BACKGROUND The use of chemotherapy has been proposed to increase the effectiveness of best supportive care (BSC) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Previous trials reported inconsistent findings regarding the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy on overall survival (OS) and treatment-related mortality. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects o...

BACKGROUND As a response to a changing operating environment, healthcare administrators are implementing modern management tools in their organizations. The balanced scorecard (BSC) is considered a viable tool in high-income countries to improve hospital performance. The BSC has not been applied to hospital settings in low-income countries nor has the context for implementation been examined. T...

The new energy vehicle industry is now developing at a high speed, with fierce competition among enterprises. Enterprise performance evaluation system an important guarantee for the realization of enterprise strategic objectives. A reasonable vital to development article builds eva-bsc model EVA value as core and BSC framework, determines weight by using method combining AHP entropy method, emp...

Satellite cells are a heterogeneous population of myogenic precursors responsible for muscle growth and repair in mammals. The objectives of the experiment were to examine the growth rates and degree of heterogeneity within bovine satellite cells (BSC) isolated from young and adult animals. The BSC were harvested from the semimembranosus of young (4.3 ± 0.5 d) and adult (estimated 24 to 27 mo) ...

ii ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates the ultrasonic scattering from tumors. Tumors are complex acoustic scattering media and to date there has not been an adequate acoustic scattering model that fits them well. The tumor scattering mechanisms are studied herein by a step-wise approach: starting from simple (low-concentration cell pellet biophantoms) to moderately complex (high-concentrati...

The balanced scorecard (BSC), initially developed by Kaplan and Norton, is a performance measurement system that supplements traditional financial measures with the criteria that measure performance from three additional perspectives: customer perspective, internal business perspective and innovation and learning perspective. In recent years, the balanced scorecard has been applied to informati...

BACKGROUND Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are blood and bone marrow disorders that occur primarily in the elderly population, with 30% of all cases progressing to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Red blood cell transfusions--a conventional treatment of MDS--have been associated with high costs and decreased quality of life compared with transfusion independence. Phase III clinical trial data sugg...

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) is the National Supercomputer Facility in Spain, hosting MareNostrum, one of the most powerful Supercomputers in Europe. The Earth Sciences Department of BSC operates daily regional dust and air quality forecasts and conducts intensive modelling research for short-term operational prediction. This contribution summarizes the latest developments and curr...