University of Ioannina

About: University of Ioannina is a education organization based out in Ioannina, Greece. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 7654 authors who have published 20594 publications receiving 671560 citations. The organization is also known as: Panepistimio Ioanninon.

Serum uric acid levels and multiple health outcomes: umbrella review of evidence from observational studies, randomised controlled trials, and Mendelian randomisation studies

Abstract: Objective To map the diverse health outcomes associated with serum uric acid (SUA) levels. Design Umbrella review. Data sources Medline, Embase, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and screening of citations and references. Eligibility criteria Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies that examined associations between SUA level and health outcomes, meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials that investigated health outcomes related to SUA lowering treatment, and Mendelian randomisation studies that explored the causal associations of SUA level with health outcomes. Results 57 articles reporting 15 systematic reviews and144 meta-analyses of observational studies (76 unique outcomes), 8 articles reporting 31 meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials (20 unique outcomes), and 36 articles reporting 107 Mendelian randomisation studies (56 unique outcomes) met the eligibility criteria. Across all three study types, 136 unique health outcomes were reported. 16 unique outcomes in meta-analyses of observational studies had P -6 , 8 unique outcomes in meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials had P Conclusion Despite a few hundred systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and Mendelian randomisation studies exploring 136 unique health outcomes, convincing evidence of a clear role of SUA level only exists for gout and nephrolithiasis.

Impaired Endothelial Function in Young Women with Premature Ovarian Failure: Normalization with Hormone Therapy

Abstract: Normal menopause is associated with vascular endothelial dysfunction, an early stage of atherosclerosis. The effect of premature ovarian failure (or premature menopause) on endothelial function in young women is unknown. Endothelial function was assessed in 18 women with premature ovarian failure before and after 6 months of hormone therapy and was compared with the endothelial function of 20 age- and body mass index-matched premenopausal women. Brachial artery diameter was measured both during hyperemia (an index of endothelium-dependent vasodilation) and in response to glyceryl trinitrate (an index of endothelium-independent vasodilation). Flow-mediated dilation was significantly lower in women with premature ovarian failure at baseline (increase in brachial artery diameter during hyperemia by 3.06 4.33%) than in control women (increase by 8.84 2.15%; P < 0.0005). Glyceryl trinitrate-induced vasodilation did not differ between the groups. After hormone therapy for 6 months, flowmediated dilation was improved in women with premature ovarian failure, increasing by more than 2-fold (7.41 3.86%; P < 0.005 compared with pretreatment) and reaching normal values (P not significant compared with control women). Glyceryl trinitrate-induced vasodilation did not change after treatment in women with premature ovarian failure. Young women with premature ovarian failure have significant vascular endothelial dysfunction. Early onset of endothelial dysfunction associated with sex steroid deficiency may contribute to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality in young women with premature ovarian failure. Hormone therapy restores endothelial function within 6 months of treatment. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 89: 3907–3913, 2004)

Modernization of an anatomy class: From conceptualization to implementation. A case for integrated multimodal-multidisciplinary teaching.

Abstract: It has become increasingly apparent that no single method for teaching anatomy is able to provide supremacy over another. In an effort to consolidate and enhance learning, a modernized anatomy curriculum was devised by attempting to take advantage of and maximize the benefits from different teaching methods. Both the more traditional approaches to anatomy teaching, as well as modern, innovative educational programs were embraced in a multimodal system implemented over a decade. In this effort, traditional teaching with lectures and dissection was supplemented with models, imaging, computer-assisted learning, problem-based learning through clinical cases, surface anatomy, clinical correlation lectures, peer teaching and team-based learning. Here, we review current thinking in medical education and present our transition from a passive, didactic, highly detailed anatomy course of the past, to a more interactive, as well as functionally and clinically relevant anatomy curriculum over the course of a decade.

Kernel-Based Weighted Multi-view Clustering

Abstract: Exploiting multiple representations, or views, for the same set of instances within a clustering framework is a popular practice for boosting clustering accuracy. However, some of the available sources may be misleading (due to noise, errors in measurement etc.) in revealing the true structure of the data, thus, their inclusion in the clustering process may have negative influence. This aspect seems to be overlooked in the multi-view literature where all representations are equally considered. In this work, views are expressed in terms of given kernel matrices and a weighted combination of the kernels is learned in parallel to the partitioning. Weights assigned to kernels are indicative of the quality of the corresponding views' information. Additionally, the combination scheme incorporates a parameter that controls the admissible sparsity of the weights to avoid extremes and tailor them to the data. Two efficient iterative algorithms are proposed that alternate between updating the view weights and recomputing the clusters to optimize the intra-cluster variance from different perspectives. The conducted experiments reveal the effectiveness of our methodology compared to other multi-view methods.