BACKGROUND In twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), the donor and recipient fetus are exposed to differing volume loads and show discordant intertwin vascular compliance in childhood despite identical genotype. We hypothesized that discordance is prevented by intrauterine endoscopic laser ablation of placental anastomoses, which abolishes intertwin transfusion. We tested this by examining puls...

Outranking relations such as produced by the Electre I or II or the Tactic methods are based on a concordance and non-discordance principle that leads to declaring that an alternative is “superior” to another, if the coalition of attributes supporting this proposition is “sufficiently important” (concordance condition) and if there is no attribute that “strongly rejects” it (non-discordance con...

OBJECTIVE We sought to evaluate the association between placental histological abnormalities and birthweight discordance and growth restriction in twin pregnancies. STUDY DESIGN We performed a multicenter, prospective study of twin pregnancies. Placentas were examined for evidence of infarction, retroplacental hemorrhage, chorangioma, subchorial fibrin, or abnormal villus maturation. Associat...

To compare BRAF V600E status of primarymelanoma and brainmetastases to assess for discordance by cross-sectional study, and to evaluate clinical implications on BRAF inhibitor therapy. Brain metastases are common in patients with advanced melanoma. Between 40% and 60% of melanomas demonstrate BRAF mutations, BRAF V600E being most common. Selective BRAF inhibitor therapy has shown improvement in...

BACKGROUND/AIMS To determine factors predictive of discordance in staging liver fibrosis using liver biopsy (LB) and acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). METHODS Consecutive patients with CHB who underwent LB and ARFI elastography on the same day from November 2010 to March 2013 were prospectively recruited from three tertiary hospit...

INTRODUCTION Brush cytology is a rapid, cost-effective, and reliable tool to diagnose gastrointestinal tract (GIT) lesions in low-resource settings. Most of the studies on GIT brushings have focused on upper GI lesions. We have studied the diagnostic accuracy of brush cytology in the entire length of GIT and correlated the cytological diagnosis with histopathology. The aim of this study is to s...

BACKGROUND HIV negative members of serostatus discordant couples are at high risk for HIV acquisition, but few interventions are in place to target them in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS In this study, we interviewed 28 couples, 3 times over a period of one year to understand their perceptions and attitudes around discordance, their relationship dynamics, their HIV risk behaviour, their beliefs ...

CONTEXT Autopsy often reveals new diagnoses of malignant neoplasms, but as technological advances to improve diagnosis during life have improved, autopsy rates have declined dramatically. OBJECTIVE To determine if there is still a high discordance rate between clinical and autopsy diagnoses of malignant neoplasms despite increasing technological advances in diagnostic methods. DESIGN AND SE...

PURPOSE We investigated the prognostic impact of discordance between the receptor status of primary breast cancers and corresponding metastases. METHODS A total 144 patients with breast cancer and distant metastasis were investigated. The estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status of primary tumor and corresponding metastases...

Twin pregnancies are becoming common as a result of increased assisted reproduction. Studies have shown that the smaller twin of a pair is at greater risk of morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to determine if there is a relation between birth-weight discordancy and neonatal morbidity and mortality and to test the occurrence of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in discordant twins. For 5 yea...