P02.01 Analysis of Multimodal Intraoperative Monitoring During Intramedullary Spinal Ependymoma Surgery

BACKGROUND To evaluate the validity of intraoperative somatosensory-evoked potential (SSEP) and motor-evoked potential (MEP) monitoring according to two different warning criteria for 6 months after intramedullary spinal ependymoma (IMSE) surgery. MATERIAL AND METHODS To evaluate the validity of intraoperative somatosensory-evoked potential (SSEP) and motor-evoked potential (MEP) monitoring according to two different warning criteria for 6 months after intramedullary spinal ependymoma (IMSE) surgery. RESULTS The success rates of SSEP and MEP monitoring were 84.9% and 83.7%, respectively. There was one indeterminate case in SSEP and six in MEP. All-or-none criterion in SSEP and MEP monitoring showed higher specificity, PPV, and DOR than 50% decline criterion during 6 months. During the follow up, 37 of 38 extremities (97.4%) and 21 of 29 extremities (72.4%) were observed the improvement of sensory and motor deficit, respectively. Seven indeterminate cases also showed good clinical outcomes. However, most patients remained some degree of neurologic deficit. CONCLUSION Many false positive and false negative results of SSEP and MEP monitoring occurred immediately postoperative period. All-or-none criterion was more beneficial for IMSE surgery than 50% decline criterion. This trend was maintained until 6 months after surgery.

On the completely indeterminate case for block Jacobi matrices

We consider the infinite Jacobi block matrices in the completely indeterminate case, i. e. such that the deficiency indices of the corresponding Jacobi operators are maximal. For such matrices, some criteria of complete indeterminacy are established. These criteria are similar to several known criteria of indeterminacy of the Hamburger moment problem in terms of the corresponding scalar Jacobi matrices and the related systems of orthogonal polynomials.

Русские падежи сквозь призму валентностиRussian cases through the prism of valency

The article is a fairly extensive description of the functions of cases in Russian, based on valency theory. Pervadingly a distinction is made between signs occypying nodes in the corresponding graph, and "node-less" signs. Each Russian case can function in both capacities, except the prepositional case, which is always nodeless. In addition to the traditional six cases, two more are postulated, namely the agreement case and the indeterminate case.

Nosocomial Transmission of Hepatitis C Virus Associated With the Use of Multidose Saline Vials

Objective:To identify the source of an outbreak of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among 3 patients occurring within 8 weeks of hospitalization in the same ward of a Florida hospital during November 1998.Design:A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 41 patients hospitalized between November 11 and 19, 1998. Patients' blood was tested for antibodies to HCV, and HCV RNA-positive samples were genotyped and sequenced.Results:Of the 41 patients, 24 (59%) participated in the study. HCV genotype 1b infections were found in 5 patients. Three of 4 patients who received saline flushes from a multidose saline vial on November 16 had acute HCV infection, whereas none of the 9 patients who did not receive saline flushes had HCV infection (P= .01). No other significant exposures were identified. The HCV sequence was available for 1 case of acute HCV and differed by a single nucleotide (0.3%) from that of the indeterminate case.Conclusion:This outbreak of HCV probably occurred when a multidose saline vial was contaminated with blood from an HCV-infected patient. Hospitals should emphasize adherence to standard procedures to prevent blood-borne infections. In addition, the use of single-dose vials or prefilled saline syringes might further reduce the risk for nosocomial transmission of blood-borne pathogens.

Small eigenvalues of large Hankel matrices: The indeterminate case

In this paper we characterize the indeterminate case by the eigenvalues of the Hankel matrices being bounded below by a strictly positive constant. An explicit lower bound is given in terms of the orthonormal polynomials and we find expressions for this lower bound in a number of indeterminate moment problems.