Plos One
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To achieve international consensus across multiple specialties on a generic ultrasound rating scale using a Delphi technique. ⋯ International multispecialty consensus was achieved on the content of a generic ultrasound rating scale. This is the first step to ensure valid assessment of clinicians in different medical specialties using ultrasound.
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Paraquat (PQ) is a potent, highly toxic and widely used herbicide. The major medical problems associated with PQ are accidental or suicidal ingestion. There are several prognostic markers of PQ poisoning, with the serum PQ concentration considered to be the best indicator of outcome. However, the measurement of such markers is limited in many hospitals. ⋯ The absolute lymphocyte count is associated with the 30-day mortality rate in patients with paraquat poisoning.
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Although schizophrenia has been associated with abnormalities in brain anatomy, imaging studies have not fully determined the nature and relative contributions of gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) disturbances underlying these findings. We sought to determine the pattern and distribution of these GM and WM abnormalities. Furthermore, we aimed to clarify the contribution of abnormalities in cortical thickness and cortical surface area to the reduced GM volumes reported in schizophrenia. ⋯ Reduced local volumes along the surface of the brain mirrored the locations of abnormalities along the surface of the underlying WM, rather than of abnormalities of cortical thickness. Moreover, anatomical features of white matter, but not cortical thickness, correlated with measures of working memory. We propose that reductions in WM and smaller total cortical surface area could be central anatomical abnormalities in schizophrenia, driving, at least partially, the reduced regional GM volumes often observed in this illness.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of estimating equations for the prediction of glomerular filtration rate in kidney donors before and after kidney donation.
The aim of this study is to investigate the usefulness of the GFR-estimating equations to predict renal function in kidney donors before and after transplantation. We compared the performance of 24-hour-urine-based creatinine clearance (24 hr urine-CrCl), the Cockcroft-Gault formula (eGFRCG), the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation (eGFRMDRD), and the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation (eGFRCKD-EPI) with technetium-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid ((99m)Tc-DTPA) clearance (mGFR) in 207 potential kidney donors and 108 uninephric donors. Before donation, eGFRCKD-EPI showed minimal bias and did not show a significant difference from mGFR (P = 0.65, respectively) while 24 hr urine-CrCl and eGFRMDRD significantly underestimated mGFR (P<0.001 for each). ⋯ Within individual analysis, eGFRMDRD showed better performance at post-donation compared to pre-donation, but eGFRCKD-EPI and eGFRCG showed inferior performance at post-donation. In conclusion, eGFRCKD-EPI showed better performance compared to other equations before donation. In a uninephric donor, however, eGFRMDRD is more appropriate for the estimation of renal function than eGFRCKD-EPI.
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Dry eye disease affects women twice as often as men, but there is little information on whether dry eye treatments, treatment satisfaction, or the impact of dry eye disease on patients' lives and vision might differ by sex. ⋯ These data show that dry eye disease is generally experienced as being more severe among women, having a greater impact on their self-assessed well-being.