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Radiochromic films have many applications in radiology and radiation therapy. Generally, the dosimetry system for radiochromic film dosimetry is composed of radiochromic films, flatbed scanner, and film analysis software. The purpose of this work is to present the effectiveness of a protocol for accurate radiochromic film dosimetry using Radiochromic.com as software for film analysis. Procedures for image acquisition, lot calibration, and dose calculation are explained and analyzed. Radiochromic.com enables state-of-the-art models and corrections for radiochromic film dosimetry, such as the Multigaussian model for multichannel film dosimetry, and lateral, inter-scan, and re-calibration corrections of the response. The protocol presented here provides accurate dose results by mitigating the sources of uncertainty that affect radiochromic film dosimetry. Appropriate procedures for film and scanner handling in combination with Radiochromic.com as software for film analysis make easy and accurate radiochromic film dosimetry feasible.

Background Industry commissions contracting companies to perform network meta-analysis for health technology assessment (HTA) and reimbursement submissions. Our objective was to estimate the number of network meta-analyses performed by consulting companies contracted by industry, to assess whether they were published, and to explore reasons for non-publication. Methods We searched MEDLINE for network meta-analyses of randomized trials. Papers were included if they had authors affiliated with any contracting company. All identified contracting companies as well as additional ones from the list of the exhibitors at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, an annual meeting that representatives from many contracting companies attend and exhibit at, were surveyed regarding conduct and publication of network meta-analyses. Results In 162 of 822 (20%) network meta-analysis papers, authors were affiliated to 66 contracting companies. Another 36 contracting companies were identified by the exhibitors list. Three companies had no contact information and six merged with others, therefore 93 companies were contacted. Thirty seven out of ninety three (40%) companies responded, and 19 indicated that they had performed a total of 476 network meta-analyses, but only 102 (21%) papers were published. Thirteen companies that disclosed to have conducted 174 network meta-analyses (45 published) provided reasons for non-publication. Of the 129 still unpublished meta-analyses, for 40 there were plans for future publication, for 37 the sponsor did not allow publication, for 16 the contracting companies did not plan to publish the meta-analysis, for another 23 plans were unclear, and the remaining 13 were used as HTA submission. The protocol of the network meta-analysis was publically available from 11/162 (6.8%) network meta-analyses published by authors affiliated with contracting companies. Conclusions There is a prolific sector of professional contracting companies that perform network meta-analyses. Industry commissions many network meta-analyses, but most are not registered before or published after analyses in the scientific literature. Mechanisms to improve publication rates of network meta-analysis commissioned by industry are warranted.

Background Cesarean delivery has already become a very common method of delivery around the world, especially in low-income countries. Hypertrophic scars and wound infections have affected younger mothers and frustrated obstetricians for a long time. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have strong potential for self-renewal and differentiation to multilineage cells. Previous studies have demonstrated that MSCs are involved in enhancing diabetic wound healing. Therefore, this study is designed to investigate the safety and efficacy of using MSCs in the treatment of Cesarean section skin scars. Methods This trial is a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-center trial with three parallel groups. Ninety eligible participants will be randomly allocated to placebo, low-dose (transdermal hydrogel MSCs; 3 × 10 6 cells) or high-dose (transdermal hydrogel MSCs; 6 × 10 6 cells) groups at a 1:1:1 allocation ratio according to a randomization list, once a day for six consecutive days. Study duration will last for 6 months, comprising a 1 week run-in period and 24 weeks of follow-up. The primary aim of this trial is to compare the difference in Vancouver Scar Scale rating among the three groups at the 6th month. Adverse events, including severe and slight signs or symptoms, will be documented in case report forms. The study will be conducted at the Department of Obstetric of Southern Medical University Affiliated Maternal & Child Health Hospital of Foshan. Discussion This trial is the first investigation of the potential for therapeutic use of MSCs for the management of women’s skin scar after Cesarean delivery. The results will give us an effective therapeutic strategy to combat Cesarean section skin scars, even with uterine scarring. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02772289 . Registered on 10 May 2016.

Software reuse-the application of existing software artifacts in the development of a new system-has been claimed to dramatically improve systems development productivity and quality. These claims have been particularly pronounced with respect to the reuse of object-oriented (OO) software artifacts. However, the empirical evaluations of these claims are relatively sparse and often inconsistent. This paper begins to address the gap in the literature. A verbal-protocol study was conducted in which analysts created a model for a problem (the target) and were given an example problem and solution (the source) to reuse. The results show little support for reuse in OO analysis. First, reuse had no effect on the quality of the OO analysis models. Subjects given a highly reusable example produced solutions that were no better than those of subjects in the control group. Second, the degree of similarity between the source and target problems did have an effect on the reuse process, although it did not impact the reuse outcome. Subjects given the example with the most similarity to the target problem quickly recognized the reuse potential, attempted a fair amount of reuse, but made several errors stemming from lazy copying. Subjects given an example with a lesser (but still significant) degree of similarity were often unable to recognize the reuse potential, and thus engaged in less reuse activity. Thus, the characteristics of the source-target comparison that facilitate noticing the reuse potential of the source do not necessarily help in applying the source solution to the target problem. These results suggest that the claims associated with reuse should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism.

\"Successful portal deployments have as much to do with human behaviour and business processes as with technology. In the past, managers of the enterprise portal have lacked industrial-strength tools to help them determine what is preventing people from using portal applications effectively.\"