255 research outputs found
sj-pdf-1-prf-10.1177_02676591211073779 – Supplemental material for Limiting calcium overload after cardiac arrest: The role of human albumin in controlled automated reperfusion of the whole body
No full textSupplemental material, sj-pdf-1-prf-10.1177_02676591211073779 for Limiting calcium overload after cardiac arrest: The role of human albumin in controlled automated reperfusion of the whole body by Jan-Steffen Pooth, Sam J Brixius, Christian Scherer, Patric Diel, Yechi Liu, Itumeleng C Taunyane, Domagoj Damjanovic, Martin Wolkewitz, Jörg Haberstroh, Christoph Benk, Georg Trummer and Friedhelm Beyersdorf in Perfusion</p
Adherence to a flexible extended regimen for oral hormonal contraception provided in a blister packaging compared with an adherence-supporting digital tablet dispenser: historical comparison of data from two clinical studies
No full textJörg Elliesen, Dietmar Trummer Bayer Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany Background: The Clyk™ digital pill dispenser helps ensure correct and consistent administration of a flexible extended regimen of the combined oral contraceptive, ethinylestradiol (EE) 20 µg/drospirenone 3 mg (EE/drospirenoneFlex; YAZ® Flex), guiding users through the intake cycle and 4-day pill break and providing visible and acoustic daily reminders when pill intake is due. A study showed that the audible alarm function of the dispenser could help reduce the number of missed pills, but it lacked an appropriate “non-dispenser” group for a meaningful assessment of the impact of the dispenser on adherence. This study indirectly assessed the overall effect of the digital dispenser on adherence by comparing data from a treatment with standard blister packaging.Materials and methods: One-year adherence data were compared from two similarly designed, Phase III, open-label, randomized trials of EE/drospirenoneFlex. In study 1, women used diary cards to record adherence with EE/drospirenoneFlex dispensed in blister packs (n=640), and in study 2 the dispenser was used with the alarm activated (n=250) or deactivated (n=248) in addition to using diary cards.Results: A mean (±SD) of 4.3 (±4.24) missed pills over 1 year were recorded in diary cards among women who dispensed their pills from the blister packages (study 1) compared with 1.0 (±2.4) recorded by the alarm-activated dispenser (study 2). In study 2, a mean of 1.9 (±4.2) missed pills were reported in the diaries over 1 year compared with 4.4 (±9.1) from automatic recording by the dispenser (both arms of study 2), indicating underreporting of missed pills in diary cards vs the digital dispenser. Adjusting for this rate of underreporting, an estimated mean of ten pills were missed over 1 year by women using EE/drospirenoneFlex in blister packs, or ten times more than with the digital dispenser with activated acoustic alarm.Conclusion: The digital dispenser helps reduce the number of missed pills and increases adherence. Keywords: compliance, contraception, drospirenone, ethinylestradiol, flexible extended regimen, efficacy, pill dispense
Efficacy and safety of a low-dose combined oral contraceptive containing drospirenone 3 mg and ethinylestradiol 20 mcg in a 24/4-day regimen
No full textObjective: The study was conducted to assess the efficacy of a low-dose combined oral contraceptive (COC) containing drospirenone (drsp) 3 mg/ethinylestradiol (EE) 20 mcg administered for 24 days of active treatment followed by a 4-day hormone-free interval (24/4 regimen). Study Design: In this open-label uncontrolled study conducted in 50 European centers, healthy females aged 18-35 years with a body mass index of less than 30 kg/m2 received drsp 3 mg/EE 20 mcg 24/4 over 13 cycles. The primary efficacy variable was the number of unintended pregnancies. Results: Five pregnancies occurred among 1101 women over 13,248 treatment cycles, resulting in a Pearl Index (PI) of 0.49 with an upper two-sided 95% CI limit of 1.14. Of these pregnancies, three were attributed to noncompliance with tablet use resulting in an adjusted PI for 'perfect use' of 0.22 (upper limit of two-sided 95% CI: 0.80) based on 11,755 cycles. Conclusion: Drospirenone 3 mg/EE 20 mcg 24/4 is a highly effective COC in nonobese women. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Widespread fluid expulsion along the seafloor of the Costa Rica convergent margin
No full textActive fluid and gas transport were measured and observed along more than 200 km of the convergent margin of Costa Rica during cruise SO144-2 aboard RV Sonne. Ten profiles were run with the TV-sled OFOS, eight of which detected the dense occurrence of cold vent sites. This discovery shows that seafloor fluid expulsion is widely spread along the Pacific margin of Costa Rica. Surficial evidence of fluid expulsion is indicated by the appearance of chemosynthetic vent organisms such as bacterial mats, vesicomyid, solemyid and mytilid bivalves and tubeworms. Numerous active vents were indicated by elevated methane concentrations (? 200 nmol L) in the bottom water. Although fluid-venting activity was known previously from a small area south of Nicoya Peninsula, the present study documents active seepage at landslides, headwall scarps related to seamount subduction, morphological intersections of faults and mid-slope mud volcanoes.<br/
Study of a Positron Emission Mammograph
No full textToday breast cancer is among the most common causes of death for women. One in eight women will develop a tumour in her breast at least once in her lifetime. An early detection of the cancer is crucial to the patient's survival and recovery. For early detec- tion it is necessary to have an instrument with high spatial resolution and efficiency. The scope of this thesis is two aspects of a dedicated PET scanner for mammography developed by the Crystal Clear Collaboration, the ClearPEM. The first half of the thesis deals with the experimental work on scintillation crystals which constitute the main part of the detector. The second part looks into the design of the whole system and the possibility of future enhancements by adding an ultrasound probe and /or a veto-counter. The effects of these changes are studied by employing simulation tools. The key to excellent detector performance is to use scintillation crystals with properties best matched to the requirements of a given application. To better understand the scintillation characteristics of the crystals, how they are influenced by their production history and how to improve their properties, this study compares scintillation materials of three producers in respect to light yield, decay time and transmission characteristics. The non-proportional response to different photon energies and the intrinsic energy resolution of the scintillation crystals is also studied. In addition to the already mentioned properties scintillation crystals for the ClearPEM detector have to be able to resolve the position of the interaction of the photon in the crystal with high precision. Two different scintillation materials are studied with the ob jective of reaching the necessary depth of interaction resolution. The influence of the surface condition on the depth of interaction resolution is also examined. Two ma jor constraints exist in PET imaging. A PET image shows only the metabolism of the cells in the patient, no morphological information can be obtained. For this purpose an ultrasound probe is going to be integrated into the ClearPEM system. The second issue is organ activity, which is especially relevant in breast imaging because of the closeness of the region of interest to the heart. This is the main source for random coincidences. A veto counter on the patient's back is proposed to reduce the random coincidence rate. A series of Monte Carlo simulations was performed which show the negative and positive changes in sensitivity caused by changes in the scanner geometry necessary to implement the ultrasound probe and random background reduction with the veto-counter
ZEEMAN EFFECT IN EMERALD WITH LARGE MAGNETIC FIELDS
No full textAuthor Institution: Bell Telephone Laboratories, IncorporatedEmerald is doped beryl, and the ion lies on a site having approximately octahedral coordination of oxygen ligands. The crystal field levels of the ion have been previously reported in an analysis of the broad features of the spectrum. The red fluorescence lines are sharp enough to partially resolve the Zeeman splitting with D.C. magnetic fields up to 31 kilogauss. The patterns are completely resolved in absorption for very high fields (200 kilogauss) generated by pulse techniques. The patterns for both zero field and large field give a measure of the trigonal distortion of the octahedral site, the orbital reduction in the excited state, and the spin-orbit coupling parameter. These will be discussed after some brief comments on the production of large pulsed magnetic fields for spectroscopy
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