Introduction The Internet Becomes Embedded in Community Life The Turn Towards Networked Individualism and E-Citizenship Rethinking Sociability, Neighborhood, and Community Technological Changes Create Social Affordances Broader Bandwidth Always Connected Personalization Wireless Portability Globalized Connectivity Documenting the Current Situation of the Internet What Are the Internet?s Effects...

AIMS Recent European guidelines recommend to include high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in risk assessment for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), using a SCORE-based risk model (SCORE-HDL). We compared the predictive performance of SCORE-HDL with SCORE in an independent, contemporary, 'low-risk' European population, focusing on ability to identify those in need of inten...

The aim was to evaluate the nutritional situation of patients admitted to the Postoperative Acute Care Unit using classic methods of objective anthropometry, systemic evaluation methods, and Nutrition Risk in Critically Ill (NUTRIC) score, and to compare them as a predictor of morbidity and mortality.At admission to the postoperative care unit, patients undergoing various surgeries were assesse...

BACKGROUND The role of coronary artery calcium (CAC) as a screening tool for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in African Americans (AAs) is unclear. We compared the diagnostic accuracy for CVD prevalence using the CAC score and the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) in an adult population of AAs. METHODS CAC was measured in 2944 participants AAs. Approximately 8% of this cohort had known CVD define...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES We investigated if a combination of plasma or salivary interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), and troponin can improve estimation of the pretest probability of the left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS Eighty patients with newly-diagnosed myocardial infarct...

Based on the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory (GLMT), this paper reveals, for the first time in the literature, the principal characteristics of the optical forces and radiation pressure cross-sections exerted on homogeneous, linear, isotropic and spherical hypothetical negative refractive index (NRI) particles under the influence of focused Gaussian beams in the Mie regime. Starting with ray opti...

BACKGROUND Accurate estimation of prognosis in multimorbid hospital patients could improve quality of care. This study aims to determine the relative importance and added value of a performance-based activities of daily living (ADL) measure with regard to mortality prediction. METHODS 200 inpatients, aged over 60 years, were recruited at the Department of General Internal Medicine at a tertia...

Abstract Background Emergency laparotomy is associated with significant morbidity. Nutritional status an important factor that can influence outcomes, particularly in this setting where temporary gastrointestinal failure occur. This study aims to compare the performance of three nutrition risk tools predicting time without enteral nutrition. Methods A prospective cohort was conducted across two...

RATIONALE Most ward risk scores were created using subjective opinion in individual hospitals and only use vital signs. OBJECTIVES To develop and validate a risk score using commonly collected electronic health record data. METHODS All patients hospitalized on the wards in five hospitals were included in this observational cohort study. Discrete-time survival analysis was used to predict th...

Circulating levels of sTNFaR1 were assessed in 429 patients with type 1 diabetes and overt nephropathy from the Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy (FinnDiane) cohort study. Predictors of incident ESRD over a median of 9.4 years of follow-up were determined by Cox regression and Fine-Gray competing risk analyses. The added value of sTNFaR1 was estimated via time-dependent receiver operating characteri...