From a research perspective, much remains unknown about perpetrat

From a research perspective, much remains unknown about perpetrators, and work in this area may in theory ultimately prove of practical importance. In the aftermath of the second World War, writers were motivated to tackle such issues as the concept of the authoritarian personality.33 While more recent research has continued Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to investigate antisocial personality disorder, there appears to be a relative dearth

of information about “ordinary” perpetrators, and about the sociocultural and psychobiological factors that may be relevant to preventing perpetration in the future.34 At the same time, of course, there is an immense gap between the average victim of apartheid and the average perpetrator of gross human rights violations in South Africa, and this must be clearly acknowledged. Ultimately, the pain and suffering of the survivor does and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical should remain paramount. It is important to emphasize, as have many authors who have undertaken research on perpetrators, that understanding perpetration by no means implies condoning it.34,35 Failure to provide intervention Is it morally justifiable to spend selleck chemicals resources on a study of people Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical who have experienced gross human rights violations without subsequently receiving just recompense? Providing an assessment of needs is assuredly an important first step in directing resources towards survivors of human rights violations.

However, in the South African setting, although the TRC has already documented the existence of past violations, it has so far failed to deliver the bulk of reparations. Is there an acceptable rationale for spending more Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical money in order to demonstrate past trauma and current gaps in medical services? We would argue that it is erroneous to draw too quick a distinction between

science and research as value-free and processes such as the TRC as sociopolitical. Research on trauma and posttraumatic responses may be invaluable in making a statement about the need for appropriate resources for traumatized subjects. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The TRC certainly reached a similar conclusion (about the need for additional resources for traumatized South Africans), but it did not provide detailed clinical and disability data that would indicate the extent of resources Dacomitinib necessary. Thus, there would appear to be a crucial need to demonstrate the extent of trauma and consequent psychopathology in South Africa, and to use these data as the basis for developing appropriate interventions. It is important to document not only suffering but also resilience to trauma. Similarly, there are a range of pathways to health; in South Africa these likely include the use of traditional healers and participation in religious communities. Given that medical resources are limited in many parts of South Africa, the use of nonmedical resources may be crucially therefore helpful.

001, tables 1,​,22 and ​and33) Table 1 Surgical results of the

001, tables 1,​,22 and ​and33). Table 1 Surgical results of the patients undergoing the Knapp done procedure Table 2 Surgical results of the patients undergoing IRR Table 3 Surgical results of the patients undergoing combined procedure The mean postoperative vertical deviation was 6.11±7.9 PD. Compared to preoperative measurements, there was a mean correction of 19.7 PD in the

amount of hypotropia in primary gaze position. Discussion In this case series, we performed different Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical surgical procedures based on the results of the FDT in patients with MED and evaluated the results based on ocular alignment in primary position. The pathophysiology of MED is poorly understood. The early description of this condition was thought to be due to a combination of SR and inferior oblique muscle palsy (called double elevator palsy). Studies have shown that only 30% of cases are caused by this problem, and the FDT has demonstrated that 70% is caused by IR restriction.5 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical may be a useful adjunct to saccadic velocity

assessment in differentiating between primary IR restriction, primary SR paresis, and congenital supranuclear elevation deficiency.6 In our study, MED had similar predilection for the right Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical eye and left eye involvement: 9 patients had right eye and 9 had left eye involvement. A predilection to right side involvement has been reported in MED in the series reported by Ziffer et al.7 and Kucak and CP127374 co-workers.8 On the other hand, Khawam and Younis9 and also Bagheri et al.10 reported more instances of left eye involvement. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Considering the mentioned studies and ours, it seems that the laterality of the condition provides no particular diagnostic information. The

goal of surgery in MED associated with ptosis or pseudoptosis is the management of combined hypotropia and blepharoptosis. For surgical correction of MED, the procedure of choice is determined by the FDT, which ascertains whether the cause is paretic or restrictive. In the presence of SR palsy (paretic form), the procedure employed is a Knapp transposition. The transposition procedure is not recommended Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in the presence of IR restriction. Therefore, it is important to perform FDT prior to surgery. In our series, Drug_discovery the mean amount of correction with the Knapp procedure alone was 20.0 PD. In his original work, Knapp3 reported 15 patients with MED and good results were obtained in 14 out of the 18 patients (93%). Correction of hypotropia in his study ranged from 21 to 55 PD with a mean of 38 PD. Others have found similar amounts of correction. Barsoum-Homsy11 observed an average correction of 31.7 PD and Watson12 in his series observed a mean correction of 30.5 PD after the Knapp procedure. Cooper and Greenspan13 reported 26.6 PD correction of hypotropia after this procedure. Scott14 performed the Knapp procedure in 19 patients and observed 21.1 PD corrections. Bandyopadhyay et al.15 reported a correction of 29.4 PD of vertical deviation.

8 Half of the patients had tissue loss, the other half had rest p

8 Half of the patients had tissue loss, the other half had rest pain, and 53% had diabetes. The peroneal artery was the most common distal target. The 4-year primary patency and limb salvage rates were 63±10.6% and 79±8.5%, respectively. The authors concluded that the technique of interposition vein patch at the distal anastomosis to the tibial arteries has an acceptable long-term patency and limb salvage rate. In a multicenter randomized study designed to examine Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the effect of a Miller vein cuff at the distal anastomosis of femoral to above- or below-knee popliteal artery PTFE bypass, 120 patients received a Miller cuff and 115 did not. The cumulative 5-year patency for above-knee U0126 order bypass with or without a Miller cuff was

similar. However, the cumulative 3-year patency rate for below-knee bypass with a Miller cuff was significantly better compared to a non-cuffed bypass.9 Modification of the PTFE intraluminal surface The results with PTFE prostheses have varied, especially when the distal anastomosis is below the knee. Foreign surfaces have an effect on blood Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical that leads

to activation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the coagulation cascade and platelet aggregation. In the case of these vascular grafts, the PTFE is the foreign surface. This surface, which is in contact with the blood, has been targeted with graft modifications that intend to improve patency. Hapfer and associates performed a prospective, randomized, multicenter trial to determine if carbon-impregnated ePTFE vascular grafts have better long-term patency or limb salvage rates than nonimpregnated or standard Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical ePTFE grafts in patients with chronic CLI undergoing crural revascularization.10 In this trial, 130 patients received a carbon-coated ePTFE graft and 135 patients received the uncoated ePTFE graft. More than 90% of the patients had rest pain or gangrene. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Primary patency, secondary patency, and limb salvage rates after 36 months were 33%, 43%, and 67% in the carbon-coated group and 30%, 38%, and

58% in the uncoated ePTFE group, respectively. This study showed no statistically significant advantage of the carbon-coated ePTFE vascular graft in terms of patency or limb salvage over the uncoated ePTFE vascular graft at 36 months. The concept of covalently bonding a small amount of heparin to the inner surface of the graft, with the intention of decreasing its thrombogenicity, makes intuitive sense. There is increasing evidence that PTFE grafts to which AV-951 heparin has been bound may provide better patency results. In a review that compared 240 patients who underwent a lower-limb bypass procedure with a http://www.selleckchem.com/products/mek162.html heparin-bonded (hb) ePTFE graft to 110 patients with AGSV, the 1- and 2-year primary patency results were not significantly different.11 The primary patency rates at 1 and 2 years for the hb-ePTFE grafts were 92% and 83% for above-knee femoralpopliteal bypass, 92% and 83% for below-knee femoropopliteal bypass, and 79% and 69% for femoral-tibial bypass, respectively.

Secondly, none of the studies were set in a tertiary level, urban

Secondly, none of the studies were set in a tertiary level, urban Middle Eastern hospital. Thirdly, with a few exceptions, most of the studies had very small and biased samples [7,21]. Finally, only one

study, rigorously evaluated the effect of a fast track system on selleck inhibitor urgent patients [17]. The aim of this study was to determine if a FTA improved both effectiveness in service delivery (WTs and LOS) and quality measures (LWBS rates and mortality rates) for patients with minor injuries and illnesses classified according to the Canadian Triage Acuity Scale 4 and 5 (CTAS 4/5), without delaying the care of urgent patients (CTAS 2/3). Methods Study Setting and Design This study took place in a 500 bed urban tertiary Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical care general hospital, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The public emergency care facility serves residents of Abu Dhabi (capital city of the UAE) and inhibitor manufacture surrounding Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical areas. In 2005, the ED had an annual census of approximately 70 000 patients. The study

population consisted of adult and pediatric patients (defined as patients less than 12 years old as per hospital policy). The ED included a three-bed resuscitation area, and 15 monitored acute treatment beds (total of 18 ED beds) in the pre-fast track period and 7 additional FTA beds after the intervention (total of 25 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical beds). This was a single center study of ED department services at our hospital which provides all Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical major medical, surgical and pediatric disciplines. The FTA was opened in February 2005. All patients entering the ED were seen by triage nurses and classified according to the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) [22]. The low acuity patients (CTAS 4 and 5) were then treated, referred or discharged by the

physician from the FTA. Urgent patients (CTAS 2 and 3) were seen in the main ED. The CTAS is a 5 level triage scale Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical based primarily on the patients presenting complaint and physiologic parameter. The CTAS guidelines are to ensure timely access to physician assessment on the basis of triage acuity level. A patient in CTAS 1 (resuscitation) requires immediate attention. CTAS 2 (emergent) should be seen within 15 minutes. CTAS 3 (urgent) should be seen within 30 minutes AV-951 and the non urgent, CTAS 4 and 5 should be seen within 60 minutes and 120 minutes respectively. The typical patient in CTAS 4 and 5 is ambulatory, does not need extensive investigation and contributes to < 10% of total admissions. The characteristics of our FTA are as follows: It has seven beds, is operational 24 hours a day, is staffed by either one or two Arabic speaking doctors at any time (of which 40% are house-officers and 60% are specialists with ED experience but no formal certification) depending on peak visits, sees only CTAS 4/5 (non-urgent) patients and performs only point of care laboratory testing e.g. pregnancy tests, urine dipsticks, glucose and chest X rays.

The patient was considered as stage IVB Radiological and patholo

The patient was considered as stage IVB. Radiological and pathological examination revealed that the tumor was confined to the vaginal wall (T1) with no regional lymph node metastasis identified (N0). Distant metastasis to the liver was radiologically diagnosed (M1). The patient had a short course of treatment and died postoperatively. Figure 4 Radiographic image of Case 2. Pelvic ultrasound  shows hypoechoic predominantly endoluminal hetergenous  mass measuring

5×4.5×4.8 cm distending the upper vagina. Discussion Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Recent studies suggest that Tipifarnib leukemia non-DES-associated and DES-associated PCCAV have different natural histories.6 The literature lacks information regarding the status of current or past prescription practices of DES in the Far East, Middle East and Africa, including countries such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Ethiopia. This lack of information has further limited our knowledge regarding its carcinogenic role in these regions. However according Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to the National Drug and Poison Information Center of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, after a reported relationship of parenatally administered DES to adenocarcinoma, the use of DES during pregnancy was banned in the 1980s.8 There was only one case Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of DES-associated PCCAV reported in Saudi Arabia.9 Both patients in our study had no histories of DES exposure which was additionally supported

by the uneventful, normal obstetric histories of their mothers. Specifically Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical there was no history of miscarriages or premature births which excluded any DES-induced influence. There was also no clinical evidence suggestive of other primary tumors to consider metastasis. A study of 28 cases6 and a few case reports of non-DES-associated PCCA of vagina1,6,10-12and cervix13,14 have been reported over the

past decade. Although DES has reportedly not been used as treatment for threatened abortion in Japan, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical at least nine cases of PCCA of the vagina and cervix have been reported over the past two decades.11 Abnormal vaginal bleeding, discharge, dyspareunia and vaginal mass are the most common presentations.1,6 Non DES PCCV shows a bimodal age distribution with the first peak observed at 26 years and the second at 71 years of age.1,6 A different subset of patients with non-DES-associated PCCAV in postmenopausal women and prepubertal girls has also been reported13 with a grave prognosis.6 Gross tumor size varies from microscopic to Dacomitinib 10 cm and is described as either a polypoid, nodular, flat or ulcerated mass. Microscopically this tumor show a predominantly tubulocystic pattern followed by solid and papillary patterns. However, a mixture of types is common. These structures are lined by cuboidal, hobnail or flat cells. Cytoplasmic clearing is due to the presence of glycogen. Cords having eosinophilic cytoplasm may also be present. Nuclear pleomorphism is variable with mitosis usually less than 10/10 high power fields.

9%) institutions in N= 14 (61%) of the 23 countries] Unmodified:

9%) institutions in N= 14 (61%) of the 23 countries] Unmodified: 36% unmodified always 19% unmodified, ranging from 1–98% of the time Modified: 45% always modified Anesthesia: 30% institutions used anesthetic agents (thiopental, propofol, sevoflurane, diazepam, thiamylal, flunitrazepam, methohexital) without muscle relaxant Date: 2001–2003 Other: Large variation in Asian countries Unmodified in 36% and sine wave in 42% of institutions Only 45% always modified, that is,. never unmodified N= 8 of 141 (5.7%) institutions (four Japan, three Malaysia,

one South Korea used Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical routinely succinylcholine muscle relaxant without anesthesia Devices: 58% (115/197) institutions brief-pulse ECT devices selleck Placement: 77% BL kinase inhibitor Trichostatin A Monitoring: 23% of institutions used EEG Katmandu, Nepal (C) 114 Ahikari SR (Ahikari et al. 2008) Study: Naturalistic prospective hospital (Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital) study. N= 210 hospital admitted patients N= 47 ECT treated Date: May 2005 to April 2006 Time span: Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical One year Diagnoses: 34% schizophrenia, psychotic disorder 23% severe (major) depression 28% bipolar depression 15% other Gender: 28% women Age, years in groups: 11%, 10–19 57%, 20–29 19%, 30–39 6%, 40–49 6%, 50–59 Other: Psychotropic drugs used concurrently iP: 22% AvE: 6 (range 2–16) Modified Anesthesia: Propofol or Sodium Thiopental plus Succinylcholine

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical muscle relaxant Device: ECTON constant current brief-pulse ECT device, manufactured by RMS, Chandigarh, India. Type: All brief pulse in study Hong Kong (C) 2296 Chung KF (Chung 2003) Study: Prospective Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical questionnaire survey of treated patients to all public hospitals with ECT treatment facilities 40 public hospitals in Hong Kong, and nine of 13 inpatient psychiatric services with ECT treatment facilities N= 167 ECT-treated patients Diagnoses (for N= 164): 40% depression 23% schizophrenia 19% bipolar, manic or mixed 10% bipolar, depressed 9% schizoaffective 1% acute or transient psychotic disorder Indications: Mainly failure

to respond to alternative treatment, Side effects: Memory outcome: Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Entinostat 1% much worse 24% worse 71% no change 4% improved Outcome: 83% Much or very much improved 13% minimally improved 2% no change 3% worse TPR: 0.27–0.34 iP: 1.3–1.8% AvE: 7.7 Range 5–8 A-ECT and C-ECT: Rarely used No information about anesthesia Devices: All Mecta US domestic version SR1 except one facility using Mecta Spectrum 5000M. Placement: 77% BL 119 22% UL 34 1% mixed Date: April 2001 to March 2002 Time span: One year Gender: 68% women Age, year groups: 3%, <16 2%, 16–7 11%, 18–24 44%, 25–44 25%, 45–64 14%, 65–80 1%, >80 (total 15% >65 years) Conditions: 13% Involuntary (judged incapable of giving informed consent) Hong Kong (C) 441 Chung KF (Chung et al. 2003) Study: Survey, (postal questionnaire and site visit) to public inpatient psychiatric units in Hong Kong.

The median age at death was 86 years (IQR 76 to 88 years) The ov

The median age at death was 86 years (IQR 76 to 88 years). The overall survival rate was 75% (95% CI: 58% to 93%) at 5 years and 62.5% (95% CI: 40% to 85%) at 10 years after diagnosis (Figure 2). Figure 2 Overall survival curve of all www.selleckchem.com/products/brefeldin-a.html patients with gastric EMZBL-MALT Discussion Two third of subjects (67%) had Helicobacter infection in this series. This figure was quite similar to that in a local study (12), which reported 62%

of subjects were HP-positive using histopathologic examination. However, little higher proportion of HP-positive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical subject was found in other Asian and Western series, ranging from 76% to 91% (4,10,13). This discrepancy could be partially explained by the reason that two or more methods were applied to detect HP in these series while in the present study, only histopathologic examination was used. The accuracy of histopathologic examination was affected by inter-observer variation and sampling error, especially in patients taking anti-secretory agents or antibiotics. In this study, Helicobacter infection was only found after subsequent Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical but not initial OGD in 3 subjects, revealing that it was not uncommon to miss this Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical microbe. Since Helicobacter status affects treatment option

of gastric EMZBL-MALT significantly, it is advisable to consider additional non-invasive means of HP detection, like urea breath test or serology test, if HP is not identified in gastric biopsy. We found that remission of gastric EMZBL-MALT was achieved after Helicobacter eradication in 85% of Helicobacter-positive subjects. This figure Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was comparable to the result of several reported large series from Western and Asian regions, ranging from 89-94% (1-5). Delayed histological regression of lymphoma after successful Helicobacter eradication is not uncommonly encountered in clinical practice. In this series, one subject, with early resolution of endoscopic abnormality, only achieved histological regression around 15 months Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical after antibacterial treatment. Such delay was also described in different studies and could be more than

30 months (13). Hence, a wait-and-watch approach seems reasonable if there is persistent histological evidence of lymphoma in patients whose clinical and endoscopic manifestations improve after successful AV-951 HP eradication. However there is no consensus on the period of observation before declaration of treatment failure. In this series, histological regression was found within 6 months in the majority of responders (15/17 or 88%). Wundish reported that histological regression rates at 3 months and 1 year were 61% and 88% respectively (1) while Hong found response rates of 78% and 93% at 6 months and 1 year respectively (2). In view of these findings, some authors suggested physicians to observe for at least one year after successful HP eradication before making conclusion of treatment failure (2,10,13).

Lymphocyte depletion markedly decreased protection, suggesting a

Lymphocyte depletion markedly decreased protection, suggesting a primarily TH2-mediated immune response [Adler-Moore et al. 2011]. Listeriolysin Cytolysins are virulence factors of various pathogenic bacteria. They form pores

in target cell membranes, degrade membrane lipids or solubilize cell membranes. Bacteria use cytolysins order Ibrutinib to either inhibit functions of host immune cells or to gain access to intracellular niches. The bacterium Listeria monocytogenes can escape host immune defenses by lysis of the phagosomal membrane by use of listeriolysin O (LLO). LLO is used as vaccine adjuvant to provide cytosolic access for antigens in APCs [Dietrich et al. 2001]. LLO-based vaccines were reported by Mandal and Lee, who prepared OVA/LLO liposomes. OVA immunization resulted in higher CTL activity and high IFNγ production. The vaccine also conferred protection to mice from lethal challenges with

antigen-expressing tumor cells [Mandal and Lee, 2002]. LLO liposomes were also used to deliver the LCMV NP to stimulate a NP-specific CTL response. Immunized mice generated high frequencies of NP-specific CD8+ T cells and full protection against a lethal intracerebral challenge with virulent LCMV [Mandal et al. 2004]. An anionic liposome–polycation–DNA complex combined with LLO was used as vaccine by Sun and colleagues to deliver OVA-cDNA. This formulation produced an enhanced CD8+ T-cell response, higher CTL frequency and IFNγ production after stimulation by an OVA-specific peptide [Sun et al. 2010]. Andrews and colleagues analyzed whether encapsulating CpGs in LLO liposomes would enhance cell-mediated immune response and skew TH1-type responses in a protein antigen-based vaccine utilizing LLO liposomes. Coencapsulation of CpGs in LLO liposomes activated the nuclear factor κB pathway,

maintaining cytosolic delivery of antigen mediated by coencapsulated LLO. Immunization with OVA and CpG-LLO liposomes showed enhanced TH1 immune responses Brefeldin_A [Andrews et al. 2012]. Currently, 26 clinical trials are registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the US National Institutes of Health (see ClinicalTrials.gov with the search terms liposome AND vaccine). Veterinary vaccines Knowledge of molecular details of immune mechanisms is relatively scarce for veterinary and pet animals and special concerns regarding the use of vaccine adjuvants must be considered. Demands such as compatibility with human consumption, animal production, costs, challenges met by different species, vaccine administration for large numbers of animals and others must be evaluated [Heegaard et al. 2011; Underwood and Van Eps, 2012]. Table 2 summarizes some of the most recent experimental studies of liposome-based veterinary vaccines.

48 This study generated great

48 This study generated great interest in metformin as an agent in cancer prevention and treatment, with many preclinical studies showing that metformin can inhibit the growth of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.49–51 In parallel, a series of Tofacitinib alopecia observational studies conducted in various databases generally selleck chemicals reported similar beneficial results with metformin, thus “confirming” the findings of the 2005 study. A meta-analysis including some

of these observational studies reported that their combination resulted in a highly significant 31% reduction in cancer incidence or mortality associated with metformin use (RR 0.69; 95% CI 0.61–0.79).52 This convergence Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of evidence from multiple preclinical and epidemiological studies formed the impetus to recommend the conduct of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of metformin in cancer prevention and treatment.53,54 There are currently many trials of this issue registered in clinicaltrials.gov. The many observational studies conducted to date will not be reviewed in detail here as they are the object of a separate paper.55 These observational studies have not only looked at whether Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical metformin lowers cancer incidence and mortality,56–59 but also whether metformin can

act as a treatment of cancer to lower cancer mortality or recurrence.60 However, many of these observational studies that report significant reductions in cancer incidence and mortality and better prognosis with metformin Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical use, with spectacular reductions ranging from 20% to 90%, are affected by time-related biases such as immortal time bias.34,35,55 This bias is known to exaggerate downward the effect of a drug, thus

making a drug appear protective when it in fact it may have no effect. On the other hand, two recent observational studies that specifically used the proper time-dependent statistical techniques Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to properly classify metformin exposure found no association between metformin use and cancer incidence.61,62 The first study used the GRPD and found a rate ratio of prostate cancer incidence of 1.23 Cilengitide (95% CI 0.99–1.52) with metformin use. With more than 36 prescriptions the rate ratio was in fact significantly elevated at 1.40 (95% CI 1.03–1.89).61 The second study used the Kaiser Permanente database and found no effect of metformin on the incidence of the 10 different cancers studied, with hazard ratios ranging between 0.8 (95% CI 0.6–1.1) for melanoma to 1.3 (95% CI 1.0–1.6) for kidney/renal pelvis.62 CONCLUSION Many observational studies conducted to uncover new indications for drugs that are already on the market have been shown to have major methodological flaws leading to important biases that tend to falsely suggest that a drug is highly effective.

Two main approaches have been tried to exploit the complementary

Two main approaches have been tried to exploit the complementary properties of visual and this explanation inertial sensors, namely the loosely coupled approach and the tightly coupled approach [13]. In the loosely coupled approach [14�C16], the vision-based tracking system and the INS exchange information each other, while the sensor data processing takes place in separate modules. The information delivered by the IMU can be used to speed up the tracking task of the features by predicting their locations within the next frame; in turn, data from the visual sensor allows updating the calibration parameters of inertial sensors. Conversely, in the tightly coupled approach all measurements, either visual or inertial, are combined and processed using a statistical filtering framework. In particular, Kalman filter-based methods are the preferred tool to perform sensor fusion [2,17,18].In this paper the problem of estimating the ego-motion of a hand-held IMU-camera system is addressed. The presented development stems from our ongoing research on tracking position and orientation of human body segments for applications in telerehabilitation. While orientation tracking can be successfully performed using EKF-based sensor fusion methods based on inertial/magnetic measurements [10,19,20], position tracking requires some form of aiding [21].A tightly coupled approach was adopted to the design of a system in which pose estimates were derived from observations of fiducials. Two EKF-based sensor fusion methods were developed that built somewhat upon the approaches investigated in [2,18], respectively. They were called DLT-based EKF (DLT: Direct Linear Transformation) and error-driven EKF. Their names were intended to denote the different use made of visual information available from fiducials: the visually estimated pose produced by the DLT method was directly delivered to the DLT-based EKF, while in the error-driven EKF the visual measurements were the difference between the measured and predicted location of the fiducials in the image plane. In each filter 2D frame-to-frame correspondences were established by a process of model-based visual feature tracking: a feature was searched within a size-variable window around its predicted location, based on 3D known coordinates of fiducials and the a priori state estimate delivered by the EKF. Moreover, the visual measurement equations were stacked to the measurement equations for the IMU sensors (accelerometer and magnetic sensor), and paired to the state transition equation, where the state vector included quaternion of rotation, position and velocity of the body frame relative to the navigation frame.