| 1. |
- Jensen, Poul Erik H., et al.
(författare)
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Detection and kinetics of persistent neutralizing anti-interferon-beta antibodies in patients with multiple sclerosis : Results from the ABIRISK prospective cohort study
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Neuroimmunology. - : Elsevier. - 0165-5728 .- 1872-8421. ; 326, s. 19-27
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two validated assays, a bridging ELISA and a luciferase-based bioassay, were compared for detection of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) against interferon-beta (IFN-β) in patients with multiple sclerosis. Serum samples were tested from patients enrolled in a prospective study of 18 months. In contrast to the ELISA, when IFN-β-specific rabbit polyclonal and human monoclonal antibodies were tested, the bioassay was the more sensitive to detect IFN-β ADA in patients' sera. For clinical samples, selection of method of ELISA should be evaluated prior to the use of a multi-tiered approach. A titer threshold value is reported that may be used as a predictor for persistently positive neutralizing ADA.
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| 2. |
- Bernhard, Michael, et al.
(författare)
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The Varieties of Democracy Core Civil Society Index
- 2015
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper introduces the Core Civil Society Index (CCSI), a measure of the robustness of civil society, using indicators from the Varieties of Democracy battery on civil society. It begins with a discussion of the reemergence of civil society as a central concept in comparative politics and discusses the existing state of data to capture it. It then discusses the conceptualization behind the CCSI and the construction of the measure. This is followed by a series of face and discriminant validity checks. The paper closes with an example of the CCSI’s utility by examining the question of whether postcommunist civil society is “weak” compared to other regions. We find no evidence that postcommunist civil society is less robust than civil society in other major world regions via time - series cross - sectional analysis using 2999 country - year observations between 1989 and 2012.
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| 3. |
- Bizzarro, Fernando, et al.
(författare)
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Party Strength and Economic Growth
- 2015
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- While a large literature suggests an important role for political parties in economic development, this is the first attempt to lay out a comprehensive theory and a reasonably comprehensive empirical test of the proposition. We argue that strong parties broaden the constituencies to which policy makers respond and help politicians solve coordination problems. These features help ensure better economic management, public services, and political stability. And this, in turn, enhances economic growth. Drawing on a novel measure of party strength from the Varieties of Democracy dataset, we test this theory on data drawn from more than 150 countries, observed annually from 1900–2012. We identify a sizeable effect which is robust to various specifications, estimators, and samples. The effect operates in both democracies and autocracies and is fairly stable across regions and time periods. We also find provisional evidence in favor of causal mechanisms pertaining to public services and political stability.
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| 4. |
- Bizzarro, Fernando, et al.
(författare)
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Party Strength and Economic Growth
- 2018
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Ingår i: World Politics. - 0043-8871 .- 1086-3338. ; 70:2, s. 275-320
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © Trustees of Princeton University 2018. While a large literature suggests an important role for political parties in development, this article is the first attempt to layout and test a comprehensive theory connecting parties to economic growth. The authors argue that strong parties broaden the constituencies to which policymakers respond and help politicians solve coordination problems. These features help to ensure better economic management, public services, and political stability. And this, in turn, enhances economic growth. Drawing on a novel measure of party strength from the Varieties of Democracy data set, the authors test this theory on data drawn from more than 150 countries observed annually from 1901-2010. They identify a sizeable effect that is robust to various specifications, estimators, and samples. The effect operates in both democracies and autocracies, and is fairly stable across regions and time periods.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Engert, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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The European Hematology Association Roadmap for European Hematology Research : a consensus document
- 2016
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Ingår i: Haematologica. - Pavia, Italy : Ferrata Storti Foundation (Haematologica). - 0390-6078 .- 1592-8721. ; 101:2, s. 115-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The European Hematology Association (EHA) Roadmap for European Hematology Research highlights major achievements in diagnosis and treatment of blood disorders and identifies the greatest unmet clinical and scientific needs in those areas to enable better funded, more focused European hematology research. Initiated by the EHA, around 300 experts contributed to the consensus document, which will help European policy makers, research funders, research organizations, researchers, and patient groups make better informed decisions on hematology research. It also aims to raise public awareness of the burden of blood disorders on European society, which purely in economic terms is estimated at (sic)23 billion per year, a level of cost that is not matched in current European hematology research funding. In recent decades, hematology research has improved our fundamental understanding of the biology of blood disorders, and has improved diagnostics and treatments, sometimes in revolutionary ways. This progress highlights the potential of focused basic research programs such as this EHA Roadmap. The EHA Roadmap identifies nine 'sections' in hematology: normal hematopoiesis, malignant lymphoid and myeloid diseases, anemias and related diseases, platelet disorders, blood coagulation and hemostatic disorders, transfusion medicine, infections in hematology, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. These sections span 60 smaller groups of diseases or disorders. The EHA Roadmap identifies priorities and needs across the field of hematology, including those to develop targeted therapies based on genomic profiling and chemical biology, to eradicate minimal residual malignant disease, and to develop cellular immunotherapies, combination treatments, gene therapies, hematopoietic stem cell treatments, and treatments that are better tolerated by elderly patients.
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| 7. |
- Katsaounou, Paraskevi, et al.
(författare)
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Smoking and severe persistent asthma
- 2018
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Ingår i: European Respiratory Journal. - : European Respiratory Society. - 0903-1936 .- 1399-3003. ; 52
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Smoking has detrimental effects on different clinical aspects of asthma, like accelerated decline in lung function, diminished symptom control, worse quality of life(QoL) and impaired therapeutic response. Fighting for Breath, a survey conducted by EFA(2005) showed that a worrying number of uncontrolled asthmatic patients(pts) indicated exposure to passive smoking as possible reason for poor QoL. After a decade, we conducted Still Fighting for Breath(GfK on behalf of Novartis upon EFA's invitation), an online survey in 1333 pts with severe persistent asthma(SPA) to assess the impact of SPA on pts’ daily life(fig1). Though law banning smoking in public spaces is implemented, still a high proportion of pts(88%) reported disruption in activities of daily living with 38% presenting poor perception of their disease control(disconnect b/w Pts perception and GINA assessment). Asthmatics identified exposure to smoking as trigger for exacerbations, with 63% of them(68% of caregivers) avoiding smoky premises. Percentage of smokers with SPA was higher than the general population in some of the countries. Current smokers with asthma were significantly more frequently diagnosed with anxiety(47%) and depression (41%) than never-smokers(40% and 27%, resp.) and ex-smokers(42% and 28%, resp.)(z-test, Α = 0.05). Thus, there is a need for improved management and support(smoking cessation, treatment, assessment of perception and psychological conditions) of asthmatic smokers with SPA.
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| 8. |
- Marquardt, Kyle L., 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Experts, Coders, and Crowds:An analysis of substitutability
- 2017
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Recent work suggests that crowd workers can replace experts and trained coders in common coding tasks. However, while many political science applications require coders to both and relevant information and provide judgment, current studies focus on a limited domain in which experts provide text for crowd workers to code. To address potential over-generalization, we introduce a typology of data producing actors - experts, coders, and crowds - and hypothesize factors which affect crowd-expert substitutability. We use this typology to guide a comparison of data from crowdsourced and expert surveys. Our results provide sharp scope conditions for the substitutability of crowd workers: when coding tasks require contextual and conceptual knowledge, crowds produce substantively dierent data from coders and experts. We also find that crowd workers can cost more than experts in the context of cross-national panels, and that one purported advantage of crowdsourcing - replicability - is undercut by an insucient number of crowd workers.
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| 9. |
- Thunström, Erik, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Increased Inflammatory Activity in Nonobese Patients With Coronary Artery Disease and Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- 2015
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Ingår i: Sleep. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0161-8105 .- 1550-9109. ; 38:3, s. 463-71
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Study Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Enhanced vascular inflammation is implicated as a pathophysiologic mechanism but obesity is confounding. We aimed to address the association of OSA with inflammatory biomarkers in a nonobese cohort of revascularized patients with CAD and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction. Design: Cross-sectional analysis of baseline investigations of a randomized controlled trial. Setting: Clinic-based. Participants: There were 303 nonobese patients with CAD, of whom 213 with OSA (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] >/=15 events/h) and 90 without OSA (AHI < 5 events/h). Obese patients with CAD and OSA (N = 105) were chosen as an additional control group. Interventions: None. Measurements: Circulating levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were assessed in relation to OSA diagnosis based on AHI >/= 15 events/h as well as oxygen desaturation index (ODI) >/= 5 events/h. Results: Nonobese patients with OSA had significantly higher levels of hs-CRP and IL-6 than those without OSA. The values did not differ significantly between obese and nonobese patients with OSA. In bivariate regression analysis, AHI >/= 15 events/h was associated with all four biomarkers but not so in the multivariate model after adjustment for confounders. ODI >/= 5 events/h was associated with hs-CRP (odds ratio [OR] 1.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13-1.99) and IL-6 (OR 1.30; 95% CI 1.05-1.60) in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: OSA with ODI >/= 5 was independently associated with increased inflammatory activity in this nonobese CAD cohort. The intermittent hypoxemia, rather than the number of apneas and hypopneas, appears to be primarily associated with enhanced inflammation.
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