BACKGROUND There is a known association between a depressed left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF < 0.35) and increased mortality in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) operations. Recent studies show that elevated preoperative LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) is an independent predictor of operative death for patients undergoing CABG. Therefore, the purpose of this stud...

An urge of biomarker identification is needed to better monitor lupus nephritis (LN) disease activity, guide clinical treatment, and predict patient's long-term outcome. With the proinflammatory effect and its association with inflammasomes, the significance of interleukin-18 (IL-18) among pediatric-onset systemic lupus erythematous (pSLE) patient, especially, its importance in predicting long-...

BACKGROUND A pay-for-performance program based on the Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration was introduced in all hospitals in the northwest region of England in 2008 and was associated with a short-term (18-month) reduction in mortality. We analyzed the long-term effects of this program, called Advancing Quality. METHODS We analyzed 30-day in-hospital mortality among 1,825,518 hospital ad...

We recently showed from a Swedish cohort that nearly half of boys born post-term (≥42 weeks gestation) were overweight or obese at 16 years of age. We hypothesized that post-term children would display features of insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome even in their pre-pubertal years. 90 healthy pre-pubertal children aged 4–11 years, with birth weight appropriate-for-gestational-age wer...

BACKGROUND The long-term effects of liver transplantation (LT) on minimal hepatic encephalopathy are poorly documented. OBJECTIVE To assess the cognitive performance of patients with cirrhosis and without overt encephalopathy, before and after LT. DESIGN Longitudinal study comparing cognitive performance of patients with cirrhosis before LT and 6 to 18 months after LT, with matched control ...

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of short-term musical training on speech perception in noise. In the present study speech perception in noise was measured pre- and post- short-term musical training. The musical training involved auditory perceptual training for raga identification of two Carnatic ragas. The training was given for eight sessions. A total of 18 normal hearing adults...

We examine the coherence in the spontaneous brain activity of sleeping children as measured by the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals. The results are described in terms of resting-state networks (RSN) and their properties. More specifically, in this study we examine the effect of severe prematurity on the spatial location of the visual...

dementia is defined as significant acquired cognitive impairment in one or more cognitive domains that represents a significant decline from previous baseline and interferes with independence in daily activities. autoimmune dementia is a term that has been used to describe a steroid-responsive autoimmune disorder characterized by a rapidly progressive dementia with a fluctuating course. even co...