The instrumental variable (IV) method is commonly used to estimate the causal effect of a treatment on an outcome by using IVs that satisfy the assumptions of association with treatment, no direct effect on the outcome and ignorability. A major challenge in IV analysis is to find said IVs, but typically one is unsure of whether all of the putative IVs are in fact valid (i.e. satisfy the assumpt...

The videoconferencing applications transmit video and audio data through data networks. The current networks such as the Internet are heterogeneous: their subnets may possess di erent bandwidths. When a videoconference covers subnets of di erent bandwidths, multiple video coding schemes of di erent bandwidth requirements can be used at the same time to make good use of the bandwidth resources. ...

INTRODUCTION The ankle-brachial index (ABI), measurement of carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT), and assessment of the thickness of interventricular septum (IVS), are noninvasive methods used to predict subclinical atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease and to assess the correlations between ABI, CIMT, the t...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an autosomal recessive disorder. In 90-95% of cases it results from mutations in the gene for 21-hydroxylase (CYP21, also termed CYP21A2 and P450c21). The IVS-II-656 (C/A>G) mutation leaves ~2.0% enzyme activity, and comprises 25% of the classic CYP21 deficiency alleles and 51% of alleles in the salt-wasting form. We performed direct molecular diagnosis o...

BACKGROUND Anesthesia providers frequently rely upon in-situ peripheral intravenous catheters (IVs) during the perioperative care of pediatric patients. IV dysfunction can result in complications including inability to administer medications for resuscitation, extravasation of tissue-toxic medications, and incomplete induction of anesthesia. This study was performed to prospectively assess the ...

Acute aortic regurgitation was created experimentally in 21 mongrel dogs to examine the relationship of the regurgitant jet to observed echocardiographic findings. The direction of the regurgitant jet was studied by echo contrast injections in the aortic root. Diastolic fluttering of the anterior mitral leaflet (AML) was noted in all 21 dogs irrespective of direction of the jet. Diastolic flutt...

The aim of this study was to trace D1853N in a proband affected with primary BC to explore the molecular, cellular and structural aspects of ATM. Exon 37 and splicing regions were PCR-sequenced. Allelic location of the alterations was determined by molecular cloning. Possible impact of alterations was investigated through the bioinformatics and protein expression assays. Five genetic variants i...

Identifying potential protein targets for a small-compound ligand query is crucial to the process of drug development. However, there are tens of thousands of proteins in human alone, and it is almost impossible to scan all the existing proteins for a query ligand using current experimental methods. Recently, a computational technology called docking-based inverse virtual screening (IVS) has at...

Ischemic placental disease is a concept that links intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and preeclampsia (PE) back to insufficient remodeling of uterine spiral arteries. The rheological consequences of insufficient remodeling of uterine spiral arteries were hypothesized to mediate the considerably later manifestation of obstetric disease. However, the micro-rheology in the intervillous space ...

BACKGROUND Patient-controlled sedation (PCS) has been suggested as an alternative method for sedative colonoscopy. However, as any new techniques, PCS introduction as a potential alternative to traditional intravenous sedation (IVS) has brought about challenges. To evaluate the advantages and disadvantages between PCS and IVS more comprehensively, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analy...