Polydisperse glass microsphere standards were analysed by 25 international teams of particle metrology specialists using unambiguous methods such as microscopy, sedimentation, electroformed sieving and Coulter counting. The nominal size distributions were: 1-10, 3-30, 10-100 and 50-350 microns (m). The Laser Diffraction Proficiency Testing Scheme (LDPTS) then sent the samples to about 65 parti...

A 13-MONTH-OLD girl fell and had painful swelling of the right ankle on which she did notwanttobearweight.Deliverywasatterm after an uncomplicated pregnancy. The mother’s venereal disease research laboratory serology test for syphilis was negative early in pregnancy, and it was not repeated. Immunizations, including BCG vaccine, were up to date. Two adults in the household had pulmonary tubercu...

BACKGROUND Non-equivalence in serum creatinine (SCr) measurements across Dutch laboratories and the consequences hereof on chronic kidney disease (CKD) staging were examined. METHODS National data from the Dutch annual external quality organization of 2009 were used. 144 participating laboratories examined 11 pairs of commutable, value-assigned SCr specimens in the range 52-262 μmol/L, using ...

This paper studies incumbent price response to entry by low-cost carriers in the U.S. airline industry. I find that legacy carrier incumbents decrease their mean airfare, 10th percentile airfare, and 90th percentile airfare following entry by a low-cost carrier. Airfares decrease by a larger percentage at the right tail of the incumbents’ price distribution than at the left tail, suggesting tha...

Physicians play a critical role in determining medical-care expenditures. In this study, we empirically assess the degree to which physicians exploit their bargaining leverage over insurance carriers as a means to raise service prices. We also examine the degree to which these potentially higher payments may translate into different levels of service utilization. We find that physicians are abl...

OBJECTIVE To determine maternal parameters with the strongest influence on fetal growth in different periods of pregnancies complicated by an abnormal glucose tolerance test (GTT). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Retrospective study of 368 women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM; > or = 2 abnormal GTT values, n = 280) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT; one abnormal value, n = 88) with 869...

BACKGROUND To assess interfraction translational and rotational setup errors, in patients treated with image-guded hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy, immobilized by a thermoplastic mask and a bite-block and positioned using stereotactic coordinates. METHODS 37 patients with 47 brain metastases were treated with hypofractionated stererotactic radiotherapy. All patients were immobilize...

BACKGROUND Newborns of certain immigrant mothers are smaller at birth than those of domestically born mothers. Contemporary, population-derived percentile curves for these newborns are lacking, as are estimates of their risk of being misclassified as too small or too large using conventional rather than tailored birth weight curves. METHODS We completed a population-based study of 766 688 sin...

BACKGROUND Central obesity has been associated with the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in children and anthropometric indices predictive of central obesity include waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-height ratio (WHtR). South Asian children have higher body fat distribution in the trunk region but the literature regarding WC and related indices is scarce in ...