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.

Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs second study (DAWN2™): Cross‐national benchmarking of diabetes‐related psychosocial outcomes for people with diabetes

Abstract: Aims The second Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs (DAWN2) study aimed to assess psychosocial outcomes in people with diabetes across countries for benchmarking. Methods Surveys included new and adapted questions from validated questionnaires that assess health-related quality of life, self-management, attitudes/beliefs, social support and priorities for improving diabetes care. Questionnaires were conducted online, by telephone or in person. Results Participants were 8596 adults with diabetes across 17 countries. There were significant between-country differences for all benchmarking indicators; no one country's outcomes were consistently better or worse than others. The proportion with likely depression [WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5) score ≤ 28] was 13.8% (country range 6.5–24.1%). Diabetes-related distress [Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale 5 (PAID-5) score ≥ 40] was reported by 44.6% of participants (17.2–67.6%). Overall quality of life was rated ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ by 12.2% of participants (7.6–26.1%). Diabetes had a negative impact on all aspects investigated, ranging from 20.5% on relationship with family/friends to 62.2% on physical health. Approximately 40% of participants (18.6–64.9%) reported that their medication interfered with their ability to live a normal life. The availability of person-centred chronic illness care and support for active involvement was rated as low. Following self-care advice for medication and diet was most common, and least common for glucose monitoring and foot examination, with marked country variation. Only 48.8% of respondents had participated in diabetes educational programmes/activities to help manage their diabetes. Conclusions Cross-national benchmarking using psychometrically validated indicators can help identify areas for improvement and best practices to drive changes that improve outcomes for people with diabetes.

Estimate of B(B̄→X s γ) at O(α s 2 )

Abstract: Combining our results for various $O({\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}^{2})$ corrections to the weak radiative $B$-meson decay, we are able to present the first estimate of the branching ratio at the next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD. We find $\mathcal{B}(\overline{B}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{X}_{s}\ensuremath{\gamma})=(3.15\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.23)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ for ${E}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}g1.6\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ in the $\overline{B}$-meson rest frame. The four types of uncertainties: nonperturbative (5%), parametric (3%), higher-order (3%), and ${m}_{c}$-interpolation ambiguity (3%) have been added in quadrature to obtain the total error.

Primary biliary cirrhosis associated with HLA, IL12A, and IL12RB2 variants.

Abstract: Background Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic granulomatous cholangitis, characteristically associated with antimitochondrial antibodies. Twin and family aggregation data suggest that there is a significant genetic predisposition to primary biliary cirrhosis, but the susceptibility loci are unknown. Methods To identify genetic loci conferring a risk for primary biliary cirrhosis, we carried out a genomewide association analysis in which DNA samples from 2072 Canadian and U.S. subjects (536 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and 1536 controls) were genotyped for more than 300,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Sixteen of the SNPs most strongly associated with primary biliary cirrhosis were genotyped in two independent replication sets. We carried out fine-mapping studies across three loci associated with primary biliary cirrhosis. Results We found significant associations between primary biliary cirrhosis and 13 loci across the HLA class II region; the HLA-DQB1 locus (encoding the major h...

Associations between Hemodialysis Access Type and Clinical Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Abstract: Clinical practice guidelines recommend an arteriovenous fistula as the preferred vascular access for hemodialysis, but quantitative associations between vascular access type and various clinical outcomes remain controversial. We performed a systematic review of cohort studies to evaluate the associations between type of vascular access (arteriovenous fistula, arteriovenous graft, and central venous catheter) and risk for death, infection, and major cardiovascular events. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and article reference lists and extracted data describing study design, participants, vascular access type, clinical outcomes, and risk for bias. We identified 3965 citations, of which 67 (62 cohort studies comprising 586,337 participants) met our inclusion criteria. In a random effects meta-analysis, compared with persons with fistulas, those individuals using catheters had higher risks for all-cause mortality (risk ratio=1.53, 95% CI=1.41–1.67), fatal infections (2.12, 1.79–2.52), and cardiovascular events (1.38, 1.24–1.54). Similarly, compared with persons with grafts, those individuals using catheters had higher risks for mortality (1.38, 1.25–1.52), fatal infections (1.49, 1.15–1.93), and cardiovascular events (1.26, 1.11–1.43). Compared with persons with fistulas, those individuals with grafts had increased all-cause mortality (1.18, 1.09–1.27) and fatal infection (1.36, 1.17–1.58), but we did not detect a difference in the risk for cardiovascular events (1.07, 0.95–1.21). The risk for bias, especially selection bias, was high. In conclusion, persons using catheters for hemodialysis seem to have the highest risks for death, infections, and cardiovascular events compared with other vascular access types, and patients with usable fistulas have the lowest risk.