Предпринимательский потенциал технического университета

Оценка предпринимательского потенциала университета необходима для анализа его возможностей обеспечивать жизнеспособность в условиях системной трансформации высшего образования, в частности, представлена оценка предпринимательского потенциала технического вуза

Determining Vitamin D Status: A Comparison between Commercially Available Assays

Background: Vitamin D is not only important for bone health but can also affect the development of several non-bone diseases. The definition of vitamin D insufficiency by serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D depends on the clinical outcome but might also be a consequence of analytical methods used for the definition. Although numerous 25-hydroxyvitamin D assays are available, their comparability is uncertain. We therefore aim to investigate the precision, accuracy and clinical consequences of differences in performance between three common commercially available assays. Methodology/Principal Findings: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels from 204 twins from the Swedish Twin Registry were determined with high-pressure liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLCAPCI-MS), a radioimmunoassay (RIA) and a chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA). High inter-assay disagreement was found. Mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were highest for the HPLC-APCI-MS technique (85 nmol/L, 95% CI 81-89), intermediate for RIA (70 nmol/L, 95% CI 66-74) and lowest with CLIA (60 nmol/L, 95% CI 56-64). Using a 50-nmol/L cut-off, 8% of the subjects were insufficient using HPLC-APCI-MS, 22% with RIA and 43% by CLIA. Because of the heritable component of 25-hydroxyvitamin D status, the accuracy of each method could indirectly be assessed by comparison of within-twin pair correlations. The strongest correlation was found for HPLC-APCI-MS (r = 0.7), intermediate for RIA (r = 0.5) and lowest for CLIA (r = 0.4). Regression analyses between the methods revealed a non-uniform variance (p<0.0001) depending on level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Conclusions/Significance: There are substantial inter-assay differences in performance. The most valid method was HPLCAPCI-MS. Calibration between 25-hydroxyvitamin D assays is intricate

Type l diabetes in childhood and adolescence, environmental exposures and gut microbiota

Environmental factors leading to disturbances in the gut microbiota might play an important role as triggers for, and/or contributing factors in, the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D). The overall aim of the research underlying this thesis was to study the influence of environmental factor exposure on the risk of T1D in childhood and adolescence, and gut microbiota composition in early childhood. In this project, national registers provided information about T1D onset and exposure to animals, antibiotics, caesarean section and severe stress, defined as death of a first degree relative. In the first study (1,999 T1D events), no evidence supported an association between early exposure to dog or farm animals and T1D in childhood. In the second study (1,297 T1D events), dispensed prescriptions of antibiotics in the first year of life was found to be associated with T1D during childhood. Sibling analysis did not indicate confounding from familial factors. Furthermore, the effect estimate for the association between antibiotics and T1D was largest in children delivered by caesarean section. In the third study (10,789 T1D events), death of a close relative was associated with an increased risk for T1D within the first years following the loss, and when the loss occurred during the teenage years. The fourth study was a longitudinal study using 16S rRNA sequencing to analyse faecal samples from 83 children to study the gut microbiota development from birth to 2 years of age. Having a furry pet in the household was associated with a lower abundance of a bacterial species belonging to the genus Bifidobacterium. The overall gut microbiota composition was associated with prenatal exposure to antibiotics and caesarean section. Finally, caesarean section was associated with a lower abundance of Bacteroidetes and a higher abundance of Firmicutes. In conclusion, no evidence was found in the present study to support the association of exposure to animals to lowered risk of T1D in the general population. Although exposure to antibiotics was associated with T1D, it is likely to only make a small contribution to the overall risk of T1D. Our findings support the hypothesis that severe stress might accelerate T1D onset during certain time periods. Furthermore, our findings add to the body of research showing that exposure to animals, prenatal antibiotics and caesarean section account for some of the inter-individual variation in early childhood microbiota development

Type l diabetes in childhood and adolescence, environmental exposures and gut microbiota

Environmental factors leading to disturbances in the gut microbiota might play an important role as triggers for, and/or contributing factors in, the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D). The overall aim of the research underlying this thesis was to study the influence of environmental factor exposure on the risk of T1D in childhood and adolescence, and gut microbiota composition in early childhood. In this project, national registers provided information about T1D onset and exposure to animals, antibiotics, caesarean section and severe stress, defined as death of a first degree relative. In the first study (1,999 T1D events), no evidence supported an association between early exposure to dog or farm animals and T1D in childhood. In the second study (1,297 T1D events), dispensed prescriptions of antibiotics in the first year of life was found to be associated with T1D during childhood. Sibling analysis did not indicate confounding from familial factors. Furthermore, the effect estimate for the association between antibiotics and T1D was largest in children delivered by caesarean section. In the third study (10,789 T1D events), death of a close relative was associated with an increased risk for T1D within the first years following the loss, and when the loss occurred during the teenage years. The fourth study was a longitudinal study using 16S rRNA sequencing to analyse faecal samples from 83 children to study the gut microbiota development from birth to 2 years of age. Having a furry pet in the household was associated with a lower abundance of a bacterial species belonging to the genus Bifidobacterium. The overall gut microbiota composition was associated with prenatal exposure to antibiotics and caesarean section. Finally, caesarean section was associated with a lower abundance of Bacteroidetes and a higher abundance of Firmicutes. In conclusion, no evidence was found in the present study to support the association of exposure to animals to lowered risk of T1D in the general population. Although exposure to antibiotics was associated with T1D, it is likely to only make a small contribution to the overall risk of T1D. Our findings support the hypothesis that severe stress might accelerate T1D onset during certain time periods. Furthermore, our findings add to the body of research showing that exposure to animals, prenatal antibiotics and caesarean section account for some of the inter-individual variation in early childhood microbiota development

Type 1 diabetes mellitus and the risk for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder : a Swedish nationwide register-based cohort study

OBJECTIVES: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), resulting from an immune-associated destruction of insulin-secreting pancreatic beta-cells, has been reported in a few earlier studies to be inversely associated with schizophrenia, but not with schizophrenia-like psychoses. The aim of this study was to verify this finding by carrying out a Swedish register study. METHODS: Data from the Total Population- and Medical Birth-Registers were used to create a cohort of all individuals born in Sweden 1987-2004. The cohort individuals were linked with the Inpatient- and Outpatient-Registers and followed from birth to 2017 to identify onset of T1DM, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to assess the association between T1DM and risk of developing schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder during a follow-up from age 13. RESULTS: The study population included 1 745 977 individuals and the length of follow-up was maximally 18.0 (median 9.7) years. During the follow-up, 1 280 individuals developed schizophrenia and 649 individuals schizoaffective disorder. The risk of developing schizophrenia was significantly lower among individuals with, than among individuals without, a diagnosis of T1DM, whereas the risk of developing schizoaffective disorder did not differ among individuals with or without a T1DM diagnosis [adjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval); schizophrenia: 0.29 (0.09-0.91), p=0.0338, schizoaffective disorder: 1.50 (0.71-3.16), p=0.29091]. CONCLUSIONS: This study, in line with previous studies, shows that a diagnosis of T1DM is associated with a decreased risk of schizophrenia. This finding of an inverse association between T1DM and schizophrenia may bring an interesting piece, related to autoimmunity, into the schizophrenia-aetiology puzzle

The impact of clinically undiagnosed injuries on survival estimates

OBJECTIVES:: Missed injury diagnoses may cause potentially preventable deaths. To estimate the effect of clinically undiagnosed injuries on injury-specific survival estimates and the accuracy of an injury severity score. To also estimate the potentially preventable mortality attributable to these injuries. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS:: In a nation-wide, population-based study, data were collected from all hospital admissions for injuries in Sweden between 1998 and 2004. We studied 8627 deaths in hospital among 598,137 incident hospital admissions. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:: New specific-injury categories were added in 7.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.8-8.0) of all deaths with an autopsy rate of 24.2%. It was estimated that this proportion would have increased to 25.1% (95% CI 23.0-27.2), if all deaths had been autopsied. The most pronounced effect of clinically undiagnosed injuries was found for internal organ injury in the abdomen or pelvis, where they reduced the estimated survival from 0.83 to 0.69 (95% CI for the difference: 0.09-0.20). Autopsy diagnoses also revealed substantial bias of survival estimates for vascular injuries in the thorax and crush injuries to the head. The performance of the International Classification of Diseases Injury Severity Score improved when autopsy diagnoses were added to hospital discharge diagnoses. The maximum proportion of injury deaths attributable to missed injuries was estimated to be 6.5%. CONCLUSIONS:: Maintaining a high autopsy rate and merging accurate hospital discharge data and autopsy data are effective ways to improve the accuracy of survival estimates and mortality prediction models, and to estimate mortality attributable to diagnostic failures

An observational study of the occurrence of anxiety, depression and self-reported quality of life 2 years after myocardial infarction

Background: Patients with myocardial infarction (MI) often experience anxiety, depression and poor quality of life (QoL) compared with a normative population. Mood disturbances and QoL have been extensively investigated, but only a few studies have examined the long-term effects of MI on these complex phenomena. Aims: To examine the levels and associated predictors of anxiety, depression, and QoL in patients 2 years after MI. Methods: This was a single center, observational study of patients with MI (n=377, 22% women, median age 66 years). Two years after MI (2012-2014), the patients were asked to answer the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and EuroQol 5-dimension (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaires. Results: Most patients experienced neither anxiety (87%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 83-90%) nor depression (94%, 95% CI: 92-97%) 2 years post-MI. Elderly patients experienced more depression than younger patients (p=0.003) and women had higher anxiety levels than men (p=0.009). Most patients had “no problems” with any of the EQ-5D-3L dimensions (72-98%), but 48% (95% CI: 43%-53%) self-reported at least “some problems” with pain/discomfort. In a multiple logistic regression model (EQ-5D-3L) higher age (p<0.001) and female sex (p<0.001) were associated with more pain/discomfort. Female sex (p=0.047) and prior MI (p=0.038) were associated with anxiety/depression. History of heart failure was associated with worse mobility (p=0.005) and problems with usual activities (p=0.006). The median total health status of the patients (EQ-VAS) was 78 (95% CI: 75-80

Compared with matched controls, patients with postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) have increased long-term AF after CABG, and POAF is further associated with increased ischemic stroke, heart failure and mortality even after adjustment for AF.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze (1) associations between postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after CABG and long-term cardiovascular outcome, (2) whether associations were influenced by AF during follow-up, and (3) if morbidities associated with POAF contribute to mortality. METHODS: An observational cohort study of 7145 in-hospital survivors after isolated CABG (1996-2012), with preoperative sinus rhythm and without AF history. Incidence of AF was compared with matched controls. Time-updated covariates were used to adjust for POAF-related morbidities during follow-up, including AF. RESULTS: Thirty-one percent of patients developed POAF. Median follow-up was 9.8 years. POAF patients had increased AF compared with matched controls (HR 3.03; 95% CI 2.66-3.49), while AF occurrence in non-POAF patients was similar to controls (1.00; 0.89-1.13). The observed AF increase among POAF patients compared with controls persisted over time (> 10 years 2.73; 2.13-3.51). Conversely, the non-POAF cohort showed no AF increase beyond the first postoperative year. Further, POAF was associated with long-term AF (adjusted HR 3.20; 95% CI 2.73-3.76), ischemic stroke (1.23; 1.06-1.42), heart failure (1.44; 1.27-1.63), overall mortality (1.21; 1.11-1.32), cardiac mortality (1.35; 1.18-1.54), and cerebrovascular mortality (1.54; 1.17-2.02). These associations remained after adjustment for AF during follow-up. Adjustment for other POAF-associated morbidities weakened the association between POAF and overall mortality, which became non-significant. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with POAF after CABG had three times the incidence of long-term AF compared with both non-POAF patients and matched controls. POAF was associated with long-term ischemic stroke, heart failure, and corresponding mortality even after adjustment for AF during follow-up. The increased overall mortality was partly explained by morbidities associated with POAF