Search results for " Controls"
showing 10 items of 30 documents
Magnesium Status in Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review
2016
The interest in poor magnesium (Mg) status as risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing due to its antioxidant and neuroprotective properties. A systematic PubMed literature search of studies investigating Mg status was undertaken comparing AD to healthy controls (HCs) or patients with medical illness (medical controls [MCs]). Standardized mean differences (SMDs) ± 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for all outcomes. Of 192 potentially eligible studies, 13 were included (559 patients with AD, 381 HCs, and 126 MCs). Compared to HCs, patients with AD had significantly lower Mg in cerebrospinal fluid (2 studies; SMD = -0.35; P =.02) and in hair (2 studies; SMD = -0.75;…
The effectiveness of influenza vaccination in preventing hospitalisations of elderly individuals in two influenza seasons: a multicentre case-control…
2017
Influenza vaccination may limit the impact of influenza in the community. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of influenza vaccination in preventing hospitalisation in individuals aged ≥ 65 years in Spain. A multicentre case–control study was conducted in 20 Spanish hospitals during 2013/14 and 2014/15. Patients aged ≥ 65 years who were hospitalised with laboratory-confirmed influenza were matched with controls according to sex, age and date of hospitalisation. Adjusted vaccine effectiveness (VE) was calculated by multivariate conditional logistic regression. A total of 728 cases and 1,826 matched controls were included in the study. Overall VE was 36% (95% confidence inte…
Assessment of prevalence and load of torquetenovirus viraemia in a large cohort of healthy blood donors.
2020
OBJECTIVES: Torquetenovirus (TTV) is an emerging marker of functional immune competence with the potential to predict transplant-related adverse events. A large-scale epidemiological study was performed to understand how basal values vary in healthy individuals according to age and gender.; METHODS: We tested plasma from 1017 healthy blood donors aged 18-69years. The presence and load of TTV were determined by a real-time PCR assay. A sub-cohort of 384 donors was tested for anti-cytomegalovirus IgG antibodies, and 100 participants were also tested for TTV viraemia on a paired whole blood sample.; RESULTS: The overall prevalence of TTV was 65% (657/1017) with a mean (±SD) growth of 5±4% ever…
MycoKey Round Table Discussions of Future Directions in Research on Chemical Detection Methods, Genetics and Biodiversity of Mycotoxins
2018
MycoKey, an EU-funded Horizon 2020 project, includes a series of “Roundtable Discussions” to gather information on trending research areas in the field of mycotoxicology. This paper includes summaries of the Roundtable Discussions on Chemical Detection and Monitoring of mycotoxins and on the role of genetics and biodiversity in mycotoxin production. Discussions were managed by using the nominal group discussion technique, which generates numerous ideas and provides a ranking for those identified as the most important. Four questions were posed for each research area, as well as two questions that were common to both discussions. Test kits, usually antibody based, were one major focus of the…
The effect of age on cognitive performance of frontal patients
2015
Age is known to affect prefrontal brain structure and executive functioning in healthy older adults, patients with neurodegenerative conditions and TBI. Yet, no studies appear to have systematically investigated the effect of age on cognitive performance in patients with focal lesions. We investigated the effect of age on the cognitive performance of a large sample of tumour and stroke patients with focal unilateral, frontal (n=68), or non-frontal lesions (n=45) and healthy controls (n=52). We retrospectively reviewed their cross sectional cognitive and imaging data. In our frontal patients, age significantly predicted the magnitude of their impairment on two executive tests (Raven's Advanc…
Do asthmatic smokers benefit as much as non-smokers on budesonide/formoterol maintenance and reliever therapy? Results of an open label study
2012
SummaryBackgroundStudies with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in smoking asthmatics have mostly shown poorer treatment responses than in non-smoking asthmatics.MethodsEuroSMART, an open, randomised, 6-month study, compared budesonide/formoterol (Symbicort ® Turbuhaler®)hhNeither the Symbicort SMART posology nor the dry powder formulation, Turbuhaler, is currently approved in the US. maintenance and reliever therapy (Symbicort SMART®) at two maintenance doses of budesonide/formoterol (160/4.5 μg), 1 × 2 and 2 × 2, in patients with asthma who were symptomatic despite treatment with ICS ± long-acting β2-agonists. The 8424 randomised patients included 886 smokers (11%; aged <40 years or with a sm…
The shaping of public economic discourse in postwar America: the 1947 meat shortage and Franco Modigliani's meat plan
2015
This paper discusses the American debate over price controls and economic stabilization after World War II, when the transition from a war economy to a peace economy was characterized by bottlenecks in the productive system and shortages of food and other basic consumer goods, directly affecting the living standard of the population, the public opinion, and political discourse. Specifically, we will focus on the economist Franco Modigliani and his proposal for a "Plan to meet the problem of rising meat and other food prices without bureaucratic controls." The plan prepared by Modigliani in October 1947 was based on a system of taxes and subsidies to foster a proper distribution of disposabl…
On Approximation of Entropy Solutions for One System of Nonlinear Hyperbolic Conservation Laws with Impulse Source Terms
2010
We study one class of nonlinear fluid dynamic models with impulse source terms. The model consists of a system of two hyperbolic conservation laws: a nonlinear conservation law for the goods density and a linear evolution equation for the processing rate. We consider the case when influx-rates in the second equation take the form of impulse functions. Using the vanishing viscosity method and the so-called principle of fictitious controls, we show that entropy solutions to the original Cauchy problem can be approximated by optimal solutions of special optimization problems.
Innovative control logics for a rational utilization of electric loads and air-conditioning systems in a residential building
2015
The paper focuses on the evaluation of the impact on residential buildings of innovative control logics defined for a rational utilization of the electric loads and air-conditioning systems. The control logics are implementable thanks to a Decision Support and Energy Management Systems developed by the same authors and easily installable in new and still-existing houses. The paper shows how a significant reduction of the primary energy consumption can be obtained by controlling the air-conditioning units together with the other electric loads of the house. After having explained how the control logics operate, a simulation tool is described, developed for a preliminary evaluation of their e…
DSC: software tool for simulation-based design of control strategies applied to wastewater treatment plants.
2011
This paper presents a computer tool called DSC (Simulation based Controllers Design) that enables an easy design of control systems and strategies applied to wastewater treatment plants. Although the control systems are developed and evaluated by simulation, this tool aims to facilitate the direct implementation of the designed control system to the PC of the full-scale WWTP (wastewater treatment plants). The designed control system can be programmed in a dedicated control application and can be connected to either the simulation software or the SCADA of the plant. To this end, the developed DSC incorporates an OPC server (OLE for process control) which facilitates an open-standard communic…