Tailored low-dose fluoroscopic voiding cystourethrography for the reevaluation of vesicoureteral reflux in girls

OBJECTIVE: Radionuclide voiding cystography is generally advocated for the reevaluation of proved vesicoureteral reflux. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of tailored low-dose fluoroscopic voiding cystourethrography for this purpose. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Forty-five girls (2 years 9 months to 19 years 7 months old; mean, 7.4 years) who had proved reflux were examined with tailored low-dose voiding cystourethrography. The technique used a low-dose fluoroscopic system and a computer-based video frame grabber that produced frame-averaged digital video fluoroscopic hard copies. A tailored voiding cystourethrographic protocol was designed to minimize ovarian radiation dose. Digital images were compared with standard 105-mm spot films in a similar group of 25 children. RESULTS: The tailored low-dose fluoroscopic technique produced diagnostically adequate images in all patients that were comparable in quality to standard spot films. The ovarian dose was 1.7-5.2 mrad (0.017-0.052 mGy) with a mean of 2.9 mrad (0.029 mGy). This compared favorably with the lowest reported doses with the radionuclide technique. CONCLUSION: Tailored low-dose fluoroscopic voiding cystourethrography is an attractive and practical alternative to the radionuclide technique in girls with proved vesicoureteral reflux.     

Simplified thermochemical functions for tabulation

A set of thermodynamic functions for the tabulation of thermochemical data is proposed which seems to offer a satisfactory basis for the calculation of chemical equilibria and heat balances in metallurgy. The selection and evaluation of these functions are based on simple definitions which follow directly from the basic relationships in chemical thermodynamics. Apart from the temperature,T, and the heat capacity,Cp, the following functions are used: the enthalpy,H, the entropy,S, the Gibbs energy, G, and the betafunction, β, butH, G andβ not in the form most commonly employed, for instance in the JANAF tables. No use is made of the so-called free energy function, nor the parameters for the formation of the substance in question from the elements at a temperatureT. As is shown in an example, the form chosen by JANAF for the tabulation of,e.g., the enthalpy may in special cases not produce the optimum presentation for the evaluation of energy balances.     

Simplified activation of closing loops

The last 10 years has seen a surge in the development of academic pre- and postregistration courses. With the movement of colleges of nursing and midwifery into higher education it has become difficult for lecturers of nursing to remain engaged in clinical practice. However, the professional bodies, the students themselves and their employers expect lecturers of nursing to be clinically able, clinically credible and knowledgeable about contemporary practice in order to produce practitioners who are 'fit for purpose'. This article outlines one innovative approach employed by an educational organization to enable lecturers of postregistration specialist nursing programmes to achieve clinical credibility by undertaking a minimum of 300 contracted hours of clinical experience. This approach was found to be beneficial to the lecturers, the students and the ongoing relationships between the trusts and the department of nursing.     

Simplified Window Glass Design Procedure

This paper presents a simplified window glass design procedure (SWGDP) as an alternative to the comprehensive window glass design procedure described in ASTM E 1300, “Standard practice for determining the load resistance of glass in buildings.” Although ASTM E 1300 provides a technically robust treatment of the strength of window glass and window glass constructions, architects and engineers will find ASTM E 1300 difficult to use. The SWGDP presented herein uses the same failure prediction methodology to characterize the annealed window glass strength that underlies ASTM E 1300. By reducing the number of basic glass strength charts to one, the voluminous strength adjustment factors in ASTM E 1300 to one simple table, and the computation of window glass lite center deflections to simple graphs requiring no computations to use, the SWGDP achieves simplicity in its approach to window glass design.     

Simplified technique of heart-lung transplantation

Well-known complications of heart-lung transplantation include mediastinal bleeding and phrenic nerve injury. Conventional technique places the hila behind the phrenic nerves. We have placed the hila in front of the phrenic nerve in our last 10 patients, using direct caval anastomoses when feasible. This minimizes traction on and dissection around the phrenic nerves, and allows anterior rotation of the heart-lung block for easier hemostasis of the posterior mediastinum after implantation.     

挤压筒的简化设计

挤压筒是铜材生产的关键模具之一,工作时需要承受高温、高压、高摩擦的作用。本文从挤压筒的结构、选材及强度校核几方面,通过分析计算,提出了挤压筒简化计算的原理,在实际使用中取得了显著的经济效益。     

Nature of love: Simplified.

Presents results of studies investigating the effects of lactation, facial, body surface, motion, and temperature variables upon infant attachment to surrogates. A simplified form of the cloth surrogate, easier to construct, more practical to maintain, and more efficient in elicitation of infant clinging than the original, is described. The role of the surrogate in current and proposed research is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)