Meaning making

The changing trend of soil available phosphorus (Olsen-P) content in soil and its relationship with soil phosphorus surplus and crop yield are fundamental when making appropriate phosphate fertilizer recommendations. In this paper, the influences of long-term fertilization on crops phosphorus uptake, soil phosphorus surplus, changing trend of soil available phosphorus content and relationships of soil available phosphorus content with soil phosphorus surplus and crop yield were investigated through 34 years (1981-2015) long-term trial in loessial soil region on the Loess Plateau...

Docetaxel has demonstrated extraordinary anticancer effects on lung cancer. However, lack of optimal bioavailability due to poor solubility and high toxicity at its therapeutic dose has hampered the clinical use of this anticancer drug. Development of nanoemulsion formulation along with biocompatible excipients aimed for pulmonary delivery is a potential strategy to deliver this poorly aqueous soluble drug with improved bioavailability and biocompatibility. In this work, screening and selection of pharmaceutically acceptable excipients at their minimal optimal concentration have been conducted...

BACKGROUND: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a successful procedure to treat end-stage hip osteoarthritis. The procedure is increasingly performed in adults of working age, who often wish to return to sports (RTS) and return to work (RTW). However, a systematic overview of the evidence on RTS and RTW after THA is lacking. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to systematically review (1) the extent to which patients RTS and RTW after THA, including (2) the time to RTS and RTW...

PURPOSE: Health state utility values are derived from preference-based measurements and are useful in calculating quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), which is a metric commonly used in cost-effectiveness studies. The purpose of this study was to convert the Achilles Tendon Rupture Score (ATRS) to the preference-based European Quality of Life-5 Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D) by estimating the relationship between the two scores using mapping. METHODS: Data were collected from a randomised controlled trial, where 100 patients were treated either surgically or non-surgically for Achilles tendon rupture...

OBJECTIVES: To examine how medical students notice issues in a vignette and construct their meaning, and how this construction influences their plan to communicate with the patient. METHODS: Following a breaking bad news course for 112 senior medical students, we qualitatively analyzed the participants' written descriptions of the issues they noticed as requiring special attention, using an Immersion/Crystallization iterative consensus process. RESULTS: Different students noticed different issues, but no-one noticed all 19 planted issues (Mean of issues noticed by students = 6...

This paper presents a particle swarm tracking algorithm with improved inertia weight based on color features. The weighted color histogram is used as the target feature to reduce the contribution of target edge pixels in the target feature, which makes the algorithm insensitive to the target non-rigid deformation, scale variation, and rotation. Meanwhile, the influence of partial obstruction on the description of target features is reduced. The particle swarm optimization algorithm can complete the multi-peak search, which can cope well with the object occlusion tracking problem...

BACKGROUND: The contrast between memory versus executive function impairments is commonly used to differentiate between neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). We reconsidered this question because of the current use of AD biomarkers and the recent revision of the criteria for AD, VCI, and dysexecutive syndrome. OBJECTIVE: To establish and compare the neuropsychological profiles in AD (i.e., with positive CSF biomarkers) and in VCI...

BACKGROUND: Current assessment tools for sport-related concussion are limited by a reliance on subjective interpretation and patient symptom reporting. Robotic assessments may provide more objective and precise measures of neurological function than traditional clinical tests. OBJECTIVE: To determine the reliability of assessments of sensory, motor and cognitive function conducted with the KINARM end-point robotic device in young adult elite athletes. METHODS: Sixty-four randomly selected healthy, young adult elite athletes participated...

PURPOSE: To study optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and multimodal imaging features of Type 1 inflammatory choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in tubercular serpiginous-like choroiditis and response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy. METHODS: In this study, multimodal imaging was performed using OCTA, enhanced-depth imaging optical coherence tomography, fluorescein angiography, and indocyanine green angiography. Correlation of OCTA with other imaging modalities in the detection of CNV was performed...

Aortic stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease and the prevalence increases with age. Common symptoms include dyspnea, angina, and syncope. Echocardiography is a cornerstone in diagnosis of aortic stenosis. Severe aortic stenosis is defined as peak aortic jet velocity ≥4 m/s, a mean transvalvular gradient ≥40 mmHg, and/or an aortic valve area <1.0 cm2. The two-year mortality in patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis is 50 percent without intervention. The only efficient treatment is intervention, either open heart valve replacement or percutaneous transcatheter implantation of an aortic valve prosthesis (TAVI), which both provide symptomatic relief and improved survival...

The authors analyse herein their experience gained in performing the operation of exoprosthetic repair of the ascending portion of the aorta in patients presenting with an ascending aortic aneurysm. This is followed by assessing the results in the remote period. Over the period of follow up from 2012 to 2016 a total of 23 interventions were performed. The average duration of postoperative follow up amounted to 27±9.4 (2-40) months. In the remote period we managed to obtain the data for 20 (90.1%) patients...

The purpose of the study was to examine a possibility of functional assessment of the great saphenous vein (GSV) with the help of a day orthostatic loading test for prognosis of restoration of the function of the GSV afterremoving its varicose tributaries in patients with primary varicose veins. Our prospective study included a total of sixty-five 29-to-53-year-old patients (15 men and 50 women, mean age - 36.7 years). The total number of the lower limb examined amounted to 87. All patients underwent ultrasonographic examination (duplex scanning) prior to operation, 1 and 12 months thereafter...

Analysed herein are the results of using radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in comprehensive surgical treatment of patients presenting with varicose veins of the lower extremities. The study included a series of ninety-eight 28-to-60-year-old patients (with a total of 105 operations performed) suffering from varicose veins of the lower limbs. Of these, there were 10 men (10.3%) and 88 women (89.7%). Venous disease of clinical class C2 according to the CEAP classification was diagnosed in 80 patients, that of class C3 in 17, and that of class C4a in 1 patient...

The main function of the microcirculatory bed consists in maintaining tissue homeostasis at an optimal level irrespective of the effect of various external and internal factors. Of all types of metabolism (diffusive, filtration-reabsorption and vesicular), directly dependent on the haemodynamic parameters is filtration-reabsorption metabolism which provides exchange of water, low-molecular-weight and water-soluble substances at the opposite to the heart «pole» of the cardiovascular system. The present study was aimed at testing a hypothesis that activation of metabolic processes in man would be accompanied by alterations in haemodynamic parameters which may be registered by means of modern non-invasive methods of examination, i...

PURPOSE: This study examined the power output distribution and sprint characteristics of professional female road cyclists. METHODS: 31 race files, representing top-five finishes, were collected from seven professional female cyclists. Files were analysed for sprint characteristics including; mean and peak power output, velocity and duration. The final 20 min before the sprint was analysed to determine the mean maximal power output (MMP) consistent with 5, 15, 30, 60, 240 and 600s durations...

This pooled analysis evaluated the efficacy and safety of semaglutide vs comparators in non-elderly (<65 years) and elderly (≥65 years) patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) across the SUSTAIN 1-5 trials. Patients were randomised to once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide (0.5 or 1.0 mg) vs placebo, sitagliptin, exenatide or insulin. Primary objective was change in HbA1c ; secondary objectives were change in body weight and safety. Mean HbA1c decreased from baseline by 1.2-1.5% and 1.5-1.9% vs 0.0-0.9% (non-elderly, n=3,045) and by 1...

Nascent medical students' first view into medical school orients them toward what is considered important in medicine. Based on ethnography conducted over 18 months at a New England medical school, this article explores themes which emerged during a first-year student orientation and examines how these scripts resurface across a four-year curriculum, revealing dynamics of enculturation into an institution and the broader profession. We analyze orientation activities as discursive and embodied fields which serve "practical" purposes of making new social geographies familiar, but which also frame institutional values surrounding "soft" aspects of medicine: professionalism; dynamics of hierarchy and vulnerability; and social difference...

This article presents a hitherto unknown memorandum authored by Kurt Gerstein, the Confessing Church's resistance fighter and witness to the Holocaust. In this memorandum, submitted to the Reich Ministry of the Interior in April 1938, Gerstein deals extensively with the contemporary system of anatomical body procurement, its roots and predicaments. Putting the memorandum into the wider context of his discordant life allows a gap to be closed in Gerstein's biography, whereby his relationship with medicine presented a means of moral reorientation between a Christian requirement and the National Socialist reality...

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to determine whether habit-based interventions are clinically beneficial in achieving long-term (12-month) weight loss maintenance and explore whether making new habits or breaking old habits is more effective. METHODS: Volunteer community members aged 18-75 years who had overweight or obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 ) were randomized in a single-blind, three-arm, randomized controlled trial. Ten Top Tips (TTT), Do Something Different (DSD), and the attention-only waitlist (WL) control groups were conducted for 12 weeks from July to October 2015...

INTRODUCTION: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma affects mainly older patients. Surgery is indicated for localized tumors while chemotherapy alone is proposed in advanced or metastatic tumors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility of standard of care oncologic treatments in this population, the accuracy of the geriatric evaluation to predict the ability of patients to tolerate the recommended treatments and to identify specific geriatric prognosis factors. METHODS: We included, between 2007 and 2014, all consecutive patients over 70 years of age with a pathologically diagnosed pancreatic cancer...