Technique and diagnostic utility of saline infusion sonohysterography

The introduction of saline infusion sonohysterography has significantly improved sonographic diagnosis of various endometrial pathologies. This procedure entails instillation of warm saline into the uterine cavity transcervically to provide enhanced visualization of the endometrium during transvaginal ultrasound examination. This article reviews the sonohysterography technique and current utility, as well as the spectrum of imaging features of various endometrial pathologies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135202/1/ijgo5.pd

Development and Psychometric Properties of the Standardized Assessment of Severity of Personality Disorder (SASPD)

Personality disorder (PD) is increasingly categorized according to its severity, but there is no simple way to screen for severity according to ICD-11 criteria. We set out to develop the Standardized Assessment of Severity of Personality Disorder (SASPD). A total of 110 patients completed the SASPD together with a clinical assessment of the severity of personality disorder. We examined the predictive ability of the SASPD using the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Two to four weeks later, 43 patients repeated the SASPD to examine reliability. The SASPD had good predictive ability for determining mild (AUC = 0.86) and moderate (AUC = 0.84) PD at cut points of 8 and 10, respectively. Test-retest reliability of the SASPD was high (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.93, 95% CI [0.88, 0.96]). The SASPD thus provides a simple, brief, and reliable indicator of the presence of mild or moderate PD according to ICD-11 criteria. </jats:p

Helicobacter pylori Modulates Lymphoepithelial Cell Interactions Leading to Epithelial Cell Damage through Fas/Fas Ligand Interactions

Helicobacter pylori causes a common chronic infection of humans that leads to epithelial cell damage. Studies have shown that apoptosis of the gastric epithelium is increased during infection and this response is associated with an expansion of gastric T-helper type 1 (Th1) cells. We report that gastric T cells contribute to apoptosis of the epithelium by a Fas/Fas ligand (FasL) interaction. Fas receptor expression was detected on freshly isolated gastric epithelial cells by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry, and this level of expression was increased during infection with H. pylori. The expression of Fas receptor on three gastric epithelial cell lines was increased by H. pylori, either alone or in combination with gamma interferon or tumor necrosis factor alpha. The role of Fas in apoptosis of gastric epithelial cell lines was evidenced by DNA fragmentation after cross-linking of Fas with specific antibodies. FasL expression was detected by immunohistochemistry on mononuclear cells in gastric biopsy specimens of infected but not uninfected subjects. Gastric T-cell lines were also shown to express FasL, as evidenced by reverse transcription-PCR and killing of target cells expressing Fas receptor. Moreover, these T-cell lines were capable of killing cultured gastric epithelial target cells and antibodies that block the interaction between Fas receptor and FasL inhibited this cytotoxic activity. These observations demonstrate that local Th1 cells may contribute to the pathogenesis of gastric disease during H. pylori infection by increasing the expression of Fas on gastric epithelial cells and inducing apoptosis through Fas/FasL interactions

Development and psychometric properties of the Standardized Assessment of Severity of Personality Disorder

Aims Personality disorder is increasingly categorised according to its severity, but there is no simple way to screen for severity according to ICD-11 criteria.We set out to develop the Standardized Assessment of Severity of Personality Disorder (SASPD). Methods 110 patients completed the SASPD together with a clinical assessment of the severity of personality disorder. We examined the predictive ability of the SASPD using the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Two to four weeks later 43 patients repeated the SASPD to examine reliability. Results The SASPD had good predictive ability for determining mild (AUC =0.86) and moderate (AUC=0.84) PD at cut points of 8 and 10 respectively. Test retest reliability of the SASPD was high (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.88 to 0.96). Conclusion The SASPD provides a simple, brief and reliable indicator of the presence of mild or moderate PD according to ICD-11 criteria

Electricity Exchange: Demand Side Unit performance monitoring

Demand Side Response management encourages elec- tricity demand reduction during peak hours. One avenue for achieving this is through Demand Side Units (DSUs). These are large electricity consumers who can afford to reduce their demand on the electricity grid when required. Issues with DSUs revolve around verification that the correct demand reduction takes place, with limited monitoring capabilities from the electrical grid operator Eir- Grid. This issue is studied here with the current methods thoroughly analysed and new methods proposed. In this report six different forecasting methods are presented, and their accuracy is compared using two different error metrics. Due to inherent stochasticity in demand it is found that there is no one fore- casting method which is unequivocally best, but the ‘Keep it simple’ weekly and the temperature dependent models are identified as the most promising models to pursue. Initial investigations suggest that a ‘proxy day’ mechanism may be preferable to the current method of verifying that the correct demand reduction takes place