Search results for "Trials"
showing 10 items of 966 documents
SEQUENTIALLY ADJUSTED RANDOMIZATION TO FORCE BALANCE IN CONTROLLED TRIALS WITH UNKNOWN PREVALENCE OF COVARIATES: APPLICATION TO ALCOHOLISM RESEARCH
2005
In treatment outcome studies with small to medium sample sizes (n200), the balance of groups with regard to important factors, which sometimes occur at low prevalence, is indispensable for adequate interpretation. This study tested a method for use in clinical alcoholism research, an uncomplicated procedure for satisfactory randomization of patients to different treatments, taking into account relevant background variables.An easily applicable modification of Efron's biased coin method for the randomization of treatments within strata of unknown but low prevalence was compared with the original approach and alternative methods by computer simulation (10,000 runs). An application example for…
The impact of deep vein thrombosis in critically ill patients: a meta-analysis of major clinical outcomes
2015
Background. Critically ill patients appear to be at high risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism during their stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, little is known about the clinical course of venous thromboembolism in the ICU setting. We therefore evaluated, through a systematic review of the literature, the available data on the impact of a diagnosis of DVT on hospital and ICU stay, duration of mechanical ventilation and mortality in critically ill patients. We also tried to determine whether currently adopted prophylactic measures need to be revised and improved in the ICU setting. Materials and methods. MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched up…
Aspirin use and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis and meta-regression of observational studies from 2001 to 2005
2007
Purpose To examine the recent epidemiological studies on aspirin use and breast cancer risk published from 2001 to 2005 within a meta-analysis, to investigate reasons for heterogeneity between the individual studies and to analyse a dose-response-relationship considering frequency and duration of use. Methods We systematically searched for cohort-studies and case-control-studies from 2001–2005, which evaluated the association between aspirin and breast cancer risk. We calculated a pooled estimate for the relative risk (RR) and investigated reasons for heterogeneity between the individual studies and analysed a dose-response-relationship using random effects mixed models. Results We identifi…
Therapeutic modulation of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2)
2011
Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is a calcium-independent phospholipase A2 that circulates in plasma in association with lipoprotein particles, whereas in atherosclerotic plaques it is co-localized with macrophages. Lp-PLA2 generates two proinflammatory mediators, lysophosphatidylcholine and oxidized nonesterified fatty acids, which play a role in the development of atherosclerotic lesions and formation of a necrotic core, leading to more vulnerable plaques. Epidemiologic studies demonstrate that increased circulating levels of Lp-PLA2 predict an increased risk of myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiovascular mortality. Furthermore, histologic examination of diseased hum…
Optimizing the Personalized, Risk-Adjusted Management of Pulmonary Embolism: An Integrated Clinical Trial Programme
2018
Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) contributes significantly to the global burden of cardiovascular disease. The severity of the acute PE event determines the expected estimated risk of early death. This risk is influenced by the degree of dysfunction of the right ventricle (RV), as assessed by the presence of acute RV pressure overload on imaging and/or elevated cardiac biomarkers, and by demographic and clinical factors, including relevant comorbidities. Haemodynamic instability and cardiogenic shock is at the top of the PE severity spectrum, as it represents the most extreme manifestation of RV failure and a key determinant of poor prognosis. Ideally, risk-adjusted treatment should implement:…
Sorafenib for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: From Randomized Controlled Trials to Clinical Practice.
2015
Hepatocellular carcinoma is a challenging malignancy of global importance. It is the sixth most common solid malignancy and the third leading cause of cancer-related death, worldwide. Curative treatments at early stages include liver transplantation, resection and percutaneous ablation, while transarterial chemoembolization can improve survival in patients with intermediate tumor stage. Patients with mild, related symptoms and/or macrovascular invasion or extrahepatic spread are classified under the advanced stage. The standard of care in this group is sorafenib, an inhibitor of Raf kinase and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, whose effectiveness has been proven by 2 recent rando…
Prior precision modulates the minimisation of prediction error in human auditory cortex
2018
AbstractThe predictive coding model of perception proposes that successful representation of the perceptual world depends upon cancelling out the discrepancy between prediction and sensory input (i.e., prediction error). Recent studies further suggest a distinction between prediction error associated with non-predicted stimuli of different prior precision (i.e., inverse variance). However, it is not fully understood how prediction error from different precision levels is minimised in the predictive process. The current research used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine whether prior precision modulates the cortical dynamics of the making of perceptual inferences. We presented participant…
First data on the repellent activity of essential oils of Citrus limon towards medfly (Ceratitis capitata)
2012
The biological activity of peel essential oils of two Sicilian cultivars of C. limon, ‘Interdonato’ and ‘Lunario’, was investigated by electrophysiological recordings (EAG) and field trials on Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera Tephritidae). The EAG data showed a remarkable dose-response relationship and a low activation threshold dose (10-3M) for both essential oil extracts. In field tests, essential oils showed a good repellent and antiovipositional activi- ty on ‘Navelina’ oranges, and in particular the essential oils of ‘Lunario’ pro- vided the same results of kaolin. Potential applications of essential oils from C. limon cultivars against C. capitata in organic farming are discuss…
randomized clinical trials in perianal disease.
2012
Abstract: Crohn’s disease can be complicated by the development of fistulas, 54% of which involve the perianal region. The presence of perianal fistulas predicts a disabling course of Crohn’s disease. The treatment of complex perianal disease is difficult and the chance of complete fistula healing is no more than 50%. The best management of this condition is a combining medical and surgical therapy. Studies which evaluated the efficacy of medical treatments in this setting are small, open label and considered the efficacy on perianal disease as a second outcome or as the result of a subgroup analysis. In the few available trials the efficacy outcomes were evaluated by the Fistula Drainage A…
Scipio Sighele, “La letteratura dei processi”
2012
Republishing and commentary of an excerpt of Scipio Sighele’s “Letteratura tragica”