BACKGROUND Decision-support tools (DST) are typically developed by computer engineers for use by clinicians. Prototype testing DSTs may be performed relatively easily by one or two clinical experts. The costly alternative is to test each prototype on a larger number of diverse clinicians, based on the untested assumption that these evaluations would more accurately reflect those of actual end u...

The evaluation of chemicals for their skin sensitising potential is an essential step in ensuring the safety of ingredients in consumer products. Similar to the Threshold of Toxicological Concern, the Dermal Sensitisation Threshold (DST) has been demonstrated to provide effective risk assessments for skin sensitisation in cases where human exposure is low. The DST was originally developed based...

A comparison beheen a digestion-sedimentation technique IDST) and the Kato-Katz thick smear technique (KKT) in the detection and quantification of Sch,stosoma eggs in stool was carried out in 55 1 sublects Specimen were collected one or two years after treatment with praziquantel from sub ects living in a schistosomiasis endemic area of Mali One hundred infections missed by the KKT were detecte...

AIM The present study aimed to clarify the safety and feasibility of esophagojejunostomy during totally laparoscopic total gastrectomy (TLTG). PATIENTS AND METHODS In 45 consecutive patients who underwent TLTG for gastric cancer, esophagojejunostomy was performed with a functional end-to-end anastomosis (FEEA) using a linear stapler in 24 patients or with a double stapling technique (DST) usi...

In vitro anticancer drug sensitivity tests have been performed for various types of cancers, and a relationship with clinical response has been observed. The collagen gel droplet-embedded culture drug sensitivity test (CD-DST) is a new in vitro anticancer drug sensitivity test by Yabushita et al., recently reported to be useful in ovarian cancer. CD-DST allows analysis of a small number of cell...

Using the continuous Dst data available since 1957 and H component data for the Carrington space weather event of 1859, the paper shows that the mean value of Dst during the main phase of geomagnetic storms, called mean DstMP, is a unique parameter that can indicate the severity of space weather. All storms having high mean DstMP (≤−250 nT), which corresponds to high amount of energy input in t...

Disinhibited activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) neuroendocrine system, characterized most specifically by abnormal responses to the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), is observed in 40-50% of patients with endogenous depression. The heterogeneity of endogenous depressives with respect to this neuroendocrine marker is so far unexplained. A recent report from Iowa sugg...

To determine whether children who demonstrate dexamethasone suppression test (DST) nonsuppression have lower plasma dexamethasone levels than DST suppressors, we administered the DST to 73 patients ranging in age from 5-14 years. Plasma dexamethasone levels and postdexamethasone cortisol levels were measured at 4:00 PM on day 2. We found: (1) DST nonsuppressors had significantly lower plasma de...

OBJECTIVE A nationwide anti-tuberculosis drug resistance survey for Mycobacterium tuberculosis was conducted by the Tuberculosis Research Committee (Ryoken) in Japan, 2002, to clarify the recent trend of drug resistant M. tuberculosis. The drug susceptibility testing (DST) results by participating laboratories were compared with the test results by the reference laboratory, in order to evaluate...

Geomagnetic storms and substorms develop under strong control of the solar wind. This is demonstrated by the fact that the geomagnetic activity indices Dst and AE can be predicted from the solar wind alone. A consequence of the strong control by a common source is that substorm and storm indices tend to be highly correlated. However, a part of this correlation is likely to be an e€ect of intern...