Search results for "Random"
showing 10 items of 3931 documents
Reduced muscle inactivity, sedentary time and cardio-metabolic benefits : effectiveness of a one-year family-based cluster randomized controlled trial
2016
A driving hypothesis of the evolving field of sedentary behavior is that frequent muscle activity short-circuits detrimental physiological effects of sedentary time. However, the field relies mostly on observational health associations of proxy measures of muscle inactivity, like television viewing or lack of accelerometer-derived impacts. This study tested effectiveness of a family-based cluster-randomized controlled trial aimed at reducing and breaking up sedentary time at work and leisure time of families on muscle inactivity patterns, sedentary time and cardio-metabolic biomarkers. The intervention consisted of a lecture, face-to-face tailored counseling, two follow-up calls and five em…
STEM CELLS FOR TREATMENT OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES: AN UMBRELLA REVIEW OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS
2021
AIMS:\ud \ud Stem cells are a promising therapy for various medical conditions. The literature regarding their adoption for the clinical care of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is still conflicting. Therefore, our aim is to assess the strength and credibility of the evidence on clinical outcomes and application of stem cells derived from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of intervention studies in CVD.\ud \ud METHODS and RESULTS:\ud \ud Umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using placebo/no intervention as control group. For meta-analyses of RCTs, outcomes with a random-effect p-value< 0.05, the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Ass…
A randomized multicenter trial on a lung ultrasound-guided treatment strategy in patients on chronic hemodialysis with high cardiovascular risk
2021
Lung congestion is a risk factor for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients on chronic hemodialysis, and its estimation by ultrasound may be useful to guide ultrafiltration and drug therapy in this population. In an international, multi-center randomized controlled trial (NCT02310061) we investigated whether a lung ultrasound-guided treatment strategy improved a composite end point (all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, decompensated heart failure) vs usual care in patients receiving chronic hemodialysis with high cardiovascular risk. Patient-Reported Outcomes (Depression and the Standard Form 36 Quality of Life Questionnaire, SF36) were assessed as secondary outcome…
On Ignoring the Random Effects Assumption in Multilevel Models: Review, Critique, and Recommendations
2019
Entities such as individuals, teams, or organizations can vary systematically from one another. Researchers typically model such data using multilevel models, assuming that the random effects are uncorrelated with the regressors. Violating this testable assumption, which is often ignored, creates an endogeneity problem thus preventing causal interpretations. Focusing on two-level models, we explain how researchers can avoid this problem by including cluster means of the Level 1 explanatory variables as controls; we explain this point conceptually and with a large-scale simulation. We further show why the common practice of centering the predictor variables is mostly unnecessary. Moreover, …
Safety and efficacy of cervical disc arthroplasty in preventing the adjacent segment disease: a meta-analysis of mid- to long-term outcomes in prospe…
2019
Objectives: Cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) has become an alternative treatment for cervical radiculopathy and myelopathy. This technique preserves appropriate motion at both the index and adjacent disc levels and consequently may prevent adjacent segment degeneration (ASD). The authors performed a meta-analysis to compare the safety and efficacy of CDA to those of the gold standard, anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Both surgical and clinical parameters were employed to verify the hypothesis that CDA can reduce the risk of ASD. Methods: The meta-analysis comprised high-quality randomized controlled trials that compared CDA and ACDF treatments of cervical degenerative disc di…
L’orientamento guidato da semiochimici di contatto in imenotteri parassitoidi
2009
Il Chemio-orientamento negli imenotteri parassitoidi e più genericamente negli insetti, si manifesta con movimenti nel tempo e nello spazio guidati da informazioni chimiche a differente grado di volatilità. Nel caso dei semiochimici di contatto, la ricezione è affidata a sensilli gustativi uni e multiporo e si manifesta con un periodo di immobilità, durante il quale le antenne vengono mantenute aderenti alla superficie esaminata. Successivamente si possono, generalmente, distinguere due tipi di comportamento: ricerca random e ricerca direzionale. La ricerca random è caratterizzata da un decremento della velocità lineare di locomozione e da un incremento della velocità angolare, in tal modo …
Formation and Transformations of Organic Salt Hydrates: Four Encenicline Hydrochloride Monohydrates and Respective Isostructural Desolvates
2018
Encenicline hydrochloride (Enc-HCl) crystallizes in four different monohydrate phases, but at the same time crystallization in a nonsolvated phase is not observed, indicating that water plays a crucial role in guiding the crystallization process and ensuring structure stability. All monohydrate phases show exceptionally high stability, and the main structural motif stays intact even after dehydration, leading to isostructural (for I and II) or isomorphic (for III) desolvates. Three monohydrate phases with determined crystal structure information consists of Enc-HCl-water hexamers that are stacked into similar slabs, that are further packed identically in monohydrates I, II, and III. The fea…
Phase Equilibria in the Binary and Ternary Systems Composed of Diethyl Ketone, 2-Pentanone, and 3-Pentanol at 101.3 kPa
2003
New vapor−liquid equilibrium data for the binary systems diethyl ketone + 2-pentanone, diethyl ketone + 3-pentanol and 2-pentanone + 3-pentanol and for the diethyl ketone + 2-pentanone + 3-pentanol ternary system are reported at 101.3 kPa. The data were found to be thermodynamically consistent according to the Van Ness−Byer−Gibbs method for the binary systems and according to the McDermott−Ellis method for the ternary one. The experimental results show that the diethyl ketone + 2-pentanone system is well represented by assuming ideal behavior. The other binary systems exhibit slight positive deviations from ideality, and no azeotrope is present. The VLE data have been correlated with the Wi…
Isobaric Vapor−Liquid Equilibria for Binary and Ternary Mixtures of Diisopropyl Ether, 2-Propyl Alcohol, and n-Butyl Propionate at 101.3 kPa
2009
Consistent vapor−liquid equilibrium data at 101.3 kPa have been determined for the ternary system diisopropyl ether (1) + 2-propyl alcohol (2) + n-butyl propionate (3) and two constituent binary systems: diisopropyl ether (1) + n-butyl propionate (3) and 2-propyl alcohol (2) + n-butyl propionate (3). The diisopropyl ether (1) + n-butyl propionate (3) system does not present deviation from ideal behavior, and the 2-propyl alcohol (2) + n-butyl propionate (3) system shows light positive deviation from Raoult’s law. The activity coefficients of the solutions were correlated with their compositions by the Wilson, NRTL, and UNIQUAC models. Wisniak−Tamir equations were used to correlate the boili…
Conformational analysis of α,β-poly(N-hydroxyethyl)-dl-aspartamide (PHEA) and α,β-polyasparthydrazide (PAHy) polymers in aqueous solution
1998
Abstract α,β-Poly(N-hydroxyethyl)- dl -aspartamide (PHEA) and α,β-polyasparthydrazide (PAHy) are synthetic polymers previously studied for biomedical applications. We report here the results of a small-angle X-ray scattering analysis carried out on these two macromolecules in aqueous solution. The data obtained indicate that the two polymers assume remarkably different conformations in aqueous solution, although the backbone is supposed to be the same for the two chains. PHEA can be represented by a random coil conformation, whereas PAHy can be described in terms of an elliptical cylinder characterized by an almost planar structural arrangement with the backbone refolded on itself in a fash…