Rindomroberts2947

Ultrasound imaging of the lung (LUS) and associated tissues has demonstrated clinical utility in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possibilities of a portable pocket-sized ultrasound scanner in the evaluation of lung involvement in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. We conducted 437 paired readings in 34 LUS evaluations of hospitalized individuals with COVID-19. The LUS scans were performed on the same day with a standard high-end ultrasound scanner (Venue GO, GE Healthcare, Chicago, IL, USA) and a pocket-sized ultrasound scanner (Butterfly iQ, Butterfly Network Inc., Guilford, CT, USA). Fourteen scans were performed on individuals with severe cases, 11 on individuals with moderate cases and nine on individuals with mild cases. No difference was observed between groups in days since onset of symptoms (23.29 ± 10.07, 22.91 ± 8.91 and 28.56 ± 11.13 d, respectively; p = 0.38). No significant differences were found between LUS scores obtained with the high-end and the portable pocket-sized ultrasound scanner. LUS scores in individuals with mild respiratory impairment were significantly lower than in those with moderate and severe cases. Our study confirms the possibilities of portable pocket-sized ultrasound imaging of the lung in COVID-19 patients. Portable pocket-sized ultrasound scanners are cheap, easy to handle and equivalent to standard scanners for non-invasive assessment of severity and dynamic observation of lung lesions in COVID-19 patients.The aim of the study was to investigate the diagnostic ability of an innovative method called "Double-Flash" during contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) examination in papillary thyroid microcarcinomas. A total of 43 nodules measuring less then 10 mm and with definite pathology confirmed by surgery or fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) were included in this study. The bottom of "Flash" was pressed in the 40th and 60th seconds, respectively, defined as "Double-Flash." The curve of reperfusion was evaluated and the diagnostic value of "Double-Flash" was compared with that of CEUS. Pathologic results obtained by surgery or FNAB revealed there were 27 malignant and 16 benign nodules. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CEUS were 70.0%, 53.8% and 65.1%. With "Double-Flash," the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 92.3%, 82.3% and 88.4%, respectively. The difference was statistically significant. Higher diagnostic ability is obtained with "Double-Flash." The parameter based on the new method could improve the diagnostic performance of quantitative diagnosis in CEUS. The change in the perfusion curve after "Flash" may be a strong indicator of malignancy.

To evaluate the necessity of postoperative repetitive uroflowmetry and postvoid residual volume (PVR) in women with advanced anterior vaginal prolapse.

Women with anterior vaginal prolapse stages III and IV who underwent surgery were included in this prospective cohort study. The surgical procedures included laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy (LSC), transvaginal mesh repair (TVM) and native tissue repair (NTR). Uroflowmetry, a PVR examination, the Urinary Distress Inventory-6 (UDI-6) and the Urinary Impact Questionnaire-7 (UIQ-7) were administered pre- and postoperatively. Moreover, pre- and postoperative uroflowmetry parameters were compared in women with/without an improvement in voiding difficulties according to the answer of questionnaires at one year after surgery. Paired sample t-tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, χ2 tests were used for analyses.

A total of 85 women were included in the study, and data were available for 47 of them at 1-year follow-up. Approximately half of women with advanced anterior vaginal prolapse had symptoms of voiding dysfunction, the rate of which decreased to approximately 10% postoperatively. The UDI-6 and UIQ-7 indicated a significant improvement postoperatively from baseline (both p<0.05). The PVR decreased significantly after surgery (p = 0.000). Uroflowmetry parameters remained stable within 1 year after surgery (all p＞0.05) both in the improved and unimproved groups (both p＞0.05).

Symptoms of voiding dysfunction are improved significantly after surgery. Postoperative uroflowmetry appears to be unnecessary one year after pelvic floor reconstructive surgery.

Symptoms of voiding dysfunction are improved significantly after surgery. Postoperative uroflowmetry appears to be unnecessary one year after pelvic floor reconstructive surgery.Pollution of freshwaters poses a major threat to water quality and human health and thus, nutrients have been targeted for mitigation. One such control measure is floating treatment wetlands (FTWs), which are designed to employ vigorous macrophytes above the water surface and extensive plant root system below the water surface to increase plant uptake of nutrients. The efficacy of FTWs in purifying different water systems has been widely studied and reviewed, but most studies have been performed in warm periods when FTW macrophytes are actively growing. In low-temperature conditions, the metabolic processes of macrophytes and microbial activity are usually weakened or reduced by the winter months and are not actively assimilating pollutants. These circumstances hamper the purification ability of FTWs to perform as designed. Furthermore, decayed macrophytes could release pollutants into the water column. Hence, this paper aimed to systematically summarize strategies for use of enhanced FTWs in eutrophic water improvement at low temperature and identify future directions to be addressed in intensifying FTW performance in low-temperature conditions. Low-temperature FTW show variable nutrient removal efficiencies ranging from 22% to 98%. selleck Current amendments to enhance FTW purification performance, ranging from direct strategies for internal components to indirect enhancement of external operation environments encourage the FTW efficacy to some extent. However, the sustainability and sufficiency of water purification efficiency remain a great challenge. Keeping in mind the need for optimizing the FTW components and dealing with high organic and inorganic chemicals, future research should be carried out at the large field-scale and focus on macrophyte- benthos- microorganism synergistic enhancement, breeding of cold-tolerant macrophytes, and combination of FTWs with many strategies, as well as rational design and operational approaches under cold conditions.