Objective: To investigate the mortality rate and possible early predictive factors of mortality after 19-23 years in a cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) followed prospectively from disease onset. Patients and methods: A community-based cohort of 183 patients (63% female) with RA and disease duration < 2 years was recruited 1985-1989. The patients were followed yearly from diagnosis

Purpose: This study evaluated postoperative complications of percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and the influence of selected factors on the risk of complications using the Clinical Research Office of the Endourological Society (CROES) PCNL Global Study database. Patients and Methods: The CROES PCNL Global Study collected prospective data for consecutive patients who were treated with PCNL at cen

Study Design. A multicenter, randomized, controlled, cost-effectiveness analysis. Objective. To assess the cost-effectiveness of balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) compared with standard medical treatment (control) in patients with acute/subacute (

To improve compliance with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening in low compliance areas, individually tailored invitations were developed in collaboration with a professional advertising agency. Compliance increased in two intervention municipalities from 71.4% in 2010-2012 to 78.1% in 2013 (p = 0.025), and was then higher [odds ratio 1.7; 95% confidence interval 1.1-2.6; p = 0.013] than in t

Several of the ingredients in fragrance mix I (FM I) have been shown to evaporate from petrolatum preparations applied in test chambers to an extent that can be suspected to affect the patch test result.

Objective. To investigate whether rates of cartilage loss differ in knees with frequent baseline pain versus those without pain, after adjustment for radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) stage. Methods. One knee in each of 718 Osteoarthritis Initiative participants was examined: 310 with calculated Kellgren/Lawrence (K/L) grade 2, 299 with calculated K/L grade 3, and 109 with calculated K/L grade 4. T

The assumption of wide-sense-stationarity (WSS) and uncorrelated scattering (US) of wireless propagation channels is widespread for the design and analysis of wireless propagation channels. However, the assumption is only valid within a limited range. In this paper, we investigate the extension of this range not only in time (WSS), but also in frequency (US), for measured vehicular propagation cha

There have been few attempts to synthesise the growing body of literature on phenotypic plasticity to reveal patterns and generalities about the extent and magnitude of plastic responses. Here, we conduct a review and meta-analysis of published literature on phenotypic plasticity in aquatic (marine and freshwater) gastropods, a common system for studying plasticity. We identified 96 studies, using

Gelatin-based cryogels were prepared by using a novel crosslinker, oxidized dextran, which was synthesized and used in the study. The cryogels were also loaded with freshly formed hydroxyapatite (HA) particles. These cryogels are opaque, spongy and highly elastic and have a pore structure with large interconnected pores. They swell about 500% in aqueous media and within a few minutes reach their f

In this paper, we establish the Gevrey regularity of solutions for a class of degenerate Monge–Ampère equations in the plane. Under the assumptions that one principal entry of the Hessian is strictly positive and the coefficient of the equation is degenerate with appropriately finite type degeneracy, we prove that the solution of the degenerate Monge–Ampère equation will be smooth in Gevrey classe

A search for resonances produced in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions and decaying into top-quark pairs is described. In this Letter events where the top-quark decay produces two massive jets with large transverse momenta recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are considered. Two techniques that rely on jet substructure are used to separate top-quark jets from those arising fro

Because the maintenance of proper developmental temperatures during avian incubation is costly to parents, embryos of many species experience pronounced variation in incubation temperature. However, the effects of such temperature variation on nestling development remain relatively unexplored. To investigate this, we artificially incubated wild blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus L.) clutches at 35.0°,

Laser-induced fluorescence was used to evaluate the classification and quality of Chinese oolong teas and jasmine teas. The fluorescence of four different types of Chinese oolong teas-Guangdong oolong, North Fujian oolong, South Fujian oolong, and Taiwan oolong was recorded and singular value decomposition was used to describe the autofluoresence of the tea samples. Linear discriminant analysis wa

Kinetical and structural aspects of the capsomer-polyion co-assembly into icosahedral viruses have been simulated by molecular dynamics using a coarse-grained model comprising cationic capsomers and short anionic polyions. Conditions were found at which the presence of polyions of a minimum length was necessary for capsomer formation. The largest yield of correctly formed capsids was obtained at w

Context/Objective: Locally aggressive pituitary tumors (LAPT) and pituitary carcinomas respond poorly to conventional therapy and cytotoxic drugs. Temozolomide (TMZ) is an oral alkylating drug with good tolerability, approved for treatment of malignant gliomas. The experience of its use in pituitary tumors is limited. Design/Setting: We report on 24 patients with aggressive pituitary tumors (16 LA

The Nordic Myeloma Study Group conducted an open randomized trial to compare bortezomib as consolidation therapy given after high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) with no consolidation in bortezomib-naive patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. Overall, 370 patients were centrally randomly assigned 3 months after ASCT to receive 20 doses of bortezomib given duri

The aim of this review is to describe imaging techniques for evaluation of non-osteochondral structures such as the synovium, menisci in the knee, labrum in the hip, ligaments and muscles and to review the literature from recent clinical and epidemiological studies of OA.