University of Amsterdam

About: University of Amsterdam is a education organization based out in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Randomized controlled trial. The organization has 59309 authors who have published 140894 publications receiving 5984137 citations. The organization is also known as: UvA & Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Delirium in Elderly Patients and the Risk of Postdischarge Mortality, Institutionalization, and Dementia: A Meta-analysis

Abstract: Context Delirium is a common and serious complication in elderly patients Evidence suggests that delirium is associated with long-term poor outcome but delirium often occurs in individuals with more severe underlying disease Objective To assess the association between delirium in elderly patients and long-term poor outcome, defined as mortality, institutionalization, or dementia, while controlling for important confounders Data Sources A systematic search of studies published between January 1981 and April 2010 was conducted using the databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL Study Selection Observational studies of elderly patients with delirium as a study variable and data on mortality, institutionalization, or dementia after a minimum follow-up of 3 months, and published in the English or Dutch language Titles, abstracts, and articles were reviewed independently by 2 of the authors Of 2939 references in the original search, 51 relevant articles were identified Data Extraction Information on study design, characteristics of the study population, and outcome were extracted Quality of studies was assessed based on elements of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist for cohort studies Data Synthesis The primary analyses included only high-quality studies with statistical control for age, sex, comorbid illness or illness severity, and baseline dementia Pooled-effect estimates were calculated with random-effects models The primary analysis with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) showed that delirium is associated with an increased risk of death compared with controls after an average follow-up of 227 months (7 studies; 271/714 patients [380%] with delirium, 616/2243 controls [275%]; HR, 195 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 151-252]; I2, 440%) Moreover, patients who had experienced delirium were also at increased risk of institutionalization (7 studies; average follow-up, 146 months; 176/527 patients [334%] with delirium and 219/2052 controls [107%]; odds ratio [OR], 241 [95% CI, 177-329]; I2, 0%) and dementia (2 studies; average follow-up, 41 years; 35/56 patients [625%] with delirium and 15/185 controls [81%]; OR, 1252 [95% CI, 186-8421]; I2, 524%) The sensitivity, trim-and-fill, and secondary analyses with unadjusted high-quality risk estimates stratified according to the study characteristics confirmed the robustness of these results Conclusion This meta-analysis provides evidence that delirium in elderly patients is associated with poor outcome independent of important confounders, such as age, sex, comorbid illness or illness severity, and baseline dementia

A century of trends in adult human height

Abstract: Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5–22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3–19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8–144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.

A meta-analysis of 25 years of mood-creativity research: Hedonic tone, activation, or regulatory focus?

Abstract: This meta-analysis synthesized 102 effect sizes reflecting the relation between specific moods and creativity. Effect sizes overall revealed that positive moods produce more creativity than mood-neutral controls (r= .15), but no significant differences between negative moods and mood-neutral controls (r= -.03) or between positive and negative moods (r= .04) were observed. Creativity is enhanced most by positive mood states that are activating and associated with an approach motivation and promotion focus (e.g., happiness), rather than those that are deactivating and associated with an avoidance motivation and prevention focus (e.g., relaxed). Negative, deactivating moods with an approach motivation and a promotion focus (e.g., sadness) were not associated with creativity, but negative, activating moods with an avoidance motivation and a prevention focus (fear, anxiety) were associated with lower creativity, especially when assessed as cognitive flexibility. With a few exceptions, these results generalized across experimental and correlational designs, populations (students vs. general adult population), and facet of creativity (e.g., fluency, flexibility, originality, eureka/insight). The authors discuss theoretical implications and highlight avenues for future research on specific moods, creativity, and their relationships.

Tonks–Girardeau gas of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice

Abstract: Strongly correlated quantum systems are among the most intriguing and fundamental systems in physics. One such example is the Tonks-Girardeau gas, proposed about 40 years ago, but until now lacking experimental realization; in such a gas, the repulsive interactions between bosonic particles confined to one dimension dominate the physics of the system. In order to minimize their mutual repulsion, the bosons are prevented from occupying the same position in space. This mimics the Pauli exclusion principle for fermions, causing the bosonic particles to exhibit fermionic properties. However, such bosons do not exhibit completely ideal fermionic (or bosonic) quantum behaviour; for example, this is reflected in their characteristic momentum distribution. Here we report the preparation of a Tonks-Girardeau gas of ultracold rubidium atoms held in a two-dimensional optical lattice formed by two orthogonal standing waves. The addition of a third, shallower lattice potential along the long axis of the quantum gases allows us to enter the Tonks-Girardeau regime by increasing the atoms' effective mass and thereby enhancing the role of interactions. We make a theoretical prediction of the momentum distribution based on an approach in which trapped bosons acquire fermionic properties, finding that it agrees closely with the measured distribution.