BACKGROUND The diagnostic significance of increased splanchnic blood flow in ulcerative colitis is unclear. This prospective study was therefore undertaken to define the role of Doppler sonography in the assessment of disease activity and in the prediction of early relapse. SUBJECTS/METHODS Splanchnic flowmetry was performed in 76 patients with ulcerative colitis (47 with active disease and 2...

Food prices are expected to affect dietary intakes, however, previous findings are mixed and few are based on nationally representative data. We examined the associations of price indices of fast foods (FF-PI) and fruits and vegetables (FV-PI) with dietary intakes and BMI among U.S. children and adolescents using data from the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII; 1994-1998) ...

BACKGROUND Stroke has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We assessed patients with RA and healthy control subjects by transcranial Doppler (TCD), carotid ultrasonography and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS Altogether, 41 female patients with RA undergoing methotrexate (MTX) or biologic treatment and 60 age-matched control subjects underwent TCD assessment of the m...

BACKGROUND Interscalene nerve blocks provide adequate analgesia, but there are no objective criteria for early assessment of correct catheter placement. In the present study, pulse oximetry technology was used to evaluate changes in the perfusion index (PI) in both blocked and unblocked arms, and changes in the plethysmographic variability index (PVI) were evaluated once mechanical ventilation ...

For a graph $G$ with edge set $E(G)$, the multiplicative sum Zagreb index of $G$ is defined as$Pi^*(G)=Pi_{uvin E(G)}[d_G(u)+d_G(v)]$, where $d_G(v)$ is the degree of vertex $v$ in $G$.In this paper, we first introduce some graph transformations that decreasethis index. In application, we identify the fourteen class of trees, with the first through fourteenth smallest multiplicative sum Zagreb ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the predictive value of the combination of first-trimester serum placental protein 13 (PP13), uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index (PI) and pulse wave analysis (augmentation index at a heart rate of 75 beats per min (AIx-75)), and to evaluate concurrent and contingent strategies using this combination for assessing the risk of pre-eclampsia in high-risk women. MET...