Arm ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Carboplatin ; Disease-Free Survival ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Maintenance Chemotherapy ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Prognosis ; Quality of Life ; Recombination, Genetic ; Sample Size

bias of 0.005 (95% CI −0.011 to 0.021) with 95% limits of agreement of −0.16 to 0.17 between vFFR and FFR. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 78.0%, 87.1%, 72.5%, 58.7%, and 92.6%, respectively, using the FFR cutoff of 0.80. They were 87.0%, 95.0%, 80.0%, 54.3%, and 98.5%, respectively, with the FFR cutoff of 0.75. The area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve of vFFR versus obstructive CTA stenosis was 0.88 versus 0.61 for the FFR cutoff of 0.80, respectively; it was 0.94 versus 0.62 for the FFR cutoff of 0.75.CONCLUSION: Our novel, fully automated, on-site vFFR technology showed excellent diagnostic performance for the detection of lesion-specific ischemia.]]>
Angiography ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Fractional Flow Reserve, Myocardial ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Patient-Specific Modeling ; Sensitivity and Specificity

bias. In addition, there were no significant differences in intensive care unit (ICU) mortality, in-hospital mortality, 28-day mortality, or ICU length of stay between the groups.CONCLUSION: Discontinuing NE prior to AVP was associated with a lower incidence of hypotension in patients recovering from septic shock. However, our results should be interpreted with caution, due to the considerable between-study heterogeneity.]]>
Arginine Vasopressin ; Arginine ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Consensus ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Incidence ; Intensive Care Units ; Length of Stay ; Mortality ; Norepinephrine ; Odds Ratio ; Population Characteristics ; Sepsis ; Shock, Septic ; Treatment Outcome ; Vasoconstrictor Agents

Bias ; Coronavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; transmission ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; epidemiology ; transmission ; Uncertainty

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is considered a primary driver of global mortality and is estimated to be responsible for approximately 17.9 million deaths annually. Consequently, a substantial body of research related to CVD has developed, with an emphasis on identifying strategies for the prevention and effective treatment of CVD. In this review, we critically examine the existing CVD literature, and specifically highlight the contribution of Mendelian randomization analyses in CVD research. Throughout this review, we assess the extent to which research findings agree across a range of studies of differing design within a triangulation framework. If differing study designs are subject to non-overlapping sources of bias, consistent findings limit the extent to which results are merely an artefact of study design. Consequently, broad agreement across differing studies can be viewed as providing more robust causal evidence in contrast to limiting the scope of the review to a single specific study design. Utilising the triangulation approach, we highlight emerging patterns in research findings, and explore the potential of identified risk factors as targets for precision medicine and novel interventions.
Artifacts ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis ; Mortality ; Precision Medicine ; Random Allocation ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to examine the association of implicit self-esteem, explicit self-esteem and their interaction with paranoia and attributional bias. The relationship of the size and the direction of the discrepancy between implicit and explicit self-esteem with paranoia and attributional bias was examined. METHODS: A total of 128 female college students participated. We administered the Implicit Association Test to assess implicit self-esteem, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale to measure explicit self-esteem. Paranoia Scale was used, and the attributional bias was assessed using the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire. RESULTS: Results showed that explicit but not implicit self-esteem was negatively associated with paranoia, blame bias and hostility perception bias in ambiguous situations. The interaction of implicit and explicit self-esteem was associated with hostility perception in ambiguous situations. As for the discrepancy, the size of the discrepancy between implicit and explicit self-esteem was positively associated with hostility perception in ambiguous situations. Moreover, the direction of the discrepancy was specifically relevant: damaged self-esteem (high implicit and low explicit self-esteem) was associated with increased levels of paranoia, blame bias and hostility perception in ambiguous situations. CONCLUSION: These findings provide new insights into the role of the implicit and explicit self-esteem in attributional bias and paranoia and point to damaged self-esteem as a possible vulnerability marker for illogical attribution of blaming others and perceiving hostility in social situations.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Female ; Hostility ; Humans ; Intention ; Paranoid Disorders

OBJECTIVE: Since the inflammatory process has been implicated in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorder, an important issue emerging is to assess the test-retest reliability of cytokine measurement in healthy individuals and patients with schizophrenia. The objective of the present study was to investigate the test-retest reliability of bead-based multiplex immunoassay technology (BMIT) for cytokine measurement by using a Bland-Altman plot (BAP). METHODS: Twenty healthy individuals and twenty patients with schizophrenia were enrolled, and a 17-plex cytokine assay was used to measure inflammatory biomarkers at baseline and two weeks later. The test-retest reliability was examined by BAP, 95% limits of agreement (LOA), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and coefficient of repeatability (CoR). RESULTS: In the healthy controls, only interleukin (IL)-2, IL-13, IL-10, IL-17, and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β showed excellent ICC. The BAP with 95% LOA determined that 13 cytokines showed acceptable 95% LOA for a 2-week test-retest reliability, and only IL-1β, IL-12 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α had significant test-retest bias. The CoR of cytokines varied significantly, ranging from 1.72 to 218.1. Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia showed significantly higher levels of IL-5, IL-13, and TNF-α and significantly lower levels of IL-4, IL-12, and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). Of these six cytokines, IL-12 and TNF-α were considered suboptimal reliability. CONCLUSION: The findings from ICC and CoR implied that the test-retest reliability of BMIT for cytokine measurement were suboptimal. However, the BAP with 95% LOA confirmed that BMIT can reliably distinguish schizophrenia from healthy individuals in cytokine measurement, while significant within-subject variation and between-group overlapping were evident in cytokine expression.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Biomarkers ; Cytokines ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; Inflammation ; Interferon-gamma ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-12 ; Interleukin-13 ; Interleukin-17 ; Interleukin-4 ; Interleukin-5 ; Interleukins ; Loa ; Macrophages ; Reproducibility of Results ; Schizophrenia ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

PURPOSE: Glioblastoma (GBM) carries a high propensity for in-field failure despite trimodality management. Past studies have failed to show outcome improvements with dose-escalation. Herein, we examined trends and outcomes associated with dose-escalation for GBM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The National Cancer Database was queried for GBM patients who underwent surgical resection and external-beam radiation with chemotherapy. Patients were excluded if doses were less than 59.4 Gy; dose-escalation referred to doses ≥66 Gy. Odds ratios identified predictors of dose-escalation. Univariable and multivariable Cox regressions determined potential predictors of overall survival (OS). Propensity-adjusted multivariable analysis better accounted for indication biases. RESULTS: Of 33,991 patients, 1,223 patients received dose-escalation. Median dose in the escalation group was 70 Gy (range, 66 to 89.4 Gy). The use of dose-escalation decreased from 8% in 2004 to 2% in 2014. Predictors of escalated dose were African American race, lower comorbidity score, treatment at community centers, decreased income, and more remote treatment year. Median OS was 16.2 months and 15.8 months for the standard and dose-escalated cohorts, respectively (p = 0.35). On multivariable analysis, age >60 years, higher comorbidity score, treatment at community centers, decreased education, lower income, government insurance, Caucasian race, male gender, and more remote year of treatment predicted for worse OS. On propensity-adjusted multivariable analysis, age >60 years, distance from center >12 miles, decreased education, government insurance, and male gender predicted for worse outcome. CONCLUSION: Dose-escalated radiotherapy for GBM has decreased over time across the United States, in concordance with guidelines and the available evidence. Similarly, this large study did not discern survival improvements with dose-escalation.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Cohort Studies ; Comorbidity ; Continental Population Groups ; Drug Therapy ; Education ; European Continental Ancestry Group ; Glioblastoma ; Humans ; Insurance ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Radiotherapy ; United States

OBJECTIVES: Research on workplace violence has been conducted, but rarely has been organized systematically. In this study, we summarize the definition and classification of workplace violence studies and review the literature on workplace violence. METHODS: Using academic search engines PubMed, Google Scholar and DBpia, we found 856 papers including “workplace violence” and “adverse social behavior” AND workplace in the title published until December 2018, and 208 papers were selected. The selected papers were classified by continent and country, year of publication, occupation, classification criteria of workplace violence, and research topic. RESULTS: By country, the number of articles in the United States was the most with 40 (19.2%), followed by China 27 (13%), Korea 16 (7.7%), and Taiwan and Australia 15 (7.2%). By job category, healthcare workers accounted for the largest portion with 162 (79.0%) of the total, and 80 of them were conducted on nurses. Other occupations included civil servants, manufacturing workers, toll collectors and wageworkers. Among the classification methods of workplace violence, 147 (67.4%) articles were classified as type and there was a difference in the type of violence defined for each article. In the research topic, 114 (44.2%) articles analyzed the effects of workplace violence, and 105 (40.7%) articles describe the prevalence and characteristics of workplace violence, and 23 (8.9%) articles analyzing the causes of violence. CONCLUSION: The research topic is biased toward the field of healthcare, so it is necessary to expand to include various occupations or other specified occupations. It is also necessary to prepare appropriate measures against workplace violence.
Australia ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; China ; Classification ; Delivery of Health Care ; Exposure to Violence ; Korea ; Occupations ; Prevalence ; Publications ; Search Engine ; Taiwan ; United States ; Violence ; Workplace Violence

PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for erectile dysfunction (ED). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched six major English and Chinese databases included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing acupuncture alone or in combination for ED. Dichotomous data were presented as risk ratio (RR) and continuous data were presented as mean difference (MD) both with 95% confidence interval (CI). The Revman (v.5.3) was used for data analyses. Quality of evidence across studies was assessed by the online GRADEpro tool. RESULTS: We identified 22 RCTs, fourteen of them involving psychogenic ED. Most of the included RCTs had high or unclear risk of bias. There was no difference between electro-acupuncture and sham acupuncture with electrical stimulation on the rate of satisfaction and self-assessment (RR, 1.50; 95% CI, 0.71–3.16; 1 trial). Acupuncture combined with tadalafil appeared to have better effect on increasing cure rate (RR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.00–1.71; 2 trials), and International Index of Erectile Function-5 scores (MD, 5.38; 95% CI, 4.46–6.29; 2 trials). When acupuncture plus herbal medicine compared with herbal medicine alone, the combination therapy showed significant better improvement in erectile function (RR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.31–2.15; 7 trials). Only two trials reported facial red and dizziness cases, and needle sticking and pruritus cases in acupuncture group. CONCLUSIONS: Low quality evidence shows beneficial effect of acupuncture as adjunctive treatment for people mainly with psychogenic ED. Safety of acupuncture was insufficiently reported. The findings should be confirmed in large, rigorously designed and well-reported trials.
Acupuncture ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Dizziness ; Electric Stimulation ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Male ; Needles ; Odds Ratio ; Pruritus ; Self-Assessment ; Statistics as Topic ; Tadalafil