We read with interest the systematic review of KOLODZIEJ et al. [1] about noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) in severe stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). First of all, we would like to compliment the authors on their excellent review. It is extremely important that good-quality reviews are published in the field of NPPV in severe stable COPD. The development of n...

Background Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement (MIAVR) was first described in 1996 as an alternative to median sternotomy for AVR. Its uptake has been sporadic in cardiac surgery units in the UK. It remains unclear and somewhat controversial whether it has superior patient outcomes over conventional sternotomy. This survey aims to explore the reason for the low uptake by consultant surg...

cross-culturally, that are related to phonological awareBilingual children receive special education services ness (Paulesu et al., 2001). It is increasingly clear that at a considerably higher rate per capita than monolingual the development of literacy and preliteracy skills should children in this country (Garcia, 1993). Many of these include the teaching of phonological awareness and referr...

With advances in technology, the collection of information from consumers at the time of purchase is common in many categories. This information allows a firm to straightforwardly classify consumers as either "new" or "past" consumers. This opens the door for firms to implement marketing that a) discriminates between new and past consumers and b) entails making offers to them that are significa...

The purpose of this book is to help you program shared-memory parallel machines without risking your sanity. We hope that this book's design principles will help you avoid at least some parallel-programming pitfalls. That said, you should think of this book as a foundation on which to build, rather than as a completed cathedral. Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to help make further pro...