Search results for "Nonparametric"
showing 10 items of 427 documents
Retrograde in situ versus antegrade pulmonary preservation in clinical lung transplantation: a single-centre experience.
2014
OBJECTIVE Experimental and clinical studies have indicated a beneficial effect of retrograde lung preservation on post-transplant results. Accordingly, we conducted a non-randomized trial. METHODS A total of 209 consecutive recipients transplanted with low-potassium dextrane (LPD)-preserved lungs were eligible for analysis. Antegrade lung preservation (AP) was performed in 173 patients and retrograde in situ perfusion (RP) in 36 patients using low-potassium dextrane solution in all cases. The prostacycline was added to preservation solution. RESULTS The main donor, graft and recipient characteristics did not differ significantly between groups. There was a beneficial trend toward improved o…
Elevation of total serum immunoglobulin E is associated with asthma in nonallergic individuals.
2000
Elevated serum immunoglobulin (Ig)E is the hallmark of atopy, and contributes to asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in atopic individuals. In contrast, the significance of IgE in nonallergic subjects is less clear. The aim of the present study is to clarify a potential association of IgE and asthma in absence of clinical allergy. To this purpose 1,219 consecutive patients of a pulmonary practice were evaluated. Nonallergic patients were defined by negative skin prick test, history of atopy and specific IgE, 509 subjects (42%) were nonallergic. Among these, 80 patients (16%) had elevated total IgE levels (150 U x mL(-1)). Prevalence and severity of asthma in nonallergic subjects with I…
TLR4 Up-regulation and Reduced Foxp3 Expression in Mechanically Ventilated Smokers with Obstructive Chronic Bronchitis
2013
Background: Chronic bronchitis (CB) is a risk factor in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for accelerated lung function decline and increased mortality. The lung and systemic inflammatory and immunological profile of COPD patients with CB which acutely experience respiratory failure upon a disease exacerbation is unknown. Methods: In this study, we explored the expression of Foxp3 by western blot analysis, TLR4 by immunocytochemistry and the concentrations of IP-10 and IL-8 by ELISA in the mini-bronchoalveolar lavages (mini-BAL) and in the peripheral blood of patients with respiratory failure requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation. The recruited subjects were separated i…
Chronological expression of Ciliated Bronchial Epithelium 1 during pulmonary development
2009
Ciliated Bronchial Epithelium (CBE) 1 is a novel gene, which is expressed in ciliated cells. As cilia are important during embryogenesis, the present authors characterised the murine homologue of CBE1 (Cbe1) and compared its temporal expression during murine and human lung development. Cbe1 cDNA was cloned and characterised using sequencing, standard PCR and Western blotting. Mouse and human embryonic/fetal lungs (HELs) were harvested for mRNA analysis and protein localisation in vivo and in vitro using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The Cbe1 amino acid sequence was >75% identical with CBE1 and its alternative splicing and tissue distribution were highly conserved. Pulmonary expression of…
Effect of a 1-year elastic band resistance exercise program on cardiovascular risk profile in postmenopausal women
2018
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a 1-year progressive resistance training program using elastic bands on cardiovascular profile parameters in sedentary postmenopausal (>12 months’ amenorrhea) women. Methods: This longitudinal prospective experimental study included 38 menopausal women who were randomly divided into two groups: an intervention group (IG, n = 18), who completed a progressive resistance training program with elastic bands over the course of 12 months (six exercises for whole body training, three sets × 10 repetitions), and a control group (CG, n = 20) that did not perform any training. Blood analysis and body composition were determined at bas…
Biologic response of inguinal hernia prosthetics: a comparative study of conventional static meshes versus 3D dynamic implants.
2015
Despite improvements in prosthetics and surgical techniques, the rate of complications following inguinal hernia repair remains high. Among these, discomfort and chronic pain have become a source of increasing concern among surgeons. Poor quality of tissue ingrowth, such as thin scar plates or shrinking scars-typical results with conventional static implants and plugs-may contribute to these adverse events. Recently, a new type of 3D dynamically responsive implant was introduced to the market. This device, designed to be placed fixation-free, seems to induce ingrowth of viable and structured tissue instead of regressive fibrotic scarring. To elucidate the differences in biologic response be…
BICKEL–ROSENBLATT TEST FOR WEAKLY DEPENDENT DATA
2012
The aim of this paper is to analyze the Bickel–Rosenblatt test for simple hypothesis in case of weakly dependent data. Although the test has nice theoretical properties, it is not clear how to implement it in practice. Choosing different band-width sequences first we analyze percentage rejections of the test statistic under H0 by some empirical simulation analysis. This can serve as an approximate rule for choosing the bandwidth in case of simple hypothesis for practical implementation of the test. In the recent paper [12] a version of Neyman goodness-of-fit test was established for weakly dependent data in the case of simple hypotheses. In this paper we also aim to compare and discuss the …
Segmentation algorithm for non-stationary compound Poisson processes
2010
We introduce an algorithm for the segmentation of a class of regime switching processes. The segmentation algorithm is a non parametric statistical method able to identify the regimes (patches) of a time series. The process is composed of consecutive patches of variable length. In each patch the process is described by a stationary compound Poisson process, i.e. a Poisson process where each count is associated with a fluctuating signal. The parameters of the process are different in each patch and therefore the time series is non-stationary. Our method is a generalization of the algorithm introduced by Bernaola-Galván, et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 168105 (2001)]. We show that the new algori…
Control of Bactrocera oleae by low environmental impact methods: NPC methodology to evaluate the efficacy of lure-and-kill method and copper hydroxid…
2011
The NonParametric Combination (NPC) methodology is proposed to verify the influence of the lure-and-kill method, using Ecotraps (Vioryl SA), on the distribution of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera Tephritidae) infestation in olive groves, and the integration of this method with copper hydroxide sprayings. This approach does not require the verification of any rigid assumption as many parametric methods do. Results of field trials indicate a strict relationship among the efficiency of the lure-and-kill method on time, dimension of the field, and population density of the olive fly. Moreover, the lure-and-kill method alone seems insufficient to provide an efficient control of the olive fly p…
Growth Volatility and the Structure of the Economy
2011
The aim of the chapter is twofold: (i) to propose a methodology to compute the growth rate volatility of an economy and (ii) to investigate the relationship between growth volatility and economic development through the lenses of the structural characteristics of an economy. We study a large cross-section of countries in the period 1970–2009, controlling for the stability of the estimates in two subperiods: 1970:1989 (Period I) and 1990:2009 (Period II). Our main findings are (i) the degree of trade openness has a destabilizing effect, while the degree of financial openness has not a significant effect; (ii) the size of the public sector displays a U-shaped relationship with growth volatili…