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- Andreassen, A. K., et al.
(författare)
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Everolimus Initiation and Early Calcineurin Inhibitor Withdrawal in Heart Transplant Recipients: A Randomized Trial
- 2014
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Ingår i: American Journal of Transplantation. - : Elsevier BV. - 1600-6135 .- 1600-6143. ; 14:8, s. 1828-1838
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a randomized, open-label trial, everolimus was compared to cyclosporine in 115 de novo heart transplant recipients. Patients were assigned within 5 days posttransplant to low-exposure everolimus (3-6 ng/mL) with reduced-exposure cyclosporine (n 56), or standard-exposure cyclosporine (n = 59), with both mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids. In the everolimus group, cyclosporine was withdrawn after 7-11 weeks and everolimus exposure increased (6-10 ng/mL). The primary efficacy end point, measured GFR at 12 months posttransplant, was significantly higher with everolimus versus cyclosporine (mean +/- SD: 79.8 +/- 17.7 mL/min/1.73m 2 vs. 61.5 +/- 19.6 mL/min/1.73m 2; p<0.001). Coronary intravascular ultrasound showed that the mean increase in maximal intimal thickness was smaller (0.03 mm [95% CI 0.01, 0.05 mm] vs. 0.08 mm [95% CI 0.05, 0.12 mm], p = 0.03), and the incidence of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) was lower (50.0% vs. 64.6%, p = 0.003), with everolimus versus cyclosporine at month 12. Biopsy-proven acute rejection after weeks 7-11 was more frequent with everolimus (p = 0.03). Left ventricular function was not inferior with everolimus versus cyclosporine. Cytomegalovirus infection was less common with everolimus (5.4% vs. 30.5%, p<0.001); the incidence of bacterial infection was similar. In conclusion, everolimus-based immunosuppression with early elimination of cyclosporine markedly improved renal function after heart transplantation. Since postoperative safety was not jeopardized and development of CAV was attenuated, this strategy may benefit long-term outcome.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Arora, Satish, et al.
(författare)
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Virtual Histology Assessment of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy Following Introduction of Everolimus—Results of a Multicenter Trial
- 2012
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Ingår i: American Journal of Transplantation. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1600-6135 .- 1600-6143. ; 12:10, s. 2700-2709
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this 12-month multicenter Scandinavian study, 78 maintenance heart transplant (HTx) recipients randomized to everolimus with reduced calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) exposure or continued standard CNI-therapy underwent matched virtual histology (VH) examination to evaluate morphological progression of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV). Parallel measurement of a range of inflammatory markers was also performed. A similar rate of quantitative CAV progression was observed in the everolimus (n = 30) and standard CNI group (n = 48) (plaque index 1.9 +/- 3.8% and 1.6 +/- 3.9%, respectively; p = 0.65). However, VH analysis revealed a significant increase in calcified (2.4 +/- 4.0 vs. 0.3 +/- 3.1%; p = 0.02) and necrotic component (6.5 +/- 8.5 vs. 1.1 +/- 8.6%; p = 0.01) among everolimus patients compared to controls. The increase in necrotic and calcified components was most prominent in everolimus patients with time since HTx andgt;5.1 years and was accompanied by a significant increase in levels of von Willebrand (vWF) factor (p = 0.04) and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM) (p = 0.03). Conversion to everolimus and reduced CNI is associated with a significant increase in calcified and necrotic intimal components and is more prominent in patients with a longer time since HTx. A significant increase in vWF and VCAM accompanied these qualitative changes and the prognostic implication of these findings requires further investigation.
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| 4. |
- Dagsson-Waldhauserova, P., et al.
(författare)
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Physical properties of suspended dust during moist and low wind conditions in Iceland
- 2014
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Ingår i: Icelandic Agricultural Sciences. - 1670-567X. ; 27, s. 25-39
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We measured a dust event which occurred during wet and low wind/windless conditions as the result of surface heating in August 2013. Maximum particle number concentration (PM similar to 0.3-10 mu m) reached 149,954 particles cm(-3) min(-1) while mass concentration (PM<10 m) was 1757 g m-3 min-1. The suspended dust was very fine with the highest number of particles in the size range 0.3-0.337 mu m, followed by particles 1.5-5 mu m in diameter. Close-to-ultrafine particle size distributions showed a significant increase in number with the severity of the measured dust event (during dust peaks). Number concentrations were well correlated with mass concentrations. The mineralogy and geochemical compositions showed that glaciogenic dust contains sharp-tipped shards with bubbles and 80 % of the particulate matter is volcanic glass rich in heavy metals. Wet dust particles were mobilized within < 4 hours. This is the first scientific study of particle size distributions in an Icelandic dust event including findings on initiation of dust suspension.
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| 5. |
- Graue, M, et al.
(författare)
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Diabetes nursing research in the Nordic countries
- 2013
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Ingår i: European Diabetes Nursing. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1551-7853 .- 1551-7861. ; 10:2, s. 46-51
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- New knowledge from research studies is important as a foundation for high-quality care in practice as well as crucial to further stimulate research in the future.The aims of this study were to determine the total number of peer-reviewed articles on diabetes research reported by nurses in four Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) from 1979–2009, and to identify the time periods in which they had been published, different study designs and the number of publications related to nurse authors.We performed an electronic search for potentially relevant scientific articles between 1 January 1979 and 31 December 2009 using the MEDLINE, Medline in process, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Cochrane databases. The studies focused either on the diabetes population or on diabetes health care professionals.We included 164 scientific articles; 132 resulting from electronic search and 32 from manual search. They were published in 63 different scientific journals, with 52 (32%) published in nursing journals and typically by authors with university degrees. Only one in four authors had published five or more articles. The majority of the studies originated from a single country, with 23 (14%) including co-authors from another country.It was concluded that research in diabetes reported by nurses has increased considerably after the year 2000. Further action is needed to build stronger national groups of researchers. International collaborative research networks facilitate funding opportunities and contribute to further development of professional research competence.
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| 7. |
- Lindström, Ulf, et al.
(författare)
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Validity of ankylosing spondylitis and spondyloarthritis diagnoses in the Swedish National Patient Register
- 2014
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Ingår i: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. - : BMJ Publishing Group. - 0003-4967 .- 1468-2060. ; 32:5, s. 802-802
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Epidemiological studies of spondyloarthritis (SpA) are scarce. Using ICD-codes from the Swedish National Patient Register (NPR) offers unique possibilities for such studies. For this purpose, the validity of these ICD-codes needs to be determined.Objectives: To validate the ICD-codes for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and SpA in the NPR against established classification criteria (modified New York (mNY), ASAS, Amor and ESSG criteria).Methods: All patients with an ICD-code of AS or SpA in the NPR 1966-2009 at a visit to a specialist in rheumatology or internal medicine, or corresponding hospitalization, were identified (n=20074). Following a structured procedure to achieve geographical representativeness, 500 random patients with a registered diagnosis of AS or SpA in 2007-2009 were selected. A structured review of clinical records, with extraction of necessary information for the established classification criteria was performed and positive predictive values (PPV) were calculated.Results: In this cohort 11472 (34% women) patients had received an AS diagnosis and 11004 (56% women) a SpA diagnosis. The overlap group having received both types of diagnoses had similar frequencies for fulfillment of mNY criteria, symptoms and signs of back disease as the group having been coded as AS only.Of those being coded as AS only, the PPV for fulfilling the mNY, any criteria set and any of the included criteria elements were 70%, 89% and 96% respectively.Of those with SpA (without AS ever) the corresponding PPV values were 20%, 79% and 99% respectively.Conclusions: A diagnosis of AS or SpA (without AS) had a high validity, suggesting that case identification based on ICD-codes in the Swedish NPR can be used for epidemiological studies of these diseases.
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