BACKGROUND Hyperglycemia increases prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). But the role of normoglycemia on the development of T2D and CVD in elderly population remains unclear. AIM To determine an optimal cut-off for fasting plasma glucose (FPG) to predict MetS and subsequent risk of T2D and CVD in an elderly Taiwanese population with ...

The max-k-cut problem is to partition the vertices of a weighted graph G = (V, E) into k ≥ 2 disjoint subsets such that the weight sum of the edges crossing the different subsets is maximized. The problem is referred as the max-cut problem when k = 2. In this work, we present a multiple operator heuristic (MOH) for the general max-k-cut problem. MOH employs five distinct search operators organi...

BACKGROUND An interferon-γ release assay, QuantiFERON-TB (QFT) test, has been introduced an alternative test for the diagnosis of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Here, we compared the performance of QFT with tuberculin skin test (TST) measured at two different cut-off points among primary health care work (HCW) in Brazil. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out amo...

background: asthma is a chronic multifactorial disease with a high prevalence. among asthma risk factors, the effect of baking in wood tenor ovens (traditional form of baking) on bronchial asthma is still debated. the aim of this study was to determine the association between baking in wood tenor ovens and incidence and control of bronchial asthma. materials and methods: this descriptive study ...

purpose: to determine the incidence and prevalence of clinical keratoconus (kcn) in yazd province. methods: in this population-based survey, a surveillance program was established in yazd province (population size=990,818). all new clinically diagnosed cases of kcn were registered and referred for topographic imaging during one year (2008-2009) by all local ophthalmologist and optometrists. peo...

background: evaluating the tuberculosis (tb) status of theeconomic cooperation organization (eco) member countriesrelation to goal 6-c of the third millennium, which includes thattb incidence, prevalence, and death rates should be halved by2015, compared with their level in 1990.methods: in 2009, we have critically reviewed the countries’millennium development goals (mdgs) reports and extracted...

it is estimated that one third of the world's population is latently infected with tuberculosis (tb). the hiv epidemic fuels the tb epidemic by increasing the risk of reactivation of latent tb infection and by facilitating a more rapid progression of tb disease. although the incidence of tb is constant or decreasing in many regions of the world, rates remain high in developing countries as a co...

demographic changes in germany show the fastest progress of all european countries and are not only influencing socioeconomic issues but also the management of patients with their individual risc profile. especially severely injured elderly constitute a group of patients who need specific attention due to their individual age related pathophysiological processes. 21% of the german population we...

purpose: to determine the incidence, concurrent factors and clinical results of re-operation after corneal refractive surgeries. methods: in this retrospective descriptive study records of all patients undergoing corneal refractive surgeries including prk, lasik, and lasek between april 2005 and december 2006 were assessed. patients who had undergone re-operations entered the study; visual acui...

this article was aimed to provide an overview and a perspective on the changing impact of cancers with increasing age on three age groups. a population based cancer registry was undertaken to register all new cancers cases from march 2006 to march 2007. during one year, 2023 (41.1%) of 4922 patients with cancer were ≥65 years. the five most common cancers (excluding skin cancer) were stomach, b...