Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

About: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a education organization based out in Leuven, Belgium. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 61109 authors who have published 176584 publications receiving 6210872 citations.

The epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in Europe.

Abstract: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and potentially highly disabling disorder with considerable social impact and economic consequences. It is the major cause of non-traumatic disability in young adults. The social costs associated with MS are high because of its long duration, the early loss of productivity, the need for assistance in activities of daily living and the use of immunomodulatory treatments and multidisciplinary health care. Available MS epidemiological estimates are aimed at providing a measure of the disease burden in Europe. The total estimated prevalence rate of MS for the past three decades is 83 per 100,000 with higher rates in northern countries and a female:male ratio around 2.0. Prevalence rates are higher for women for all countries considered. The highest prevalence rates have been estimated for the age group 35-64 years for both sexes and for all countries. The estimated European mean annual MS incidence rate is 4.3 cases per 100,000. The mean distribution by disease course and by disability is also reported. Despite the wealth of epidemiological data on MS, comparing epidemiological indices among European countries is a hard task and often leads only to approximate estimates. This represents a major methodological concern when evaluating the MS burden in Europe and when implementing specific cost-of-illness studies.

Gold nanoparticle-enabled biological and chemical detection and analysis

Abstract: Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are some of the most extensively studied nanomaterials. Because of their unique optical, chemical, electrical, and catalytic properties, AuNPs have attracted enormous amount of interest for applications in biological and chemical detection and analysis. The purpose of this critical review is to provide the readers with an update on the recent developments in the field of AuNPs for sensing applications based on their optical properties. An overview of the optical properties of AuNPs is presented first, followed by a more detailed literature survey. As the last part of this review, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of each technique, briefly discuss their commercialization status, and some technical issues that remain to be solved in order to move the technique forward (151 references).

Increasing Transparency Through a Multiverse Analysis

Abstract: Empirical research inevitably includes constructing a data set by processing raw data into a form ready for statistical analysis. Data processing often involves choices among several reasonable options for excluding, transforming, and coding data. We suggest that instead of performing only one analysis, researchers could perform a multiverse analysis, which involves performing all analyses across the whole set of alternatively processed data sets corresponding to a large set of reasonable scenarios. Using an example focusing on the effect of fertility on religiosity and political attitudes, we show that analyzing a single data set can be misleading and propose a multiverse analysis as an alternative practice. A multiverse analysis offers an idea of how much the conclusions change because of arbitrary choices in data construction and gives pointers as to which choices are most consequential in the fragility of the result.