Search results for "Research Design"
showing 10 items of 487 documents
Neurocognitive Impairment in Bipolar Patients With and Without History of Psychosis
2008
Objective: Little is known regarding the impact of psychotic symptoms on the cognitive functioning of bipolar patients. Findings from previous reports are controversial and mainly focused on current psychotic symptoms. The main aim of this study was to ascertain whether the history of psychotic symptoms was associated with greater cognitive impairment in euthymic bipolar patients. Method: Sixty-five euthymic bipolar disorder patients (DSM-IV criteria; 35 with a history of psychotic symptoms and 30 without such a history) were assessed through a neuropsychological battery targeting attention, psychomotor speed, verbal memory, and executive functions. Thirty-five healthy controls were also in…
The INTERPHONE study: design, epidemiological methods, and description of the study population
2007
The very rapid worldwide increase in mobile phone use in the last decade has generated considerable interest in the possible health effects of exposure to radio frequency (RF) fields. A multinational case-control study, INTERPHONE, was set-up to investigate whether mobile phone use increases the risk of cancer and, more specifically, whether the RF fields emitted by mobile phones are carcinogenic. The study focused on tumours arising in the tissues most exposed to RF fields from mobile phones: glioma, meningioma, acoustic neurinoma and parotid gland tumours. In addition to a detailed history of mobile phone use, information was collected on a number of known and potential risk factors for t…
The Intracranial Distribution of Gliomas in Relation to Exposure From Mobile Phones: Analyses From the INTERPHONE Study
2016
When investigating the association between brain tumors and use of mobile telephones, accurate data on tumor position are essential, due to the highly localized absorption of energy in the human brain from the radio-frequency fields emitted. We used a point process model to investigate this association using information that included tumor localization data from the INTERPHONE Study (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). Our main analysis included 792 regular mobile phone users diagnosed with a glioma between 2000 and 2004. Similar to earlier results, we found a statistically significant association …
Consensus interferon and ribavirin for patients with chronic hepatitis C and failure of previous interferon-alpha therapy.
2006
BACKGROUND The efficacy of consensus interferon (CIFN), a synthetic IFN with optimised in vitro activity, was assessed in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients who had failed the pretreatment with interferon-alpha (IFNalpha) and ribavirin. METHODS One hundred and three patients after non-response (n=69) or relapse (n=34) to IFNalpha+/-ribavirin were randomly assigned to high-dose induction (CIFN 27-->9 microg daily for 24 weeks, 9 microg t.i.w. for 24 weeks) or low-dose treatment (CIFN 18 microg t.i.w. for 12 weeks, 9 microg t.i.w. for 36 weeks); each with ribavirin 800 mg/day. Follow-up was 24 weeks. RESULTS Non-responder patients treated with high-dose induction had higher early virolo…
Location of Gliomas in Relation to Mobile Telephone Use: A Case-Case and Case-Specular Analysis
2011
The energy absorbed from the radio-frequency fields of mobile telephones depends strongly on distance from the source. The authors' objective in this study was to evaluate whether gliomas occur preferentially in the areas of the brain having the highest radio-frequency exposure. The authors used 2 approaches: In a case-case analysis, tumor locations were compared with varying exposure levels; in a case-specular analysis, a hypothetical reference location was assigned for each glioma, and the distances from the actual and specular locations to the handset were compared. The study included 888 gliomas from 7 European countries (2000-2004), with tumor midpoints defined on a 3-dimensional grid …
Design and Baseline Characteristics of the HELP Study: An Extended and Long-Term Observation of Pathological Myopia in Caucasians.
2017
<b><i>Purpose:</i></b> To assess the natural disease progression of high myopia in Caucasians considered at risk for the development of myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Subjects were recruited in 25 clinical sites between June 2014 and June 2016. Main inclusion criteria included axial length of ≥26 mm, best-corrected visual acuity ≥0.05 decimal equivalent and presence of at least one out of five predefined morphological disease risk criteria. These were (1) subfoveal choroidal thinning &#x3c; 50 µm, (2) enhanced choroidal curvature length &#x3e; 6,300 µm, (3) lacquer cracks, (4) patchy atrophy &#x3…
Acute Hormonal and Force Responses to Combined Strength and Endurance Loadings in Men and Women: The “Order Effect”
2013
Purpose To examine acute responses and recovery of serum hormones and muscle force following combined strength (S) and endurance (E) loading sessions in which the order of exercises is reversed (ES vs. SE). Methods This cross-over study design included recreationally endurance trained men and women (age 21–45 years, n = 12 men n = 10 women) who performed both loadings. Maximal bilateral isometric strength (MVC), isometric rate of force development (RFD) and serum concentrations of testosterone (T), cortisol (C), growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were measured during and after both loadings. Results B…
The randomized shortened dental arch study (RaSDA): design and protocol
2010
Abstract Background Various treatment options for the prosthetic treatment of jaws where all molars are lost are under discussion. Besides the placement of implants, two main treatment types can be distinguished: replacement of the missing molars with removable dental prostheses and non-replacement of the molars, i.e. preservation of the shortened dental arch. Evidence is lacking regarding the long-term outcome and the clinical performance of these approaches. High treatment costs and the long time required for the treatment impede respective clinical trials. Methods/design This 14-center randomized controlled investigator-initiated trial is ongoing. Last patient out will be in 2010. Patien…
A study protocol for applying the co-creating knowledge translation framework to a population health study
2013
Background: Population health research can generate significant outcomes for communities, while Knowledge Translation (KT) aims to expressly maximize the outcomes of knowledge producing activity. Yet the two approaches are seldom explicitly combined as part of the research process. A population health study in Port Lincoln, South Australia offered the opportunity to develop and apply the co-KT Framework to the entire research process. This is a new framework to facilitate knowledge formation collaboratively between researchers and communities throughout a research to intervention implementation process. Design: This study employs a five step framework (the co-KT Framework) that is formulate…
Optimal selection of individuals for repeated covariate measurements in follow-up studies
2016
Repeated covariate measurements bring important information on the time-varying risk factors in long epidemiological follow-up studies. However, due to budget limitations, it may be possible to carry out the repeated measurements only for a subset of the cohort. We study cost-efficient alternatives for the simple random sampling in the selection of the individuals to be remeasured. The proposed selection criteria are based on forms of the D-optimality. The selection methods are compared with the simulation studies and illustrated with the data from the East–West study carried out in Finland from 1959 to 1999. The results indicate that cost savings can be achieved if the selection is focuse…