University of Luxembourg

About: University of Luxembourg is a education organization based out in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & European union. The organization has 4744 authors who have published 22175 publications receiving 381824 citations.

Influence of access site selection on PCI-related adverse events in patients with STEMI: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract: Objective A meta-analysis of all randomised controlled studies that compare outcomes of transradial versus the transfemoral route to better define best practice in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Design A Medline and Embase search was conducted using the search terms ‘transradial,’ ‘radial’, ‘STEMI’, ‘myocardial’ and ‘infarction’. Setting Randomised controlled studies that compare outcomes of transradial versus the transfemoral route. Patients A total of nine studies were identified that consisted of 2977 patients with STEMI. Interventions Studies that compare outcomes of transradial versus the transfemoral route. Main outcome measures The primary clinical outcomes of interest were (1) mortality; (2) major adverse cardiac events (MACE); (3) major bleeding and (4) access site complications. Results Transradial PCI was associated with a reduction in mortality (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.84; p=0.008), MACE (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.90; p=0.012), major bleeding events (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.35-1.12; p=0.12) and access site complications (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.48; p Conclusions This meta-analysis demonstrates a significant reduction in mortality, MACE and major access site complications associated with the transradial access site in STEMI. The meta-analysis supports the preferential use of radial access for STEMI PCI.

Accelerating changes in ice mass within Greenland, and the ice sheet's sensitivity to atmospheric forcing

Abstract: From early 2003 to mid-2013, the total mass of ice in Greenland declined at a progressively increasing rate. In mid-2013, an abrupt reversal occurred, and very little net ice loss occurred in the next 12-18 months. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and global positioning system (GPS) observations reveal that the spatial patterns of the sustained acceleration and the abrupt deceleration in mass loss are similar. The strongest accelerations tracked the phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The negative phase of the NAO enhances summertime warming and insolation while reducing snowfall, especially in west Greenland, driving surface mass balance (SMB) more negative, as illustrated using the regional climate model MAR. The spatial pattern of accelerating mass changes reflects the geography of NAO-driven shifts in atmospheric forcing and the ice sheet's sensitivity to that forcing. We infer that southwest Greenland will become a major future contributor to sea level rise.

PhishStorm: Detecting Phishing With Streaming Analytics

Abstract: Despite the growth of prevention techniques, phishing remains an important threat since the principal countermeasures in use are still based on reactive URL blacklisting. This technique is inefficient due to the short lifetime of phishing Web sites, making recent approaches relying on real-time or proactive phishing URLs detection techniques more appropriate. In this paper we introduce PhishStorm, an automated phishing detection system that can analyse in real-time any URL in order to identify potential phishing sites. PhishStorm can interface with any email server or HTTP proxy. We argue that phishing URLs usually have few relationships between the part of the URL that must be registered (low level domain) and the remaining part of the URL (upper level domain, path, query). We show in this paper that experimental evidence supports this observation and can be used to detect phishing sites. For this purpose, we define the new concept of intra-URL relatedness and evaluate it using features extracted from words that compose a URL based on query data from Google and Yahoo search engines. These features are then used in machine learning based classification to detect phishing URLs from a real dataset. Our technique is assessed on 96,018 phishing and legitimate URLs that results in a correct classification rate of 94.91% with only 1.44% false positives. An extension for a URL phishingness rating system exhibiting high confidence rate (> 99%) is proposed. We discuss in the paper efficient implementation patterns that allow real time analytics using Big Data architectures like STORM and advanced data structures based on Bloom filter.

Mutation analysis and association studies of the UCHL1 gene in German Parkinson's disease patients.

Abstract: Recently, an Ile93Met substitution has been identified in the ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL1) gene in a single German PD family with autosomal dominant inheritance. To determine whether mutations in the UCHL1 gene are causative for Parkinson's disease (PD) a detailed mutation analysis was performed in a large sample of German sporadic and familial PD patients. We found no disease-causing mutation in the coding region of the UCHL1 gene. Direct sequencing revealed six intronic polymorphisms in the UCHL1 gene. Analysis of an S18Y polymorphism in exon 3 of the UCHL1 gene in sporadic PD patients and controls showed carriers of allele 2 (tyrosine) significantly less frequent in patients with a reduced risk of 0.57 (CI = 0.36-0.88; p = 0.012, p(c) = 0.047, chi2 = 6.31). Our study shows that sequence variations in the coding region of UCHL1 are a rare event. A protective effect of a certain UCHL1 variant in the pathogenesis of sporadic PD is suggested, underlining the relevance of UCHL1 in neurodegeneration.

Improving Portfolio Selection Using Option-Implied Volatility and Skewness

Abstract: Our objective in this paper is to examine whether one can use option-implied information to improve the selection of mean-variance portfolios with a large number of stocks, and to document which aspects of option-implied information are most useful to improve their out-of-sample performance. Portfolio performance is measured in terms of volatility, Sharpe ratio, and turnover. Our empirical evidence shows that using option-implied volatility helps to reduce portfolio volatility. Using option-implied correlation does not improve any of the metrics. Using option-implied volatility, risk premium, and skewness to adjust expected returns leads to a substantial improvement in the Sharpe ratio, even after prohibiting short sales and accounting for transaction costs.