BACKGROUND Previous data using T1-weighted MRI demonstrated neck muscle fat infiltration (MFI) in patients with poor functional recovery following whiplash. Such findings do not occur in those with milder symptoms of whiplash, chronic non-traumatic neck pain or healthy controls, suggesting traumatic factors play a role. Muscle degeneration could potentially represent a quantifiable marker of po...

BACKGROUND Small studies suggest an association of donor-specific anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies (DSAs) with primary graft failure (GF) following haploidentical stem cell transplantation, but primary graft rejection (GR) was not discriminated from primary poor graft function (PGF). In this study, we aimed to determine the association of DSAs with primary GF, including GR and PGF,...

— With the rise in the number of for-profit microfinance institutions (MFIs), commentators are asking whether the sector benefits by MFIs having stronger profit orientations. We address this question by analyzing the relationship between interest rates and adopting the for-profit legal form, appointing private sector representation and traditional banking experience to advisory boards, and part...

Multi-Feature Index Tree (MFI-Tree), a new indexing structure, is proposed to index multiple high-dimensional features of video data for video retrieval through example. MFI-Tree employs tree structure which is beneficial for the browsing application, and retrieves the last level cluster nodes in retrieval application to improve the performance. Aggressive Decided Distance for kNN (ADD-kNN) sea...

The effect of different sizes of structure directing agents on the ordering of the fluoride ions in pure silica MFI zeolites has been determined using magic angle spinning solid state NMR. By synthesizing fluoride containing pure silica MFI zeolites using methyltributylammonium cations as the structure directing agent, it has been possible to change the type of ordering seen for the fluoride io...

BACKGROUND The characteristics of circulating inflammatory cells (leukocytes) in patients undergoing heart surgery remains poorly understood. Recently, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and specific monocyte subsets (based on CD14/CD16 expression) have been suggested as markers of inflammation and predictors of outcomes. The present study aims to characterize the influence cardiac surgery wi...