Image retake of radiological examinations not only increases the risk of radiation exposure of the patients, but also wastes the medical resource and degrades the quality of services of the hospitals. This study aimed at discovering factors affecting image retake of general digital radiography for setting guidelines to reduce the image retaking rate. A total of 98,503 general X-ray images retrieved from the picture archiving and communication system database of a medical center in central Taiwan were analyzed. The results showed that the total retaking rate was 4.89% with the position error (56.05%) was the main factor causing image retakes and chest examination showed the highest frequency (1544 cases). On the other hand, skull/face exhibited the highest retaking rate (9.81%) among various types of examinations. After discovering the factors affecting the image retaking rate, suitable guidelines were proposed and introduced. The image retake rate had been significantly reduced to 4.38% and 3.57% 1 month and 6 months, respectively, after the introduction of guidelines. In conclusion, image retake analysis is a quality indicator and is effective for quality assurance of digital radiology. Regular analysis of image retake can find factors inducing image retake and is useful for designing guidelines to reduce the image retake rate.
Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein complex, is responsible for maintaining the telomere length at chromosome ends. Using its RNA component as a template, telomerase uses its reverse transcriptase activity to extend the 3′-end single-stranded, repetitive telomeric DNA sequence. Pif1, a 5′-to-3′ helicase, has been suggested to regulate telomerase activity. We used single-molecule experiments to directly show that Pif1 helicase regulates telomerase activity by removing telomerase from telomere ends, allowing the cycling of the telomerase for additional extension processes. This telomerase removal efficiency increases at longer ssDNA gaps and at higher Pif1 concentrations. The enhanced telomerase removal efficiency by Pif1 at the longer single-stranded telomeric DNA suggests a way of how Pif1 regulates telomerase activity and maintains telomere length.
Background and Aims. To evaluate the effect of adding acarbose on glycemic excursions measured by continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) already on insulin therapy. Materials and Methods. This was an opened and unblended study. 134 patients with T2DM were recruited. After initial rapidly corrected hyperglycaemia by continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) for 7 d, a 4–6-day premixed insulin titration period subsequently followed. Patients were then randomized 1 : 1 to acarbose plus insulin group or insulin therapy group for 2 weeks. CGMS was used to measure glucose fluctuations for at least 3 days after therapy cessation. Results. Patients in acarbose plus insulin group achieved a significant improvement of MAGE compared to that of insulin therapy only group (5.56 ± 2.16 versus 7.50 ± 3.28 mmol/L, P = 0.044), accompanied by a significant decrease in the incremental AUC of plasma glucose concentration above 10.0 mmol/L (0.5 [0.03, 0.9] versus 0.85 [0.23,1.4] mmol/L per day, P = 0.037). Conclusions. Add-on acarbose to insulin therapy further improves glucose fluctuation in patients with T2DM. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov registration number ChiCTR-TRC-11001218.
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