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We aimed to compare internal jugular vein and inferior vena cava ultrasonography as predictors of central venous pressure in cirrhotic patients. We performed ultrasound assessments of the internal jugular vein (IJV) and the inferior vena cava and then invasively measured central venous pressure (CVP). We then compared their correlation with CVP and performed area under the receiver operating characteristic curves to determine which had best sensitivity and specificity. IJV cross-sectional area collapsibility index at 30° correlated better with CVP (r 5 20.56, P < 0.001), and an IJV AP-CI at 30° £ 24.8% was better at predicting a CVP ?8 mm Hg, with 100% sensitivity and 97.1% specificity. Thus, IJV point-of-care ultrasound might be superior than inferior vena cava point-of-care ultrasound as a predictor of CVP in cirrhotic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the effect of pro-degradant additives (PDA) on the thermo-oxidative behavior of two (series A and D) cyclic olefin copolymer (COCs) films. The CI, FTIR and mechanical properties results indicate that the presence of PDA does not contribute significantly to the degradation of the COCs resins, TGA and DTG results are more sensitive and show a little oxidant activity of each metal with the tendency Fe > Mn > Co. Comparative thermal stability results between COC resins showed that the A series copolymers with less percentage of norbornene (NB) have higher stability than the D series resins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface free energy (SFE) of polylactic acid (PLA) during grafting with N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) was determined from contact angle measurements using the vOCG, Fowkes', and Owens-Wendt methods (Harmonic and Geometric mean approximation equations). A good correlation between the results of the three methods was found. Polymer film was obtained by melt extrusion and grafted with NVP using UV light and benzophenone (BP) as photoinitiator. Comparison of SFE results with those from the literature for pristine PLA showed that the correlation depends on the method used for contact angle determination and the properties of the liquids used for this measurement. This finding might promote the rational design of surface modification of biocompatible films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most common statistic used in order to prove China's negative impact on Mexico's trade with the US is the share of US imports precedent from Mexico exporters. This approach suggests that China's expansion in the US market negatively correlates with the growth of the Mexican exports. However, and contrary to conventional wisdom and the ad-hoc shift share approach, our analysis suggest that: 1) even when China displacement effect is not minor, the China expansion in the US market explains at the most one third of the decline in the rate of growth of the Mexican exports to that nation; 2) contradicting the shift share approach that target almost half of the Mexican sectors under the China threat, we localized that almost all the displacement (95 percent) occurred in two sectors, textiles and machinery; and 3) two thirds of the employment losses in the textile industry are explained by long run factors, such as technology, and just one third is due to China's growth in the US market. Moreover, we suggest that the potential for economic gains for Mexico, due to China's economic growth, can offset short-term negative shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]