Does the frequency of follow-up assessments affect clinical trial outcome? A meta-analysis and meta-regression of placebo-controlled randomized trials

n/

Increase in the selenium content of extra virgin olive oil: quantitative and qualitative implications

The biofortification of food crops for human consumption is a direct strategy increasing dietary intake of selenium (Se). The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of increasing the Se content of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) by spraying the olive tree canopy with sodium selenate and the effect of the increase in Se on the chemical properties and sensory characteristics of the EVOO. Se treatments were up to 50 times more effective in enhancing Se content in the EVOO compared with the untreated controls. Se concentration in all the EVOO samples can be considered adequate and useful for providing the human diet with the correct dose of Se. Se-enriched EVOO showed a significant increase in pigment and phenol content. Also, Se treatment does not produce negative effects on fruit characteristics or the sensory quality of EVOO.La biofortificación de cultivos alimenticios para el consumo humano es una estrategia directa para aumentar la ingesta de selenio (Se) en la dieta. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la posibilidad de aumentar el contenido de Se en aceites de oliva virgen extra (AOVE) pulverizando la copa de los olivos con selenato de sodio y el efecto del aumento en el contenido de Se en las propiedades químicas y características sensoriales del AOVE. Los tratamientos con Se fueron muy eficaces consiguiendo aumentar el contenido de Se en el AOVE hasta 50 veces más en comparación con los controles no tratados. La concentración de Se en todas las muestras EVOO puede considerarse adecuada y útil para proporcionar a la dieta humana con la dosis correcta de Se. EVOO-Se enriquecido mostró un aumento significativo en pigmentos y contenido de fenoles. Además, el tratamiento de Se no implica efectos negativos sobre caracteristicas frutales ni sobre la calidad sensorial de AOVE

Simultaneous Continuation of Infinitely Many Sinks Near a Quadratic Homoclinic Tangency

We prove that the $C^3$ diffeomorphisms on surfaces, exhibiting infinitely many sinksnear the generic unfolding of a quadratic homoclinic tangency of a dissipative saddle, can be perturbed along an infinite dimensional manifold of $C^3$ diffeomorphisms such that infinitely many sinks persist simultaneously. On the other hand, if they are perturbed along one-parameter families that unfold generically the quadratic tangencies, then at most a finite number of those sinks have continuation

Increase in the selenium content of extra virgin olive oil: quantitative and qualitative implications

The biofortification of food crops for human consumption is a direct strategy increasing dietary intake of selenium (Se). The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of increasing the Se content of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) by spraying the olive tree canopy with sodium selenate and the effect of the increase in Se on the chemical properties and sensory characteristics of the EVOO. Se treatments were up to 50 times more effective in enhancing Se content in the EVOO compared with the untreated controls. Se concentration in all the EVOO samples can be considered adequate and useful for providing the human diet with the correct dose of Se. Se-enriched EVOO showed a significant increase in pigment and phenol content. Also, Se treatment does not produce negative effects on fruit characteristics or the sensory quality of EVOO.<br><br>La biofortificación de cultivos alimenticios para el consumo humano es una estrategia directa para aumentar la ingesta de selenio (Se) en la dieta. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la posibilidad de aumentar el contenido de Se en aceites de oliva virgen extra (AOVE) pulverizando la copa de los olivos con selenato de sodio y el efecto del aumento en el contenido de Se en las propiedades químicas y características sensoriales del AOVE. Los tratamientos con Se fueron muy eficaces consiguiendo aumentar el contenido de Se en el AOVE hasta 50 veces más en comparación con los controles no tratados. La concentración de Se en todas las muestras EVOO puede considerarse adecuada y útil para proporcionar a la dieta humana con la dosis correcta de Se. EVOO-Se enriquecido mostró un aumento significativo en pigmentos y contenido de fenoles. Además, el tratamiento de Se no implica efectos negativos sobre caracteristicas frutales ni sobre la calidad sensorial de AOVE

On stochastic sea of the standard map

Consider a generic one-parameter unfolding of a homoclinic tangency of an area preserving surface diffeomorphism. We show that for many parameters (residual subset in an open set approaching the critical value) the corresponding diffeomorphism has a transitive invariant set $\Omega$ of full Hausdorff dimension. The set $\Omega$ is a topological limit of hyperbolic sets and is accumulated by elliptic islands. As an application we prove that stochastic sea of the standard map has full Hausdorff dimension for sufficiently large topologically generic parameters.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figure

Behavioural activation by mental health nurses for late-life depression in primary care: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Depressive symptoms are common in older adults. The effectiveness of pharmacological treatments and the availability of psychological treatments in primary care are limited. A behavioural approach to depression treatment might be beneficial to many older adults but such care is still largely unavailable. Behavioural Activation (BA) protocols are less complicated and more easy to train than other psychological therapies, making them very suitable for delivery by less specialised therapists. The recent introduction of the mental health nurse in primary care centres in the Netherlands has created major opportunities for improving the accessibility of psychological treatments for late-life depression in primary care. BA may thus address the needs of older patients while improving treatment outcome and lowering costs.The primary objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of BA in comparison with treatment as usual (TAU) for late-life depression in Dutch primary care. A secondary goal is to explore several potential mechanisms of change, as well as predictors and moderators of treatment outcome of BA for late-life depression. Methods/design: Cluster-randomised controlled multicentre trial with two parallel groups: a) behavioural activation, and b) treatment as usual, conducted in primary care centres with a follow-up of 52 weeks. The main inclusion criterion is a PHQ-9 score > 9. Patients are excluded from the trial in case of severe mental illness that requires specialized treatment, high suicide risk, drug and/or alcohol abuse, prior psychotherapy, change in dosage or type of prescribed antidepressants in the previous 12 weeks, or moderate to severe cognitive impairment. The intervention consists of 8 weekly 30-min BA sessions delivered by a trained mental health nurse. Discussion: We expect BA to be an effective and cost-effective treatment for late-life depression compared to TAU. BA delivered by mental health nurses could increase the availability and accessibility of non-pharmacological treatments for late-life depression in primary care. Trial registration: This study is retrospectively registered in the Dutch Clinical Trial Register NTR6013on August 25th 2016. © 2017 The Author(s)

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services

Wild hyperbolic sets, yet no chance for the coexistence of infinitely many KLUS-simple Newhouse attracting sets

The phenomenon of the coexistence of infinitely many sinks for two dimensional dissipative diffeomorphisms is a result due to Newhouse [Ne1, Ne2]. In fact, for each parameter value at which a homoclinic tangency is formed nondegenerately, there exist intervals in the parameter space containing dense sets of parameter values for which there are infinitely many coexisting sinks (Robinson [R]). The structure of the sinks constructed by Newhouse is limited. ldquoSimplerdquo Newhouse parameter values are values at which there are infinitely many sinks having some special well defined property concerning the structure. A result due to Tedeschini-Lalli and Yorke [TY] says that the Lebesgue measure of the set of simple Newhouse parameter values is zero when the tangencies are due to the standard ldquoaffinerdquo horseshoe map. It is argued in [TY] and [PR] that a more general derivation of this measure zero result would be desirable. The main result of this paper is that the Lebesgue measure of the set of KLUS-simple parameter values (including the simple Newhouse parameter values) is zero for saddle hyperbolic basic sets forming tangencies