OBJECTIVE The Hancock II (HII) is a second-generation porcine bioprosthesis introduced into clinical use in 1982. This study aimed to evaluate very long-term outcomes for the HII valve in a large patient population. METHODS Between May 1983 and November 1993, 517 consecutive patients (pts) (309 male, mean age: 64+/-9 years) underwent valve replacement (VR) surgery with HII, with 302 (58.4%) i...

Improving the annotation of sugar catabolism-related genes requires functional characterization. Our objective was to identify the genes necessary for lactose utilization by Lactobacillus gasseri ATCC 33323 (NCK334). The mechanism of lactose transport in many lactobacilli is a lactose/galactose-specific permease, yet no orthologue was found in NCK334. Characterization of an EI knockout strain [...

 Abstract Background: The optimal therapy of acute iliofemoral venous thrombosis is still a matter of debate. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the late results of iliofemoral thrombectomy with regard to the prevention of the development of a Post Thrombotic Syndrome (PTS). Methods: During 2000-2003, 18 patients underwent transfemoral venous thrombectomy for acute iliofemoral venous thro...

100 patients (93 females and 7 males) in ages ranging between 23 and 65 years were subjected to laparoscopic cholecystectomy for biliary colic (92 pts), acute cholecystitis (7 pts) or asymptomatic gallstones (1 pt). none had a history of icterus and in every case choledocholithiasis was excluded by means of serum alkaline phosphatase assessment and sonography (in addition to ercp in 3 pts). 3 o...

4625 Background: Locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma remains a challenging tumor with no clear standard of care in terms of radio-chemotherapy. The purpose of this phase II trial was to determine the efficacy and the toxicity of radiotherapy and docetaxel and cisplatin in histologically proven adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. METHODS Patients (pts) received external beam radiotherapy (54 Gy ...

A novel scheme (transformation of partial transmit sequences, T-PTS) is proposed for the partial transmit sequence (PTS) method to reduce peak-to-average power ratio of OFDM signals. In T-PTS certain transformations are applied on partial transmit sequences to generate more candidates for increasing performance. Simulations show that T-PTS outperforms conventional PTS for the same number of sub...

The postthrombotic syndrome (PTS) is a frequent complication of deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Clinically, PTS is characterized by chronic, persistent pain, swelling, and other signs in the affected limb. Rarely, ulcers may develop. Because of its prevalence, severity, and chronicity, PTS is burdensome and costly. Preventing DVT with the use of effective thromboprophylaxis in high-risk patients ...

Objectives: To analyze adequacy of preoperative thyroid screening of cardiac surgery patients (pts) with hypothyroidism (HT) and compare with pts without HT by demographic data, EuroSCORE (ES) scores, early and late outcomes. Patients: From 1000 cardiac surgery pts from Jan 1999 through May 2000 pts with HT were identified (Group 1, n = 80). 920 pts (Group 2) had no HT. Results: Group 1 pts wer...

AIM Report the outcome of 8 patients (pts) with breast cancer (BC) treated with Tamoxifen (TAM) that developed malignant mixed Müllerian tumor (MMMT) and rare uterine sarcoma (RUS). PATIENTS AND METHODS Retrospective study based on data collected from the department medical records between April 1999 and September 2010 among 583 pts with endometrial cancer, 36 pts with MMMT and RUS histopatho...

    Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the geometry of the distal femur and the proximal tibia in the osteoarthritic knee using 3D reconstructive CT scan imaging. Methods: 449 patients with knee osteoarthritis were treated surgically in our center with patient-specific technology total knee arthroplasty. Preoperatively, all the patients underwent a CT scan according to a standard ...