Aim: To explore whether sense of mastery can mediate the relationship between social support and illness perception in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who were at the “Blanking Period.”. Design: A cross-sectional design. Methods: 405 patients with AF who were at the “Blanking Period” in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University were recruited; they completed a set of questionnaires, inc

Introduction: Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) has been shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 cell entry and suggested as a therapeutic agent for COVID-19. Furthermore, epidemiological association of high prevalence of Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) and regional severity of COVID-19-impact has been hypothesized. In our study setting, the estimated prevalence rates of mild (PI*MZ, PI*SS or PI*MS) and moderat

Events which have an adverse or positive effect on some firms can disseminate through the economy to firms which are not directly affected. By exploiting the first large sovereign bond purchase programme of the ECB, this paper investigates whether more lending to some firms spill over to firms in the surroundings of direct beneficiaries. Firms operating in the same industry and region invest less

Asset purchase programmes (APPs) may insulate banks from having to terminate relationships with unproductive customers. Using administrative plant and bank data, we test whether APPs impinge on industry dynamics in terms of plant entry and exit. Plants in Germany connected to banks with access to an APP are approximately 20% less likely to exit. In particular, unproductive plants connected to weak

Objective: To gain knowledge of underlying risk factors for vascular complications and their impact on life expectancy in myelofibrosis. Methods: From a cohort of 392 myelofibrosis patients registered in the Swedish MPN registry 58 patients with vascular complications during follow-up were identified. Patients with vascular complications were compared with both 1:1 matched controls and the entire

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a condition that leads to lethal right heart failure. Available treatments provide relief but are far from curative and the vascular remodeling in PAH has been difficult to decipher. Although pathognomonic to PAH, the plexiform lesions are difficult to define, and there is no consensus regarding their potential hemodynamic impact. Versican is an extracellul

2022 has not been a good year for Facebook (Meta) so far. The stock price is plunging, the company is still under fire for the extent of misinformation on the platform, and the number of users are decreasing for the first time in the US. Marketing and technology analysts are speculating whether Facebook reached its peak and began losing the competition against other rising platforms like TikTok.Ye