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.

Cancer cachexia in the age of obesity: skeletal muscle depletion is a powerful prognostic factor, independent of body mass index.

Abstract: Purpose Emerging evidence suggests muscle depletion predicts survival of patients with cancer. Patients and Methods At a cancer center in Alberta, Canada, consecutive patients with cancer (lung or GI; N 1,473) were assessed at presentation for weight loss history, lumbar skeletal muscle index, and mean muscle attenuation (Hounsfield units) by computed tomography (CT). Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted. Concordance (c) statistics were used to test predictive accuracy of survival models. Results Body mass index (BMI) distribution was 17% obese, 35% overweight, 36% normal weight, and 12% underweight. Patients in all BMI categories varied widely in weight loss, muscle index, and muscle attenuation. Thresholds defining associations between these three variables and survival were determined using optimal stratification. High weight loss, low muscle index, and low muscle attenuation were independently prognostic of survival. A survival model containing conventional covariates (cancer diagnosis, stage, age, performance status) gave a c statistic of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.67 to 0.79), whereas a model ignoring conventional variables and including only BMI, weight loss, muscle index, and muscle attenuation gave a c statistic of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.88 to 0.95; P .001). Patients who possessed all three of these poor prognostic variables survived 8.4 months (95% CI, 6.5 to 10.3), regardless of whether they presented as obese, overweight, normal weight, or underweight, in contrast to patients who had none of these features, who survived 28.4 months (95% CI, 24.2 to 32.6; P .001).

Rosuvastatin and cardiovascular events in patients undergoing hemodialysis

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Statins reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients at high cardiovascular risk. However, a benefit of statins in such patients who are undergoing hemodialysis has not bee ...

International Trial of the Edmonton Protocol for Islet Transplantation

Abstract: Background Islet transplantation offers the potential to improve glycemic control in a subgroup of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus who are disabled by refractory hypoglycemia. We conducted an international, multicenter trial to explore the feasibility and reproducibility of islet transplantation with the use of a single common protocol (the Edmonton protocol). Methods We enrolled 36 subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus, who underwent islet transplantation at nine international sites. Islets were prepared from pancreases of deceased donors and were transplanted within 2 hours after purification, without culture. The primary end point was defined as insulin independence with adequate glycemic control 1 year after the final transplantation. Results Of the 36 subjects, 16 (44%) met the primary end point, 10 (28%) had partial function, and 10 (28%) had complete graft loss 1 year after the final transplantation. A total of 21 subjects (58%) attained insulin independence with good glycemic control at any point throughout the trial. Of these subjects, 16 (76%) required insulin again at 2 years; 5 of the 16 subjects who reached the primary end point (31%) remained insulin-independent at 2 years. Conclusions Islet transplantation with the use of the Edmonton protocol can successfully restore long-term endogenous insulin production and glycemic stability in subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus and unstable control, but insulin independence is usually not sustainable. Persistent islet function even without insulin independence provides both protection from severe hypoglycemia and improved levels of glycated hemoglobin. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00014911.)

Assessing Social Presence In Asynchronous Text-based Computer Conferencing

Abstract: Instructional media such as computer conferencing engender high levels of student-student and student-teacher interaction; therefore, they can support models of teaching and learning that are highly interactive and consonant with the communicative ideals of university education. This potential and the ubiquity of computer conferencing in higher education prompted three of the authors of the this article to develop a community of inquiry model that synthesizes pedagogical principles with the inherent instructional and access benefits of computer conferencing (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000). This article explicates one element of the model, social presence. Social presence is defined as the ability of learners to project themselves socially and affectively into a community of inquiry. A template for assessing social presence in computer conferencing is presented through content analysis of conferencing transcripts. To facilitate explication of the scheme and subsequent replication of this study, selections of coded transcripts are included, along with interrater reliability figures. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications and benefits of assessing social presence for instructors, conference moderators, and researchers. Les medias educatifs, tel le forum electronique, sont susceptibles d'engendrer un niveau eleve d'interaction entre les etudiants et entre le tuteur et chaque etudiant; par consequent, ils peuvent soutenir des modeles d'enseignement et d'apprentissage qui mettent en valeur l'interaction et qui sont compatibles avec les ideaux communicationnels d'une education universitaire. Ce potentiel, ainsi que l'ubiquite du forum asynchrone dans l'education superieure, ont mene trois des auteurs de cet article a developper un modele de communaute de recherche qui resume les principes pedagogiques applicables au forum electronique en incluant les benefices que l'enseignement peut en retirer et les avantages relatifs a l'accessibilite (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000). Cet article explique un element du modele : la presence sociale. On y definit la presence sociale comme la capacite des apprenants de se projeter sur le plan social et emotionnel dans une communaute de recherche. On y decrit un gabarit utilise pour evaluer la presence sociale lors d'une analyse de contenu de transcriptions de forums electroniques. Afin d'aider la comprehension des modalites d'evaluation et de faciliter la reproduction subsequente de cette etude, un echantillonnage de transcriptions codees ainsi que les baremes de fiabilite inter-evaluateurs sont fournis. L'article se termine par une discussion des consequences et des avantages de l'evaluation de la presence sociale du point de vue des formateurs, des animateurs de conference et des chercheurs.