Bielefeld University

About: Bielefeld University is a education organization based out in Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Quantum chromodynamics. The organization has 10123 authors who have published 26576 publications receiving 728250 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Bielefeld & UNIVERSITAET BIELEFELD.

Global Burden of Hypertension and Systolic Blood Pressure of at Least 110 to 115 mm Hg, 1990-2015

Abstract: Importance Elevated systolic blood (SBP) pressure is a leading global health risk. Quantifying the levels of SBP is important to guide prevention policies and interventions. Objective To estimate the association between SBP of at least 110 to 115 mm Hg and SBP of 140 mm Hg or higher and the burden of different causes of death and disability by age and sex for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2015. Design A comparative risk assessment of health loss related to SBP. Estimated distribution of SBP was based on 844 studies from 154 countries (published 1980-2015) of 8.69 million participants. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression was used to generate estimates of mean SBP and adjusted variance for each age, sex, country, and year. Diseases with sufficient evidence for a causal relationship with high SBP (eg, ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, and hemorrhagic stroke) were included in the primary analysis. Main Outcomes and Measures Mean SBP level, cause-specific deaths, and health burden related to SBP (≥110-115 mm Hg and also ≥140 mm Hg) by age, sex, country, and year. Results Between 1990-2015, the rate of SBP of at least 110 to 115 mm Hg increased from 73 119 (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 67 949-78 241) to 81 373 (95% UI, 76 814-85 770) per 100 000, and SBP of 140 mm Hg or higher increased from 17 307 (95% UI, 17 117-17 492) to 20 526 (95% UI, 20 283-20 746) per 100 000. The estimated annual death rate per 100 000 associated with SBP of at least 110 to 115 mm Hg increased from 135.6 (95% UI, 122.4-148.1) to 145.2 (95% UI 130.3-159.9) and the rate for SBP of 140 mm Hg or higher increased from 97.9 (95% UI, 87.5-108.1) to 106.3 (95% UI, 94.6-118.1). Loss of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) associated with SBP of at least 110 to 115 mm Hg increased from 148 million (95% UI, 134-162 million) to 211 million (95% UI, 193-231 million), and for SBP of 140 mm Hg or higher, the loss increased from 95.9 million (95% UI, 87.0-104.9 million) to 143.0 million (95% UI, 130.2-157.0 million). The largest numbers of SBP-related deaths were caused by ischemic heart disease (4.9 million [95% UI, 4.0-5.7 million]; 54.5%), hemorrhagic stroke (2.0 million [95% UI, 1.6-2.3 million]; 58.3%), and ischemic stroke (1.5 million [95% UI, 1.2-1.8 million]; 50.0%). In 2015, China, India, Russia, Indonesia, and the United States accounted for more than half of the global DALYs related to SBP of at least 110 to 115 mm Hg. Conclusions and Relevance In international surveys, although there is uncertainty in some estimates, the rate of elevated SBP (≥110-115 and ≥140 mm Hg) increased substantially between 1990 and 2015, and DALYs and deaths associated with elevated SBP also increased. Projections based on this sample suggest that in 2015, an estimated 3.5 billion adults had SBP of at least 110 to 115 mm Hg and 874 million adults had SBP of 140 mm Hg or higher.

Common randomness in information theory and cryptography. I. Secret sharing

Abstract: As the first part of a study of problems involving common randomness at distance locations, information-theoretic models of secret sharing (generating a common random key at two terminals, without letting an eavesdropper obtain information about this key) are considered. The concept of key-capacity is defined. Single-letter formulas of key-capacity are obtained for several models, and bounds to key-capacity are derived for other models. >

RNAhybrid: microRNA target prediction easy, fast and flexible

Abstract: In the elucidation of the microRNA regulatory network, knowledge of potential targets is of highest importance. Among existing target prediction methods, RNAhybrid [M. Rehmsmeier, P. Steffen, M. Hochsmann and R. Giegerich (2004) RNA, 10, 1507-1517] is unique in offering a flexible online prediction. Recently, some useful features have been added, among these the possibility to disallow G:U base pairs in the seed region, and a seed-match speed-up, which accelerates the program by a factor of 8. In addition, the program can now be used as a webservice for remote calls from user-implemented programs. We demonstrate RNAhybrid's flexibility with the prediction of a non-canonical target site for Caenorhabditis elegans miR-241 in the 3'-untranslated region of lin-39. RNAhybrid is available at http://bibiserv.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/rnahybrid.

Multicanonical ensemble: A new approach to simulate first-order phase transitions.

Abstract: Relying on the recent proposed multicanonical algorithm, we present a numerical simulation of the first-order phase transition in the 2D 10-state Potts model on lattices up to sizes 100\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}100. It is demonstrated that the new algorithm lacks an exponentially fast increase of the tunneling time between metastable states as a function of the linear size L of the system. Instead, the tunneling time diverges approximately proportional to ${\mathit{L}}^{2.65}$. On our largest lattice we gain more than 2 orders of magnitude as compared to a standard heat-bath algorithm. As a first physical application we report a high-precision computation of the interfacial free energy per unit area.