Predictors of health-related quality of life in type II diabetic patients in Greece

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality affecting millions of people worldwide, while placing a noteworthy strain on public health funding. The aim of this study was to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of Greek Type II DM patients and to identify significant predictors of the disease in this patient population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The sample (N = 229, 52.8% female, 70.0 years mean age) lived in a rural community of Lesvos, an island in the northeast of the Aegean Archipelagos. The generic SF-36 instrument, administered by trainee physicians, was used to measure HRQOL. Scale scores were compared with non-parametric Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests and multivariate stepwise linear regression analyses were used to investigate the effect of sociodemographic and diabetes-related variables on HRQOL.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The most important predictors of impaired HRQOL were female gender, diabetic complications, non-diabetic comorbidity and years with diabetes. Older age, lower education, being unmarried, obesity, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia were also associated with impaired HRQOL in at least one SF-36 subscale. Multivariate regression analyses produced models explaining significant portions of the variance in SF-36 subscales, especially physical functioning (R²= 42%), and also showed that diabetes-related indicators were more important disease predictors, compared to sociodemographic variables.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings could have implications for health promotion in rural medical practice in Greece. In order to preserve a good HRQOL, it is obviously important to prevent diabetes complications and properly manage concomitant chronic diseases. Furthermore, the gender difference is interesting and requires further elucidation. Modifying screening methods and medical interventions or formulating educational programs for the local population appear to be steps in the correct direction.</p

Inducing Ni Sensitivity in the Ni Hyperaccumulator Plant Alyssum inflatum Nyárády (Brassicaceae) by Transforming with CAX1, a Vacuolar Membrane Calcium Transporter

The importance of calcium in nickel tolerance was studied in the nickel hyperaccumulator plant Alyssum inflatum by gene transformation of CAX1, a vacuolar membrane transporter that reduces cytosolic calcium. CAX1 from Arabidopsis thaliana with a CaMV35S promoter accompanying a kanamycin resistance gene was transferred into A. inflatum using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Transformed calli were subcultured three times on kanamycin-rich media and transformation was confirmed by PCR using a specific primer for CAX1. At least 10 callus lines were used as a pool of transformed material. Both transformed and untransformed calli were treated with varying concentrations of either calcium (1–15 mM) or nickel (0– 500 lM) to compare their responses to those ions. Increased external calcium generally led to increased callus biomass, however, the increase was greater for untransformed callus. Further, increased external calcium led to increased callus calcium concentrations. Transformed callus was less nickel tolerant than untransformed callus: under increasing nickel concentrations callus relative growth rate was significantly less for transformed callus. Transformed callus also contained significantly less nickel than untransformed callus when exposed to the highest external nickel concentration (200 lM). We suggest that transformation with CAX1 decreased cytosolic calcium and resulted in decreased nickel tolerance. This in turn suggests that, at low cytosolic calcium concentrations, other nickel tolerance mechanisms (e.g., complexation and vacuolar sequestration) are insufficient for nickel tolerance. We propose that high cytosolic calcium is an important mechanism that results in nickel tolerance by nickel hyperaccumulator plants

De jure determinants of new firm formation: how the pillars of constitutions influence entrepreneurship

This paper provides empirical evidence supporting the view that constitutions are the primary and fundamental institutional determinant of entrepreneurship. It shows that some of the provisions contained in national constitutions are positively and significantly associated with a standard measure of entrepreneurial dynamics, namely the rate of new business density. Using for 115 countries a novel dataset containing the characteristics of the constitutions enacted in the world, applying an IV-GMM treatment to deal with the endogeneity of constitutional rules, and controlling for de facto variables, the paper finds that provisions about the right to conduct/establish a business, the right to strike, consumer protection, anti-corruption, and compulsory education promote higher rates of new firm formation. Contrasting results are instead obtained for provisions concerning protection of intellectual property rights

Supporting workflow in a course management system

CMS, a secure and scalable web-based course management system developed by the Cornell University Computer Science Department, helps manage the workflow associated with running a course. Our goal in designing the system was to simplify, streamline, and automate all workflow aspects, such as course creation and importing students into it, student group management, assignment submission, assignment of graders, grading, regrade requests, and preparation of final grades. In contrast, other course management systems that we are aware of provide only specialized solutions for specific components, such as grading. This system is increasingly widely used for course management at Cornell University. The system was designed to support large courses with low administrative overhead. In this paper we describe the design of the system and the features that were found to be useful, and articulate its design principles