3,447 research outputs found
Use of Statin Therapy to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Older Patients
Background. Cardiovascular disease is the principal cause of mortality in older individuals, and more than 80% of deaths due to coronary heart disease or stroke occur in patients over 65 years of age. Hyperlipidemia is one of the main modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Current guidelines recommend the use of statins to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to appropriate targets based on an individual's cardiovascular risk, and clearly state that older age should not be a barrier to treatment. Despite extensive evidence demonstrating clear benefit with statin therapy in older individuals, this population remains chronically undertreated.
Scope. This paper provides an overview of the current evidence available regarding the efficacy and safety of statin therapy to reduce cardiovascular risk in older patients. We use hypothetical case studies to address some of the questions frequently posed by physicians responsible for the cardiovascular health of older patients. Conclusions. Various factors may account for the failure to provide appropriate treatment, including a lack of awareness of clinical benefits and perceived safety issues. However, if current guidelines are followed and older patients treated to appropriate LDL-C goals, the likelihood of cardiovascular events will be reduced in this high-risk population. Employing an evidence-based approach to the management of cardiovascular risk in older patients is likely to yield benefits in terms of overall cardiovascular burden
âI understood the words but I didnât know what they meantâ: Japanese online MBA studentsâ experiences of British assessment practices
We report on a case study of high Japanese student failure rates in an online MBA programme. Drawing on interviews, and reviews of exam and assignment scripts we frame the problems faced by these students in terms of a âlanguage as social practiceâ approach and highlight the studentsâ failure to understand the specific language games that underpin the course assessment approach. We note the way in which the distance learning and online context can make the challenges faced by international students less immediately visible to both students and institution
The Relationship between the UniProt Knowledgebase (UniProtKB) and the IntAct Molecular Interaction Databases
IntAct provides a freely available, open source database system and analysis tools for protein interaction data. All interactions are derived from literature curation or direct user submission and all experimental information relating to binary protein-protein
interactions is entered into the IntAct database by curators, via a web-based editor. Interaction information is added to the SUBUNIT comment and the RP line of the relevant publication within the UniProtKB entry. There may be a single INTERACTION comment present within a UniProtKB entry, which conveys information relevant to binary protein-protein interactions. This is automatically derived from the IntAct database and is updated on a triweekly basis. Interactions can be derived by any appropriate experimental method but must be confirmed by a second interaction if resulting from a single yeast2hybrid experiment. For large-scale experiments, interactions are considered if a high confidence score is assigned by the authors. The INTERACTION line contains a direct link to IntAct that provides detailed information for the experimental support. These lines are not changed manually and any discrepancy is reported to IntAct for updates. There is also a database crossreference line within the UniProtKB entry i.e.: DR IntAct _UniProtKB AC, which directs the user to additional interaction data for that molecule. 
UniProt is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, European Commission, Swiss Federal Government and PATRIC BRC.
IntAct is funded by the European Commission under FELICS, contract number 021902 (RII3) within the Research Infrastructure Action of the FP6 "Structuring the European Research Area" Programme
Twisted mass fermions: neutral pion masses from disconnected contributions
Twisted mass fermions allow light quarks to be explored but with the
consequence that there are mass splittings, such as between the neutral and
charged pion. Using a direct calculation of the connected neutral pion
correlator and stochastic methods to evaluate the disconnected correlations, we
determine the neutral pion mass. We explore the dependence on lattice spacing
and quark mass in quenched QCD. For dynamical QCD, we determine the sign of the
splitting which is linked, via chiral PT, to the nature of the phase transition
at small quark mass.Comment: 6 pages, poster (hadron spectrum and quark masses) at Lattice
2005,Dublin, July 25-3
Filtered overlap: speedup, locality, kernel non-normality and Z_A~1
We investigate the overlap operator with a UV filtered Wilson kernel. The
filtering leads to a better localization of the operator even on coarse
lattices and with the untuned choice . Furthermore, the axial-vector
renormalization constant is much closer to 1, reducing the mismatch with
perturbation theory. We show that all these features persist over a wide range
of couplings and that the details of filtering prove immaterial. We investigate
the properties of the kernel spectrum and find that the kernel non-normality is
reduced. As a side effect we observe that for certain applications of the
filtered overlap a speed-up factor of 2-4 can be achieved.Comment: 30 pp, 23 fig
Making judgements about students making work : lecturersâ assessment practices in art and design.
This research study explores the assessment practices in two higher education art and design departments. The key aim of this research was to explore art and design studio assessment practices as lived by and experienced by art and design lecturers. This work draws on two bodies of pre existing research. Firstly this study adopted innovative methodological approaches that have been employed to good effect to explore assessment in text based subjects (think aloud) and moderation mark agreement (observation). Secondly the study builds on existing research into the assessment of creative practice. By applying thinking aloud methodologies into a creative practice assessment context the authors seek to illuminate the âin practiceâ rather than espoused assessment approaches adopted. The analysis suggests that lecturers in the study employed three macro conceptions of quality to support the judgement process. These were; the demonstration of significant learning over time, the demonstration of effective studentship and the presentation of meaningful art/design work
A first look at maximally twisted mass lattice QCD calculations at the physical point
In this contribution, a first look at simulations using maximally twisted
mass Wilson fermions at the physical point is presented. A lattice action
including clover and twisted mass terms is presented and the Monte Carlo
histories of one run with two mass-degenerate flavours at a single lattice
spacing are shown. Measurements from the light and heavy-light pseudoscalar
sectors are compared to previous results and their phenomenological
values. Finally, the strategy for extending simulations to is
outlined.Comment: presented at the 31st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory
(Lattice 2013), 29 July - 3 August 2013, Mainz, German
Lattice Spacing Dependence of the First Order Phase Transition for Dynamical Twisted Mass Fermions
Lattice QCD with Wilson fermions generically shows the phenomenon of a first
order phase transition. We study the phase structure of lattice QCD using
Wilson twisted mass fermions and the Wilson plaquette gauge action are used in
a range of beta values where such a first order phase transition is observed.
In particular, we investigate the dependence of the first order phase
transition on the value of the lattice spacing. Using only data in one phase
and neglecting possible problems arising from the phase transition we are able
to perform a first scaling test for physical quantities using this action.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, typo corrected, web-list of authors correcte
Nosocomial nontyphoidal salmonellosis after antineoplastic chemotherapy: reactivation of asymptomatic colonization?
An increased frequency of nontyphoidal salmonellosis is well established in cancer patients, but it is unclear whether this represents increased susceptibility to exogenous infection or opportunistic, endogenous reactivation of asymptomatic carriage. In a retrospective study, a simple case definition was used to identify the probable presence of reactivation salmonellosis in five cancer patients between 1996 and 2002. Reactivation salmonellosis was defined as the development of nosocomial diarrhea >72h after admission and following the administration of antineoplastic chemotherapy in an HIV-seronegative cancer patient who was asymptomatic on admission, in the absence of epidemiological evidence of a nosocomial outbreak. Primary salmonellosis associated with unrecognized nosocomial transmission or community acquisition and an unusually prolonged incubation period could not entirely be ruled out. During the same time period, another opportunistic infection, Pneumocystis pneumonia, was diagnosed in six cancer patients. Presumably, asymptomatic intestinal Salmonella colonization was converted to invasive infection by chemotherapy-associated intestinal mucosal damage and altered innate immune mechanisms. According to published guidelines, stool specimens from patients hospitalized for longer than 72h should be rejected unless the patient is neutropenic or â§65 years old with significant comorbidity. However, in this study neutropenia was present in only one patient, and four patients were <65 years old. Guidelines should thus be revised in order not to reject stool culture specimens from such patients. In cancer patients, nosocomial salmonellosis can occur as a chemotherapy-triggered opportunistic reactivation infection that may be similar in frequency to Pneumocystis pneumoni
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