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At least 865 records · Page 48Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

The involvement of the "fusiform face area" in processing facial expression.

We conducted an fMRI investigation to test the widely accepted notion that the fusiform face area (FFA) mediates the processing of facial identity but not expression. Participants attended either to the identity or to the expression of the same set of faces. If the processing of identity is neuroanatomically dissociable from that of expression, then one might expect the FFA to show higher activation when processing identity as opposed to expression. Contrary to this prediction, the FFA showed higher activation for judgments of expression. Furthermore, the FFA was sensitive to variations in expression even when attention was directed to identity. Finally, an independent observation showed higher activation in the FFA for passive viewing of faces when expression was varied as compared to when it remained constant. These findings suggest an interactive network for the processing of expression and identity, in which information about expression is computed from the unique structure of individual faces.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2005

Molecular changes from dysplastic nodule to hepatocellular carcinoma through gene expression profiling.

Progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a stepwise process that proceeds from pre-neoplastic lesions--including low-grade dysplastic nodules (LGDNs) and high-grade dysplastic nodules (HGDNs)--to advanced HCC. The molecular changes associated with this progression are unclear, however, and the morphological cues thought to distinguish pre-neoplastic lesions from well-differentiated HCC are not universally accepted. To understand the multistep process of hepato-carcinogenesis at the molecular level, we used oligo-nucleotide microarrays to investigate the transcription profiles of 50 hepatocellular nodular lesions ranging from LGDNs to primary HCC (Edmondson grades 1-3). We demonstrated that gene expression profiles can discriminate not only between dysplastic nodules and overt carcinoma but also between different histological grades of HCC via unsupervised hierarchical clustering with 10,376 genes. We identified 3,084 grade-associated genes, correlated with tumor progression, using one-way ANOVA and a one-versus-all unpooled t test. Functional assignment of these genes revealed discrete expression clusters representing grade-dependent biological properties of HCC. Using both diagonal linear discriminant analysis and support vector machines, we identified 240 genes that could accurately classify tumors according to histological grade, especially when attempting to discriminate LGDNs, HGDNs, and grade 1 HCC. In conclusion, a clear molecular demarcation between dysplastic nodules and overt HCC exists. The progression from grade 1 through grade 3 HCC is associated with changes in gene expression consistent with plausible functional consequences.

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular↗
PubMed1989

Impact erosion of the primordial atmosphere of Mars.

Abundant geomorphic evidence for fluvial processes on the surface of Mars suggests that during the era of heavy bombardment, Mars's atmospheric pressure was high enough for liquid water to flow on the surface. Many authors have proposed mechanisms by which Mars could have lost (or sequestered) an earlier, thicker atmosphere but none of these proposals has gained general acceptance. Here we examine the process of atmospheric erosion by impacts and show that it may account for an early episode of atmosphere loss from Mars. On the basis of this model, the primordial atmospheric pressure on Mars must have been in the vicinity of 1 bar, barring other sources or sinks of CO2. Current impact fluxes are too small to erode significantly the present martian atmosphere.

Atmosphere↗
PubMed2005

Genetic counseling issues in urea cycle disorders.

The goal of counseling families that have a urea cycle disorder (UCD) is to facilitate the process of scientific understanding, emotional acceptance, and decision-making in a nondirective way. A proper understanding of the genes involved, inheritance patterns, available testing, and complicating factors is critical to serving the families' needs. This article summarizes the needed information, in particular describing the complexities of prenatal testing and counseling issues for each UCD. Included case histories illustrate the genetic counseling process and the decision-making scenarios for two families.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Approximate cost functions for solid waste treatment facilities.

Cost estimation is a basic requirement for planning municipal solid waste management systems. The variety of organizational, financial and management schemes and the continuously developing technological advancements render the economic analysis a complex task, made more complex by the scarcity of real cost data. The objectives of this paper were: (1) to explore the problems arising in getting cost estimates from scattered and limited published data; (2) to suggest a procedure for generating cost functions relating initial set-up cost and operating cost with facility size; and (3) to present such cost functions, relevant to European states, for selected types of solid waste treatment and disposal facilities. Regarding the problems of available scarce data, one needs to deal with cost figures which correspond to facilities with variations in size, technology, year of construction, working conditions, level of technological automation, environmental impacts, social acceptance, capacity utilization rate, composition of inflowing waste, waste management policies, degree of compliance with quality standards, etc. The paper addresses this issue and discusses the proper use of statistical analyses in such cases of fragmented data; moreover, it points out some usual misuses of statistics by analysts and the danger of getting erroneous results. The suggested process for generating cost functions acceptable to the decision-makers is pivoted around the question of acceptable approximation level. Finally, approximate cost curves are suggested for waste-to-energy facilities, landfilling facilities, anaerobic digestion facilities and composting facilities.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2002

Processing of sentinel lymph nodes for detection of metastatic melanoma.

Within the last years, evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) has become the most popular method of early staging of several malignancies, including breast carcinoma and melanoma. Because SLN are reportedly the lymph nodes most likely to contain metastatic deposits, identification of such nodes allows pathologists to examine the tissue in a much more intense manner than with the usual lymphadenectomy specimens containing multiple lymph nodes. However, there is not a universally accepted standard protocol for pathologic processing of the SLN. Initially, the most popular protocols called for bisection of the SLN and examination of serial sections, with or without routinely performed immunohistochemistry. Lately, other protocols have been proposed to try to simplify the histologic analysis while providing at least equivalent results. Here we review the different protocols used for the evaluation of SLN and describe the protocol currently in use at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX).

Biomarkers, Tumor↗
PubMed2001

Characterization and treatment of the liquid effluents from the anaerobic digestion of biogenic solid waste.

The process wastewater generated by the fermentation of biogenic fractions of solid waste (biowaste) is characterized by very specific composition features, which sets it apart from the well known categories of wastewater. Up to now, there is a definite lack of practical experience and know-how in the treatment of those effluents. In view of the increasingly wide acceptance awarded to the fermentation process, it appears necessary, however, to include the treatment of the generated wastewater in the overall process and to grant it the same priority as the fermentation step. In this study, pilot-scale experiments were conducted over 200 days in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR), with the wastewater from a full-scale Bavarian biowaste digestion plant. Characterization of the influent implementing molecular size distribution studies showed that 97% of the components were either in particular form or < 1 kD. The main classes of compounds present in these fractions have been identified. The treatment objectives of the SBR plant were carbon and nitrogen removal. Soluble COD removal efficiencies were comprised between 40 and 60%, yielding a residual, refractory COD concentration of about 2000 mg/L in the effluent. Ammonium removal efficiencies averaged 96% and denitrification occurred with the addition of acetic acid or pretreated biowaste as a carbon source. Pretreated biowaste also showed synergetic effects as a co-substrate for COD removal.

Anaerobiosis↗
PubMed2006

The role of physician characteristics in clinical trial acceptance: testing pathways of influence.

Eight videotaped vignettes were developed that assessed the effects of three physician-related experimental variables (in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design) on clinical trial (CT) knowledge, video knowledge, information processing, CT beliefs, affective evaluations (attitudes), and CT acceptance. It was hypothesized that the physician variables (community versus academic-based affiliation, enthusiastic versus neutral presentation of the trial, and new versus previous relationship with the patient) would serve as communication cues that would interrupt message processing, leading to lower knowledge gain but more positive beliefs, attitudes, and CT acceptance. A total of 262 women (161 survivors and 101 controls) participated in the study. The manipulated variables primarily influenced the intermediary variables of post-test CT beliefs and satisfaction with information rather than knowledge or information processing. Multiple regression results indicated that CT acceptance was associated with positive post-CT beliefs, a lower level of information processing, satisfaction with information, and control status. Based on these results, CT acceptance does not appear to be based on a rational decision-making model; this has implications for both the ethics of informed consent and research conceptual models.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1998

Day surgery: teaching the next generation.

The advent of day surgery presents new opportunities and challenges for medical education. The opportunity to see patients pre-operatively and follow them through surgery to discharge on the same day is unique to day surgery. However, with rare exceptions, the development of educational programmes in ambulatory surgical settings is still largely at a rudimentary level. An undergraduate pilot programme was conducted at the University of Adelaide to explore the practicalities, acceptance and educational value of a day surgery programme for final-year medical students. The programme had three components: day surgery patient follow through, practical procedure tutorials and problem-based learning tutorials. It incorporated assessment of practical skills and theoretical knowledge with the use of log books and clinical and practical simulations as important elements in the assessment process. The pilot programme was accepted by all stakeholders and students' perceived significant gains in knowledge and skills. This programme may provide a teaching model that could be adapted for use in other medical schools.

Ambulatory Surgical Procedures↗
PubMed1988

Electromagnetic energy and food processing.

The use of electromagnetic energy in food processing is reviewed with respect to food safety, nutritional quality, and organoleptic quality. The effects of nonionizing radiation sources such as microwave and radio-frequency energy and ionizing radiation sources, e.g. radioactive cobalt-60 and caesium-137, on the inactivation of microbes and nutrients are compared with those of conventional heating processes both in terms of their kinetic behavior and their mechanisms of interaction with foods. The kinetics of microwave and conventional thermal inactivation are considered for a generalized nth-order model based on time and temperature conditions. However, thermal inactivation effects are often modeled by 1st-order kinetics. Microbial and nutrient inactivation by ionizing sources are considered for a 1st-order model based on radiation dose. Both thermal and radiation resistance concepts are reviewed and some typical values of radiation resistance are given for sensitive vegetative bacterial cells, yeasts, and molds and for resistant bacterial spores and viruses. Nonionizing microwave energy sources are increasingly used in home and industrial food processing and are well-accepted by the American public. But, despite recent Food and Drug Administration approval of low and intermediate ionizing radiation dose levels for grains and other plants products and the fact that irradiated foods are sold in more than 20 countries of the world, public fears in the U.S. about nuclear energy may limit the role of ionizing radiation in food processing and preservation and may also limit the use of nuclear fuels as an alternate source of electrical energy.

Food Handling↗
PubMed2001

Ego-integrity versus ego-despair: the effect of "accepting the past" on depression in older women.

The relative strength of the later-life personality process of ego-integrity, as operationalized by "accepting the past," was tested as a predictor of depression in a multivariate model containing other well established predictors-age, social support, physical dependency, and positive and negative affectivity. Seventy-three older Australian women living in supported accommodation completed an anonymous, self-report questionnaire. The results showed that "accepting the past" was a significant predictor in the multivariate model, along with social support, physical dependency, and positive affectivity. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of investigating later-life personality processes as potential interventions for alleviating depression in older people.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

[Evaluation of fitness to drive--conclusions after a case report].

Health evaluation of candidates applying driving license is general practitioner's duty, in the case of driving private cars. In Hungary no generally accepted guideline available on the evaluation process, the necessary examinations etc. A patient with a III degree A-V block was treated by the authors after suffering a serious syncope, with brain contusion, however he was regarded fit to drive by his GP, after the serious accident. The patient after the brain trauma was treated in two different institutions, however no ECG record was found, when the authors asked it to find out the time of the A-V block. Finally the patients was treated with temporary and later on with permanent pace-maker. During the half year follow up the patient was symptom less. The authors summarize the possible mechanism of syncope, and the criteria the evaluation of patients with heart diseases. In conclusion the authors emphasize the need for a generally accepted Hungarian guideline in the evaluation process of candidates applying driving license.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1985

Quantitative risk assessment of environmental hazards.

Quantitative risk assessment may never become a rigorous scientific discipline because of the inherent difficulties in working with highly uncertain and often controversial data and methods, and because the predictions of risk assessment may not be subject to validation in their most important areas of application. However, the potential benefits of having quantitative estimates of risk may make quantitative risk assessment a valuable adjunct to traditional methods for making individual and social decisions about health hazards in the home, workplace, and general environment. Risk assessment, which is the process of estimating risks to populations exposed to hazardous agents or activities, must be distinguished from risk management, which is the process of forming and implementing a strategy for accepting or abating the risks. To the extent possible, these two processes should be kept separate. Quantitative risk assessment is in principle capable of estimating individual or lifetime excesses of specific health effects from exposures to a specified hazard. These excesses may be estimated on an absolute basis or expressed as a relative risk in comparison with the baseline risk that would exist without exposure. An individual risk is usually expressed in terms of the probability of developing the health effect in some time period following a specified exposure, whereas a population risk is the overall number of effects expected in a defined population with a defined distribution of exposure levels and patterns. The variation of risk with time after exposure may imply a constant absolute risk, a constant relative risk, or some other dependence on time, usually after a minimal latent period has elapsed. Risk estimates can rarely be made directly from observed human data, and models for extrapolating or projecting risk estimates from the conditions of observation to the actual conditions of exposure must be used. Dose-response relationships are used for extrapolating from high laboratory or occupational exposures to low exposures encountered more frequently in human populations. Thresholds of dose or nonlinear dose-response relationships may be related to nonlinear pharmacokinetics prior to the ultimate exposure of the critical organ to the proximate carcinogen or other hazardous agent. Time-response models estimate risks for periods after exposure longer than have been observed in epidemiologic studies. Extrapolations from experiments with laboratory animals to humans are made difficult because of great differences in size, lifespan, physiology, and metabolism between human and animal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed2005

A review on calcium phosphate coatings produced using a sputtering process--an alternative to plasma spraying.

New promising techniques for depositing hydroxyapatite (HA) and calcium phosphate (CaP) coatings on medical devices are continuously being investigated. Given the vast number of experimental deposition process currently available, this review will focus only on CaP and/or HA coatings produced using the sputtering process. This review will discuss the characterization of sputtered CaP coatings before and after post-deposition treatments and tissue responses to some of the characterized coating surfaces. From the studies observed in the literature, current research on sputtered CaP coatings has shown some promises that may eliminate some of the problems associated with the plasma-spraying process. It has been generally accepted that sputtered HA and CaP coatings improve bone strength and initial osseointegration rate. However, optimal coating properties required to achieve maximal bone response are yet to be reported. As such, the use of well-characterized sputtered CaP and/or HA surfaces in the evaluation of biological responses should be well documented to avoid controversial results. In addition, future investigations of the sputtering process should include clinical trials, to continue the understanding of bone responses to coated-implant surfaces of different properties, and the possibility of coupling sputtered HA and CaP coatings with growth factors.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Real-time process/quality control for HPC processing.

BACKGROUND: JACIE Standards (FACT Standards in the USA) have been implemented in Europe since 1999. An on-site accreditation inspection took place at our center in January 2004. The purpose of this work was to develop a real-time process/quality control system meeting the JACIE Standards for HPC release. METHODS: Data from 194 HPC processing procedures for autologous transplantation performed over a 5-year period were analyzed. The results of different processing methods applied at our facility were compared: (1) cryopreservation without washing cells (n=50), (2) washing cells (n=87), (3) cell-density separation (n=12) and (4) positive CD34 selection (n=45). RESULTS: Four critical control points were set for the validation of HPC processing: (a) number of lost CD34(+) cells during processing, (b) contamination, (c) viability of the cells after thawing and (d) ability to reconstitute hematopoiesis after transplantation. On the basis of statistical analysis, ranges of acceptable values were defined for each critical control point and for each processing method. Those acceptable values were used for cell release and real-time quality control. DISCUSSION: This study describes a model for the validation of HPC processing and for a real-time process/quality control system for HPC release. Optimization of processing techniques, standardization of methods and comparison between facilities will open the way towards external quality controls and quality improvement.

Antigens, CD34↗
PubMed2005

Principles of fracture remodeling in children.

In treating fractures in children, the surgeon must have a good knowledge of the three phases of bone healing, ie, inflammatory, reparative, and remodeling and understand how they contribute to the final recovery of the fracture healing process. By and large, the ability to remodel depends on the bone involved, the patient's age, the proximity to the joint, and its orientation to the joint axis. In the typical long bone, 75% of the remodeling occurs by reorientation of the physis while appositional remodeling of the diaphysis can only be expected to contribute 25% to the remodeling process. The various values of acceptable alignment for each of the major fracture patterns are outlined. These serve only as guidelines. The patient's functional capacity and the surgeon's experience should also be factors in determining whether to depend on the remodeling capacity of the specific fracture or to consider performing a more aggressive, invasive technique to achieve a satisfactory result. There are two advantages in treating children's fractures. First, the healing process is very rapid. Nonunion is a rare event in the pediatric age group. The second perk is that there is a very good remodeling capacity should there be less than anatomical alignment of the affected bone once the fracture has healed. Any individual treating fractures in the pediatric age group should fully understand how pediatric fractures heal and how the remodeling process occurs.

Arm Injuries↗
PubMed1987

Medical school performance of initially rejected students.

At the University of Texas Medical School at Houston we had a unique opportunity to examine performance through the medical curriculum and one year of postgraduate training of 50 students initially rejected for medical school. Each had been interviewed by the same Admissions Committee, which earlier had selected 150 students through the traditional process. In contrasting the initially accepted and initially rejected groups, academic and demographic variables accounted for only 28% of group difference. The 72% of group difference not accounted for by the variables examined was presumed to relate to Admissions Committee preference. In attrition and in both preclinical and clinical performance through medical school and one year of postgraduate training, there were no meaningful differences between the groups. The observations suggest that the traditional interview process probably does not enhance the ability to predict performance of medical school applicants.

Achievement↗
PubMed2003

Errors in general practice: development of an error classification and pilot study of a method for detecting errors.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a classification of errors and to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a method for recording staff reported errors in general practice. DESIGN: An iterative process in a pilot practice was used to develop a classification of errors. This was incorporated in an anonymous self-report form which was then used to collect information on errors during June 2002. The acceptability of the reporting process was assessed using a self-completion questionnaire. SETTING: UK general practice. PARTICIPANTS: Ten general practices in the North East of England. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Classification of errors, frequency of errors, error rates per 1000 appointments, acceptability of the process to participants. RESULTS: 101 events were used to create an initial error classification. This contained six categories: prescriptions, communication, appointments, equipment, clinical care, and "other" errors. Subsequently, 940 errors were recorded in a single 2 week period from 10 practices, providing additional information. 42% (397/940) were related to prescriptions, although only 6% (22/397) of these were medication errors. Communication errors accounted for 30% (282/940) of errors and clinical errors 3% (24/940). The overall error rate was 75.6/1000 appointments (95% CI 71 to 80). The method of error reporting was found to be acceptable by 68% (36/53) of respondents with only 8% (4/53) finding the process threatening. CONCLUSION: We have developed a classification of errors and described a practical and acceptable method for reporting them that can be used as part of the process of risk management. Errors are common and, although all have the potential to lead to an adverse event, most are administrative.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗