Search results for "Confidence Interval"

Tobacco use among medical students in Europe: results of a multicentre study using the Global Health Professions Student Survey

2012

Objective: To examine smoking prevalence, knowledge and attitudes, and tobacco cessation training among university students attending European medical schools using the Global Health Professional Students Survey approach. Methods: A cross-country, cross-sectional study was performed among 12 medical schools in four countries in Europe (Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain). The survey was performed during the second semester of the third year of study from March to May 2009. Results: In total, 2249 subjects entered the study (overall response rate 92%). The overall prevalence of smoking among medical students was 29.3% (95% confidence interval 28.1-34.7), with percentages ranging from 28% in Ge…

Physical activity in adolescence and smoking in young adulthood: a prospective twin cohort study.

2007

Aims  To control for familial confounds, we studied the association between adolescent physical activity and later smoking in twin siblings discordant for their baseline physical activity. Design and measurements  In this prospective population-based twin study, we asked whether persistent physical activity/inactivity in adolescence (assessed at 16, 17 and 18.5 years) predicted questionnaire-reported daily smoking at ages 22–27. Twins who, on the three baseline questionnaires, consistently reported frequent leisure physical activity (more than three times weekly) were classified as persistent exercisers, those who exercised less than three times monthly were called persistently inactive, ot…

Maximal degree of airway narrowing induced by methacholine and adenosine monophosphate: relationship with the decrease in forced vital capacity.

2010

Background Changes in forced vital capacity (FVC) may represent an indirect method for the detection of plateau in response to inhaled bronchoconstrictor agents. Objective To determine the relationship between the level of plateau obtained with either methacholine or adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and the decrease in FVC induced by each bronchoconstrictor agent. Methods Airway responsiveness to high concentrations of methacholine and AMP was determined in patients with intermittent asthma (n = 41) or allergic rhinitis (n = 26). Furthermore, allergen-induced changes in the response to each bronchoconstrictor agent were investigated in 18 pollen-sensitive patients. Concentration-response curve…

Disentangling Derivatives, Uncertainty and Error in Gaussian Process Models

2020

Gaussian Processes (GPs) are a class of kernel methods that have shown to be very useful in geoscience applications. They are widely used because they are simple, flexible and provide very accurate estimates for nonlinear problems, especially in parameter retrieval. An addition to a predictive mean function, GPs come equipped with a useful property: the predictive variance function which provides confidence intervals for the predictions. The GP formulation usually assumes that there is no input noise in the training and testing points, only in the observations. However, this is often not the case in Earth observation problems where an accurate assessment of the instrument error is usually a…

2020

Purpose To investigate short-term training and recovery-related effects on heart rate during a standardized submaximal running test. Methods Ten elite badminton players (7 females and 3 males) were monitored during a 12-week training period in preparation for the World Championships. Exercise heart rate (HRex) and perceived exertion were measured in response to a 5-min submaximal shuttle-run test during the morning session warm-up. This test was repeatedly performed on Mondays after 1–2 days of pronounced recovery (‘recovered’ state; reference condition) and on Fridays following 4 consecutive days of training (‘strained’ state). In addition, the serum concentration of creatine kinase and u…

Telemedicine for the acute management of stroke in Burgundy, France: an evaluation of effectiveness and safety

2016

Background In the context of the development of telemedicine in France to address low thrombolysis rates and limited stroke infrastructures, a star-shaped telestroke network was implemented in Burgundy (1.6 million inhabitants). We evaluated the safety and effectiveness of this network for thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke patients. Methods One hundred and thirty-two consecutive patients who received intravenous thrombolysis during a telemedicine procedure (2012–2014) and 222 consecutive patients who were treated at the stroke center of Dijon University Hospital, France (2011–2012) were included. Main outcomes were the modified Rankin scale (mRS) score and case fatality at 3 months. Com…

Associations of black carbon with lung function and airway inflammation in schoolchildren

2019

Background: Few studies have investigated the 24-hour respiratory health effects of personal black carbon (BC) and ultrafine particles (UFP) exposure in schoolchildren. The objective of this study was to investigate these associations with the lung function in children 10-years old with and without persistent respiratory symptoms. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 305 children (147 and 158 with and without persistent respiratory symptoms, respectively) from three European birth-cohorts: PARIS (France) and INMA Sabadell and Valencia (Spain). Personal 24-hour measurements of exposure concentrations to BC and UFP were performed by portable devices, before lung function testing. …

Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in institutionalized elderly in Barcelona (Spain).

2012

Objective: The objective of this study is to describe the oral health status and the factors associated with oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in people aged 65 and older institutionalized in Barcelona in 2009. Study Design: Cross sectional study in 194 elderly. The dependent variable was poor OHRQoL, according to the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). The independent variables were socio-demographic data, last dental visit, subjective and objective oral health status. Robust Poisson regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with OHRQoL as well as the strengths of association (Prevalence Ratios with respective confidence intervals at 95%). Resu…

The role of physical activity in the link between menopausal status and mental well-being

2020

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between menopausal status and mental well-being, and whether this relationship varies as a function of physical activity (PA). METHODS Based on a hormonal analysis and bleeding diary, women aged 47 to 55 were categorized as pre (n = 304), early peri (n = 198), late peri (n = 209), or postmenopausal (n = 387). Mental well-being was assessed using the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. PA was self-reported and categorized as low, medium, and high. Associations between variables were analyzed using multivariate linear regression adjuste…

Genetic and Environmental Effects on Telomere Length and Lung Function: A Twin Study.

2015

Background The purpose of the study was to estimate the heritability of leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and lung function and to examine whether LTL and lung function share genetic or environmental effects in common. Methods 386 monozygotic and dizygotic Finnish twin sisters (age 68.4±3.4 years) were included. Relative LTL was determined from peripheral blood DNA by qPCR. Lung function measures of FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, and PEF were derived from spirometry. Genetic modeling was performed with MPlus statistical software. Results Univariate analysis revealed that in LTL, 62% (95% confidence interval 50-72) of the variance was explained by additive genetic and 38% (28-50) by unique environmental…