BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS Upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding is a frequent cause of hospitalization. Its severity may be assessed before endoscopy using the Glasgow-Blatchford Bleeding Score (GBS), a score validated to identify patients requiring clinical intervention. The aim of this study was to assess whether the GBS was effective for shortening hospital stay and reducing costs in patient...

BACKGROUND Moderate differences in efficacy between adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer are plausible, and could affect treatment choices. We sought any such differences. METHODS We undertook individual-patient-data meta-analyses of the randomised trials comparing: any taxane-plus-anthracycline-based regimen versus the same, or more, non-taxane chemotherapy (n=44,000); one anthra...

Objective: Although many studies in medical literature are comparing percutaneous trans-septal mitral commissurotomy (PTMC) and open mitral commissurotomy (OMC), very few long-term comparative follow-ups are available. Methods: Between January 1991 and December 1997, 193 patients with isolated mitral stenosis were assigned either to PTMC (111 cases) or to OMC (82 cases). PTMC was performed in a...

allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (hsct) is a curative treatment option for hematological disorders. cyclosporine (csa) is one of the major immunosuppressive agents for the prophylaxis against graft versus host disease (gvhd). in this retrospective study, we evaluated the effects of csa serum levels on the incidence of acute gvhd and transplant outcomes. 103 adult patients rece...

Purpose. Myomectomy has been performed through laparoscopy. Suturing is known as rate-limiting step in laparoscopic myomectomy. The present study was aimed at comparing the clinical outcomes of absorbable knotless wound closure device with the results of conventional suturing. Methods. This prospective study included 62 women who underwent laparoscopic myomectomy at Taipei City Hospital, Zhongx...

We present first predictions of the cross sections and differential distributions for exclusive reaction $pp\ensuremath{\rightarrow}pp{K}^{*0}{\overline{K}}^{*0}$ contributing to ${K}^{+}{K}^{\ensuremath{-}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ channel. The amplitudes are formulated within nonperturbative tensor-Pomeron approach. consider separately ${f}_{2}(1950)$ $s$-chan...

BACKGROUND The role of surgery in the management of patients with diffuse oesophageal spasm (DOS) remains controversial. The aim of this study was to assess functional results after extended myotomy for DOS. METHODS This prospective study evaluated 20 patients who had extended myotomy (14 cm on the oesophagus and 2 cm below the oesophagogastric junction) with anterior fundoplication via a lap...

PURPOSE Use of nonopioid analgesics (including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) for postoperative pain management can reduce opioid consumption and potentially prevent opioid-related adverse events. This study examined the postoperative opioid-sparing effect of repeated-dose injectable diclofenac formulated with hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD)-diclofenac. PATIENTS AND METHODS Pooled...