Search results for "Research Design"
showing 10 items of 487 documents
Perspective: Essential study quality descriptors for data from nutritional epidemiologic research
2017
Pooled analysis of secondary data increases the power of research and enables scientific discovery in nutritional epidemiology. Information on study characteristics that determine data quality is needed to enable correct reuse and interpretation of data. This study aims to define essential quality characteristics for data from observational studies in nutrition. First, a literature review was performed to get an insight on existing instruments that assess the quality of cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies and dietary measurement. Second, 2 face-to-face workshops were organized to determine the study characteristics that affect data quality. Third, consensus on the data descrip…
A Twin Protection Effect? Explaining Twin Survival Advantages with a Two-Process Mortality Model
2016
Twin studies that focus on the correlation in age-at-death between twin pairs have yielded important insights into the heritability and role of genetic factors in determining lifespan, but less attention is paid to the biological and social role of zygosity itself in determining survival across the entire life course. Using data from the Danish Twin Registry and the Human Mortality Database, we show that monozygotic twins have greater cumulative survival proportions at nearly every age compared to dizygotic twins and the Danish general population. We examine this survival advantage by fitting these data with a two-process mortality model that partitions survivorship patterns into extrinsic …
The more the merrier? Scoring, statistics and animal welfare in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
2016
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a frequently used animal model for the investigation of autoimmune processes in the central nervous system. As such, EAE is useful for modelling certain aspects of multiple sclerosis, a human autoimmune disease that leads to demyelination and axonal destruction. It is an important tool for investigating pathobiology, identifying drug targets and testing drug candidates. Even though EAE is routinely used in many laboratories and is often part of the routine assessment of knockouts and transgenes, scoring of the disease course has not become standardized in the community, with at least 83 published scoring variants. Varying scales with diffe…
Compliance, practices, and attitudes towards VTIs (Vehicle Technical Inspections) in Spain: What prevents Spanish drivers from checking up their cars?
2021
Objective Mechanical conditions of vehicles may play a determinant role in driving safety, the reason why vehicle periodical technical inspections (VTIs) are mandatory in many countries. However, the high number of drivers sanctioned for not complying with this regulation is surprisingly high, and there is not much evidence on what kind(s) of motives may explain this concerning panorama. This study aimed to identify the aspects that modulate the relationship between complying (or not) with VTI’s standards in a nationwide sample of Spanish drivers. The study design also addressed the drivers’ awareness regarding different risky behaviors while driving, depending on their sex and their crash…
Feasibility of sample size calculation for RNA-seq studies
2017
Sample size calculation is a crucial step in study design but is not yet fully established for RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses. To evaluate feasibility and provide guidance, we evaluated RNA-seq sample size tools identified from a systematic search. The focus was on whether real pilot data would be needed for reliable results and on identifying tools that would perform well in scenarios with different levels of biological heterogeneity and fold changes (FCs) between conditions. We used simulations based on real data for tool evaluation. In all settings, the six evaluated tools provided widely different answers, which were strongly affected by FC. Although all tools failed for small FCs, s…
Using the Intervention Mapping protocol to develop a family-based intervention for improving lifestyle habits among overweight and obese children: st…
2016
Abstract Background In light of the high prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity, there is a need of developing effective prevention programs to address the rising prevalence and the concomitant health consequences. The main aim of the present study is to systematically develop and implement a tailored family-based intervention for improving lifestyle habits among overweight and obese children, aged 6–10 years old, enhancing parental self-efficacy, family engagement and parent-child interaction. A subsidiary aim of the intervention study is to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity among those participating in the intervention study. Methods/design The Intervention Mapping p…
A New Frailty Score for Experimental Animals Based on the Clinical Phenotype: Inactivity as a Model of Frailty.
2016
The development of animal models to study human frailty is important to test interventions to be translated to the clinical practice. The aim of this work was to develop a score for frailty in experimental animals based in the human frailty phenotype. We also tested the effect of physical inactivity in the development of frailty as determined by our score. Male C57Bl/6J mice, individually caged, were randomly assigned to one of two groups: sedentary (inactive) or spontaneous wheel-runners. We compared the sedentary versus the active lifestyle in terms of frailty by evaluating the clinical criteria used in humans: unintentional weight loss; poor endurance (running time); slowness (running sp…
Refining prediction of survival after TIPS with the novel Freiburg index of post-TIPS survival.
2021
Background & Aims Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) implantation is an effective and safe treatment for complications of portal hypertension. Survival prediction is important in these patients as they constitute a high-risk population. Therefore, the aim of our study was to develop an alternative prognostic model for accurate survival prediction after planned TIPS implantation. Methods A total of 1,871 patients with de novo TIPS implantation for ascites or secondary prophylaxis of variceal bleeding were recruited retrospectively. The study cohort was divided into a training set (80% of study patients; n = 1,496) and a validation set (20% of study patients; n = 375). Furth…
Hyperuricemia and Risk of Cardiovascular Outcomes: The Experience of the URRAH (Uric Acid Right for Heart Health) Project
2020
The latest European Guidelines of Arterial Hypertension have officially introduced uric acid evaluation among the cardiovascular risk factors that should be evaluated in order to stratify patient's risk. In fact, it has been extensively evaluated and demonstrated to be an independent predictor not only of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, but also of myocardial infraction, stroke and heart failure. Despite the large number of studies on this topic, an important open question that still need to be answered is the identification of a cardiovascular uric acid cut-off value. The actual hyperuricemia cut-off (> 6 mg/dL in women and 7 mg/dL in men) is principally based on the saturation …
Determinants of the Quality of Warfarin Control after Venous Thromboembolism and Validation of the SAMe-TT2-R2 Score: An Analysis of Hokusai-VTE.
2019
Background Time in therapeutic range (TTR) measures the quality of vitamin K antagonist (VKA) anticoagulation. In patients with atrial fibrillation, the dichotomized SAMe-TT2-R2 score (≥2 vs. < 2 points) can predict if adequate TTR is unlikely to be achieved. Aims We validated the SAMe-TT2-R2 score in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) randomized to the warfarin arm of the Hokusai-VTE trial. Patients and Methods A total of 3,874 patients were included in the primary analysis (day 31–180 from randomization). The efficacy and safety outcomes were symptomatic recurrent VTE and major or clinically relevant non-major bleeding. Results The rates of recurrent VTE and bleeding events we…