Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP), a technique that exposes isolated white blood cells to photoactivatable 8-methoxypsoralen and ultraviolet A radiation, is used clinically to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and immune-mediated diseases such as graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). ECP is thought to control these diseases in part through direct induction of lymphocyte apoptosis, but its effects on...

BACKGROUND The department of defense's FM 3-11 is among the military's field manuals for preparing for, reacting to and recovering from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks. Since post 9-11, U.S. military service members have been deployed in the global war on terrorism. This study attempted to determine the effectiveness of the FM 3-11 in detecting, deterring or preventing a ...

Symptomatic vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stenosis has a poor prognosis. Intravascular stents provide a new therapeutic approach, but the long-term outcome of stenting compared with medical outcome is controversial. External counterpulsation (ECP) is a noninvasive method to improve perfusion of vital organs. We report two cases of this combination with ECP treatment in addition to receiving endo...

Abstract We define a geometric transformation of Euclidean Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) tours that leads to new formulation the TSP. For every TSP n-city tour, it is possible construct an inscribed n-polygon (Equivalent Cyclic Polygon, ECP) such lengths edges are equal corresponding tour links and follow same sequence order. The analysis ECP elicits possibility defining objective function ...

BACKGROUND Severe atopic dermatitis (AD) is a recurrent and debilitating disease often requiring systemic immunosuppressive treatment. The efficacy of cyclosporine A (CsA) is well proven but potential side effects are concerning. Several reports point at extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) as an alternative treatment modality with few and mild side effects. However, no direct comparison between ...

The eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) is cytotoxic to bacteria, viruses, parasites and mammalian cells. The cells were damaged via the processes of pore-forming, permeability change and membrane leaking. Some clinical studies reported that ECP gathered in the bronchial tract of asthma patients, the bronchial and the airway epithelial cells were damaged and thus resulted in breathing tract infla...

OBJECTIVE External counterpulsation (ECP) is a non-invasive method used to augment cerebral blood flow of patients with ischaemic stroke via induced hypertension. We aimed to explore the correlation between the cerebral blood flow augmentation effects induced by ECP and clinical outcome after acute ischaemic stroke. METHODS We retrospectively analysed our ECP registry of patients with ischaem...

OBJECTIVES Eosinophils play an important role in asthmatic airway inflammation collaborately with other inflammatory cells. The present study was aimed to determine whether the eosinophil activation markers in induced sputum reflect the clinical status in asthmatics. METHODS The clinical severity and FEV1 were measured. Hypertonic saline induced sputum was obtained from 25 asthmatics and ten ...

BACKGROUND Cord IgE and ECP levels are major atopic markers implicated in early childhood allergy development. Most epidemiological studies to date have not utilised current technology to establish baseline cord IgE levels, further aggravated by lack of data in this region. This study also attempts to identify a relationship between cord IgE and ECP levels as a mean to improve sensitivity for e...

The new energy demonstration city policy is a significant pilot measure to promote the transition of China’s system, aiming at developing new, green, and low-carbon sources energy. In this paper, Non-radial Directional Distance Function (NDDF) was adopted calculate Energy-Carbon Performance Index (ECPI) Chinese 182 cities, for measuring (ECP) level each city. On basis, it possible empirically a...