OBJECTIVES To examine the clinical utility of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) testing in achieving medium-term vitamin D (VD) sufficiency in a managed care population. METHODS Retrospective study of a continuously-enrolled patient population in a 3-year period between 2011 and 2013. Primary outcome was VD status at ∼1 year after 25(OH)D testing. Patient demographics, comorbidities, medications,...

Visual overviews of tables of numerical and categorical data have been proposed for tables with a single value per cell. In this paper we address the problem of exploring tables including columns consisting of distributions, e.g. the distributions of movie ratings or trust ratings in recommender systems, age distributions in demographic data, usage distributions in logs of telephone calls etc. ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The results of phase III trials of neuroprotective drugs for acute ischemic stroke have been disappointing. We examine the question of whether these trials may have been underpowered. METHODS Computer simulations were based on the binomial distribution. RESULTS We illustrate that even small overestimates of the efficacy of an intervention can lead to a serious reducti...

In this paper, we present a quantum-key-distribution (QKD)-based quantum private query (QPQ) protocol utilizing single-photon signal of multiple optical pulses. It maintains the advantages of the QKD-based QPQ, i.e., easy to implement and loss tolerant. In addition, different from the situations in the previous QKD-based QPQ protocols, in our protocol, the number of the items an honest user wil...

with respect to the proportion of oldage assistance recipients receiving old-age and survivors insurance. As the coverage of the insurance Program becomes virtually universal, this proportion will no doubt aPpreach loo percent. It will never reach it, however, because many individuals at the lowest economic levels (low-income farmers and migratory and occasional farm and domestic workers) will ...

In trial, when the results are reported as dichotomies variables, the most important measure of effect are represented by the relative risk reduction, absolute risk reduction and number needed to treat, providing the basis for clinicians to balance the benefits and harms of therapy for their patients. The relative risk reduction is a very useful parameter in assessment of a treatment effect if ...

Identity-based encryption (IBE) techniques promise to solve the key distribution problem for secure email. We argue that before this technology is adopted for the important application of secure email it needs to be critically examined in terms of its benefits and risks. To that end our analysis summarizes the unique benefits of IBE and also the significant assumptions and limitations behind it...

introduction: when there is no determined value for water (as a public asset) by its trustees and beneficiaries and its allocation method is more dependent on the requirements of water consumers than comparing water affairs benefits with its real value, decision making on which interested group, when and to what extent can use water is a game. this study is aimed to determine sustainable polici...

Several Social Security proposals have included benefit formula changes that apply to earners above a specified percentage of the combined male and female (unisex) lifetime earnings distribution. The unisex distribution is an average of two disparate groups with large lifetime differences in labor market participation. This study finds that if Social Security's median unisex average indexed mon...