We briefly introduce and discuss some criteria for optimal decisions. For the majority of this module, we consider a person’s utility for different options (or ‘rewards’ or ‘actions’) and, with uncertainty about the reward which will follow a specific decision, we aim at maximisation of the expected utility, which is actually the utility of the optimal decision (note that a decision is a gamble...

Antitachycardia pacing (ATP) is a programmable therapy in implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) devices that has been demonstrated to effectively reduce the need for shocks. Limited data, however, exists on potential benefits of early ATP delivery ventricular fibrillation (VF) zone. While programmed be delivered as first line tachycardia (VT) events, it does so only once episode meets detecti...

In May 2001, the Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) of the National Cholesterol Education Program issued revised guidelines for diagnosing and treating high blood cholesterol.1 These guidelines represent a major advance in risk assessment. They were preceded by the ATP I guidelines (1988), which focused on primary prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD), and by the ATP II guidelines (1993),...

A G-quadruplex-based, label-free fluorescence assay was demonstrated for the detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). A double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), hybridized by ATP-aptamer and its complementary sequence, was employed as a substrate for ATP binding. SYBR Green I (SG I) was a fluorescent probe and exonuclease III (Exo III) was a nuclease to digest the dsDNA. Consequently, in the absence of A...

BACKGROUND The end point of this study was to investigate the prevalence of MS in patients with ED in comparison with control subjects and to analyse the association with acute phase reactants (CRP, ESR) and hormone levels. METHODS This case-control study included 65 patients, 37 with erectile dysfunction, according to the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) from the Urology Depar...

BACKGROUND/AIMS To compare the frequency of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and magnitude of insulin resistance, measured by the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), between South Korean women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy subjects, and to evaluate risk factors for MetS and increased HOMA-IR in patients with RA. METHODS In a cross-sectional setting, 84 female p...

A swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) emerged as a pandemic in 2009. We investigated the association between the overweight, metabolic syndrome and the severity of disease in the confirmed cases in Qazvin province, Iran. The study sample included all patients over 12 years old with confirmed influenza A (H1N1) in the province of Qazvin, Iran, in the 2009 pandemic, excluding pregnant women. To defin...

BACKGROUND Metabolic syndrome (MS) is considered a very important factor in the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in outpatients undergoing secondary prevention of coronary artery disease in the Institute of Cardiology, University Foundation of Cardiology - IC-UFC, as well as to detect excess weight through body mass in...

OBJECTIVE The coloured population has the second-highest prevalence of diabetes in South Africa. However, the data were based on a study conducted almost 20 years ago in a peri-urban coloured population of the Western Cape. We aimed to determine the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome in an urban coloured population in South Africa. DESIGN In a cross-sectional survey, 642 p...

OBJECTIVE To characterize the body composition, to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS), and to examine the association between body composition and the components of MetS in Vietnamese patients with primary gout. METHODS A total of 107 males with gout and 107 age-matched healthy males underwent physical examination, body composition assessment by dual-energy X-ray absorptiom...