BACKGROUND The mortality rates of older people changes with the seasons. However, it has not been properly investigated whether the seasons affect medical care expenditure (MCE) and institutionalization. Seasonal variation in MCE is plausible, as MCE rises exponentially before death. It is therefore important to investigate the impact of the seasons on MCE both mediated and unmediated by mortal...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) has four homologous mammalian cell entry (mce) operons (mce1-4) that encode exported proteins and have a possible role in the virulence mechanism of this pathogen. The expression of mce operon is considered to be complex and not completely understood. Although expression of mce operon at different in vitro growth phases has be...

Background: The ability of myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) to predict contractile reserve after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is still controversial. Given the possible reversibility of no-reflow after 30 days, we tested whether MCE predictive value depends on the timing of the test. Methods: 32 patients presenting with their first AMI and successfully recanalized IRA by either r...

STUDY DESIGN A systematic review. OBJECTIVE The aim of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of motor control exercise (MCE) in patients with nonspecific low back pain (LBP). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA MCE is a common form of exercise used for managing LBP. MCE focuses on the activation of the deep trunk muscles and targets the restoration of control and coordination of these muscle...

BACKGROUND Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) has been shown to have a potential for apparently reversible side effects related to the interaction of ultrasound with the contrast microbubbles, including premature ventricular contractions and microvascular leakage. We investigated the potential for high-dose MCE to induce histologically definable microlesions. METHODS Myocardial contra...

Purpose Minimal change esophagitis (MCE) is a reflux disease without mucosal breaks, known to be partially associated with abnormal gastric motor function. Electrogastrography (EGG) is commonly applied to assess gastric motor function in a noninvasive fashion. We aimed to determine the relationship between MCE and gastric myoelectrical activity (GME) recorded on EGG in children. Methods We re...

Objective—To determine whether myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) following intravenous injection of perfluorocarbon microbubbles permits identification of resting myocardial perfusion abnormalities in patients who have had a previous myocardial infarction. Patients and interventions—22 patients (mean (SD) age 66 (11) years) underwent MCE after intravenous injection of NC100100, a novel...