Paired Forest Plots of the Sensitivity and Specificity of DRE for the diagnosis of appendicitis.

<p>Paired Forest Plots of the Sensitivity and Specificity of DRE for the diagnosis of appendicitis.</p

Clinical features of included studies.

<p>^a tenderness</p><p>Clinical features of included studies.</p

Relationship between pre and post-test probability based on the pooled LR+ and LR-.

<p>Relationship between pre and post-test probability based on the pooled LR+ and LR-.</p

Shorter dialysis session length was not associated with lower mental health and physical functioning in elderly hemodialysis patients: Results from the Japan Dialysis Outcome and Practice Patterns Study (J-DOPPS)

<div><p>Background</p><p>Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is often prioritized over long-term survival in elderly patients. Although a longer dialysis session length (DSL) has been shown to reduce mortality, its effects on improving the HRQOL are unknown.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Using data from the Japan Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (J-DOPPS), patients aged ≥ 65 years on maintenance hemodialysis were enrolled. DSL was categorized as short (<210 minutes), medium (210–240 minutes), or long (>240 minutes). The primary outcomes were changes in mental health (ΔMH) and physical functioning (ΔPF) scores assessed using the Japanese version of SF-12, in one year. The differences in the ΔMH and ΔPF among the three groups were assessed via regression (beta) coefficients derived using a linear regression model.</p><p>Results</p><p>Of 1,187 patients at baseline, 319 (26.9%) had a short length, 686 (57.8%) a medium length, and 182 (15.3%) a long length. We assessed the ΔMH data from 793 patients and the ΔPF data from 738. No significant differences in the ΔMH were noted for the short or long groups compared with the medium group (score difference: 0.26, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -4.17 to 4.69 for short; score difference: -1.15, 95% CI: -6.17 to 3.86 for long). Similarly, no significant differences were noted for these groups versus the medium group in ΔPF either (score difference: -1.43, 95% CI: -6.73 to 3.87 for short; score difference: -1.71, 95% CI: -7.63 to 4.22 for long).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>A shorter DSL might have no adverse effects on MH or PF for elderly patients.</p></div

Association between dialysis session length and change in mental health or physical functioning at one year after study initiation.

<p>Association between dialysis session length and change in mental health or physical functioning at one year after study initiation.</p

Multiple imputation using predictive mean matching (pmm) for censoring during study follow-up.

<p>Multiple imputation using predictive mean matching (pmm) for censoring during study follow-up.</p

Baseline characteristics of patients, categorized by dialysis session length.

<p>Baseline characteristics of patients, categorized by dialysis session length.</p

Participant flow diagram and the study selection process.

<p>Participant flow diagram and the study selection process.</p

Additional file 2: Figure S2. of Computed tomography during initial management and mortality among hemodynamically unstable blunt trauma patients: a nationwide retrospective cohort study

The distribution of propensity scores of the CT group and No CT group. The sufficient overlap in propensity scores indicates that there were no significant differences between the two groups. (TIF 7131 kb

Accelerated calcification and upregulation of ALP in GGCX dermal fibroblasts.

<p>(A) There were more mineral particles in GGCX dermal fibroblasts (Pt) than in normal dermal fibroblasts (CON) after 7 and 14 days of osteogenic induction. (B) Particles were positive for von Kossa staining at 11 days after induction. (C) ALP staining of normal and GGCX dermal fibroblasts at day 4 with (+) or without (-) induction. Periosteoblasts (POB) were positive controls for osteogenic induction. The bar depicts 100 μm in (A, C) (original magnification, ×40) and 20 μm in (B) (original magnification, ×100). (D) ALP-positive cells were counted in ten randomly selected fields. 1 field = 12.56 mm². (E) ALP activity analysis. Assays were performed using three different normal dermal fibroblast cell lines (CON1, CON2, and CON4) at day 4 without (open columns) or with (closed columns) osteogenic induction. Results are shown as mean ± SD. (F) Real-time PCR analysis of ALP. Assays were performed using three different normal dermal fibroblast cell lines (CON1–3) at day 4 without (open columns) or with (closed columns) osteogenic induction. Results are shown as mean ± SD. *: <i>P</i> < 0.05, **: <i>P</i> < 0.005, and ***: <i>P</i> < 0.0005. These experiments were performed at least twice, and a representative data set is shown.</p