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Significant Linear Trend (significant + linear_trend)
Selected AbstractsSmoking May Impair the Bone Protective Effects of Nutritional Calcium: A Population-Based Approach,JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH, Issue 6 2003Joonas Sirola PhD Abstract Postmenopausal women were randomly selected to investigate the effects of smoking on prevention of bone loss with nutritional calcium. DXA was performed twice, and smoking and calcium intake habits were inquired through the mail in 954 women. Smoking dampened the bone protective effects of nutritional calcium. This may reflect the pathophysiology underlying smoking-induced bone loss postmenopause. This study evaluated the effect of smoking on the bone protective properties of nutritional calcium. Of the random sample of 954 peri- and postmenopausal women selected from the Osteoporosis Risk Factor and Prevention (OSTPRE) study cohort (n = 13,100) in Kuopio, Finland, 182 had smoked at some time (ever smokers) and 772 had never smoked. Women were divided in tertiles according to self-reported dairy nutritional calcium intake (mg/day): <648 (1st), 648-927 (2nd), >927 (3rd). Bone mineral density at lumbar spine (LS) and femoral neck (FN) was measured with DXA at baseline in 1989-1991 and at the 5-year follow-up in 1994-1997. In a linear regression model, nutritional calcium intake did not predict annual bone loss in smokers. These results were similar in the subanalysis on 71 current smokers (at both baseline and 5-year measurements) and on 85 past smokers. In never smokers, a statistically significant linear trend was observed between calcium intake and annual bone loss at LS, but at FN only after adjustment for age, weight, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and other covariates. In analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), no differences in bone loss rate were observed between calcium intake tertiles among smokers. In nonsmokers, the annual bone loss rate was lower in the second (,0.41%) and the third (,0.35%) tertile compared with the first tertile (,0.61%) at LS (p < 0.05) and lower in the third tertile (,0.55%) than in first tertile (,0.72%) at FN after adjustment for age, weight, HRT, and other covariates (p < 0.05). When smokers were added to the nonsmoker group, the differences in bone loss rate between calcium intake tertiles disappeared. In addition, in ANCOVA, the term of interaction between smoking and calcium intake was statistically significant at LS only. In conclusion, smoking seems to impair the bone protective effects of nutritional calcium in postmenopausal women, more clearly in LS than FN. [source] Health interventions and satisfaction with services: a comparative study of urinary incontinence sufferers living in two health authorities in EnglandJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 5 2000Brenda Roe PhD, FRSH ,,This comparative study found that significantly more people with severe incontinence had contacted a health professional than had those with slight to moderate incontinence (P=0.00008). There was a significant linear trend towards people with severe incontinence seeing a health professional (P=0.00007). ,,The majority of people who were incontinent had not been asked to complete a bladder chart, which is an essential requirement for assessment and diagnosis of the type of incontinence and the subsequent health interventions that are offered. ,,Significantly more people in the health authority with an established continence advisory service had completed a bladder chart, had received physiotherapy and currently undertook pelvic floor muscle exercises than did those in the health authority without a continence service. ,,The majority of sufferers did not use any aids or appliances. Of those who did use incontinence aids, a majority bought their own. There was a significant linear trend for increased pad usage with increasing severity of incontinence (P=0.0003). ,,Significantly more people in the health authority with the continence service were satisfied with their healthcare and services, while more of those in the health authority without a service were unsatisfied (P=0.005). Significantly more people in the health authority without a service felt that healthcare and services could be improved (P=0.00001). ,,Significantly more people with severe incontinence were dissatisfied with services than were those with slight to moderate incontinence (P=0.01). [source] Semantic transparency and masked morphological priming: An ERP investigationPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 4 2007Joanna Morris Abstract The role of semantics in the segmentation of morphologically complex words was examined using event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded to target words primed by semantically transparent (hunter,hunt,) opaque (corner,corn), and orthographically related (scandal,scan) masked primes. Behavioral data showed that only transparent items gave rise to priming. The ERP data showed both N250 and the N400 effects with transparent items generating greater priming than orthographic or opaque. Furthermore, priming effects across conditions revealed the existence of a significant linear trend, with transparent items showing the greatest effects and orthographic items the smallest, suggesting that these priming effects vary as a function of morphological structure and semantic transparency. The results are discussed in terms of a model of morphological processing. [source] Comparison of ACINUS, caspase-3, and TUNEL as apoptotic markers in determination of tumor growth rates of clinically localized prostate cancer using image analysisTHE PROSTATE, Issue 15 2009Swaroop S. Singh Abstract BACKGROUND The balance between apoptotic and proliferative processes determines the enlargement of a tumor. Accurate measurement of apoptotic and proliferative rates from diagnostic prostate biopsies would allow calculation of tumor growth rates in a population-based prostate cancer (CaP) study. Automated image analysis may be used if proliferation and apoptotic biomarkers provide clearly resolved immunostained images. METHODS Clinical CaP aggressiveness was assigned as low, intermediate or high using clinical criteria for 46 research subjects with newly diagnosed CaP. Diagnostic biopsy sections from the research subjects were dual-labeled for proliferation biomarker, Ki-67 and apoptotic biomarker, apoptotic chromatin condensation inducer in the nucleus (ACINUS). Apoptotic biomarkers, caspase-3 and terminal deoxyribonucleotidyltransferase mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) were labeled separately. Images from immunostained sections were analyzed using automated image analysis and tumor growth rates computed. Association between clinical CaP aggressiveness and tumor growth rates was explored. RESULTS Sixteen subjects had high, 17 had intermediate, and 13 had low clinical CaP aggressiveness. Positive immunostaining was localized to the nucleus for Ki-67, ACINUS, and TUNEL. A statistically significant linear trend across clinical CaP aggressiveness categories was found when tumor growth rates were calculated using ACINUS (P,=,0.046). Logistic regression and ROC plots generated showed ACINUS (AUC,=,0.677, P,=,0.048) and caspase-3 (AUC,=,0.694, P,=,0.038) to be better predictors than TUNEL (AUC,=,0.669, P,=,0.110). CONCLUSIONS ACINUS met the criteria for automated image analysis and for calculation of apoptotic rate. Tumor growth rates determined using automated image analysis should be evaluated for clinical prediction of CaP aggressiveness, treatment response, recurrence, and mortality. Prostate 69: 1603,1610, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Dizziness Presentations in U.S. Emergency Departments, 1995,2004ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 8 2008Kevin A. Kerber MD Abstract Objectives:, The objectives were to describe presentation characteristics and health care utilization information pertaining to dizziness presentations in U.S. emergency departments (EDs) from 1995 through 2004. Methods:, From the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), patient visits to EDs for "vertigo-dizziness" were identified. Sample data were weighted to produce nationally representative estimates. Patient characteristics, diagnoses, and health care utilization information were obtained. Trends over time were assessed using weighted least squares regression analysis. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to control for the influence of age on the probability of a vertigo-dizziness visit during the study time period. Results:, Vertigo-dizziness presentations accounted for 2.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.4% to 2.6%) of all ED presentations during this 10-year period. From 1995 to 2004, the rate of visits for vertigo-dizziness increased by 37% and demonstrated a significant linear trend (p < 0.001). Even after adjusting for age (and other covariates), every increase in year was associated with increased odds of a vertigo-dizziness visit. At each visit, a median of 3.6 diagnostic or screening tests (95% CI = 3.2 to 4.1) were performed. Utilization of many tests increased over time (p < 0.01). The utilization of computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (CT/MRI) increased 169% from 1995 to 2004, which was more than any other test. The rate of central nervous system diagnoses (e.g., cerebrovascular disease or brain tumor) did not increase over time. Conclusions:, In terms of number of visits and important utilization measures, the impact of dizziness presentations on EDs is substantial and increasing. CT/MRI utilization rates have increased more than any other test. [source] Long-term trends of synoptic-scale breaking Rossby waves in the Northern Hemisphere between 1958 and 2001INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 12 2008F. Isotta Abstract Breaking synoptic-scale Rossby waves are frequent features of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) which affect both global- and regional-scale dynamics. Furthermore, they directly influence ozone distribution through meridional transport of ozone-rich air towards the south and ozone-poor air towards the north. Here, trends in the frequency of these breaking waves are assessed by analysing a 44-year climatology (1958,2002) of potential vorticity (PV) streamers on isentropic surfaces from 310 to 350 K. These streamers are viewed as breaking Rossby waves, whereby stratospheric (tropospheric) streamers indicate southward (northward) breaking waves. Two complementary techniques are used to analyse the trends. First, linear trends are computed using the least-squares regression technique. Statistically significant linear trends are found to vary in location and magnitude between isentropic levels and the four seasons. In winter significant trends are detected in the eastern Pacific between 340 and 350 K. A positive trend of stratospheric streamers in the Tropics is related to an increase of total column ozone, whereas the positive trend of tropospheric streamers in the mid-latitudes is associated with a decrease of total ozone. Secondly, a nonlinear trend analysis is performed using the seasonal-trend decomposition procedure based on Loess (STL). With this technique, the low-frequency variability of the time series is analysed during the 44-year period. For instance, over the eastern Atlantic on 350 K, a phase of decreasing PV streamer frequencies in the 1950s and 1960s is followed by a positive streamer tendency after the 1970s. Additionally, trends of the zonal wind are investigated. One prominent outcome of this analysis is the observation that equatorial easterlies over the Atlantic are weakening. A dynamically meaningful link exists between the trends observed in both wind velocity and PV streamers. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Evaporative climate change in the British IslesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 9 2008Gerald Stanhill Abstract Evaporation measurements made at 16 sites in the British Isles were analysed for evidence of long-term changes. Half of the series were from sites in Ireland measured with Class A evaporation pans between 1963 and 2005 and half in England and Scotland measured with the British Meteorological Office (MO) sunken evaporation tank between 1885 and 1968. Four of the Irish series showed significant linear trends, three of increasing and one of decreasing evaporation. These significant changes ranged between , 0.1 and + 0.1 mm year,1 equivalent to annual changes between , 0.22 and + 0.15%. Five of the UK series showed statistically significant linear trends, three of them decrease and two increase: These ranged in size between , 3.7 and + 2.1 mm year,1, equivalent to annual changes of , 1.05 to + 0.40% of the mean. Curvilinear time trends accounted for twice the amount of inter-annual variation in evaporation as did the linear trends. Differences in sunshine duration (SD), used as a proxy for global radiation, were found to be the major factor explaining spatial as well as temporal changes in evaporation in the British Isles. The pooled Irish data, expressed as normalized anomalies, showed a small and significant linear increase in evaporation over the last 40 years. Similarly parameterized the UK measurements showed no significant trend up till 1968; the one UK series that did extend till 2004 indicated a marked increase during the last 20 years. The long-term changes found in annual evaporation were similar to those in air temperatures both in Ireland and England. The relevance of these findings to the hypothesis of an acceleration in the hydrological cycle is discussed. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Aging Blow Fly Eggs Using Gene Expression: A Feasibility StudyJOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 6 2007Aaron M. Tarone Ph.D. Abstract:, Forensic entomology can aid death investigations by using predictable developmental changes to estimate the ages of flies associated with a body. In developmental stages that do not increase in size however, including the egg and pupa, it can be difficult to objectively refine an age estimate beyond the limits of the stage duration. Gene transcript levels, changing throughout development, represent a potential data source useful for objectively identify smaller units of developmental time. The expression of three genes (bcd, sll, cs) was profiled throughout the maturation of blow fly eggs to determine the feasibility of predicting age, identifying significant linear trends in expression during their development. Models estimating egg age made predictions within 2 h of true age when all expression data were available, while the presence/absence of cs transcripts identified two age classes, together indicating that gene expression can be used to more precisely predict blow fly age. [source] | ||||||||||