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“Purpose: To determine surgical outcomes after transcranial decompression of the superior CHIR99021 orbit in patients with progressive compressive optic neuropathy (CON) secondary to Graves’ orbitopathy

(GO) who had previously been treated with 3-wall decompression. Methods: Approval from the West Virginia University Institution Review Board was obtained. A retrospective review of 4 patients with GO who received bilateral transcranial decompression of the orbits for progressive compressive optic neuropathy after bilateral maximal extracranial 3-wall decompression was performed. The patients were treated by the Multidisciplinary Orbit and Skull Base Services at West Virginia University and the University of Michigan. Results: Bilateral transcranial decompression of the orbit for GO was performed on 8 orbits in 4 patients. All 8 orbits had radiographic evidence of compression of the orbital apex,

and all patients had been treated with steroids, orbital radiation, and bilateral 3-wall decompression. Preoperative vision ranged from 20/25 to 20/100, which improved to 20/25 or better in all eyes. The visual field mean SCH 900776 deviation improved from a mean of -13.05 to -1.67 dB. Hertel measurements improved from a mean of 19.25 to 15.25 mm. Extraocular motility was essentially unchanged. Two patients were noted to have asymptomatic ocular pulsations. There were no other complications, and all patients remained stable during a follow-up period of 5 years (range 2-8 years). Conclusions: Transcranial decompression is an effective and safe method of salvaging vision when standard GSK621 purchase treatments fail. This

is only the second report of transcranial decompression for refractory compressive optic neuropathy after decompression from a standard approach.”
“A number of statistical techniques have been proposed by many authors to estimate the parameters in a linear structural relationship model, but only few papers discuss the precision of these estimators. In this study, we derive the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) of the parameters by assuming the slope parameter beta is known. beta is estimated separately by a nonparametric method and is assumed to be known when other parameters are estimated by an MLE. We obtain closed-form estimates of parameters as well as the variance-covariance matrix. Using a simulation study and a real-world example we show that the estimated values of the parameters are unbiased and consistent.”
“Background and Aims. Little evidence exists regarding the association of leptin with metabolic syndrome (MetS) as defined by conventional criteria. Moreover, the contribution of obesity to this relationship is not well understood. This study aimed to evaluate the association between leptin concentrations with MetS in obese and nonobese subjects.\n\nMethods. Data from the Third National Surveillance of Risk Factors of Non-Communicable Diseases (SuRFNCD) in Iran was used.