Search results for "Termination"

The efficacy of balneotherapy, mud therapy and spa therapy in patients with osteoarthritis: an overview of reviews.

2021

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease considered a leading cause of functional disability. Its treatment is based on a combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, but the role of these latter is still debated. This overview of systematic reviews aimed at evaluating the short-term efficacy of different thermal modalities in patients with osteoarthritis. We searched PubMed, Scopus, CINHAL, Web of Science, ProQuest and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from inception until October 2020, with no language restrictions. We selected the following outcomes a priori: pain, stiffness and quality of life. Seventeen systematic reviews containing 27 unique relevant…

2013

Currently, a growing number of programs become available in statistical software for multiple imputation of missing values. Among others, two algorithms are mainly implemented: Expectation Maximization (EM) and Multiple Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE). They have been shown to work well in large samples or when only small proportions of missing data are to be imputed. However, some researchers have begun to impute large proportions of missing data or to apply the method to small samples. A simulation was performed using MICE on datasets with 50, 100 or 200 cases and four or eleven variables. A varying proportion of data (3% - 63%) was set as missing completely at random and subsequent…

Analysis of the structural quality of the CASD-NMR 2013 entries

2015

We performed a comprehensive structure validation of both automated and manually generated structures of the 10 targets of the CASD-NMR-2013 effort. We established that automated structure determination protocols are capable of reliably producing structures of comparable accuracy and quality to those generated by a skilled researcher, at least for small, single domain proteins such as the ten targets tested. The most robust results appear to be obtained when NOESY peak lists are used either as the primary input data or to augment chemical shift data without the need to manually filter such lists. A detailed analysis of the long-range NOE restraints generated by the different programs from t…

Detection of condition-specific marker genes from RNA-seq data with MGFR

2019

The identification of condition-specific genes is key to advancing our understanding of cell fate decisions and disease development. Differential gene expression analysis (DGEA) has been the standard tool for this task. However, the amount of samples that modern transcriptomic technologies allow us to study, makes DGEA a daunting task. On the other hand, experiments with low numbers of replicates lack the statistical power to detect differentially expressed genes. We have previously developed MGFM, a tool for marker gene detection from microarrays, that is particularly useful in the latter case. Here, we have adapted the algorithm behind MGFM to detect markers in RNA-seq data. MGFR groups s…

Analysis of emerging contaminants and nanomaterials in plant materials following uptake from soils

2017

The reuse of treated wastewater or wastewater-impacted river water is growing, particularly in arid areas, due to the climate change. As well, the disposal of sludges, biosolids or biochar as soil amendments to improve agricultural output is widely implemented in the EU. These practices can be a source of emerging contaminants and engineering nanomaterials (ENMs) to the environment and condition their incorporation to food chain that could affect human beings. This review covers current analytical techniques, instruments and methodologies used to determine emerging contaminants and ENMs from irrigation water and/or soil amendments in plants. Trends regarding sample treatment, separation and…

Addition of either pioglitazone or a sulfonylurea in type 2 diabetic patients inadequately controlled with metformin alone: impact on cardiovascular …

2012

Abstract Background and aims Metformin is the first-line therapy in type 2 diabetes. In patients inadequately controlled with metformin, the addition of a sulfonylurea or pioglitazone are equally plausible options to improve glycemic control. However, these drugs have profound differences in their mechanism of action, side effects, and impact on cardiovascular risk factors. A formal comparison of these two therapies in terms of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is lacking. The TOSCA.IT study was designed to explore the effects of adding pioglitazone or a sulfonylurea on cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetic patients inadequately controlled with metformin. Methods Multicentre, random…

Comparative study on biological effects of the guinea pig complement-peptide C3a and C3a-related synthetic oligopeptides

1980

Dose-response experiments with guinea pig C3a and a synthetic hexapeptide (amino acid residues 72–77), representing the COOH-terminal sequence of human C3a, were performed in two recently described bioassay systems for C3a, i.e. cytotoxicity against tumor cells measured as LDH and 51Cr-release and non cytolytic serotonin release from guinea pig platelets. Compared to the classical anaphylatoxic assay (guinea pig ileum contraction), nearly identical reactivities were observed in all three test systems with C3a and, although quantitatively different, with hexapeptide.

Blood pressure control in treated hypertensive patients in daily practice of Latvian family physicians.

2011

Background and Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate blood pressure (BP) control level in treated hypertensive patients in Latvia and to compare their characteristics according to the adequacy of BP control. Materials and Methods. Family physicians collected information on demographic and clinical characteristics, and current antihypertensive treatment of 455 18–80-year-old patients with essential arterial hypertension treated for 1 or more years. Target BP was defined as values of <140/90 mm Hg for patients with low or moderate cardiovascular risk and <135/85–125/75 mm Hg for patients with high or very high risk. BP was measured in the office setting after a 5-minute rest …

Home blood pressure control is low during the critical morning hours in patients with hypertension: the SURGE observational study

2011

Background. The morning blood pressure (BP) surge is associated with a peak increase in vascular events. Objective. The aim of this observational study was to evaluate morning BP control in treated hypertensive patients using home BP (HBP) monitoring and to compare these findings with clinic BP control. Methods. Clinic BP was measured twice during a 2-week period, prior to medication. Seated HBP was measured, using a BHS-validated device, three times per day over a 2-week period. Assessments included morning (06:00–11:59), lunchtime (12:00–14:00) and evening (18:00–22:00) HBP control (all <135/85 mmHg) and clinic BP (<140/90 mmHg) control. Results. A total of 15 618 patients were assessed. …

Should reduction of increased short‐term blood pressure variability be a target of antihypertensive therapy?

2021

Abstract It has long been known that blood pressure (BP) is characterized by marked short‐term fluctuations occurring within a 24‐h period and also by long‐term oscillations occurring over more prolonged periods of time. An increased short‐term blood pressure variability (BPV) appears to importantly contribute to target organ damage and to the enhanced cardiovascular risk of hypertensive patients, over and above the effect of an increase in mean BP levels. Reducing 24‐h mean BP is the main aim of antihypertensive therapy, but initial data are available that additional cardiovascular protection can be achieved by reducing BPV. However, to definitively prove the prognostic role of short‐term …