University of Milano-Bicocca

About: University of Milano-Bicocca is a education organization based out in Milan, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Blood pressure. The organization has 8972 authors who have published 22322 publications receiving 620484 citations. The organization is also known as: Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca & Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca.

Unattended Blood Pressure Measurements in the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial: Implications for Entry and Achieved Blood Pressure Values Compared With Other Trials

Abstract: The Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) enrolled 9361 participants aged ≥50 years in ≈100 expert medical centers and clinical practices throughout the United States.1 SPRINT excluded patients with diabetes mellitus and stroke survivors since previous clinical trials included those populations.2,3 Between 2010 and 2013, the SPRINT investigators randomly allocated the study participants into a standard treatment group receiving an average of 2 different blood pressure (BP) medications to achieve a systolic BP (SBP) target <140 mm Hg and into an intensive treatment group receiving an average of 3 BP medications to achieve a SBP target <120 mm Hg. The Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute stopped SPRINT early because of a positive effect. The significant preliminary results of SPRINT were announced on September 11, 20154 and the study results were quickly and favorably commented on by the New York Times5 and the Washington Post.6 The target SBP <120 mm Hg had reduced rates of the composite primary outcome that included myocardial infarction (MI), other acute coronary syndromes, stroke, heart failure, or death from cardiovascular causes by 25% and the risk of death from all causes by 27%, when compared with the target SBP of <140 mm Hg. The primary results of the trial were presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association in Orlando on November 9, 2015 and published on the same day.7 The SPRINT study was published with an accompanying statement from the Editor of New England Journal of Medicine 8 saying that “This clinical trial will change practice, and we are proud to publish it and to defend the importance of the expedited peer-review and publication process that it has undergone. The report is now in the public domain, and the investigators’ data …

Precision luminosity measurements at LHCb

Abstract: Measuring cross-sections at the LHC requires the luminosity to be determined accurately at each centre-of-mass energy root s. In this paper results are reported from the luminosity calibrations carried out at the LHC interaction point 8 with the LHCb detector for root s = 2.76, 7 and 8TeV (proton-proton collisions) and for root s(NN) = 5TeV (proton-lead collisions). Both the "van der Meer scan" and "beam-gas imaging" luminosity calibration methods were employed. It is observed that the beam density profile cannot always be described by a function that is factorizable in the two transverse coordinates. The introduction of a two-dimensional description of the beams improves significantly the consistency of the results. For proton-proton interactions at root s = 8TeV a relative precision of the luminosity calibration of 1.47% is obtained using van der Meer scans and 1.43% using beam-gas imaging, resulting in a combined precision of 1.12%. Applying the calibration to the full data set determines the luminosity with a precision of 1.16%. This represents the most precise luminosity measurement achieved so far at a bunched-beam hadron collider.

Association of Pharmacological Treatments With Long-term Pain Control in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Abstract: Importance Even though osteoarthritis is a chronic and progressive disease, pharmacological agents are mainly studied over short-term periods, resulting in unclear recommendations for long-term disease management. Objective To search, review, and analyze long-term (≥12 months) outcomes (symptoms, joint structure) from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of medications for knee osteoarthritis. Data Sources and Study Selection The databases of MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched until June 30, 2018 (MEDLINE alerts through August 31, 2018) for RCTs of patients with knee osteoarthritis that had treatment and follow-up lasting 1 year or longer. Data Extraction and Synthesis Data at baseline and at the longest available treatment and follow-up of 12 months’ duration or longer (or the change from baseline) were extracted. A Bayesian random-effects network meta-analysis was performed. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was the mean change from baseline in knee pain. Secondary outcomes were physical function and joint structure (the latter was measured radiologically as joint space narrowing). Standardized mean differences (SMDs) and mean differences with 95% credibility intervals (95% CrIs) were calculated. Findings were interpreted as associations when the 95% CrIs excluded the null value. Results Forty-seven RCTs (22 037 patients; mean age range, mostly 55-70 years; and a higher mean proportion of women than men, around 70%) included the following medication categories: analgesics; antioxidants; bone-acting agents such as bisphosphonates and strontium ranelate; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; intra-articular injection medications such as hyaluronic acid and corticosteroids; symptomatic slow-acting drugs in osteoarthritis such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate; and putative disease-modifying agents such as cindunistat and sprifermin. Thirty-one interventions were studied for pain, 13 for physical function, and 16 for joint structure. Trial duration ranged from 1 to 4 years. Associations with decreases in pain were found for the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib (SMD, −0.18 [95% CrI, −0.35 to −0.01]) and the symptomatic slow-acting drug in osteoarthritis glucosamine sulfate (SMD, −0.29 [95% CrI, −0.49 to −0.09]), but there was large uncertainty for all estimates vs placebo. The association with pain improvement remained significant only for glucosamine sulfate when data were analyzed using the mean difference on a scale from 0 to 100 and when trials at high risk of bias were excluded. Associations with improvement in joint space narrowing were found for glucosamine sulfate (SMD, −0.42 [95% CrI, −0.65 to −0.19]), chondroitin sulfate (SMD, −0.20 [95% CrI, −0.31 to −0.07]), and strontium ranelate (SMD, −0.20 [95% CrI, −0.36 to −0.05]). Conclusions and Relevance In this systematic review and network meta-analysis of studies of patients with knee osteoarthritis and at least 12 months of follow-up, there was uncertainty around the estimates of effect size for change in pain for all comparisons with placebo. Larger RCTs are needed to resolve the uncertainty around efficacy of medications for knee osteoarthritis.