Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) is a novel variant of link tracing sampling that has primarily been used to estimate the characteristics of hard-to-reach groups, such as the HIV prevalence of drug users. ‘Seeds’ are selected by convenience from a population of interest (target population) and given coupons. Seeds then use these coupons to recruit other people, who themselves become recruiters....

AIM To determine the lamellar body count (LBC) cutoff value for fetal lung maturity and to evaluate the clinical usefulness of LBC in predicting the severity of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). METHODS A prospective study was conducted from 2002 until 2010. LBC was estimated in uncentrifugated amniotic fluid samples using Cell-Dyn 1800 analyzer. Amniotic fluid samples were obtain...

PURPOSE Butterfly-shaped macular dystrophy (BSMD) has so far only been associated with mutations in the peripherin/RDS gene. The initial aim of our study was to investigate the peripherin/RDS gene as the causative gene in a family with BSMD. Subsequently the putative involvement of the ROM-1 gene, 4 genes expressed in cone photoreceptors, all known non-syndromic macular, retinal pigment epithel...

ondent-driven s were found to progress very fast. Studies with large samples can be expected to proceed up to 20 times faster than with traditional methods; in fact, to prevent bias from temporal filtering, d, because of sation should ential recruits. findings, based on theoretical and empirical evidence, indicate that web-based RDS can be much faster, easier, and cheaper than both regular RDS ...

The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the neonatal outcome of preterm infants born to mothers with placenta previa (PP), especially the outcome of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). The preterm infants born to PP mothers treated with expectant management and admitted to a tertiary care hospital between January 1989 and December 1995 were sequentially included. Obstetrical...

Aortopulmonary pressure difference and pulmonary blood flow velocity were studied during the first 48 hours of life in 12 premature neonates with severe respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), treated by natural surfactant, and in 25 premature neonates with mild RDS. A non-invasive Doppler ultrasound method was used to estimate aortopulmonary pressure difference and pulmonary blood flow velocity f...

BACKGROUND The persistent airway neutrophilia observed in chronic lung disease of prematurity (CLD) may reflect inappropriate suppression of neutrophil apoptosis. METHODS 134 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were obtained from 32 infants requiring mechanical ventilation for respiratory distress syndrome (RDS): 13 infants (median gestation 26 weeks, range 23 to 28) subsequently developed C...

The long-established observation that some rheumatologic disorders (RDs) are associated with--or precede--the clinical manifestations of a variety of solid and hematological tumors represents an important clue for the early diagnosis and effective treatment of the cancers. Inflammatory myopathies, seronegative rheumatoid arthritis and some atypical vasculitides are the most frequently reported ...

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that lung fluid absorption disorders might be an important cause of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) by influencing gas exchange or surfactant function. The SCNN1A gene, which encodes the α-ENaC, might predispose infants to RDS. To explore whether the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of SCNN1A are associated with RDS, we conducted a case-co...

PURPOSE To determine the frequency of peripherin/RDS (retinal degeneration slow) gene mutations in Japanese patients with retinal dystrophies. METHODS We analyzed the peripherin/RDS gene in 54 unrelated Japanese patients with retinal dystrophies. Genomic DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the PCR products were sequenced. We also examined 100 healthy subjects, seeking mut...