University of Aberdeen

About: University of Aberdeen is a education organization based out in Aberdeen, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 21174 authors who have published 49962 publications receiving 2105479 citations. The organization is also known as: Aberdeen University.

Composition and mechanical properties of cancellous bone from the femoral head of patients with osteoporosis or osteoarthritis.

Abstract: The material properties of cancellous bone from patients with osteoporosis (OP) or osteoarthritis (OA) were determined and compared with normal controls. Samples were selected from defined sites in human femoral heads which are subjected to different loads in vivo. Overall, OP bone had the lowest stiffness and OA the highest, and this same order was reflected in the apparent densities of the bone, with OA being the most dense and OP the least. Normal and OP bone were found to have very similar stiffness-density relationships and composition. However, OA bone differed significantly from normal. The stiffness of OA bone increased more slowly with apparent density and its material density was significantly reduced. These findings were due to an altered composition of the bone in which the mass fraction of mineral is 12% less than normal. There was also greater site variation of both apparent and material density, suggesting an altered sensitivity to applied load. These results support the concept that osteoporosis is a loss of normal bone. They also provide evidence for the hypothesis that osteoarthritis is, at least partly, a bone disease in which proliferation of defective bone results in an increase in bone stiffness.

Contact guidance of CNS neurites on grooved quartz: influence of groove dimensions, neuronal age and cell type.

Abstract: We used an in vitro system that eliminates competing guidance cues found in embryos to determine whether substratum topography alone provides important neurite guidance information. Dissociated embryonic Xenopus spinal cord neurons and rat hippocampal neurons were grown on quartz etched with a series of parallel grooves. Xenopus neurites grew parallel to grooves as shallow as 14 nm and as narrow as 1 microm. Hippocampal neurites grew parallel to deep, wide grooves but perpendicular to shallow, narrow ones. Grooved substrata determined the sites at which neurites emerged from somas: Xenopus neurites sprouted from regions parallel to grooves but presumptive axons on rat hippocampal neurons emerged perpendicular to grooves and presumptive dendrites emerged parallel to them. Neurites grew faster in the favored direction of orientation and turned through large angles to align on grooves. The frequency of perpendicular alignment of hippocampal neurites depended on the age of the embryos from which neurons were isolated, suggesting that contact guidance is regulated in development. Collectively, the data indicate that substratum topography is a potent morphogenetic factor for developing CNS neurons and suggest that in addition to a role in pathfinding the geometry of the embryo assists in establishing neuronal polarity. In the companion paper (A. M. Rajnicek and C. D. McCaig (1997) J. Cell Sci. 110, 2915-2924) we explore the cellular mechanism for contact guidance of growth cones.

Point and interval estimates of effect sizes for the case-controls design in neuropsychology: rationale, methods, implementations, and proposed reporting standards.

Abstract: It is increasingly common for group studies in neuropsychology to report effect sizes. In contrast this is rarely done in single-case studies (at least in those studies that employ a case-controls design). The present paper sets out the advantages of reporting effect sizes, derives suitable effect size indexes for use in single-case studies, and develops methods of supplementing point estimates of effect sizes with interval estimates. Computer programs that implement existing classical and Bayesian inferential methods for the single case (as developed by Crawford, Garthwaite, Howell, and colleagues) are upgraded to provide these point and interval estimates. The upgraded programs can be downloaded from www.abdn.ac.uk/~psy086/dept/Single_Case_Effect_Sizes.htm.

Asthma control and management in 8,000 European patients: the REcognise Asthma and LInk to Symptoms and Experience (REALISE) survey.

Abstract: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world, and previous studies have reported low levels of control. Recent developments in the availability and use of online sources of information about asthma might add to patients’ knowledge and help improve control. To investigate whether asthma control has improved by assessing levels of symptoms, exacerbations and Global Initiative for Asthma-defined control in a real-life population of patients who use the Internet and social media, as well as evaluate patient perception of control and attitudes to asthma. Online surveys were conducted among 8,000 patients with asthma (aged 18–50 years, ⩾2 prescriptions in the previous 2 years, use of social media) from 11 European countries. Levels of asthma control were low: 45% of respondents had uncontrolled asthma. Acute exacerbations were common: 44% of respondents reported having used oral steroids for asthma in the previous 12 months, 24% had visited an emergency department and 12% had been hospitalised. More than 80% of respondents (overall, and among those with a history of exacerbations) considered their asthma to be controlled. Of those who had an exacerbation requiring oral steroids, 75% regarded their asthma as not serious. Asthma control in Europe remains poor; symptoms and exacerbations are common. Many patients regard their asthma as controlled and not serious despite experiencing symptoms and exacerbations. There is a need to assess patients’ control, risk and inhaler technique, and to ensure that patients are prescribed, and take, appropriate treatments. Asthma control in Europe remains poor, with many patients overestimating how effectively they manage their symptoms. So finds the online REALISE survey, one of the largest analyses of European asthma patients' attitudes to their disease and its management. A team led by David Price of the University of Aberdeen in the UK surveyed 8,000 patients from 11 European countries. Only 55% of the respondents were estimated by researchers to have their symptoms under control. However, 80% of respondents considered their asthma to be controlled, with more than 75% reporting that they had either excellent or good knowledge about managing their symptoms. Given that the REALISE survey was restricted to patients who use the internet and social media, the results suggest that online sources of information about asthma control might benefit this sector of asthma sufferers.