of 30 patients with ...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to clarify the factors influencing pleural drainage volume after transthoracic oesophagectomy and to determine criteria for the selection of patients who would benefit from the early removal of chest drains. METHODS Clinicopathological characteristics of 155 patients who underwent transthoracic oesophagectomy were prospectively collected, and the dai...

Pneumonectomized rats injected with the alkaloid toxin, monocrotaline, develop progressive neointimal pulmonary vascular obliteration and pulmonary hypertension resulting in right ventricular failure and death. The antiproliferative immunosuppressant, triptolide, attenuates neointimal formation and pulmonary hypertension in this disease model (Faul JL, Nishimura T, Berry GJ, Benson GV, Pearl RG...

Airborne scanning LiDAR is a promising technique for efficient and accurate biomass mapping due to its capacity for direct measurement of the three-dimensional structure of vegetation. A combination of individual tree detection (ITD) and an area-based approach (ABA) introduced in Vastaranta et al. [1] to map forest aboveground biomass (AGB) and stem volume (VOL) was investigated. The main objec...

In a double blind placebo controlled study the effect of calcitonin on gastric emptying and on serum concentrations of gastrin, insulin, glucose, calcium and phosphorus after a mixed solid-liquid meal was examined in eight patients with duodenal ulcer. Synthetic salmon calcitonin 415 pmol iv was given as a bolus followed by a 90 minute infusion to reach an overall dose of 62.25 pmol/kg. Gastric...