METHODS: The national nephrology societies of the region; responded to the questionnaire; based on latest registries, acceptable community-based studies and society perceptions. The countries in the region were classified into Group 1 (High|higher-middle-income) and Group 2 (lower|lowermiddle income). Student t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test were used for comparison.
RESULTS: Fifteen countries provided the data. The average incidence of ESKD was estimated at 226.7 per million population (pmp), (Group 1 vs. Group 2, 305.8 vs. 167.8 pmp) and average prevalence at 940.8 pmp (Group 1 vs. Group 2, 1306 vs. 321 pmp). Group 1 countries had a higher incidence and prevalence of ESKD. Diabetes, hypertension and chronic glomerulonephritis were most common causes. The mean age in Group 2 was lower by a decade (Group 1 vs. Group 2-59.45 vs 47.7 years).
CONCLUSION: Haemodialysis was the most common kidney replacement therapy in both groups and conservative management of ESKD was the second commonest available treatment option within Group 2. The disease burden was expected to grow >20% in 50% of Group 1 countries and 78% of Group 2 countries along with the parallel growth in haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
METHODS: The National Nephrology Societies of the region responded to a questionnaire on KRT practices. The responses were based on the latest registry data, acceptable community-based studies and societal perceptions. The representative countries were divided into high income and higher-middle income (HI & HMI) and low income and lower-middle income (LI & LMI) groups.
RESULTS: Data provided by 15 countries showed almost similar percentage of GDP as health expenditure (4%-7%). But there was a significant difference in per capita income (HI & HMI -US$ 28 129 vs. LI & LMI - US$ 1710.2) between the groups. Even after having no significant difference in monthly cost of haemodialysis (HD) and PD in LI & LMI countries, they have poorer PD utilization as compared to HI & HMI countries (3.4% vs. 10.1%); the reason being lack of formal training/incentives and time constraints for the nephrologist while lack of reimbursement and poor general awareness of modalities has been a snag for the patients. The region expects ≥10% PD growth in the near future. Hong Kong and Thailand with 'PD first' policy have the highest PD utilization.
CONCLUSION: Important deterrents to PD underutilization were lack of PD centric policies, lackadaisical patient/physician's attitude, lack of structured patient awareness programs, formal training programs and affordability.
Materials and Methods: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted with 100 patients who wanted single-rooted teeth to be extracted (which failed endodontically). The participants have been randomized into two equal groups named as - (i) a periotome group (ii) and a piezotome group. Duration of the surgery, postoperative pain within 7 days, complications (if any) associated with the extraction process were performed as a part of clinical assessment. Bone loss has been analyzed 6 months after the surgery radiographically. The data have been recorded and analyzed using the version 22.0 of the SPSS software package.
Results: All parameters in the periotome category (P < 0.05) were statistically significant except for bone loss and gingival laceration in comparison to piezotome group. In the piezotome group, a longer time was observed for surgery and delayed pain control was achieved. In our study, we found statistically significant more marginal bone loss in piezotome group in comparison with periotome group.
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that for intraoperative and postoperative comfort periotome could be used as a safer and cheaper option for atraumatic extractions but piezosurgery may prove as a better choice soon for surgeries in the maxillofacial region to maintain soft-tissue integrity.
METHODS: This study is part of the CASCADE international initiative. From February 18, 2019, to July 18, 2020, we followed ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke hospitalization rates and outcomes in Valiasr Hospital, Zanjan, Iran. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model and an interrupted time series analysis (ITS) to identify changes in stroke hospitalization rate, baseline stroke severity [measured by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS)], disability [measured by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS)], presentation time (last seen normal to hospital presentation), thrombolytic therapy rate, median door-to-needle time, length of hospital stay, and in-hospital mortality. We compared in-hospital mortality between study periods using Cox-regression model.
RESULTS: During the study period, 1,026 stroke patients were hospitalized. Stroke hospitalization rates per 100,000 population decreased from 68.09 before the pandemic to 44.50 during the pandemic, with a significant decline in both Bayesian [Beta: -1.034; Standard Error (SE): 0.22, 95% CrI: -1.48, -0.59] and ITS analysis (estimate: -1.03, SE = 0.24, p
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 19-item electronic survey was sent to two research committee members from the 14 representative national radiation oncology organizations (N = 28) that are a part of FARO.
RESULTS: Thirteen of the 14 member organizations (93%) and 20 of 28 members (71.5%) responded to the questionnaire. Only 50% of the members stated that an active research environment existed in their country. Retrospective audits (80%) and observational studies (75%) were the most common type of research conducted in these centers. Lack of time (80%), lack of funding (75%), and limited training in research methodology (40%) were cited as the most common hindrances in conducting research. To promote research initiatives in the collaborative setting, 95% of the members agreed to the creation of site-specific groups, with head and neck (45%) and gynecological cancers (25%) being the most preferred disease sites. Projects focused on advanced external beam radiotherapy implementation (40%), and cost-effectiveness studies (35%) were cited as some of the potential areas for future collaboration. On the basis of the survey results, after result discussion and the FARO officers meeting, an action plan for the research committee has been created.
CONCLUSION: The results from the survey and the initial policy structure may allow facilitation of radiation oncology research in the collaborative setting. Centralization of research activities, funding support, and research-directed training are underway to help foster a successful research environment in the FARO region.
METHODS: The system typically consists of segmenting the calcium region from the CT scan into slices based on Hounsfield Unit-based threshold, and subsequently computing the summation of the calcium areas in each slice. However, when the carotid volume has intermittently higher concentration of contrast agent, a dependable approach is adapted to correct the calcium region using the neighboring slices, thereby estimating the correct volume. Furthermore, mitigation is provided following the regulatory constraints by changing the system to semi-automated criteria as a fall back solution. We evaluate the automated and semi-automated techniques using completely manual calcium volumes computed based on the manual tracings by the neuroradiologist.
RESULTS: A total of 64 patients with calcified plaque in the internal carotid artery were analyzed. Using the above algorithm, our automated and semi-automated system yields correlation coefficients (CC) of 0.89 and 0.96 against first manual readings and 0.90 and 0.96 against second manual readings, respectively. Using the t-test, there was no significant difference between the automated and semi-automated methods against manual. The intra-observer reliability was excellent with CC 0.98.
CONCLUSIONS: Compared to automated method, the semi-automated method for calcium volume is acceptable and closer to manual strategy for calcium volume. Further work evaluating and confirming the performance of our semi-automated protocol is now warranted.