Impact of OKT3 therapy on cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus infections after liver transplantation

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of OKT3 on the frequency and severity of CMV and herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections in adult liver transplant recipients. OKT3 treatment is associated with a higher risk of disseminated CMV infection, particularly in patients with primary CMV infection. It also increased the frequency of symptomatic HSV infection in HSV-seropositive liver transplant recipients

Fungal infections after liver transplantation

The risk factors for development of invasive fungal infections after liver transplantation were (1) longer duration of treatment with nonprophylactic IV antibiotics, (2) longer cumulative surgical time and a higher number of laparotomies, (3) an increased number of units of RBCs and fresh-frozen plasma, and (4) a series of pretransplant laboratory findings: thrombocytopenia, low T lymphocyte levels, low CD4 helper cell and lower helper/suppressor cell ratios and IgA serum levels. The significance of some of these findings is still unclear. Attention to the risk factors outlined earlier may aid both in preventing and in the early detection of invasive fungal infections after liver transplantation

Conceptualizing international art therapy education standards

Art therapy programs developing around the world need an educational framework to ensure that graduates have a knowledge base and set of skills consistent with peers in other countries. Currently there are many independent education standards offered by art therapy associations in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as two international associations. Synthesizing these requirements reveals 12 content areas that may constitute the core of art therapy education. Even within these standards, programs developing around the world need to consider local values related to health, art, therapy and education in order to establish globally relevant and locally meaningful art therapy training programs-Hong Kong and India are offered as examples of how to adapt education standards to cultural expectations. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.postprin

New method for designing two-channel causal stable IIR perfect reconstruction filter banks and wavelet bases

A new method for designing two-channel causal stable IIR PR filter banks and wavelet bases is proposed. It is based on the structure previously proposed by Phoong et al. (1995). Such a filter bank is parameterized by two functions α(z) and β(z), which can be chosen as an all-pass function to obtain IIR filterbanks with very high stopband attenuation. One of the problems with this choice is that a bump of about 4 dB always exists near the transition band of the analysis and synthesis filters. The stopband attenuation of the high-pass analysis filter is also 10 dB lower than that of the low-pass filter. By choosing β(z) and α(z) as an all-pass function and a type-II linear-phase finite impulse response (FIR) function, respectively, the bumping can be significantly suppressed. In addition, the stopband attenuation of the high-pass filter can be controlled easily. The design problem is formulated as a polynomial approximation problem and is solved efficiently by the Remez exchange algorithm. The extension of this method to the design of a class of IIR wavelet bases is also considered.published_or_final_versio

Theory and design of a class of M-channel IIR cosine-modulated filter banks

This letter proposes a method for designing a class of M-channel, causal, stable, perfect reconstruction (PR) IIR cosine-modulated filter banks (CMFB). The proposed CMFB has the same denominator for all its polyphase components in the prototype filter. Therefore, the PR condition is considerably simplified, and it is relatively simple to satisfy the PR and the casual-stable requirements of the IIR CMFB. Design examples show that the proposed IIR CMFB has sharper cutoff, higher stopband attenuation, and passband flatness than its FIR counterparts, especially when the system delay is small.published_or_final_versio

Designing two-channel causal stable IIR PR filter banks and wavelet bases by model order reduction and constrained optimization

In this paper, two methods for designing two-channel causal stable IIR PR filter banks are introduced. The first method makes use of model reduction and constrained optimization to obtain a causal stable IIR filter bank from the structural PR FIR filter bank proposed in [2]. It yields better frequency characteristics than the original FIR filter bank and avoids the dump at π/2 when allpass filters are used. Using the 1-D to 2-D transformation proposed in [2], two dimensional PR IIR filter bank can readily be obtained from these prototypes. The second method is based on constrained optimization technique using the general PR condition. Using this technique, filter banks with low system delay and flexible frequency characteristics can be designed. The technique can also be modified to design causal stable IIR dyadic wavelet bases with added regularity conditions. A number of design examples are used to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed design methods.published_or_final_versio

Theory and design of causal stable IIR PR cosine-modulated filter banks

This paper proposes a novel method for designing two-channel and M-channel causal stable IIR PR filter banks using cosine modulation. In particular, we show that the PR condition of the two-channel IIR filter banks is very similar to the two-channel FIR case. Using this formulation, it is relatively simple to satisfy the PR condition and to ensure that the filters are causal stable. Using a similar approach, we propose a new class of M-channel causal stable IIR cosine modulated filter banks. Design examples are given to demonstrate the usefulness of proposed approach.published_or_final_versio

New design method for two-channel perfect reconstruction IIR filter banks

In this paper, a new method for designing perfect reconstruction (PR) two-channel causal stable IIR filter banks is introduced. It is based on a structure previously proposed by Phoong et al. [2]. By using a combination of allpass and linear-phase FIR functions, the bumping problem found in the conventional structural PR filter bank is significantly suppressed. The design problem is formulated as a polynomial approximation problem and is solved effectively using the Remez exchange algorithm. Filter banks with flexible stopband attenuation and system delay can readily be obtained using the proposed algorithm.published_or_final_versio

Fungal infections in liver transplant recipients

Sixty-two adults who underwent orthotopic liver transplantations between February 1981 and June 1983 were followed for a mean of 170 days after the operation. Twenty-six patients developed 30 episodes of significant fungal infection. Candida species and Torulopsis glabrata were responsible for 22 episodes and Aspergillus species for 6. Most fungal infections occurred in the first month after transplantation. In the first 8 weeks after transplantation, death occurred in 69% (18/26) of patients with fungal infection but in only 8% (3/36) of patients without fungal infection (P<0.0005). The cause of death, however, was usually multifactorial, and not solely due to the fungal infection. Fungal infections were associated with the following clinical factors: administration of preoperative steroids (P<0.05) and antibiotics (P<0.05), longer transplant operative time (P<0.02), longer posttransplant operative time (P<0.01), duration of antibiotic use after transplant surgery (P<0.001), and the number of steroid boluses administered to control rejection in the first 2 posttransplant months (P<0.01). Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis had fewer fungal infections than patients with other underlying liver diseases (P<0.05). A total of 41% (9/22) of Candida infections resolved, but all Aspergillus infections ended in death. © 1985 by The Williams & Wilkins Co