Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

MODELING PREFERENCES ONLINE

Abstract: The search for an online product that matches e-shoppers ’ needs and preferences can be frustrating and time-consuming. Browsing large lists arranged in tree-like structures demands focused attention from eshoppers. Keyword search often results in either too many useless items (low precision) or few or none useful ones (low recall). This can cause potential buyers to seek another seller or choose to go in person to a store. This paper introduces the SPOT (Stated Preference Ontology Targeted) methodology to model eshoppers’ decision-making processes and use them to refine a search and show products and services that meet their preferences. SPOT combines probabilistic theory on discrete choices, the theory of stated preferences, and knowledge modeling (i.e. ontologies). The probabilistic theory on discrete choices coupled with e-shoppers ’ stated preferences data allow us to unveil parameters e-shoppers would employ to reach a decision of choice related to a given product or service. Those parameters are used to rebuild the decision process and evaluate alternatives to select candidate products that are more likely to match e-shoppers’ choices. We use a synthetic example to demonstrate how our approach distinguishes from currently used methods for e-commerce.

Scaling of Nucleation Rates

The homogeneous nucleation rate, J, for T &ll; Tc can be cast into a corresponding states form by exploiting scaled expressions for the vapor pressure and for the surface tension, σ. In the vapor-to-liquid case with σ = σ0[Tc-T], the classical cluster energy of formation /kT = [16π/3]·Ω3[Tc/T-1]3/(ln S)2 ≡ [x0/x]2, where Ω ≡ σ0[k ñ2/3] and ñ is liquid number density. The Ω ≈ 2 for normal liquids. (A similar approach can be applied to homogeneous liquid to solid nucleation and to heterogeneous nucleation formalisms using appropriate modifications of σ and Ω.) The above [x0/x]2 is sufficiently tenable that in some cases, one can use it to extract approximate critical temperatures from experimental data. In this work, we point out that expansion cloud chamber data (for nonane, toluene, and water) are in excellent agreement with ln J ≈ const. - [x0/x]2 [centimeter-gram-second (cgs) units], and that the constant term is well approximated by ln (Γc), where Γc is the inverse thermal wavelength cubed per second at T = Tc. The ln (Γc) is ≈ 60 in cgs units (74 in SI units) for most materials. A physical basis for the latter form, which includes the behavior at small n, the discrete integer behavior of n, and a configurational entropy term, τ ln (n), is presented