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Background: Wasting is a common complication of kidney failure that leads to weight loss and poor outcomes. Recent experimental data identified parathyroid hormone (PTH) as a driver of adipose tissue browning and wasting, but little is known about the relations among secondary hyperparathyroidism, weight loss, and risk of mortality in dialysis patients. Methods: We included 42,319 chronic in-centr
BACKGROUND: Opioids are still widely prescribed to long-term pain patients although they are no longer recommended for long-term treatments due to poor evidence for long-term efficacy, risks of serious side effects, and the possibility of inducing opioid hyperalgesia. In a Cochrane study from 2017, the authors identified an urgent need for more randomized controlled trials investigating the effici
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) booster doses decrease infection transmission and disease severity. This study aimed to assess the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses in low, middle, and high-income countries of the East Mediterranean Region (EMR) and its determinants using the health belief model (HBM). In addition, we aimed to identify the causes of booster dose rejection and the main so
Objective: To assess whether inter-professional, bidirectional collaboration between general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists has an impact on improving cardiovascular risk outcomes among patients in the primary care setting. It also aimed to understand the different types of collaborative care models used. Study design: Systematic review and Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman random effects meta-anal
BACKGROUND: The widespread use of intramedullary nails (IMNs) compared with sliding hip screws (SHSs) in extracapsular hip fractures (AO/OTA 31-A1, 31-A2, 31-A3) has been questioned because of a higher complication rate, although the outcome might have improved through more recent implant designs and the learning curve. This study aimed to investigate if there is a difference with regard to the cu
Background: Adolescent pregnancy and associated neonatal mortality are major global health challenges. In low-income settings where 90% of the 21 million global adolescent pregnancies occur, half are unintended and a fifth experience unsafe abortion. In Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, the survival patterns of neonates born to adolescents are unclear.Objectives: To assess survival patterns among neona
BACKGROUND: Lead exposure has been associated with increased incidence of adverse clinical cardiovascular outcomes. Atherosclerosis has been suggested as one of the underlying mechanisms, and findings from experimental studies support this, but human data are scarce. OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to determine the association between environmental lead exposure based on blood lead (B-Pb) concentrat
A major unanswered question in the dementia field is whether cognitively unimpaired individuals who harbor both Alzheimer's disease neuropathological hallmarks (that is, amyloid-β plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles) can preserve their cognition over time or are destined to decline. In this large multicenter amyloid and tau positron emission tomography (PET) study (n = 1,325), we examined the
Background: Environmental exposures to industrial chemicals, including perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), may play a role in bone development and future risk of osteoporosis. However, as prospective evidence is limited, the role of developmental PFAS exposures in bone density changes in childhood is unclear. The objective of this study was to estimate associations between serum-PFAS concentrations
Background. The urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) system is involved in tissue remodelling processes and is up-regulated in many types of malignancies. We investigated whether serum levels of different forms of soluble uPA receptor (suPAR) are associated with survival and in particular with prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality. Methods. Using time-resolved fluorescence immunoas
Background: Even before the onset of age-related diseases, obesity might be a contributing factor to the cumulative burden of oxidative stress and chronic inflammation throughout the life course. Obesity may therefore contribute to accelerated shortening of telomeres. Consequently, obese persons are more likely to have shorter telomeres, but the association between body mass index (BMI) and leukoc
Background: Multimorbidity has already become common in primary care and will be a challenge in the future. Primary care in Sweden participates to a great extent in the care of patients with two severe, chronic conditions: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure. Both conditions are characterized by high mortality and often coexist. Age, sex, heart failure and other comorbid
The holotype (KUVP 1301) of Styxosaurus snowii—one of the earliest described elasmosaurid plesiosaurians—consists of a well-preserved cranium, mandible and articulated sequence of anterior–mid-series cervical vertebrae found in the lowermost Campanian strata of the Smoky Hill Chalk Member in the Niobrara Formation of Kansas, USA. This particular specimen has proven important for recent phylogenies
Studies on short-term prognosis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) that take family history of VTE and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) into account are sparse. The aim was to investigate the importance of family history of VTE and CCI for short-term mortality after a first episode of VTE. Using Swedish medical databases, we conducted a 90-day nationwide cohort study of 41,700 Swedish born patients w
The present study investigates spatial properties of atrial fibrillation (AF) by analyzing VCG loops synthesized from 12-lead ECGs. During intervals with ventricular activity, the atrial signal is extracted using spatiotemporal QRST cancellation, thus making continuous f-wave analysis possible. Spatial properties are characterized through joint analysis of successive fixed-length signal segments,
Background Carrying the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) germline mutations is associated with a high risk for melanoma. Penetrance of CDKN2A mutations is modified by pigmentation characteristics, nevus phenotypes, and some variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R), which is known to have a role in the pigmentation process. However, investigation of the associations of both
OBJECTIVES: To determine the ability to correctly identify Cesarean section scars, to estimate the prevalence of defective scars, and to determine the size and location of scar defects by transvaginal ultrasound imaging. METHODS: Two hundred and eighty-seven women underwent transvaginal ultrasound examination 6-9 months after delivery: 108 had undergone one Cesarean section, 43 had had two Cesarea
OBJECTIVE: Imaging follow-up (FU) after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is usually performed by periodic contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scans. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of CT-FU after EVAR. METHODS: In this study, 279 of 304 consecutive patients (261 male, aged 74 years (interquartile range (IQR): 70-79 years) with a median abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) diamet
In the central Himalayas, water dynamics are expected to change due to multiple factors like climate change, hydro power development and shifting land use practices. This thesis looks at possible changes in water dynamics in Marsyandi river basin, Nepal, as well as causes to those changes and how they are perceived locally. Grounded in critical physical geography, the study uses mixed methods an
