The effect of urban green spaces on house prices in Warsaw

In the paper, we analysed the impact of proximity to urban green areas on apartment prices in Warsaw. The data-set contained in 43 075 geo-coded apartment transactions for the years 2010 to 2015. In this research, the hedonic method was used in Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Weighted Least Squares (WLS) and Median Quantile Regression (Median QR) models. We found substantial evidence that proximity to an urban green area is positively linked with apartment prices. On an average presence of a green area within 100 meters from an apartment increases the price of a dwelling by 2,8% to 3,1%. The effect of park/forest proximity on house prices is more significant for newer apartments than those built before 1989. We found that proximity to a park or a forest is particularly important (and has a higher implicit price as a result) in the case of buildings constructed after 1989. The impact of an urban green was particularly high in the case of a post-transformation housing estate. Close vicinity (less than 100 m distance) to an urban green increased the sales prices of apartments in new residential buildings by 8,0–8,6%, depending on a model

Severe Asthma Standard-of-Care Background Medication Reduction With Benralizumab: ANDHI in Practice Substudy

peer reviewedBackground: The phase IIIb, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled ANDHI double-blind (DB) study extended understanding of the efficacy of benralizumab for patients with severe eosinophilic asthma. Patients from ANDHI DB could join the 56-week ANDHI in Practice (IP) single-arm, open-label extension substudy. Objective: Assess potential for standard-of-care background medication reductions while maintaining asthma control with benralizumab. Methods: Following ANDHI DB completion, eligible adults were enrolled in ANDHI IP. After an 8-week run-in with benralizumab, there were 5 visits to potentially reduce background asthma medications for patients achieving and maintaining protocol-defined asthma control with benralizumab. Main outcome measures for non–oral corticosteroid (OCS)-dependent patients were the proportions with at least 1 background medication reduction (ie, lower inhaled corticosteroid dose, background medication discontinuation) and the number of adapted Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) step reductions at end of treatment (EOT). Main outcomes for OCS-dependent patients were reductions in daily OCS dosage and proportion achieving OCS dosage of 5 mg or lower at EOT. Results: For non–OCS-dependent patients, 53.3% (n = 208 of 390) achieved at least 1 background medication reduction, increasing to 72.6% (n = 130 of 179) for patients who maintained protocol-defined asthma control at EOT. A total of 41.9% (n = 163 of 389) achieved at least 1 adapted GINA step reduction, increasing to 61.8% (n = 110 of 178) for patients with protocol-defined EOT asthma control. At ANDHI IP baseline, OCS dosages were 5 mg or lower for 40.4% (n = 40 of 99) of OCS-dependent patients. Of OCS-dependent patients, 50.5% (n = 50 of 99) eliminated OCS and 74.7% (n = 74 of 99) achieved dosages of 5 mg or lower at EOT. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate benralizumab's ability to improve asthma control, thereby allowing background medication reduction. © 202

Metabolic phenotyping for discovery of urinary biomarkers of diet, xenobiotics and blood pressure in the INTERMAP Study: an overview

The etiopathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is multifactorial. Adverse blood pressure (BP) is a major independent risk factor for epidemic CVD affecting ~40% of the adult population worldwide and resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Metabolic phenotyping of biological fluids has proven its application in characterizing low-molecular-weight metabolites providing novel insights into gene-environmental-gut microbiome interaction in relation to a disease state. In this review, we synthesize key results from the INTERnational study of MAcro/micronutrients and blood Pressure (INTERMAP) Study, a cross-sectional epidemiologic study of 4680 men and women aged 40-59 years from Japan, the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom and the United States. We describe the advancements we have made regarding the following: (1) analytical techniques for high-throughput metabolic phenotyping; (2) statistical analyses for biomarker identification; (3) discovery of unique food-specific biomarkers; and (4) application of metabolome-wide association studies to gain a better understanding into the molecular mechanisms of cross-cultural and regional BP differences

Auditory event-related potentials

Auditory event related potentials are electric potentials (AERP, AEP) and magnetic fields (AEF) generated by the synchronous activity of large neural populations in the brain, which are time-locked to some actual or expected sound event

Quantitative imaging markers of lung function in a smoking population distinguish COPD sub-groups with differential lung cancer risk

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous condition with respect to onset, progression and response to therapy. Incorporating clinical- and imaging-based features to refine COPD phenotypes provides valuable information beyond that obtained from traditional clinical evaluations. We characterized the spectrum of COPD-related phenotypes in a sample of former and current smokers and evaluated how these sub-groups differ with respect to sociodemographic characteristics, COPD-related co-morbidities, and subsequent risk of lung cancer. METHODS: White (N=659) and African American (N=520) male and female participants without lung cancer (controls) in the INHALE study who completed a chest CT scan, interview and spirometry test were used to define distinct COPD-related sub-groups based on hierarchical clustering. Seven variables were used to define clusters: pack years, quit years, FEV1/FVC, % predicted FEV1 and from quantitative CT imaging, % emphysema, % air trapping and mean lung density ratio. Cluster definitions were then applied to INHALE lung cancer cases (N=576) to evaluate lung cancer risk. RESULTS: Five clusters were identified that differed significantly with respect to sociodemographic (e.g., race, age) and clinical (e.g., BMI, limitations due to breathing difficulties) characteristics. Increased risk of lung cancer was associated with increasingly detrimental lung function clusters (when ordered from most detrimental to least detrimental). CONCLUSIONS: Measures of lung function vary considerably among smokers, and are not fully explained by smoking intensity. IMPACT: Combining clinical (spirometry) and radiologic (quantitative CT) measures of COPD define a spectrum of lung disease that predicts lung cancer risk differentially among patient clusters