OBJECTIVE to investigate the effect of standardized interventions in the management of tube thoracostomy patients and to assess the independent effect of each intervention. METHODS A chest tube management protocol was assessed in a retrospective cohort study. The tube thoracostomy protocol (TTP) was implemented in August 2012, and consisted of: antimicrobial prophylaxis, chest tube insertion ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Tegaserod is approved for the treatment of constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (C-IBS) in females. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of tegaserod on colonic transit time (CTT) and symptoms in male patients with C-IBS. METHODS Forty-four males with C-IBS (Rome II) were enrolled. After a baseline washout period of 2 weeks, 40 patients were random...

Penetrating 180° superior limbal incisions were made on the right eye of four adult New Zealand albino rabbits. The contralateral eye served as control. Cornea! touch thresholds (CTT) for the central, superior and inferior cornea (2-3 mm from limbus) were determined 3, 9, 15, 24 and 30 months after surgery. In all animals, the CTT was significantly elevated in the superior region of the cornea ...

Chloroplast engineering (or chloroplast transformation technology, CTT) is a strategy consisting of inserting a transgene into the chloroplast genome of a plant instead of its nuclear genome. CTT brings advantages such as control of the site of gene insertion, high rates of transgene expression and protein accumulation, lack of transmission of the transgene via pollen due to the fact that plast...

OBJECTIVE To provide comparisons and a worked example of item- and scale-level evaluations based on three psychometric methods used in patient-reported outcome development-classical test theory (CTT), item response theory (IRT), and Rasch measurement theory (RMT)-in an analysis of the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VFQ-25). METHODS Baseline VFQ-25 data from 240 parti...

It has been reported that abnormalities of functional brain asymmetry was detected in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, little is known about their clinical implication. The aim of this study was to examine the differences in asymmetry indexes (AIs) of hippocampus between MDD patients and healthy controls (HCs) and their relationship with cognitive functions. Forty-one pat...

Availability of normative patient outcome data may assist in designing experiments and estimating sample sizes. The purpose of this review was to determine normative ranges for colonic transit time (CTT), Patient Assessment of Constipation-Symptoms (PAC-SYM), and Patient Assessment of Constipation-Quality of Life (PAC-QOL) in adults diagnosed with functional constipation per Rome III guidelines...

BACKGROUND Although biostatistics and clinical epidemiology are essential for comprehending medical evidence, research has shown consistently low and variable knowledge among postgraduate medical trainees. Simultaneously, there has been an increase in the complexity of statistical methods among top-tier medical journals. AIMS To develop the Biostatics and Clinical Epidemiology Skills (BACES) ...

Seven dogs were evaluated with prospective ECG-gated computerized transmission tomography (CTT) to analyze left ventricular (LV) wall thickness and cross-sectional chamber area after acute occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). ECG-gated CTT scanning during i.v. administration of contrast material was performed over the mid-left ventricle at rest, after acute occlusion...

BACKGROUND Chronic constipation is one of the most common chronic disease in children. Most of cases are functional, however some has problem of organic myopathic or neuropathic colon. Colonic transit study with oro-anal transit markers is the basic diagnostic tool for colonic dysmotility in clinical practice, colonic manometry is the recommended investigation in the next step. Nevertheless, th...