OBJECTIVE In an effort to minimize access in coronary artery bypass (CAB) surgery, a total endoscopic approach using computer enhanced technology was developed. METHODS By July 1999 the da Vinci telemanipulation system (Intuitive Surgical, Mountain View, CA) was used in 66 patients with coronary artery disease. In 12 patients undergoing routine coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) (group 1)...

BACKGROUND We compared the outcomes in propensity score-matched high-risk patients (European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation [EuroSCORE] ≥ 5) undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery using bilateral or single skeletonized internal thoracic artery (ITA). METHODS AND RESULTS Of 794 consecutive patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery (788 by...

M ulti-scale resource selection m odeling is used to identify factors th a t limit species distributions across scales o f space and time. This m ulti-scale nature o f hab ita t suitability com plicates the translation o f inferences to single, spatial depictions o f hab ita t required for conservation o f species. W e estim ated resource selection functions (R SFs) across three scales for a th...

BACKGROUND In the United States, Down syndrome screening is still performed mainly in the second trimester, using 3 or 4 markers. Moving screening into the first trimester has the advantage of earlier diagnosis. Currently, first-trimester screening typically includes maternal serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A), the free beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (free beta),...

BACKGROUND The end-diastolic velocity (EDV) of thyroid arteries reflects peripheral blood flow resistance. OBJECTIVE The aim was to evaluate EDV correlations with other Doppler sonography parameters and with clinical and biochemical variables in a sample of patients with hypothyroidism caused by chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (CAT). METHODS A sample of 48 CAT hypothyroid patients receiving ...

Forty patients underwent coronary revascularization using bilateral internal thoracic artery (ITA) grafts between 1988 and 1992. A total of 111 coronary grafts were performed, or an average of 2.8 grafts per patient. Each patient received bilateral ITA grafts, and in 20 patients an additional 29 grafts were constructed with 18 autologous veins and 11 gastroepiploic arteries. The right ITA was g...

The influence of crop residue amendments on the chemical properties of an acid soil and rice yields was investigated at Abakaliki for two cropping growing seasons (2006 and 2007). The residue treatments were rice straw, burnt rice husk and legume residue, while the rice cultivars were ITA 315, Ex-China and ITA 257. The design of the experiment was a 3 x 4 factorial in a Randomize Complete Block...

Abstract The intrinsic thermoacoustic (ITA) feedbackloop constitutes a coupling between flow, flame and acoustics that does not involve the natural acoustic modes of system. One recent study showed ITA in annular combustors come significant number with peculiar behavior clusters, i.e. several close frequencies. In present work, an analytical model typical combustor is derived via Riemann invari...

data envelopment analysis (dea) is a nonparametric technique that includes models to evaluate the relative efficiency of decision making units (dmus). it has the ability to separate efficient units and inefficient units. one of the applications of this mathematical technique is evaluating performance of supply chain. according to such as the inefficiency factors of one dmu, is existence congest...

a simple method is described for analysis of transients in power network. the method is developed for analysis of transformer and generator winding resonances due to their interaction with transmission lines caused by switching surges. the method is already used for calculation of overvoltages which had resulted in damages in the transformer winding of a hydro power plant. nonlinearity in the i...