While tobacco smoking is the main risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) only a fraction of smokers go on to develop the disease. We investigated the relationship between the insertion (I)--deletion (D) polymorphisms in the Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene and the risk of developing COPD in smokers by determining the distribution of the ACE genotypes (DD, ID and II...

BACKGROUND The association between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and all-cause mortality in Chinese adults remains unclear. This study aimed to identify the relationship of SBP with all-cause mortality in Chinese men and women. METHODS One hundred twenty-one thousand eighty-two employees of the Kailuan Group Corporation, aged 18 or older, who participated in physical examination from 2006 to ...

Here we present the results of a population survey of the black-faced lion tamarin, Leontopithecus caissara, on Superagüi Island, and we extrapolate this estimation to the entire population. We used the linear transect method for surveys of the area from November 2000 to January 2002. When lion tamarins were seen in transects, we noted the perpendicular distance from the path and the number of ...

OBJECTIVE Analysis of the cost of 8 distributions of oral rabies vaccine (ORV) with strains known to infect raccoons in Ohio between 1997 and 2000. DESIGN Original study. PROCEDURE Fishmeal bait containing ORV was distributed on foot, by vehicle, and by helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft. The cost of personnel, vehicles, and helicopter and aircraft use and other associated expenses were obt...

BACKGROUND Patients with low HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) and elevated triglyceride had an increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) events and received the greatest benefit with fibrate therapy in substudy analyses of the Helsinki Heart Study and the Bezafibrate Infarction Prevention Study. METHODS AND RESULTS In this post hoc analysis of the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study, which e...

Cases of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis were recognized recently in the Province of Trento, Italian Alps. Assessment of areas of potential risk for these tick-borne diseases is carried out by a model based on classification and regression trees (CART), using both discrete and continuous variables. Data on Ixodes ricinus (L.) occurrence resulted from extensive sampling carried out by s...

Land-cover change in eastern lowland Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs for all landscapes situated below the montane tree line at approximately 3000 m, including humid forest, inundated forest, seasonally dry forest, and cloud forest, as well as scrublands and grasslands. Deforestation in eastern Bolivia in 2004 covered 45,411 km2, representing approximately 9% of the...

context: to evaluate treatment success and hypothyroidism following main methods of radioiodine therapy of toxic nodular goiter (tng); calculated versus fixed dose and high versus low dose of radioiodine. evidence acquisitions: we searched medline and scopus databases from inception till july 2013, for clinical trials that compared two different methods of radioiodine administration in tng. the...

Land use changes induced by human activities change landscape patterns and ecological processes, threatening regional global ecosystems. Terrain gradient anthropogenic multi-policy regulation can have a pronounced effect on components. Forecasting the changing trend of risk (LER) is important for national security sustainability. The present study assessed in LER Sichuan-Yunnan Ecological Barri...