Association Between Patient and Physician Sex and Physician-Estimated Stroke and Bleeding Risks in Atrial Fibrillation

Background

Physicians treating nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF) assess stroke and bleeding risks when deciding on anticoagulation. The agreement between empirical and physician-estimated risks is unclear. Furthermore, the association between patient and physician sex and anticoagulation decision-making is uncertain.

Non alcoholic fatty liver disease and risk of incident diabetes in subjects who are not obese

Background and aims

It is not known whether non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a risk factor for diabetes in non obese, non centrally-obese subjects. Our aim was to investigate relationships between fatty liver, insulin resistance and a biomarker score for liver fibrosis with incident diabetes at follow up, in subjects who were neither obese nor centrally-obese.

A population-based analysis of pediatric breast cancer

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate trends in demographics and outcomes of pediatric breast cancer in a United States population-based cohort.

Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) levels inversely correlate with lung function improvement (delta FEV1) in cystic fibrosis patients receiving ivacaftor treatment

Background

We have recently shown that human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) levels correlate with the severity of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. However, there are no data on how HE4 levels alter in patients receiving CFTR modulating therapy.

The effect of cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs on feelings of energy and fatigue: a meta-analysis of research from 1945 to 2005.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity is a healthful behavior that has promise for combating feelings of low energy and fatigue. Despite evidence suggesting that fatigue is a prodromal symptom of major cardiac events, improvements in feelings of energy and fatigue have largely been ignored by reviewers of cardiac rehabilitation literature who have focused on anxiety, depression and general measures of quality of life. DESIGN: A meta-analytical review. METHODS AND RESULTS: Computer databases were searched from January 1945 to May 2005 to identify relevant literature. A total of 36 studies consisting of 4765 subjects were included. Cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs were consistently associated with increases in energy and decreases in fatigue. The magnitude of the effect was moderately large (mean delta 0.51; 95% confidence interval 0.42-0.61) but was heterogeneous and modified by features of the research design. Comparison of effect sizes in cardiac rehabilitation studies concurrently measuring energy/fatigue, anxiety and depression suggest that exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation programs have larger effects on feelings of energy and fatigue compared with anxiety and depression. CONCLUSION: This review quantifies the potential benefit of cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs on feelings of energy and fatigue, and suggests that cardiac rehabilitation researchers and practitioners may benefit from examining, and perhaps even focusing on, feelings of energy and fatigue as an important outcome variable. A greater understanding of the effect of cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs on feelings of energy and fatigue will be reached when more true experiments are conducted thereby avoiding the primary limitation of the literature reviewed; that is, the frequent use of non-experimental research designs.     

Chronische Transplantatdysfunktion

Chronic transplant dysfunction is a complex dynamic pathogenic process. Clinically, a decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) becomes apparent leading to chronic renal insufficiency and dialysis or death from cardiovascular events. Chronic transplant dysfunction can develop into a chronic alIograft nephropathy (CAN) as a specific entity with dynamic progression. CAN includes a collection of immunologic and non-immunologic factors, rejection, ischemia time, donor and recipient characteristics and toxicity of calcineurin inhibitors. Despite improvements in immunosuppression, the long-range prognosis of renal allografts has not improved. Whether modern immunosuppressive concepts with reduction or avoidance of calcineurin inhibitors and a therapy based on antimetabolites, such as mycophenolate or mTOR-inhibitors could lead to a prolongation of transplant survival, remains to be seen.     

Multi-day radon signals with a radioactive decay limb -- occurrence and geophysical significance.

Multi-day signals, generally with duration of 2-10 days, are a prominent temporal variation type of radon (Rn) in geogas in the unsaturated zone. Rare multi-day Rn signals have been found which are characterized by: (a) a declining limb lasting up to 10 days which conforms to the radioactive decay of Rn, (b) recurs at the same location and (c) is recorded in diverse situations-volcanic and seismogenic. It suggested that a Rn blob is injected at a lower level on a steady upward flow of geogas whereby the rise and final fall of the signal are attributed to the edges of the blob while the central Rn-decay segment records the passing of the decaying blob itself. Rn-decay signals are a small subset of multi-day Rn signals which are considered as highly irregular and unusable for the understanding of geophysical processes. In difference, it is concluded that multi-day Rn signals are probably proxies of subtle geodynamic processes at upper crustal levels and are therefore significant for studying such processes.