Aims
Inconclusive findings of lipid‐lowering medications (LLMs) on cancer survival benefit require more evidence. We tested the hypothesis that adherence to this drug is associated with reduced ...cancer‐specific mortality in a homogeneous population who had used this drug before cancer diagnosis.
Methods
The Australian Cancer Database was linked to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme database, and to the National Death Index (up to 2015). Medication adherence was calculated by proportion of days covered. Cox regression models with time‐varying covariates were used to derive multivariable‐adjusted cause‐specific hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the associations between adherence to LLMs, statins, lipophilic, and hydrophilic statins and cancer‐specific mortality.
Results
From 2003 to 2013, 3 separate cohorts of 20 046, 11 719 and 6430 female patients with newly diagnosed breast, colorectal cancer, and melanoma respectively were identified. The 1‐year adherence was similar at 1‐year prediagnosis in the 3 cohorts, on average 82%. Each 10% increase in 1‐year adherence to LLMs was inversely associated with cancer‐specific mortality among women with breast cancer (fully adjusted HR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.91–0.93), colorectal cancer (fully adjusted HR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.91–0.93), or melanoma (fully adjusted HR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.94–1.00). The reductions in cancer‐specific mortality were more pronounced for women who adhered to lipophilic than hydrophilic statins in all 3 cancers albeit not statistically significant for melanoma.
Conclusion
Among LLM users, adherence to this drug is associated with a decrease in cancer‐specific mortality. If confirmed, LLMs could be considered as an adjuvant cancer therapy to improve prognosis in cancer survivors.
Previous investigations of urban heat islands (UHI) are primarily focused either on the canopy heat island intensity (aUHII) derived from weather stations, or on the surface urban heat island ...intensity (sUHII) derived from satellite instruments. Research of the relationship between sUHII and aUHII (the sUHII‐aUHII relationship) is limited and this study attempts to further progress this possibility by examining the night‐time sUHII‐aUHII relationship for three factors: season, wind speed (WS), and basic land‐use categories modified from local climate zones (urban/suburban), in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Using high‐resolution datasets of canopy air temperature from Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory and land surface temperature from the MODIS instrument aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, with a unique methodology of regression analysis, confidence ellipse analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and 2‐D Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K‐S) tests, statistical evidence is provided to present the varying patterns and magnitudes between sUHII and aUHII. The significance of the impact of the three considered factors is clearly supported by the statistical tests. The results indicate that satellite data can be used to infer aUHII with a higher confidence for low WS conditions. Results also demonstrate better confidence in the approach for summer and spring seasons, and for more urbanized sites. Indeed, the analysis potentially indicates that wind advection is a key factor for the investigation of the sUHII‐aUHII relationship. Overall, the methods used here are transferable to other cities and/or can be used to guide further research to explore the sUHII‐aUHII relationship under other environmental conditions.
The linear sUHII‐aUHII relationship significantly varies with respect to the three moderator variables: wind speed (WS), season and site characteristics. Results indicate that satellite data can be used to infer aUHII with a higher confidence for low WS conditions. Results also demonstrate better confidence in the approach for summer and spring seasons and for more urbanized sites.
For the WS category, the decrease of the slope of linear regression model (LRM) with increasing WS is explained by the same decreasing trend of the value of covariance between sUHII and aUHII, Cov(sUHII, aUHII); subsequently, the decreasing Cov(sUHII, aUHII) with WS is partially attributed to wind advection which causes different shifts of the spatial pattern of sUHII and aUHII.
The larger slopes in summer and spring are partly explained by the lower WS conditions during these two seasons; however, further investigations of other causative factors are needed.
The quadrant analysis applied to two land‐use groups (urban vs. suburban) has yielded the evidence to support the argument that wind advection may be responsible for the lower correlation between sUHII and aUHII for the suburban group. Therefore wind advection may obscure the interpretation of Ts for the purpose of representing aUHII by sUHII, and caution should be taken particularly for suburban locations.
Purpose
Inconsistent results of lipid-lowering medications (LLMs) on improved cancer survival need more investigations. We tested the hypothesis that adherence to the drug would be associated with a ...lower cancer-specific mortality in a homogeneous population who has ever used the drug.
Methods
Utilising data from the Australian Cancer database, linked to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data and the National Death Index, we identified two separate cohorts of 4519 and 3083 women patients with newly diagnosed endometrial and lung cancer respectively between 2003 and 2013. Adherence to this drug was calculated by proportion of days covered. Cox regression models with time-varying covariates were used to estimate the multivariable-adjusted cause-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association of adherence to LLMs, statins, lipophilic and hydrophilic statins, and cancer-specific mortality.
Results
Each 10% increase in 1-year adherence to LLMs reduced cancer-specific mortality among women with endometrial cancer (adjusted HR=0.93, 95% CI 0.90–0.96) or lung cancer (adjusted HR=0.95, 95% CI 0.93–0.97). The inverse associations remained unchanged in different subgroup analyses. The reductions in lung cancer mortality were not apparent for women who adhered to lipophilic statins albeit better endometrial cancer survival appeared in the lipophilic statin group and borderline statistical improvement in the hydrophilic statin group.
Conclusions
Among LLM users, adherence to this drug is inversely associated with reduced cancer-specific mortality. Together with previous evidence, randomised controlled trials are called for to confirm whether LLMs could be considered as an adjuvant treatment to improve prognosis.
Interest in the investigation of the relationship between surface heat island intensity (sUHII) and canopy heat island intensity (aUHII) (sUHII‐aUHII relationship) is growing mainly because of the ...global availability of satellite‐sensed land surface temperature (Ts). It is hoped that if such a universal relationship can be found, it could compensate for the spatial discontinuity of air temperature (Ta) measurements that currently exist due to a paucity of weather stations in urban areas. In an attempt to investigate differences in the relationship in different urban environments, this study attempts to compare the linear sUHII‐aUHII relationship between Oklahoma City, OK, and Birmingham, UK, based on the observations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and two dense urban meteorological networks (UMNs). Regression models and confidence ellipse, with two statistical tests, are applied in the comparison analysis under different climatic conditions with respect to specific ranges of wind speed (WS) and daily‐accumulated solar radiation (DASR). Some general patterns of the linear sUHII‐aUHII relationship are found across the two cities, such as the reduced rate of change of aUHII with respect to sUHII with increasing WS and the non‐negligible advection effect in this relationship. Meanwhile, the differences of the linear sUHII‐aUHII relationship across two cities are reduced under ideal conditions (clear skies, calm and large input of solar radiation from previous day into urban system). More importantly, the results emphasize the influence of the configuration of UMNs on the sUHII‐aUHII relationship. By removing the climatic element in the relationship (i.e., WS and DASR), the impacts of the different local environments, source areas, and general configurations of the UMN become evident, indicating that a standardized protocol for the designs of UMN is the prerequisite for the generalization of the sUHII‐aUHII relationship across cities.
The sUHII‐aUHII relationship from a city with an urban meteorological network (UMN) could be used as a reference to estimate the city‐specific sUHII‐aUHII relationship under specific conditions for cities without UMN. The differences of the linear sUHII‐aUHII relationship between cities are found to be smallest under the “ideal” conditions for UHI development. The role of different network designs is more likely to be influential to the linear sUHII‐aUHII relationship after removing the climatic effect.
To conduct a meta-analysis of observational studies assessing the association between dispensing evidence-based medications (EBMs) at discharge and outcomes, we extracted published studies in English ...from PubMed, Medline, and EMBASE from 2007 to early 2019. The EBMs included renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASIs), β-blockers, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs). The main outcomes of interest were all-cause death and heart failure (HF) readmission. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using random effect model from the adjusted HRs or relative risks (RRs) extracted from individual studies, stratified by HF patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Forty-three studies including a total number of 295,060 patients with an average follow-up time of 2.3 years were identified for systematic review. Dispensing RASI at discharge was independently associated with 30% and 25% lower risks of all-cause death and HF readmission respectively in HFrEF but has a moderate effect on reducing all-cause deaths (HR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.81–0.95) in HFpEF. By contrast, dispensing β-blockers at discharge was associated with 35% lower risk of all-cause deaths in HFrEF and has a weak association with borderline statistical significance on improving overall survival in HFpEF. Dispensing MRA at discharge was associated with 5% lower risk of all-cause death in HFrEF. This meta-analysis provides evidence to support RASIs and β-blockers as primary pharmacotherapies for HF patients. Our findings suggest that the health professionals maintain use of RASIs and β-blockers at discharge for potential survival improvement.
In order to study the influence of distance weight on ore-grade estimation, the inverse distance weighted (IDW) is used to estimate the Ni grade and MgO grade of serpentinite ore based on a ...three-dimensional ore body model and related block models. Manhattan distance, Euclidean distance, Chebyshev distance, and multiple forms of the Minkowski distance are used to calculate distance weight of IDW. Results show that using the Minkowski distance for the distance weight calculation is feasible. The law of the estimated results along with the distance weight is given. The study expands the distance weight calculation method in the IDW method, and a new method for improving estimation accuracy is given. Researchers can choose different weight calculation methods according to their needs. In this study, the estimated effect is best when the power of the Minkowski distance is 3 for a 10 m × 10 m × 10 m block model. For a 20 m × 20 m × 20 m block model, the estimated effect is best when the power of the Minkowski distance is 9.
•Shear and bending response of a new type hourglass truss structures were investigated.•Shear strength of the hourglass truss were 40%–60% higher than the pyramidal truss.•Bending strength of the ...hourglass beam was superior to that of the pyramidal beam.
In this work, the new type enhanced lattice (defined as hourglass) truss structures with the improved resistance of their core members and attached face sheets have been fabricated by an innovative interlocking method. The shear and bending properties of the produced sandwich structures characterized by three different relative densities have been investigated using various analytical methods and the obtained results were in good agreement with the experimental data. The truss failure under shear loading was dominated by the inelastic buckling of the truss members, while the four possible analytical models describing the bending properties and failure mechanism of the hourglass truss beams included elastic face sheet buckling, face sheet yielding, elastic core member buckling, and core member yielding were studied. The bending specimens, which were designed by constructing failure mechanism maps, were used to examine the yielding behavior of the truss core members as well as the elastic buckling and yielding of the face sheet members. The obtained results revealed that the specific shear strengths and bending failure loads of the studied hourglass truss structures were superior to those of pyramidal truss structures, and that the former could be considered promising candidates for manufacturing lightweight structures with high specific strength.
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A multifunctional composite square honeycomb sandwich structure (MCHSS) is developed which provides both high thermal conductivity and adequate mechanical property for a thermal management system. ...The out-of-plane thermal conductivity of MCHSS is improved by a simple method of coating highly oriented graphite film (HOGF), and investigated both theoretically and experimentally. There are two most efficient methods to further enhance the out-of-plane thermal conductivity of MCHSS: one is to increase the HOGF volume content, and the other, to decrease the interface thermal resistance. The maximum improvement is up to approximately 26 times for the measured out-of-plane thermal conductivity as compared with the traditional composite sandwich structures. Results indicate that, except for high specific thermal conductivity for thermal management, MCHSS also possess adequate mechanical properties for structural applications. Thus, MCHSS can be considered as a promising candidate for multifunctional structure material in the high-end heat dissipation field.
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•Highly oriented graphite film vastly improves thermal conductivity of composite sandwich structures.•A maximum improvement in out-of-plane thermal conductivity of MCHSS is up to approximately 26 times.•Increasing HOGF volume content and decreasing interface resistance are most efficient for improving thermal conductivity.•MCHSS possesses the adequate out-of-plane compressive and shear properties.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a serious and frequently occurring disease in the elderly, characterized by cartilage degeneration and proliferation of bone structure. Glycyrrhizin, a compound extracted from ...licorice, has been reported to have various important biological activities, such as antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory action. However, it has not been reported whether glycyrrhizin has a positive effect on OA development. Our study aimed to evaluate the effects of glycyrrhizin on human OA chondrocytes. In the present study, we discovered that glycyrrhizin remarkably suppressed the interleukin (IL)-1β-induced level of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the production of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOs), metalloproteinase3 (MMP3), metalloproteinase13 (MMP13) and a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs5 (ADAMTS5). In addition, glycyrrhizin inverted the degradation of aggrecan and collagen II. Moreover, it significantly inhibited IL-1β-stimulated PI3K/AKT phosphorylation and NF-κB mobilization in human OA chondrocytes. In vivo, glycyrrhizin treatment prevented the destruction of cartilage in mice OA models. In summary, all the results demonstrate that glycyrrhizin may be a potential therapeutic approach for OA.
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