1,988 research outputs found
Recurrent miscarriage and the subsequent risk of cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women in the Western world. In this thesis, several studies are presented examining the association between recurrent miscarriage and cardiovascular disease. Main aim of this thesis was to assess whether miscarriages are independently associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. And, if this was true, to identify cardiovascular risk factors and predict long term cardiovascular disease risk in women with a history of recurrent miscarriage. We found an increased risk of ischemic heart disease in women with a history of two (multivariate analysis HR 1.82) and three or more miscarriages (HR 3.18), irrespective whether consecutive or not (chapter 2). Women with a history of recurrent miscarriage have significantly higher 10- and 30-year cardiovascular risk scores compared to women with a history of no miscarriage. These results indicate an opportunity for the early identification of women prone to cardiovascular disease later in life. Women with a history of two or more miscarriages must be made aware of their increased cardiovascular risk and appropriate risk factor modifications will have to be offered, for example life style advises; weight management and smoking control. LUMC / Geneeskunde Repositoriu
Towards Normalizing the Edit Distance Using a Genetic Algorithms Based Scheme
The normalized edit distance is one of the distances derived from the edit
distance. It is useful in some applications because it takes into account the
lengths of the two strings compared. The normalized edit distance is not
defined in terms of edit operations but rather in terms of the edit path. In
this paper we propose a new derivative of the edit distance that also takes
into consideration the lengths of the two strings, but the new distance is
related directly to the edit distance. The particularity of the new distance is
that it uses the genetic algorithms to set the values of the parameters it
uses. We conduct experiments to test the new distance and we obtain promising
results.Comment: The 8th International Conference on Advanced Data Mining and
Applications (ADMA 2012
Topotecan distribution in an anephric infant with therapy resistant bilateral Wilms tumor with a novel germline WT1 gene mutation
The therapeutic strategy for bilateral Wilms tumor (WT) remains a challenge. Especially in cases with chemotherapy resistant disease, bilateral nephrectomy is sometimes inevitable. For optimal cure rates stage V WT patients benefit from adjuvant treatment; however, there are limited data available on chemotherapy pharmacokinetics in anephric children. In this report, we describe a 10-month old girl with bilateral Wilms tumor and a novel germline WT1 gene mutation. This patient hardly showed any response on preoperative chemotherapy, and ultimately, underwent sequential bilateral tumor-nephrectomy. Subsequently, during peritoneal dialysis, she received topotecan as adjuvant chemotherapy based on plasma levels, indicating that this is a reasonable option as adjuvant treatment in therapy-resistant Wilms tumor patients after bilateral nephrectomy. This case showed a novel germline WT1 gene mutation of which the correlation with resistant phenotype has to be confirmed in larger cohorts of WT patients
Non-Arrhenius Behavior of Secondary Relaxation in Supercooled Liquids
Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (1 Hz - 20 GHz) has been performed on
supercooled glass-formers from the temperature of glass transition (T_g) up to
that of melting. Precise measurements particularly in the frequencies of
MHz-order have revealed that the temperature dependences of secondary
beta-relaxation times deviate from the Arrhenius relation in well above T_g.
Consequently, our results indicate that the beta-process merges into the
primary alpha-mode around the melting temperature, and not at the dynamical
transition point T which is approximately equal to 1.2 T_g.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, revtex
Low Energy Analyzing Powers in Pion-Proton Elastic Scattering
Analyzing powers of pion-proton elastic scattering have been measured at PSI
with the Low Energy Pion Spectrometer LEPS as well as a novel polarized
scintillator target. Angular distributions between 40 and 120 deg (c.m.) were
taken at 45.2, 51.2, 57.2, 68.5, 77.2, and 87.2 MeV incoming pion kinetic
energy for pi+ p scattering, and at 67.3 and 87.2 MeV for pi- p scattering.
These new measurements constitute a substantial extension of the polarization
data base at low energies. Predictions from phase shift analyses are compared
with the experimental results, and deviations are observed at low energies.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Universal behavior of localization of residue fluctuations in globular proteins
Localization properties of residue fluctuations in globular proteins are
studied theoretically by using the Gaussian network model. Participation ratio
for each residue fluctuation mode is calculated. It is found that the
relationship between participation ratio and frequency is similar for all
globular proteins, indicating a universal behavior in spite of their different
size, shape, and architecture.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Relativistic versus Nonrelativistic Optical Potentials in A(e,e'p)B Reactions
We investigate the role of relativistic and nonrelativistic optical
potentials used in the analysis of () data. We find that the
relativistic calculations produce smaller () cross sections even in the
case in which both relativistic and nonrelativistic optical potentials fit
equally well the elastic proton--nucleus scattering data. Compared to the
nonrelativistic impulse approximation, this effect is due to a depletion in the
nuclear interior of the relativistic nucleon current, which should be taken
into account in the nonrelativistic treatment by a proper redefinition of the
effective current operator.Comment: Added one new figure, the formalism section has been enlarged and the
list of references updated. Added one appendix. This version will appear in
Phys. Rev. C. Revtex 3.0, 6 figures (not included). Full postscript version
of the file and figures available at
http://www.nikhefk.nikhef.nl/projects/Theory/preprints
Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of self-management interventions in four high-priority chronic conditions in Europe (COMPAR-EU): a research protocol
Introduction Population ageing and increasing chronic illness burden have sparked interest in innovative care models. While self-management interventions (SMIs) are drawing increasing attention, evidence of their efficacy is mostly based on pairwise meta-analysis, generally derived from randomised controlled trials comparing interventions versus a control or no intervention. As such, relevant efficacy data for comparisons among dif
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