PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the significant factors for risk estimate of aspiration and to evaluate the efficiency of the dysphagia assessment tool. METHODS A consecutive series of 210 stroke patients with aspiration symptoms such as cough and dysphagia who had soft or regular diet without tube feeding were examined. The dysphagia assessment tool for aspiration was comp...

BACKGROUND The objective was to compare women's personal estimates of their risk with objective breast cancer risk estimates and to describe the risk factors for breast cancer identified by women. METHODS Telephone survey of a random sample of 761 rural and urban women with no history of breast cancer. Survey instrument included measures of perceptions of lifetime risk for breast cancer for t...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There are 2 basic principles in cemented stem fixation: shape-closed and force-closed. We investigated 2 shape-closed straight stems, the Müller (MSS) and the Virtec (VSS), which differ only in geometrical cross section, to determine whether the difference in stem shape would affect the radiological results or long-term survival. PATIENTS AND METHODS We included 711 hip...

The non-linear inverse relationship between RR-intervals and heart rate (HR) contributes significantly to the heart rate variability (HRV) parameters and their performance in mortality prediction. To determine the level of influence HR exerts over HRV parameters' prognostic power, we studied the predictive performance for different HR levels by applying eight correction procedures, multiplying ...

Estimation and group comparison of survival curves are two very common issues in survival analysis. In practice, the Kaplan-Meier estimates of survival functions may be biased due to unbalanced distribution of confounders. Here we develop an adjusted Kaplan-Meier estimator (AKME) to reduce confounding effects using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Each observation is weighted ...

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between hospital volume and mortality for nonsurgical patients receiving mechanical ventilation. DATA SOURCES Pennsylvania state discharge records from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2006, linked to the Pennsylvania Department of Health death records and the 2000 United States Census. STUDY DESIGN We categorized all general acute care hospitals in Pennsylvan...

OBJECTIVES Evaluate the ability of the American and British Geriatrics Society fall prevention guideline's screening algorithm to identify and stratify future fall risk in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS Prospective cohort of community-dwelling older adults (n = 117) aged 65 to 90 years. Fall history, balance, and gait measured during a comprehensive geriatric assessment at baseline....

Production coordination is a common phenomenon in supply chains. Unlike the existing literature, we examine the production coordination problem from the perspective of asymmetric information: how a manufacturer (leading firm) coordinates the relationships with its subsidiary firm(s) and, subsequently, how market returns influence the leading firm's expected utilities, agency cost and the subsid...

Despite a decline in recent decades, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the major cause of death and disability in Australia. To improve primary prevention of CVD, many clinical guidelines recommend using cardiovascular absolute risk (CVAR) assessment to guide risk factor management. Cardiovascular absolute risk assessment predicts the overall risk of a cardiovascular event over a given time ...

BACKGROUND The global and within-country epidemiology of cervical cancer exemplifies health inequity. Public health programs may reduce absolute risk but increase inequity; inequity may be further compounded by screening programs. In this context, we aimed to explore what the impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine might have on health equity allowing for uncertainty surrounding the long-t...