We conducted a case-control study to investigate the association between PAR1 gene polymorphisms and the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A total of 270 patients with COPD and 270 control subjects were consecutively recruited between March 2012 and March 2014. A polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism assay was used to assess the polymorphi...

BACKGROUND We tested the hypothesis that right ventricular (RV) pressure overload affects RV function and further influences left ventricular (LV) geometry, which adversely affects LV twist mechanics and segmental function. METHODS AND RESULTS Echocardiographic images were prospectively acquired in 44 patients (age, 46+/-12 years; 82% women) with evidence of pulmonary hypertension (estimated ...

In the past few years, numerical weather models (NWM) have been investigated to improve mapping functions which are used for tropospheric delay modeling in VLBI and GPS data analyses. The Vienna Mapping Functions VMF are based on direct raytracing through NWM, and so they are able to exploit the full information provided in the NWM. On the other hand, the Isobaric Mapping Functions IMF are usin...

Objective. Posterior dynamic stabilization is an effective alternative to fusion in the treatment of chronic instability and degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine. This study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of dynamic stabilization in chronic degenerative disc disease with Modic types 1 and 2. Modic types 1 and 2 degeneration can be painful. Classic approach in such cas...

Instrumental variables regression (IV regression) is a method for making causal inferences about the effect of a treatment based on an observational study in which there are unmeasured confounding variables. The method requires one or more valid instrumental variables (IVs); a valid IV is a variable that is associated with the treatment, is independent of unmeasured confounding variables, and h...

BACKGROUND This study investigated the major clinical determinants of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) at ventricular insertion points (VIPs) commonly seen in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). METHODS Forty-six consecutive PH patients (mean pulmonary artery pressure ≥25 mmHg at rest) and 21 matched controls were examined. Right ventricular (RV) morphology, function and LGE mass volu...

PURPOSE Instrumental variable (IV) analysis can control for unmeasured confounding, yet it has not been widely used in pharmacoepidemiology. We aimed to assess the performance of IV analysis using different IVs in multiple databases in a study of antidepressant use and hip fracture. METHODS Information on adults with at least one prescription of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)...

Background—We tested the hypothesis that right ventricular (RV) pressure overload affects RV function and further influences left ventricular (LV) geometry, which adversely affects LV twist mechanics and segmental function. Methods and Results—Echocardiographic images were prospectively acquired in 44 patients (age, 46 12 years; 82% women) with evidence of pulmonary hypertension (estimated pulm...

This paper reviews recent developments in methods for dealing with weak instruments (IVs) in IV regression models. The focus is more on tests (and confidence intervals derived from tests) than estimators. The paper also presents new testing results under “many weak IV asymptotics,” which are relevant when the number of IVs is large and the coefficients on the IVs are relatively small. Asymptoti...

It has previously been shown that upon infection of HeLa cells with modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), assembly is blocked at a late stage of infection and immature virions (IVs) accumulate (G. Sutter and B. Moss, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:10847-10851, 1992). In the present study the morphogenesis of MVA in HeLa cells was studied in more detail and compared to that under two conditions t...