University of Alberta

About: University of Alberta is a education organization based out in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 65403 authors who have published 154847 publications receiving 5358338 citations. The organization is also known as: Ualberta & UAlberta.

Prevalence and clinical implications of sarcopenic obesity in patients with solid tumours of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts: a population-based study.

Abstract: Summary Background Emerging evidence on body composition suggests that sarcopenic obesity (obesity with depleted muscle mass) might be predictive of morbidity and mortality in non-malignant disease and also of toxicity to chemotherapy. We aimed to assess the prevalence and clinical implications of sarcopenic obesity in patients with cancer. Methods Between Jan 13, 2004, and Jan 19, 2007, 2115 patients with solid tumours of the respiratory or gastrointestinal tract from a cancer treatment centre serving northern Alberta, Canada, were identified. Available lumbar CT images of the obese patients were analysed for total skeletal muscle cross-sectional area; these values were also used to estimate total body fat-free mass (FFM). Findings Of the 2115 patients initially identified, 325 (15%) were classified as obese (body-mass index [BMI] ≥30). Of these obese patients, 250 had CT images that met the criteria for analysis. The remaining 75 patients were recorded as without assessable scans. Obese patients had a wide range of muscle mass. Sex-specific cut-offs that defined a significant association between low muscle mass with mortality were ascertained by optimum stratification analysis: 38 (15%) of 250 patients who had assessable CT images that met the criteria for analysis were below these cut-offs and were classified as having sarcopenia. Sarcopenic obesity was associated with poorer functional status compared with obese patients who did not have sarcopenia (p=0·009), and was an independent predictor of survival (hazard ratio [HR] 4·2 [95% CI 2·4–7·2], p r 2 =0·37). Assuming that FFM represents the volume of distribution of many cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs, we estimated that individual variation in FFM could account for up to three-times variation in effective volume of distribution for chemotherapy administered per unit body-surface area, in this population. Interpretation This study provides evidence of the great variability of body composition in patients with cancer and links body composition, especially sarcopenic obesity, to clinical implications such as functional status, survival, and potentially, chemotherapy toxicity. Funding Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Ottawa, ON, Canada), Alberta Cancer Board (Edmonton, AB, Canada), and Translational Research Training in Cancer (Edmonton, AB, Canada).

Analyzing linguistic data : a practical introduction to statistics using R

Abstract: Statistical analysis is a useful skill for linguists and psycholinguists, allowing them to understand the quantitative structure of their data This textbook provides a straightforward introduction to the statistical analysis of language Designed for linguists with a non-mathematical background, it clearly introduces the basic principles and methods of statistical analysis, using 'R', the leading computational statistics programme The reader is guided step-by-step through a range of real data sets, allowing them to analyse acoustic data, construct grammatical trees for a variety of languages, quantify register variation in corpus linguistics, and measure experimental data using state-of-the-art models The visualization of data plays a key role, both in the initial stages of data exploration and later on when the reader is encouraged to criticize various models Containing over 40 exercises with model answers, this book will be welcomed by all linguists wishing to learn more about working with and presenting quantitative data

Lakes and reservoirs as regulators of carbon cycling and climate

Abstract: We explore the role of lakes in carbon cycling and global climate, examine the mechanisms influencing carbon pools and transformations in lakes, and discuss how the metabolism of carbon in the inland waters is likely to change in response to climate. Furthermore, we project changes as global climate change in the abundance and spatial distribution of lakes in the biosphere, and we revise the estimate for the global extent of carbon transformation in inland waters. This synthesis demonstrates that the global annual emissions of carbon dioxide from inland waters to the atmosphere are similar in magnitude to the carbon dioxide uptake by the oceans and that the global burial of organic carbon in inland water sediments exceeds organic carbon sequestration on the ocean floor. The role of inland waters in global carbon cycling and climate forcing may be changed by human activities, including construction of impoundments, which accumulate large amounts of carbon in sediments and emit large amounts of methane to the atmosphere. Methane emissions are also expected from lakes on melting permafrost. The synthesis presented here indicates that (1) inland waters constitute a significant component of the global carbon cycle, (2) their contribution to this cycle has significantly changed as a result of human activities, and (3) they will continue to change in response to future climate change causing decreased as well as increased abundance of lakes as well as increases in the number of aquatic impoundments.