Total Number Of Insertions Research Articles

Ultrasound guided Deep Vein cannulation: "Perpendicular Insertion Technique (PIT)", an edge over "Conventional Insertion Technique (CIT)".

Introduction:The use of ultrasound imaging before or during vascular cannulation greatly improves first-pass success and reduces complications, but this skill must then be combined with manual dexterity to perform the three dimensional (3D) procedure of placing a catheter into the deep veins while analyzing the 2D images. Hence this study is an attempt to still decrease the above mentioned limitation of guided deep vein cannulation by slight modification in the insertion technique.Aims and objectives:Aims to compare the ultrasound guided deep vein cannulation by conventional insertion technique(CIT) v/s ultrasound guided perpendicular insertion technique (PIT). Main comparison parameters here are number of attempts required, time taken for successful insertion, vessel counter puncture, arterial puncture and other known mechanical complications of deep venous cannulation.Material and method:Prospective, non randomized cross sectional study, done over 200 patients in two arms. Data-analysed by epi2k and state-9 software.Results:Total number of insertions were 64 by CIT v/s 136 by the PIT. Mean of number of attempts required were 1.918 with the CIT v/s 1.106 for the PIT method. Mean of time of cannulation was 78.62 + 18 sec with CIT while it was 66.98 + 12 sec for PIT and this was statistically significant(P = 0.041). Incidence of vessel counter-puncture was much lower in PIT as compared to CIT (6.1 % v/s 16.2%). 5.9% cannulation done by CIT had arterial puncture v/s 0.8% with the PIT. Not a single episode of any other mechanical complications with either of the method.Conclusion:USG guided perpendicular method is less time consuming, less number of attempts are required and there are less chances of arterial picture or vessel counter puncture.

PWE-176 Trends in Gastrostomy Insertion Over a 10 Year Period. Are the Indications Changing?

IntroductionGastrostomy insertion is a well accepted technique for enteral feeding however the most robust evidence is for patients with dysphagic stroke or head and neck cancer. Other indications for gastrostomy...

Soft Heaps Simplified

In 1998, Chazelle [J. ACM, 47 (2000), pp. 1012--1027] introduced a new kind of meldable heap (priority queue) called the soft heap. Soft heaps trade accuracy for speed: the heap operations are allowed to increase the keys of certain items, thereby making these items bad, as long as the number of bad items in the data structure is at most $\varepsilon m$, where $m$ is the total number of insertions performed so far, and $\varepsilon$ is an error parameter. The amortized time per heap operation is $O(\lg \frac{1}{\varepsilon})$, reduced from $O(\lg n)$, where $n$ is the number of items in the heap. Chazelle used soft heaps in several applications, including a faster deterministic minimum-spanning-tree algorithm and a new deterministic linear-time selection algorithm. We give a simplified implementation of soft heaps that uses less space and avoids Chazelle's dismantling operations. We also give a simpler, improved analysis that yields an amortized time bound of $O(\lg \frac{1}{\varepsilon})$ for each deleti...

Insertions and the emergence of novel protein structure: a structure-based phylogenetic study of insertions.

BackgroundIn protein evolution, the mechanism of the emergence of novel protein domain is still an open question. The incremental growth of protein variable regions, which was produced by stochastic insertions, has the potential to generate large and complex sub-structures. In this study, a deterministic methodology is proposed to reconstruct phylogenies from protein structures, and to infer insertion events in protein evolution. The analysis was performed on a broad range of SCOP domain families.ResultsPhylogenies were reconstructed from protein 3D structural data. The phylogenetic trees were used to infer ancestral structures with a consensus method. From these ancestral reconstructions, 42.7% of the observed insertions are nested insertions, which locate in previous insert regions. The average size of inserts tends to increase with the insert rank or total number of insertions in the variable regions. We found that the structures of some nested inserts show complex or even domain-like fold patterns with helices, strands and loops. Furthermore, a basal level of structural innovation was found in inserts which displayed a significant structural similarity exclusively to themselves. The β-Lactamase/D-ala carboxypeptidase domain family is provided as an example to illustrate the inference of insertion events, and how the incremental growth of a variable region is capable to generate novel structural patterns.ConclusionUsing 3D data, we proposed a method to reconstruct phylogenies. We applied the method to reconstruct the sequences of insertion events leading to the emergence of potentially novel structural elements within existing protein domains. The results suggest that structural innovation is possible via the stochastic process of insertions and rapid evolution within variable regions where inserts tend to be nested. We also demonstrate that the structure-based phylogeny enables the study of new questions relating to the evolution of protein domain and biological function.

Pre-malignant and malignant cervical pathologies among inert and copper-bearing intrauterine contraceptive device users: A 10-year follow-up study

Objectives The aim of the study was to compare the incidence of pre-malignant and malignant cervical conditions during a period of 10 years of use of inert (Szontagh) and copper-bearing IUCDs.Methods Candidates were parous women requesting intrauterine contraception regardless of the previous IUCD use and having no contraindications. Follow-ups were scheduled at 1, 6, and 12 months after insertion, and annually thereafter. Colposcopy and cytological evaluation were performed at insertion and at yearly follow-ups. For comparison of the two groups and the different follow-up periods (at the end of each ordinal year), net and gross cumulative lifetable rates were calculated. Statistical differences were measured by chi-squared test, and were regarded as significant at P ≤ 0.05.Results The total number of insertions was 3536 and 13,518 for inert and copper devices, respectively, and the maximum cumulative woman months of use (CWMU) at 10 years for the two groups were 163,567 and 492,836, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in the life table rates of terminations for suspected cervical pre-malignant and malignant conditions between the groups at the end of each ordinal year.Conclusion The copper-bearing intrauterine contraceptive devices are not associated with a significantly higher risk of cervical cancer compared to the inert IUCDs.

343NUCLEAR LOCALIZATION SIGNAL AND CELL SYNCHRONY ENHANCES GENE TARGETING EFFICIENCY IN FETAL BOVINE FIBROBLASTS

The use of primary somatic cells for nuclear transfer has facilitated the manipulation of the domestic animal genome via homologous recombination. Yet, the absolute frequency of homologous recombination (HR) in somatic cells is two orders of magnitude lower than in ES cells whereas frequencies of non-homologous end joining are higher. While a few loci have been targeted in somatic cells using enrichment strategies similar to those used in mouse ES cells, there have been problems of low efficiency, mixed targeted and non-targeted cells, and difficulties in cloning the cell after targeting. We present evidence that the use of a nuclear localization signal (nls) and S-phase cell cycle synchronization by thymidine block enhances targeting efficiency at the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase locus in primary fetal bovine fibroblasts. We designed two hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT)-targeting constructs, HPRT-DEx6 and HPRT-DEx6-nls. Both constructs have a 31-bp deletion and a PGK-puro insertion in exon 6 to ensure inactivation of the HPRT locus. Additionally, the HPRT-DEx6-nls construct contains a 180-bp cassette comprised of two 72-bp tandem repeats from SV40 enhancer known to act as nuclear localization signal. Diploid male cells that undergo targeted gene disruption at the single copy X-linked HPRT locus can be selected with 8-Azaguanine (8-AG) as HPRT cells are resistant to 8-AG; all transformants, random and targeted, can be selected in puromycin. Male primary bovine fibroblasts were electroporated with linearized targeting constructs, and plated in media containing puromycin or puromycin plus 8AG. All experiments were done in triplicate and data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA with NLS and cell synchrony as the two factors. Significance was set at P<0.01. While the total number of insertions (random plus targeted) with both constructs were equivalent, the HPRT-DEx6-nls construct produced a significantly higher number of targeted colonies (1–2 8AG-resistant colonies per 9.5×106 cells) than HPRT-DEx6 where no targeted events were seen. Cells were synchronized in the S-phase of the cell cycle by a 2mM thymidine treatment for 24 hours and electroporated with the linearized targeting constructs. Compared to non-synchronous cells, the total number of insertions (random plus targeted) was reduced by 59-fold in constructs with or without nls (P<0.01), while targeted insertions increased 6-fold in the HPRT-DEx6-nls construct, from an average of 10 per million cells without nls to 7.6 per 10 million with nls (P<0.01). All 8AG-resistant colonies were verified by Long Range-PCR, and PCR products confirmed by end sequencing. This finding has important implications for targeting in somatic cells, as with a drastic reduction in the number of random insertions, and increased targeting due to the presence of the nls, identification of a targeted colony is greatly facilitated even in cases where no enrichment protocols are available.

On an Evaluation and Optimization Model for Media Planning

In media planning, the media planner has to decide on the optimal number of insertions to be made in various media vehicles so as to maximize some measure of effectiveness. The parameters such as Reach, Gross Opportunities-To-See, Average Opportunities-To-See, Cost Per Person Reached etc. have to be evaluated for arriving at the optimal decision. In the past, researchers have developed an optimization model for determining the ideal combination of advertisement insertions that maximizes Reach. The constraints considered consist of upper bounds on the number of insertions in a vehicle and an upper bound on the total number of insertions in all vehicles. The optimal solution was obtained using dynamic programming. In this paper it is shown that the optimal solution can be obtained easily without using dynamic programming. A solution method is developed for the general case when there are lower and upper bounds on the number of insertions in each vehicle and also an upper bound on the total number of insertions. The problem of maximizing Reach when there is a budget constraint is also considered. A simple solution method is developed for some specified values of the budget. For other values of the budget, dynamic programming can be used to obtain an optimal solution.