Regression of the inflammatory microenvironment of the peritoneal cavity in women with endometriosis by GnRHa treatment.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa) on the peritoneal fluid microenvironment in women with endometriosis. STUDY DESIGN Peritoneal fluid was collected from 85 women with severe endometriosis (rAFS stage III and IV) during laparoscopic surgery during the proliferative phase. Prior to surgery clinical data were collected. The concentrations of specific markers for endometriosis in the peritoneal fluid were determined using an ELISA and a comparison between peritoneal fluid markers in women using GnRHa and no hormonal treatment was performed using a non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS The study included peritoneal fluid from 39 patients who had been administered GnRHa (Zoladex(®)) in the three months prior to surgery and 46 from women with no hormonal treatment in this period. Concentrations of IL-8, PAPP-A, glycodelin-A and midkine were significantly reduced in the GnRHa treatment group compared to women receiving no hormonal treatment. RANTES, MCP-1, ENA-78, TNF-α, OPG, IP-10 and defensin showed no significant change between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS GnRHa mediate a significant regression in the inflammatory nature of the peritoneal microenvironment in women with endometriosis.

Autonomic disturbances and cardiovascular reflexes in idiopathic Parkinson's disease

A total of 22 patients suffering from idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 20 age-matched volunteers were questioned about autonomic disturbances and all underwent four non-invasive tests examining cardiovascular reflexes. Significantly more autonomic disturbances were reported by the patients than by the controls. Resting blood pressure was significantly decreased in patients taking dopamine agonists, whereas it was normal in those patients who only received levodopa and anticholinergics. Resting heart rate and resting beat-to-beat variation were normal in the patients, as were the blood pressure response to standing and the postural heart rate response. No pathological response to the Valsalva manoeuvre could be detected. On the other hand, the heart rate variation evoked by deep breathing as well as the blood pressure response and the heart rate response to sustained isometric exercise were significantly diminished in the patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. These findings indicate a central disturbance of cardiovascular reflex control, whereas the corresponding peripheral pathways seem to be normal.

Estimating Particle Shape and Orientation Using Volume Tensors

We develop statistical procedures for estimating shape and orientation of arbitrary three-dimensional particles. We focus on the case where particles cannot be observed directly, but only via sections. Volume tensors are used for describing particle shape and orientation, and we derive stereological estimators of the tensors. These estimators are combined to provide consistent estimators of the moments of the so-called particle cover density. The covariance structure associated with the particle cover density depends on the orientation and shape of the particles. For instance, if the distribution of the typical particle is invariant under rotations, then the covariance matrix is proportional to the identity matrix. We develop a non-parametric test for such isotropy. A flexible Lévy-based particle model is proposed, which may be analysed using a generalized method of moments in which the volume tensors enter. The developed methods are used to study the cell organization in the human brain cortex.

Serum Testosterone Levels and Symptom-Based Depression Subtypes in Men

The main objective of this preliminary study was to further clarify the association between testosterone (T) levels and depression by investigating symptom-based depression subtypes in a sample of 64 men. The data were taken from the ZInEP epidemiology survey. Gonadal hormones of a melancholic (n  = 25) and an atypical (n = 14) depression subtype, derived from latent class analysis, were compared with those of healthy controls (n  = 18). Serum T was assayed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay procedure. Analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, non-parametrical tests, and generalized linear regression models were performed to examine group differences. The atypical depressive subtype showed significantly lower T levels compared with the melancholic depressives. While accumulative evidence indicates that, beyond psychosocial characteristics, the melancholic and atypical depressive subtypes are also distinguishable by biological correlates, the current study expanded this knowledge to include gonadal hormones. Further longitudinal research is warranted to disclose causality by linking the multiple processes in pathogenesis of depression.

Biomarkers of pulmonary hypertension in patients with scleroderma: a case-control study.

INTRODUCTION Significant pulmonary vascular disease is a leading cause of death in patients with scleroderma, and early detection and early medical intervention are important, as they may delay disease progression and improve survival and quality of life. Although several biomarkers have been proposed, there remains a need to define a reliable biomarker of early pulmonary vascular disease and subsequent development of pulmonary hypertension (PH). The purpose of this study was to define potential biomarkers for clinically significant pulmonary vascular disease in patients with scleroderma. METHODS The circulating growth factors basic fibroblast growth factor, placental growth factor (PlGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor, and soluble VEGF receptor 1 (sFlt-1), as well as cytokines (interleukin [IL]-1β IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interferon-γ), were quantified in patients with scleroderma with PH (n = 37) or without PH (n = 40). In non-parametric unadjusted analyses, we examined associations of growth factor and cytokine levels with PH. In a subset of each group, a second set of earlier samples, drawn 3.0±1.6 years earlier, were assessed to determine the changes over time. RESULTS sFlt-1 (p = 0.02) and PlGF (p = 0.02) were higher in the PH than in the non-PH group. sFlt-1 (ρ = 0.3245; p = 0.01) positively correlated with right ventricular systolic pressure. Both PlGF (p = 0.03) and sFlt-1 (p = 0.04) positively correlated with the ratio of forced vital capacity to diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO), and both inversely correlated with DLCO (p = 0.01). Both PlGF and sFlt-1 levels were stable over time in the control population. CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrated clear associations between regulators of angiogenesis (sFlt-1 and PlGF) and measures of PH in scleroderma and that these growth factors are potential biomarkers for PH in patients with scleroderma. Larger longitudinal studies are required for validation of our results.

Evaluation of 3-dimensional superimposition techniques on various skeletal structures of the head using surface models.

OBJECTIVES To test the applicability, accuracy, precision, and reproducibility of various 3D superimposition techniques for radiographic data, transformed to triangulated surface data. METHODS Five superimposition techniques (3P: three-point registration; AC: anterior cranial base; AC + F: anterior cranial base + foramen magnum; BZ: both zygomatic arches; 1Z: one zygomatic arch) were tested using eight pairs of pre-existing CT data (pre- and post-treatment). These were obtained from non-growing orthodontic patients treated with rapid maxillary expansion. All datasets were superimposed by three operators independently, who repeated the whole procedure one month later. Accuracy was assessed by the distance (D) between superimposed datasets on three form-stable anatomical areas, located on the anterior cranial base and the foramen magnum. Precision and reproducibility were assessed using the distances between models at four specific landmarks. Non parametric multivariate models and Bland-Altman difference plots were used for analyses. RESULTS There was no difference among operators or between time points on the accuracy of each superimposition technique (p>0.05). The AC + F technique was the most accurate (D<0.17 mm), as expected, followed by AC and BZ superimpositions that presented similar level of accuracy (D<0.5 mm). 3P and 1Z were the least accurate superimpositions (0.790.05), the detected structural changes differed significantly between different techniques (p<0.05). Bland-Altman difference plots showed that BZ superimposition was comparable to AC, though it presented slightly higher random error. CONCLUSIONS Superimposition of 3D datasets using surface models created from voxel data can provide accurate, precise, and reproducible results, offering also high efficiency and increased post-processing capabilities. In the present study population, the BZ superimposition was comparable to AC, with the added advantage of being applicable to scans with a smaller field of view.

A randomized trial of the effects of the noble gases helium and argon on neuroprotection in a rodent cardiac arrest model.

BACKGROUND The noble gas xenon is considered as a neuroprotective agent, but availability of the gas is limited. Studies on neuroprotection with the abundant noble gases helium and argon demonstrated mixed results, and data regarding neuroprotection after cardiac arrest are scant. We tested the hypothesis that administration of 50% helium or 50% argon for 24 h after resuscitation from cardiac arrest improves clinical and histological outcome in our 8 min rat cardiac arrest model. METHODS Forty animals had cardiac arrest induced with intravenous potassium/esmolol and were randomized to post-resuscitation ventilation with either helium/oxygen, argon/oxygen or air/oxygen for 24 h. Eight additional animals without cardiac arrest served as reference, these animals were not randomized and not included into the statistical analysis. Primary outcome was assessment of neuronal damage in histology of the region I of hippocampus proper (CA1) from those animals surviving until day 5. Secondary outcome was evaluation of neurobehavior by daily testing of a Neurodeficit Score (NDS), the Tape Removal Test (TRT), a simple vertical pole test (VPT) and the Open Field Test (OFT). Because of the non-parametric distribution of the data, the histological assessments were compared with the Kruskal-Wallis test. Treatment effect in repeated measured assessments was estimated with a linear regression with clustered robust standard errors (SE), where normality is less important. RESULTS Twenty-nine out of 40 rats survived until day 5 with significant initial deficits in neurobehavioral, but rapid improvement within all groups randomized to cardiac arrest. There were no statistical significant differences between groups neither in the histological nor in neurobehavioral assessment. CONCLUSIONS The replacement of air with either helium or argon in a 50:50 air/oxygen mixture for 24 h did not improve histological or clinical outcome in rats subjected to 8 min of cardiac arrest.

Performance Evaluation of the New Connecticut Leading Employment Index Using Lead Profiles and BVAR Models

Dua and Miller (1996) created leading and coincident employment indexes for the state of Connecticut, following Moore's (1981) work at the national level. The performance of the Dua-Miller indexes following the recession of the early 1990s fell short of expectations. This paper performs two tasks. First, it describes the process of revising the Connecticut Coincident and Leading Employment Indexes. Second, it analyzes the statistical properties and performance of the new indexes by comparing the lead profiles of the new and old indexes as well as their out-of-sample forecasting performance, using the Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (BVAR) method. The new indexes show improved performance in dating employment cycle chronologies. The lead profile test demonstrates that superiority in a rigorous, non-parametric statistic fashion. The mixed evidence on the BVAR forecasting experiments illustrates the truth in the Granger and Newbold (1986) caution that leading indexes properly predict cycle turning points and do not necessarily provide accurate forecasts except at turning points, a view that our results support.

Identifying Individual and Group Effects in the Presence of Sorting: A Neighborhood Effects Application

Researchers have long recognized that the non-random sorting of individuals into groups generates correlation between individual and group attributes that is likely to bias naive estimates of both individual and group effects. This paper proposes a non-parametric strategy for identifying these effects in a model that allows for both individual and group unobservables, applying this strategy to the estimation of neighborhood effects on labor market outcomes. The first part of this strategy is guided by a robust feature of the equilibrium in the canonical vertical sorting model of Epple and Platt (1998), that there is a monotonic relationship between neighborhood housing prices and neighborhood quality. This implies that under certain conditions a non- parametric function of neighborhood housing prices serves as a suitable control function for the neighborhood unobservable in the labor market outcome regression. The second part of the proposed strategy uses aggregation to develop suitable instruments for both exogenous and endogenous group attributes. Instrumenting for each individual's observed neighborhood attributes with the average neighborhood attributes of a set of observationally identical individuals eliminates the portion of the variation in neighborhood attributes due to sorting on unobserved individual attributes. The neighborhood effects application is based on confidential microdata from the 1990 Decennial Census for the Boston MSA. The results imply that the direct effects of geographic proximity to jobs, neighborhood poverty rates, and average neighborhood education are substantially larger than the conditional correlations identified using OLS, although the net effect of neighborhood quality on labor market outcomes remains small. These findings are robust across a wide variety of specifications and robustness checks.

The Open Door Mission: Measuring and predicting outcomes of one community-based substance abuse treatment program

The objectives of this study were to identify and measure the average outcomes of the Open Door Mission's nine-month community-based substance abuse treatment program, identify predictors of successful outcomes, and make recommendations to the Open Door Mission for improving its treatment program.^ The Mission's program is exclusive to adult men who have limited financial resources: most of which were homeless or dependent on parents or other family members for basic living needs. Many, but not all, of these men are either chemically dependent or have a history of substance abuse.^ This study tracked a cohort of the Mission's graduates throughout this one-year study and identified various indicators of success at short-term intervals, which may be predictive of longer-term outcomes. We tracked various levels of 12-step program involvement, as well as other social and spiritual activities, such as church affiliation and recovery support.^ Twenty-four of the 66 subjects, or 36% met the Mission's requirements for success. Specific to this success criteria; Fifty-four, or 82% reported affiliation with a home church; Twenty-six, or 39% reported full-time employment; Sixty-one, or 92% did not report or were not identified as having any post-treatment arrests or incarceration, and; Forty, or 61% reported continuous abstinence from both drugs and alcohol.^ Five research-based hypotheses were developed and tested. The primary analysis tool was the web-based non-parametric dependency modeling tool, B-Course, which revealed some strong associations with certain variables, and helped the researchers generate and test several data-driven hypotheses. Full-time employment is the greatest predictor of abstinence: 95% of those who reported full time employment also reported continuous post-treatment abstinence, while 50% of those working part-time were abstinent and 29% of those with no employment were abstinent. Working with a 12-step sponsor, attending aftercare, and service with others were identified as predictors of abstinence.^ This study demonstrates that associations with abstinence and the ODM success criteria are not simply based on one social or behavioral factor. Rather, these relationships are interdependent, and show that abstinence is achieved and maintained through a combination of several 12-step recovery activities. This study used a simple assessment methodology, which demonstrated strong associations across variables and outcomes, which have practical applicability to the Open Door Mission for improving its treatment program. By leveraging the predictive capability of the various success determination methodologies discussed and developed throughout this study, we can identify accurate outcomes with both validity and reliability. This assessment instrument can also be used as an intervention that, if operationalized to the Mission’s clients during the primary treatment program, may measurably improve the effectiveness and outcomes of the Open Door Mission.^

Selection bias and the cross-validation of regression models for prediction

Strategies are compared for the development of a linear regression model with stochastic (multivariate normal) regressor variables and the subsequent assessment of its predictive ability. Bias and mean squared error of four estimators of predictive performance are evaluated in simulated samples of 32 population correlation matrices. Models including all of the available predictors are compared with those obtained using selected subsets. The subset selection procedures investigated include two stopping rules, C$\sb{\rm p}$ and S$\sb{\rm p}$, each combined with an 'all possible subsets' or 'forward selection' of variables. The estimators of performance utilized include parametric (MSEP$\sb{\rm m}$) and non-parametric (PRESS) assessments in the entire sample, and two data splitting estimates restricted to a random or balanced (Snee's DUPLEX) 'validation' half sample. The simulations were performed as a designed experiment, with population correlation matrices representing a broad range of data structures.^ The techniques examined for subset selection do not generally result in improved predictions relative to the full model. Approaches using 'forward selection' result in slightly smaller prediction errors and less biased estimators of predictive accuracy than 'all possible subsets' approaches but no differences are detected between the performances of C$\sb{\rm p}$ and S$\sb{\rm p}$. In every case, prediction errors of models obtained by subset selection in either of the half splits exceed those obtained using all predictors and the entire sample.^ Only the random split estimator is conditionally (on $\\beta$) unbiased, however MSEP$\sb{\rm m}$ is unbiased on average and PRESS is nearly so in unselected (fixed form) models. When subset selection techniques are used, MSEP$\sb{\rm m}$ and PRESS always underestimate prediction errors, by as much as 27 percent (on average) in small samples. Despite their bias, the mean squared errors (MSE) of these estimators are at least 30 percent less than that of the unbiased random split estimator. The DUPLEX split estimator suffers from large MSE as well as bias, and seems of little value within the context of stochastic regressor variables.^ To maximize predictive accuracy while retaining a reliable estimate of that accuracy, it is recommended that the entire sample be used for model development, and a leave-one-out statistic (e.g. PRESS) be used for assessment. ^

Impacto de la urbanización sobre las características hidroquímicas del acuífero libre : comparación estadística con el entorno rural, Coronel Moldes, Argentina

El objetivo consistió en evaluar el impacto que la actividad urbana ocasiona sobre la calidad del agua subterránea del área de Coronel Moldes. Se realizaron consideraciones geoquímicas en relación con el cálculo de línea de base hidroquímica, comparando con muestras extraídas del mismo acuífero en el entorno rural. Los indicadores de contaminación entre las distintas zonas rural y urbana (evaluados con la prueba t para muestras independientes y prueba no paramétrica de Mann- Whitney), indicaron que los valores de las componentes resultaban diferentes. Conductividad eléctrica, bicarbonatos, cloruros y nitratos mostraron en el área urbana valores medios superiores a aquellos del entorno rural que en general corresponden a los valores representativos del fondo natural regional de la calidad del agua subterránea. Se detectó en el área urbana un aumento en la dureza y Cl-/HCO3 - con importante contaminación microbiológica. Para evaluar el fondo regional se ajustaron los datos de los componentes iónicos analizados a las distribuciones teóricas (Normal, Laplace y f1). Se encontró que la distribución empírica presentaba un mejor acercamiento a f1 que a las otras dos, determinándose así como valor característico del fondo natural para cada ion, el estimador del parámetro de localización m* (combinación lineal entre la media y la mediana).

Tissue metal concentrations and metal transfer functions of Glaucous Gulls (Larus hyperboreus) from Bjørnøya and Jan Mayen

Heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn) concentrations were determined in different tissues (muscle, kidney, liver, brain, gonads, heart and feathers) of Glaucous Gulls (Larus hyperboreus) from Bjornoya and Jan Mayen. The age and spatial dependent variations in heavy metals were quantified and interpreted in view of the three chemometric techniques, i.e. non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test, redundancy gradient analysis and detrended correspondence analysis. The Glaucous Gulls from Bjornoya contained significantly higher (p < 0.05) levels of Cd, Cu and Zn than those inhabited Jan Mayen. Adult birds were characterized by greater (p < 0.01) concentration of muscle, hepatic and renal heavy metals in comparison to chicks. Insignificantly higher slope constant Zn/Cd for the liver than for the kidney may reflect insignificant Cd exposure. Estimate of transfer factor (TF) allows us to assess variations in heavy metal concentrations during the individual development of Glaucous Gulls. It may be stated that there is a distinct increase of bioaccumulation of all the studied metals during subsequent stages of the bird life.

Actividad microbiológica de un suelo sometido a distintos usos y su relación con variables físico- químicas

Gran parte de los procesos microbianos que contribuyen a la fertilidad de los agroecosistemas y el ciclado de nutrientes ocurren en el suelo. Este ciclado de nutrientes depende críticamente de la actividad microbiológica de los suelos, la cual a su vez está mediada por la estructura y funcionamiento de la microbiota edáfica. En este contexto, el objetivo de este trabajo, fue determinar si la actividad microbiana puede ser buena indicadora de la intensidad de uso del suelo, analizando: 1- si las diferencias en la intensidad de uso del suelo se relacionan con diferencias en la actividad microbiológica estimada a través de la respiración edáfica y la actividad enzimática; y 2- las posibles relaciones entre estas variables microbiológicas y las variables físico-químicas. Entre 2008 y 2010 se realizaron muestreos trimestrales en campos de la provincia de Buenos Aires en suelos Argiudoles bajo diferentes usos: 1- Agricultura intensiva continua, 2- Agricultura reciente, y 3- Pastizales naturalizados. Tres sitios de muestreo se seleccionaron como réplicas para cada uso de suelo, con 5 muestras por fecha y réplica. La actividad microbiana se evaluó midiendo la respiración edáfica y la actividad de las enzimas nitrogenasas y se analizaron variables físico- químicas. Tanto las variables microbiológicas como las físico-químicas se analizaron mediante Kruskall-Wallis (P < 0,05). Se exploró la asociación entre las variables físico-químicas y microbiológicas aplicando el coeficiente de correlación no paramétrico (Spearman). Los distintos usos de un mismo suelo presentaron diferencias en la actividad microbiológica. La respiración edáfica fue significativamente mayor en los pastizales naturalizados que en los sistemas con agricultura. La actividad nitrogenasa resultó significativamente mayor en los pastizales naturalizados respecto de la agricultura continua y no se diferenció significativamente de la agricultura reciente. Las variables físico- químicas resultaron menos consistentes en detectar diferencias entre usos. Se detectaron correlaciones significativas entre la actividad microbiológica y algunas de las variables físico-químicas. Los resultados muestran que la actividad microbiológica puede resultar útil para diferenciar intensidades de usos de suelo.

Participation in farmer's cooperatives and its effects on agricultural incomes : evidence from vegetable-producing areas in China

Chinese agricultural cooperatives, called Farmer's Professional Cooperatives (FPCs), are expected to become a major tool to facilitate agro-industrialization for small farmers through the diffusion of new technologies, the supply of high-quality agricultural inputs and the marketing of their products. This study compares FPC participants with vegetable-producing non-participants and grain farmers in vegetable-producing areas in rural China to investigate the treatment effect of participation in FPCs as well as implementation of vegetable cultivation. I adopt parametric and nonparametric approaches to precisely estimate the treatment effects. Estimated results indicate no significant difference between participants and non-participants of FPCs on agricultural net income in both parametric and non-parametric estimations. In contrast, the comparison between vegetable and grain farmers using propensity score matching (PSM) reveals that the treatment effect of vegetable cultivation is significantly positive for total and agricultural incomes, although vegetable cultivation involves more labor-intensive efforts. These results indicate that it is the implementation of vegetable cultivation rather than the participation in an FPC that enhances the economic welfare of farmers, due to the non-excludability of FPCs' services as well as the risks involved in vegetable cultivation.