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Background. Lexical knowledge, and in particular knowledge on multi-word expressions, is at the cornerstone of language applications such as syntactic parsing or machine translation. Corpus-driven lexical acquisition is one of the major means to create such knowledge, in order to build or consolidate dictionaries and similar types of lexical resources. We describe ongoing work devoted to the corpus-based extraction of multi-word expressions – in particular, collocations – for the Romanian language. Romanian is since 2002 one of the 23 official languages of the European Union; it is the native language or around 24 million people, and is currently ranked 8 th in the list of most spoken European languages worldwide, after Spanish (405 million native speakers), English (360), Portuguese (215), German (89), French (74), Italian (59), and Polish (40) 1 . This high rank contrasts, however, with the relatively scarce development of language resources and tools compared to other languages.

Objective:To assess the relationship in healthy adults and critically ill patients between: patient position, body mass index (BMI), patient body temperature, interface pressure (IP) and tissue reperfusion (TR). Also to determine the relationship in critically ill patients between: Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, Braden Scale score for predicting pressure injury risk, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) severity of disease classification score, IP and TR.Methods:This study took place in a 27-bed intensive care unit (ICU) of an Australian tertiary hospital. IP and TR outcomes were measured at the sacrum and greater trochanter. Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and doubly multivariate repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted using peak pressure index (PPI), peak time (PT), settled time constant (STC) and normalised hyperaemic area (NHA) measures of TR as outcomes. Participant type, body mass index (BMI), Braden and APACHE II sco...

BackgroundStomal complications are prevalent and associated with considerable morbidity. This study examined the incidence and potential risk factors for their development.MethodsThe time of onset and presence of ten specific complications were recorded for patients with an intestinal stoma over 10 years at two urban hospitals. A database was established with 20 explanatory variables (such as common medical co-morbidities) derived from the stomatherapy and medical records. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed to identify potential risk factors for the development of complications.ResultsSome 1216 patients (mean age 64 years) with a minimum of 2 years' follow-up were included, of whom 544 (44·7 per cent) underwent surgery for malignancy and 647 (53·2 per cent) had a colostomy formed. There were 1219 complications in total; 807 major complications (excluding excoriation and slough) occurred in 564 patients (46·4 per cent), of which the commonest was parastomal her...

Aims There are reports of a marked increase in perioperative mortality in patients admitted to hospital with a fractured hip during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, USA, Spain, and Italy. Our study aims to describe the risk of mortality among patients with a fractured neck of femur in England during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We completed a multicentre cohort study across ten hospitals in England. Data were collected from 1 March 2020 to 6 April 2020, during which period the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. Patients ≥ 60 years of age admitted with hip fracture and a minimum follow-up of 30 days were included for analysis. Primary outcome of interest was mortality at 30 days post-surgery or postadmission in nonoperative patients. Secondary outcomes included length of hospital stay and discharge destination. Results In total, 404 patients were included for final analysis with a COVID-19 diagnosis being made in 114 (28.2%) pati...

In recent years, laparoscopic approach to distal pancreatectomy has been increasingly favoured following several reports showing reductions in morbidity and hospital stay compared with open surgery. Previous major abdominal surgery is a relative contraindication for most laparoscopic procedures including distal pancreatectomy. We present a case of a young woman in whom we attempted and accomplished safely, a laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy despite having had major pancreatic necrosectomy and discuss the feasibility of this approach. It is possible to perform complex laparoscopic pancreatic resections safely in centres with special interest and expertise.

Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas (IPMNs), usually present with a picture of chronic pancreatitis and must be considered within the differential diagnosis of this condition. We report a long history of a 58-year-old male who presented with recurrent attacks of pancreatitis. He was treated for chronic pancreatitis until the age of 78 when the diagnosis of IPMN was made, but radical treatment was not possible and he was managed palliatively. The patient died of sepsis and multi-organ failure 21 years following his first presentation. This case highlights possible pitfalls in the diagnosis and treatment of IPMNs, suggests a very long natural history, proposes possible palliative treatment in selected cases and reflects about IPMNs biological position in the chronic pancreatitis-ductal adenocarcinoma chain.

Background Immediate implant-based breast reconstruction (IBBR) is the most commonly performed reconstructive procedure in the UK, but almost one in ten women experience implant loss and reconstructive failure after this technique. Little is known about how implant loss impacts on patients' quality of life. The first phase of the Loss of implant Breast Reconstruction (LiBRA) study aimed to use qualitative methods to explore women's experiences of implant loss and develop recommendations to improve care. Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of women who experienced implant loss after immediate IBBR, performed for malignancy or risk reduction across six centres. Interviews explored decision-making regarding IBBR, and experiences of implant loss and support received. Thematic analysis was used to explore the qualitative interview data. Sampling, data collection and analysis were undertaken concurrently and iteratively until data saturation wa...

Rod and cone phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE6) are key effector enzymes of the vertebrate phototransduction pathway. Rod PDE6 consists of two catalytic subunits PDE6α and PDE6β and two identical inhibitory PDE6γ subunits, while cone PDE6 is composed of two identical PDE6α' catalytic subunits and two identical cone-specific PDE6γ' inhibitory subunits. Despite their prominent function in regulating cGMP levels and therefore rod and cone light response properties, it is not known how each subunit contributes to the functional differences between rods and cones. In this study, we generated an mouse model lacking rod PDE6β and cone PDE6α' subunits. Both rod and cone photoreceptor cells are degenerated with age and all PDE6 subunits degrade in mice. We expressed cone PDE6α' in both rods and cones of mice by adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated delivery driven by the ubiquitous, constitutive small chicken β-actin promoter. We show that expression of PDE6α' rescues rod functio...

The aim was to examine if structural factors could affect response to intra-articular steroid injections (IASI) in knee osteoarthritis (OA). Persons with painful knee OA participated in an open-label trial of IASI where radiographic joint space narrowing (JSN) and Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade, whole-organ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scores (WORMS) and quantitative assessment of synovial tissue volume (STV) were assessed on baseline images. Participants completed the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and a question about knee pain with a visual analogue scale for pain during nominated activity (VASNA), and Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT)-Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) criteria were used to assess responder status within 2 weeks (short term) and 6 months (longer term). Regression models were used to examine predictors of short and longer term response to IASI. Subjects (n = 207) attended and had IASI. Information on responder st...

Background There is growing interest in and provision of cadaveric simulation courses for surgical trainees. This is being driven by the need to modernize and improve the efficiency of surgical training within the current challenging training climate. The objective of this systematic review is to describe and evaluate the evidence for cadaveric simulation in postgraduate surgical training. Methods A PRISMA-compliant systematic literature review of studies that prospectively evaluated a cadaveric simulation training intervention for surgical trainees was undertaken. All relevant databases and trial registries were searched to January 2019. Methodological rigour was assessed using the widely validated Medical Education Research Quality Index (MERSQI) tool. Results A total of 51 studies were included, involving 2002 surgical trainees across 69 cadaveric training interventions. Of these, 22 assessed the impact of the cadaveric training intervention using only subjective measures, five m...

Despite the availability of guidelines for the evaluation of candidates for renal transplantation, variation in access to transplantation exists. This national survey investigates whether centre variation exists in the assessment of patients for renal transplantation in the UK. An online survey, informed by qualitative interviews, was distributed to all UK renal centres. This survey examined centre approaches to chronic kidney disease service provision, transplant recipient assessment, education provision and wait-listing decision making processes. Centre re-evaluation policies for patients already listed and priorities for future development were also examined. All 71 renal centres responded. Of these, 83% reviewed predialysis patients in a low clearance clinic. In 26% of centres transplantation was not discussed as a treatment option with all patients. Fourteen centres reported having a dedicated transplant assessment clinic whilst 28% did not have a formal assessment protocol. Ag...