Design.
Systematic review.
Methods.
We conducted searches in MEDLINE of literature published from 1950 through July 2008. Due to a limited number of studies using controls or comparators, we included observational
and rigorous qualitative studies. We systematically rated the quality of systematic reviews, cohort, and case-control design studies.
Results.
One systematic review, 93 observational studies, and one qualitative research study met inclusion criteria. The literature search yielded no published studies that assessed measures of pain intensity or pain-related functional interference among patients with cognitive deficits due to TBI, that compared patients with blast-related headache with patients with other selleck types of headache, or that assessed treatments for blast-related headache pain. Studies on the association between TBI severity and pain reported mixed findings. There was limited evidence that the following factors are associated with pain among TBI patients: severity, location,
and multiplicity of injuries; insomnia; fatigue; depression; and find more post-traumatic stress disorder.
Conclusions.
Very little evidence is currently available to guide pain assessment and treatment approaches in patients with polytrauma. Further research employing systematic observational as well as controlled intervention designs is clearly indicated.”
“The performance of image analysis algorithms applied to magnetic resonance images is strongly influenced by the pulse sequences used to acquire the images. Algorithms are typically optimized for a targeted tissue contrast obtained from a particular implementation of a pulse sequence on a specific scanner. There are many practical situations, including multi-institution trials, rapid emergency scans, and scientific use of historical data, where the images are not acquired according to an optimal protocol or the desired tissue contrast Buparlisib mw is entirely missing. This paper introduces an image restoration technique that recovers
images with both the desired tissue contrast and a normalized intensity profile. This is done using patches in the acquired images and an atlas containing patches of the acquired and desired tissue contrasts. The method is an example-based approach relying on sparse reconstruction from image patches. Its performance in demonstrated using several examples, including image intensity normalization, missing tissue contrast recovery, automatic segmentation, and multimodal registration. These examples demonstrate potential practical uses and also illustrate limitations of our approach.”
“A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether it is best to repair or replace the aortic valve with a bioprosthesis in young patients with severe aortic regurgitation as the patients do not like to take warfarin for the rest of life.