Per-Cutaneous Trans-splenic Vein Thrombolysis of Acute Major Portal Vein Thrombosis in Post-Liver Transplant Recipient: A Unique Experience

Portal venous thrombosis (PVT) is an uncommon complication in post-liver transplant recipients. The reported incidence is 1-4%. It may occur within a month, called early or after one month of transplantation, known as late PVT. Early PVT has a poor prognosis, leading to graft failure in most cases. Treatment of such cases is quite challenging because of difficult alternative portal inflow establishment. We performed successful thrombolysis of acute major PVT with a unique technique using ultrasound-guided percutaneous trans-splenic vein access in a post-liver transplant recipient. The per-cutaneous trans- splenic vein approach-based thrombolysis described here in this report might be very helpful in similar cases. This technique minimizes the potential risk of graft loss, avoids re-exploration, has a low risk of bleeding, and is cost-effective.

The impact of information and communication technologies, CO2 emissions, and energy consumption on inclusive development in developing countries

This study investigates the impact of information and communication technologies, carbon dioxide emissions, and energy consumption on inclusive development of 81 developing countries for the period 2010-2014. Two-step system generalized method of moments has been employed to estimate these dynamic relationships among the variables in conditional and unconditional models. Our findings support the theory that ICTs can be used as policy instrument to dampen the negative effect of environmental degradation on inclusive development. The results suggest that ICTs in association with CO₂ emissions per capita positively affect inclusive development in an unconditional regression. When ICT complements CO₂ intensity, it positively affects inclusive development in mobile- and internet-oriented regressions. However, we also found net negative effects of association between ICTs and CO₂ emissions from liquid and fuel and CO₂ emissions from heat and electricity which reflects a decrease in inclusive human development. We suggest that policy makers should consider the nature and dimensions of CO₂ emissions while using ICTs as policy instrument to mitigate emissions and should invite and plan such investments in ICTs which help in attaining environmental sustainability and inclusive development.

Poloxamer-based in situ gelling thermoresponsive systems for ocular drug delivery applications

In situ gels have recently received interest as ocular drug delivery vehicles because they combine the merits of easy instillation and sustained drug release. In this review, we focus on the use of poloxamers as in situ gelling systems in ocular drug delivery because of their thermoresponsive gelling behaviour, biocompatibility, and ease of sterilisation. Furthermore, the sol-gel transition temperature, mucoadhesive properties, and drug release profiles of poloxamer-based in situ gels can be finely tuned, enabling them to be used as vehicles for the delivery of small and large drug molecules to treat diseases of the anterior and posterior segments of the eye. Poloxamer-based ocular products have already found their way to the pharmaceutical market, but remain a potential arena for further investigation and commercial exploitation.

Power line interference attenuation in multi-channel sEMG signals: Algorithms and analysis

Electromyogram (EMG) recordings are often corrupted by power line interference (PLI) even though the skin is prepared and well-designed instruments are used. This study focuses on the analysis of some of the recent and classical existing digital signal processing approaches have been used to attenuate, if not eliminate, the power line interference from EMG signals. A comparison of the signal to interference ratio (SIR) of the output signals is presented, for four methods: classical notch filter, spectral interpolation, adaptive noise canceller with phase locked loop (ANC-PLL) and adaptive filter, applied to simulated multichannel monopolar EMG signals with different SIR. The effect of each method on the shape of the EMG signals is also analyzed. The results show that ANC-PLL method gives the best output SIR and lowest shape distortion compared to the other methods. Classical notch filtering is the simplest method but some information might be lost as it removes both the interference and the EMG signals. Thus, it is obvious that notch filter has the lowest performance and it introduces distortion into the resulting signals.

Cumulative live birth rate and assisted reproduction: impact of female age and transfer day

BACKGROUND

Many studies on assisted reproductive technology examine live birth rate per cycle. However, after a cycle fails, couples often want to know what their chances are of having a live birth if they continue treatment. From a patients' perspective, the cumulative probability of live birth is more informative.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study includes patients who underwent fresh, frozen and non-donor ICSI cycles at our IVF unit between 2006-2012. Patients were divided into two groups; Group 1 represented those who underwent only Day 5 transfers, Group 2 represented only Day 3 transfers. Patients who underwent both were excluded. -Cycles were analyzed until the first live birth or the end of the 3rd cycle. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, we estimated the cumulative live birth rates for each group and according to female age.

RESULTS

The mean age for Group 1 was significantly lower than for Group 2. After 3 cycles, Group 1's CLBR was 79% versus 66% in Group 2. When analyzing the live births by age and group, there was a significant difference in the CLBR after 3 cycles with the women less than 35 years having the highest CLBR and the women 40 years or older having the lowest CLBR.

CONCLUSION

In women less than 35 years, excellent CLBR can be achieved irrespective of the transfer day. For women 40 years and above, better results of CLBR are observed with Day 5 transfers. Our findings may impact the counseling of couples considering IVF treatment.