AIMS To assess the association of social determinants on the performance of health systems around the world. METHODS A transnational ecological study was conducted with an observation level focused on the country. In order to research on the strength of the association between the annual maternal and child mortality in 154 countries and social determinants: corruption, democratization, income...

This study aimed to examine average height loss and the relationship between height loss and socioeconomic status (SES) among the elderly in South Korea.Data were obtained from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008-2010. A total of 5265 subjects (2818 men and 2447 women) were included. Height loss was calculated as the difference between the subject's self-reported ma...

Inflammation may play an important role in atherosclerotic disease. Plasma fibrinogen is an established predictor of cardiovascular events. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether other inflammation-sensitive plasma proteins modify this prediction. We studied the incidence of cardiac events and death in men in relation to fibrinogen levels alone and in combination with other proteins. The...

IMPORTANCE Current guidelines allow substantial discretion in use of noninvasive cardiac imaging for patients without acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who are being evaluated for ischemia. Imaging use may affect downstream testing and outcomes. OBJECTIVE To characterize hospital variation in use of noninvasive cardiac imaging and the association of imaging use with downstream testing, interven...

BACKGROUND Indoxyl sulfate (IS), a uremic toxin, has cardiovascular as well as uremic toxicity. We evaluated the prognostic value of blood IS level for long-term outcome. METHODS AND RESULTS This study followed 311 patients with coronary artery disease. Plasma IS level and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were determined. The endpoint was a major adverse cardiac event (MACE). Media...

TFIID is a multiprotein complex consisting of the TATA box binding protein and multiple tightly associated proteins (TAFIIs) that are required for transcription by selected activators. We previously reported cloning and partial characterization of human TAFII130 (hTAFII130). The central domain of hTAFII130 contains four glutamine-rich regions, designated Q1 to Q4, that are involved in interacti...

BACKGROUND Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, such as persistent organochlorine pesticides, has been suggested to increase the risk of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs). METHODS To study the relationship of POP exposure to TGCT risk, prediagnostic serum samples from 754 case subjects and 928 control subjects enrolled in the Servicemen's Testicular Tumor Environmental and Endocrine ...