University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

About: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a education organization based out in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 81393 authors who have published 185327 publications receiving 9948508 citations. The organization is also known as: University of North Carolina & North Carolina.

Effects of combination lipid therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Abstract: Methods We randomly assigned 5518 patients with type 2 diabetes who were being treated with open-label simvastatin to receive either masked fenofibrate or placebo. The primary outcome was the first occurrence of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes. The mean follow-up was 4.7 years. Results The annual rate of the primary outcome was 2.2% in the fenofibrate group and 2.4% in the placebo group (hazard ratio in the fenofibrate group, 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79 to 1.08; P = 0.32). There were also no significant differences between the two study groups with respect to any secondary outcome. Annual rates of death were 1.5% in the fenofibrate group and 1.6% in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.10; P = 0.33). Prespecified subgroup analyses suggested heterogeneity in treatment effect according to sex, with a benefit for men and possible harm for women (P = 0.01 for interaction), and a possible interaction according to lipid subgroup, with a possible benefit for patients with both a high baseline triglyceride level and a low baseline level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.057 for interaction). Conclusions The combination of fenofibrate and simvastatin did not reduce the rate of fatal cardiovascular events, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke, as compared with simvastatin alone. These results do not support the routine use of combination therapy with fenofibrate and simvastatin to reduce cardiovascular risk in the majority of high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00000620.)

The CONSORT statement: revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel group randomized trials

Abstract: To comprehend the results of a randomized controlled trial (RCT), readers must understand its design, conduct, analysis and interpretation. That goal can only be achieved through complete transparency from authors. Despite several decades of educational efforts, the reporting of RCTs needs improvement. Investigators and editors developed the original CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement to help authors improve reporting by using a checklist and flow diagram. The revised CONSORT statement presented in this paper incorporates new evidence and addresses some criticisms of the original statement.

Hyperlocomotion and indifference to cocaine and amphetamine in mice lacking the dopamine transporter

Abstract: Disruption of the mouse dopamine transporter gene results in spontaneous hyperlocomotion despite major adaptive changes, such as decreases in neurotransmitter and receptor levels. In homozygote mice, dopamine persists at least 100 times longer in the extracellular space, explaining the biochemical basis of the hyperdopaminergic phenotype and demonstrating the critical role of the transporter in regulating neurotransmission. The dopamine transporter is an obligatory target of cocaine and amphetamine, as these psychostimulants have no effect on locomotor activity or dopamine release and uptake in mice lacking the transporter.

A Class of Statistics with Asymptotically Normal Distribution

Abstract: Let X 1 …, X n be n independent random vectors, X v = , and Φ(x 1 …, x m ) a function of m(≤n) vectors . A statistic of the form , where the sum ∑″ is extended over all permutations (α1 …, α m ) of different integers, 1 α≤ (αi≤ n, is called a U-statistic. If X 1, …, X n have the same (cumulative) distribution function (d.f.) F(x), U is an unbiased estimate of the population characteristic θ(F) = f … f Φ(x 1,…, x m ) dF(x 1) … dF(x m ). θ(F) is called a regular functional of the d.f. F(x). Certain optimal properties of U-statistics as unbiased estimates of regular functionals have been established by Halmos [9] (cf. Section 4)

Display of surfaces from volume data

Abstract: The application of volume-rendering techniques to the display of surfaces from sampled scalar functions of three spatial dimensions is discussed. It is not necessary to fit geometric primitives to the sampled data; images are formed by directly shading each sample and projecting it onto the picture plane. Surface-shading calculations are performed at every voxel with local gradient vectors serving as surface normals. In a separate step, surface classification operators are applied to compute a partial opacity of every voxel. Operators that detect isovalue contour surfaces and region boundary surfaces are examined. The technique is simple and fast, yet displays surfaces exhibiting smooth silhouettes and few other aliasing artifacts. The use of selective blurring and supersampling to further improve image quality is described. Examples from molecular graphics and medical imaging are given. >