OBJECTIVE To determine the relative effects of open healing compared with primary closure for pilonidal sinus and optimal closure method (midline v off-midline). DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials. DATA SOURCES Cochrane register of controlled trials, Cochrane Wounds Group specialised trials register, Medline (1950-2007), Embase, and CINAHL bibliograph...

BACKGROUND Normal left ventricular myocardium demonstrates distinct spikes in the velocity trace before and after left ventricular ejection. We tested the hypothesis that the preejection and postejection velocity spikes reflect early systolic shortening and late systolic lengthening that are interrupted by mitral and aortic valve closure, respectively. METHODS AND RESULTS In 11 anesthetized d...

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of ward or bay closures, specifically, whether prompt closure of an affected ward shortens the duration of norovirus outbreaks and the resulting disruption in hospitals. DESIGN Analysis of summary data from hospitals on outbreaks of norovirus from 2009 to 2012. METHODS Using a large outbreak surveillance dataset, we examined the duration of outbreaks, duration...

Continuous-time birth-death Markov processes serve as useful models in population biology. When the birth-death rates are nonlinear, the time evolution of the first n order moments of the population is not closed, in the sense that it depends on moments of order higher than n. For analysis purposes, the time evolution of the first n order moments is often made to be closed by approximating thes...

In order to investigate relations between mitral valve closure and mechanical events at the onset of left ventricular systole, simultaneous M mode echocardiograms and phonocardiograms were recorded with the apexcardiogram and its first differential (dA/dt) in 25 normal subjects and 88 patients with heart disease. The timing of mitral and aortic valve closure and the onset and peak rate of rise ...

INTRODUCTION Closure of the common bile duct over T-tube after exploration is a widely practiced traditional method. However, its use may give rise to many complications. We do primary closure of common bile duct after exploration. Aim of the study is to see the efficacy and safety of the primary closure. METHODS Study was carried out to compare the results of both the techniques from 2006 to...

BACKGROUND Closure of salvage laryngectomy defects with vascularized tissue remains controversial. METHODS We evaluate outcomes in patients who required repair of a fistula after attempted primary closure of salvage laryngectomy defect and assess risk factors for persistent fistula. Between 2001 and 2010, 20 patients were treated for pharyngocutaneous fistulae after primary closure of a salva...

In this paper, we present a modified Floyd–Warshall algorithm, where the most time-consumingpart—calculating transitive closure describing self-dependences for each loop statement—is computed applying basis dependence distance vectors derived from all vectors describing self-dependences. We demonstrate that the presented approach reduces the transitive closure calculation time for parameterized...

Transcatheter closure of atrial septal defects has evolved significantly over the last 20 years. Transcatheter closure has replaced surgical closure for the treatment of most secundum atrial septal defectsat the current time. A major reason for this is the lower morbidity of transcatheter closure procedures. Several closure devices have come into clinical use. The Amplatzer septal occluder (AGA...

Wound closure in primary and revision total hip and knee arthroplasty is an essential and critical component of the procedure. A well-performed closure may take up to 20 to 30 minutes for primary and revision surgeries, respectively. Traditionally, a layered closure is performed using various forms of absorbable and nonabsorbable sutures placed in an interrupted fashion, requiring the surgeon t...