PURPOSE We perform a clinical retrospective study to determine whether a vaginal balloon-packing system provides a dosimetric reduction to organs at risk (OARs) versus traditional gauze packing for gynecological high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT). We also test various balloon filling materials for optimizing imaging quality. MATERIAL AND METHODS Filling materials for balloon-packing were e...

Introduction: Gossypiboma is a serious but uncommon complication of surgical interventions. Most case reports and reviews refer to abdominal or thoracic surgery. Retained postoperative foreign bodies in limb or spine surgery are less commonly encountered. We present a case of gossypiboma in a paraplegic patient originating from pararectal surgery and detected 15 years after index surgery for in...

OBJECTIVE To assess the optimal method for covering smallpox vaccination sites to prevent transmission of vaccinia. DESIGN Randomized, nonblinded clinical trial. SETTING Tertiary care medical center. PARTICIPANTS Vaccinia-naive and vaccinia-experienced volunteers. INTERVENTIONS After vaccination, study participants were randomized to receive 1 of 3 types of bandage: gauze, occlusive wit...

Sasajiscymnus tsugae Sasaji and McClure (Coleeptera: Coccinellidae), is a biological control agent imported for management of hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand. In mass rearing S. tsugae, accurate estimation of egg numbers is important because larvae are cannibalistic, especially at higher densities. To determine the most accurate means of estimating egg production, three brands of ...

Objective: To compare hydrocolloid with conventional gauze dressing in prevention of infections after clean surgical procedures. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, CMH Rawalpindi from 22 Jan 2010 to 22 Aug 2010. Patients and Methods: A total of 400 patients undergoing clean surgical procedures were randomly allocated in two equal group...

BACKGROUND Primary visceral malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is a rare disease, and few cases have been reported in the English literature. However, retained foreign bodies in the abdomen after surgical procedures are important causes of intra-abdominal infections. For legal and ethical reasons, there are few publications in the literature. In this article, we describe for the first time a ...

Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between subjective oral dryness and stimulated saliva or oral moisture. Methods: Twenty-one patients with subjective oral dryness (OD) and 21 healthy adults (HA) were enrolled in the study. The Saxon test was performed by chewing a gauze sponge for 2 minutes. Oral moisture was measured at the lingual mucosa (LM) and buccal mucosa ...

a down-flow hanging sponge (dhs) reactor has been developed for sewage treatment, mainly in developing countries. this novel reactor employs polyurethane sponge material as a support medium, which promises a proliferation of a large amount of biomass, offering excellent pollutant removal capability. three types of sponge medium were evaluated with respect to water distribution and oxygen mass t...

The nanofibrous biodegradable drug-loaded membranes that sustainably released recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor (rhPDGF-BB) to repair diabetic wounds were developed in this work.rhPDGF-BB and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) were mixed in hexafluoroisopropyl alcohol, followed by the electrospinning of the solutions into biodegradable membranes to equip the nanofibrous membran...

With an aim of improving bone regeneration, chitosan sponge containing platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) were developed. For fabrication of chitosan sponge, chitosan solution was freeze-dried, crosslinked and freeze-dried again. PDGF-BB was incorporated into the chitosan sponge by soaking chitosan sponge into the PDGF-BB solution. Release kinetics of PDGF-BB, cell attachment, prolifer...