Temporal association of Amblyomma americanum with the presence of Ehrlichia chaffeensis reactive antibodies in white-tailed deer

In order to improve the diagnostic procedure for patients with chest pain suspected of having acute ischemic heart disease we elaborated a mathematical model to predict ischemic risk and then compared its predictive capacity with that of the physician. From September 1989 to December 1992, 564 patients with a chief symptom of chest pain were seen at our Emergency Room (ER). Sixty-two percent of them were male, mean age was 58 +/- 13 years, and none had acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina. Clinical and historical data, serial sampling of enzymes and ECG patterns were collected for 4 hours after admission to the ER. At that point a decision was made to hospitalize or discharge that patient. Follow-up was completed within 2 months. At the end of follow-up, we observed that the physician's assessment resulted in 35% true positive, 55% true negative, 4.7% false positive, and 5.3% false negative judgments for acute ischemic heart disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

State of science: occupational slips,trips and falls on the same level*

Occupational slips, trips and falls on the same level (STFL) result in substantial injuries worldwide. This paper summarises the state of science regarding STFL, outlining relevant aspects of epidemiology, biomechanics, psychophysics, tribology, organisational influences and injury prevention. This review reaffirms that STFL remain a major cause of workplace injury and STFL prevention is a complex problem, requiring multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approaches. Despite progress in recent decades in understanding the mechanisms involved in STFL, especially slipping, research leading to evidence-based prevention practices remains insufficient, given the problem scale. It is concluded that there is a pressing need to develop better fall prevention strategies using systems approaches conceptualising and addressing the factors involved in STFL, with considerations of the full range of factors and their interactions. There is also an urgent need for field trials of various fall prevention strategies to assess the effectiveness of different intervention components and their interactions.

Practitioner Summary: Work-related slipping, tripping and falls on the same level are a major source of occupational injury. The causes are broadly understood, although more attention is needed from a systems perspective. Research has shown preventative action to be effective, but further studies are required to understand which aspects are most beneficial.     

Contributions of empirical and quantile processes to the asymptotic theory of goodness-of-fit tests

This paper analyzes the evolution of the asymptotic theory of goodness-of-fit tests. We emphasize the parallel development of this theory and the theory of empirical and quantile processes. Our study includes the analysis of the main tests of fit based on the empirical distribution function, that is, tests of the Cramér-von Mises or Kolmogorov-Smirnov type. We pay special attention to the problem of testing fit to a location scale family. We provide a new approach, based on the Wasserstein distance, to correlation and regression tests, outlining some of their properties and explaining their limitations. Dedicated to Miguel Martín Díaz whose scientific criticism has greatly inspirated our research by years. Research partially supported by DGICYT, grants PB98-0369-C02-01 and 02. E. del barrio and C. Matrán have also been supproted by PAPIJCL grant VA08/97.     

Robotic System for Handling Infectious Clinical and Pre-Clinical Serum Samples

The Bioanalytical Laboratory at the Schering-Plough Research Institute is a service laboratory which performs drug level measurements in serum in support of pre-clinical toxicological tests, as well as human clinical trials for anti-viral compounds. A new robot system for the laboratory had two external constraints put on it, besides those typical for a robotic system: since it handled infectious serum samples, it needed to be contained within a biosafety cabinet, and all data handling and labeling were subject to regulatory oversight. The result is a robot cell consisting of a large custom biological safety hood with an integrated track mounted robot, refrigerated storage, mixing, 2-D bar code reading, and automated pipetting. In addition to the material handling hardware, sample labeling software was developed for use at sample collection sites within Schering-Plough, and at external contract laboratories.     

Tools for the study of genome rearrangements in laboratory and industrial yeast strains

In order to investigate the extent of genome rearrangements in laboratory and industrial yeast strains, a set of plasmids, containing ca. 300 bp fragments from highly conserved genes from S. cerevisiae, has been constructed. We chose three unique PCR products, each from a single gene, per chromosome: one from close to the centromere, and one from each chromosome end. Using these plasmids as probes to hybridize a Southern blot from a pulsed-field gel electrophoresis separation of the 16 yeast chromosomes, it is possible to identify large chromosomal rearrangements such as reciprocal translocations.     

Pretherapy dental status of patients with malignant conditions of the head and neck

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia in elderly persons and a common cause of embolic stroke. Most studies of the prevalence and correlates of AF have used selected, hospital-based populations. The Cardiovascular Health Study is a population-based, longitudinal study of risk factors for coronary artery disease and stroke in 5,201 men and women aged > or = 65 years. AF was diagnosed in 4.8% of women and in 6.2% of men at the baseline examination, and prevalence was strongly associated with advanced age in women. Prevalence of AF was 9.1% in men and women with clinical cardiovascular disease, 4.6% in patients with evidence of subclinical but no clinical cardiovascular disease, and only 1.6% in subjects with neither clinical nor subclinical cardiovascular disease. A history of congestive heart failure, valvular heart disease and stroke, echocardiographic evidence of enlarged left atrial dimension, abnormal mitral or aortic valve function, treated systemic hypertension, and advanced age were independently associated with the prevalence of AF. The low prevalence of AF in the absence of clinical and subclinical cardiovascular disease calls into question the existence and clinical usefulness of the concept of so-called "lone atrial fibrillation" in the elderly.     

Periurethral polytetrafluoroethylene paste injection in incontinent female subjects: surgical indications and improved surgical technique

We present the results with 2 techniques for periurethral polytetrafluoroethylene (Polytef) injection in 21 female subjects with type III stress urinary incontinence. The standard technique included the use of a stainless steel needle for injection, paste "sopping" and a Wolff, Storz or Lewy syringe as an injecting element. Postoperatively, no catheters were left indwelling and all patients were encouraged to urinate following recovery from the anesthesia. The modified technique included the use of a 14F angio-catheter for injection of the paste, paste heating and a Lewy syringe or Mentor gun as injector. Postoperatively, all patients were left with an indwelling suprapubic catheter for 3 to 5 days. A total of 27 injections was performed, including 9 with the standard technique and the last consecutive 18 with the modified technique. Average followup has been 11.4 months. Cure, improvement and no change rates from the preoperative condition were 11%, 22% and 67% with the standard technique and 39%, 17% and 44% with the modified technique, respectively. In the latter group 3 patients had received pelvic radiotherapy as definitive treatment for pelvic malignancies. The overall failure rate in patients with a stable detrusor was 42% compared to 75% in the group with bladder instability and low compliance. Advantages of the modified technique include avoidance in the formation of intraoperative and postoperative fistulas, and easier handling and injection of the heated paste to achieve urethral compression. Improved short-term results with the modified technique indicate that a larger group of patients and long-term followup are essential requirements to determine the true efficacy of this technical modification. Based on these preliminary results, we now prefer the modified technique to the standard technique in the management of type III stress urinary incontinence.