2,411 research outputs found
Helicobacter Genotyping and Detection in Peroperative Lavage Fluid in Patients with Perforated Peptic Ulcer
Introduction and Objectives Certain Helicobacter pylori genotypes are associated with peptic ulcer disease; however, little is known about associations between the H. pylori genotype and perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). The primary aim of this study was to evaluate which genotypes are present in patients with PPU and which genotype is dominant in this population. The secondary aim was to study the possibility of determining the H. pylori status in a way other than by biopsy.
Materials and Methods Serum samples, gastric tissue biopsies, lavage fluid, and fluid from the nasogastric tube were collec
On the speed of convergence to stationarity of the Erlang loss system
We consider the Erlang loss system, characterized by servers, Poisson arrivals and exponential service times, and allow the arrival rate to be a function of We discuss representations and bounds for the rate of convergence to stationarity of the number of customers in the system, and display some bounds for the total variation distance between the time-dependent and stationary distributions. We also pay attention to time-dependent rates
Design and characterization of dielectric filled TM microwave cavities for ultrafast electron microscopy
Microwave cavities oscillating in the TM mode can be used as dynamic
electron-optical elements inside an electron microscope. By filling the cavity
with a dielectric material it becomes more compact and power efficient,
facilitating the implementation in an electron microscope. However, the
incorporation of the dielectric material makes the manufacturing process more
difficult. Presented here are the steps taken to characterize the dielectric
material, and to reproducibly fabricate dielectric filled cavities. Also
presented are two versions with improved capabilities. The first, called a
dual-mode cavity, is designed to support two modes simultaneously. The second
has been optimized for low power consumption. With this optimized cavity a
magnetic field strength of 2.84 0.07 mT was generated at an input power
of 14.2 0.2 W. Due to the low input powers and small dimensions, these
dielectric cavities are ideal as electron-optical elements for electron
microscopy setups
Uniformization for λ-positive Markov chains
We show that a variant of the uniformization method for the numerical calculation of transient state probabilities of positive recurrent Markov chains, in which the truncation error can be made arbitrarily small uniformly over time, can be extended to lambda-positive Markov chains
Compliance with international guidelines for chronic inflammatory neuropathies
ERare diseases’ management guidelines are produced with the primary aim of improving practice and standards of care for patients and may represent a useful framework for clinical practice. The EFNS/PNS (European Federation of Neurological Societies/Peripheral Nerve Society) guidelines for CIDP (chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy) and MMN (multifocal motor neuropathy) were last published in 2010 (1, 2). Enthusiasm of the audience for whom they are produced, arguably primarily non‐sub‐specialists, is however largely unexplored. Compliance to these guidelines by neuromuscular and/or peripheral nerve specialists has not been investigated
Detection of the tulip breaking virus (TBV) in tulips using optical sensors
The tulip breaking virus (TBV) causes severe economic losses for countries that export tulips such as the Netherlands. Infected plants have to be removed from the field as soon as possible. There is an urgent need for a rapid and objective method of screening. In this study, four proximal optical sensing techniques for the detection of TBV in tulip plants were evaluated and compared with a visual assessment by crop experts as well as with an ELISA (enzyme immunoassay) analysis of the same plants. The optical sensor techniques used were an RGB color camera, a spectrophotometer measuring from 350 to 2500 nm, a spectral imaging camera covering a spectral range from 400 to 900 nm and a chlorophyll fluorescence imaging system that measures the photosynthetic activity. Linear discriminant classification was used to compare the results of these optical techniques and the visual assessment with the ELISA score. The spectral imaging system was the best optical technique and its error was only slightly larger than the visual assessment error. The experimental results appear to be promising, and they have led to further research to develop an autonomous robot for the detection and removal of diseased tulip plants in the open field. The application of this robot system will reduce the amount of insecticides and the considerable pressure on labor for selecting diseased plants by the crop expert. © 2010 The Author(s
About the computation of the signature of surface singularities z^N+g(x,y)=0
In this article we describe our experiences with a parallel
SINGULAR-implementation of the signature of a surface singularity defined by
z^N+g(x,y)=0.Comment: 6 page
Guillain-Barré syndrome:multifactorial mechanisms versus defined subgroups
The clinical spectrum of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is summarized in relation to antecedent infections and anti-ganglioside antibodies. Associations exist between a pure motor form of GBS, diarrhea, Campylobacter jejuni infection, and anti-GM1 antibodies; between cranial nerve involvement and Miller Fisher syndrome, C. jejuni infection, and anti-GQ1b antibodies; and between variants, such as severe sensory involvement and cytomegalovirus infection. These three clinical variants are suggested to form the extremes of a continuous spectrum; they are discussed in relation to the more pathologically defined patterns of acute motor axonal neuropathy and acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy. In particular, patients with a clinically pure motor variant of GBS, diarrhea, anti-GM1 antibodies, or C. jejuni infection seem to respond better to early treatment with high-dose immunoglobulins than to plasma exchange.</p
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