Random Population Sample Research Articles

Willingness to share anonymised routinely collected clinical health data in Switzerland: a cross-sectional survey.

Routinely collected health data (or real-world data) from hospitals is becoming increasingly important to advance medical progress. Anonymisation of these data facilitates data sharing processes. This allows stakeholders of the healthcare system to compliantly access this anonymised data to address epidemiological questions, advance precision medicine, support drug development or address other medical needs. As the willingness of the general Swiss population to share anonymised health data has been uncertain, a survey was conducted to better understand their perception of sharing such data for research purposes. The present survey focused on the re-use (secondary use) of hospital-derived health data in anonymised form. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a representative random sample (n = 1006) of the general Swiss population. The general population was contacted by phone between 14 September and 3 October 2020. The survey was also conducted in an additional population with chronic disease (n = 225) via an online panel. An independent research organisation (gfs-zürich) was commissioned to conduct the survey. The survey participation was anonymous and voluntary. The demographic composition of the interviewed participants from the general population was specifically constructed to be representative of the 18+-year-old French- and German-speaking population of Switzerland, according to the quota features gender, age and language region. Representativeness of the chronic disease population is unclear. 71% of the general population and 81% of the chronic disease group reported that they would share their anonymised health data for medical research. The drivers were mainly of an altruistic nature. Hurdles concern mainly data protection issues, potential misuse or disadvantages, e.g., by health insurers. About 56% of the general population would like to be better informed about the use of their personal health data, and 69% spontaneously reported health authorities as the stakeholder responsible for providing such information. The survey showed that the Swiss population is willing to share anonymised health data given that some key concerns are addressed. Our findings underline that a better understanding of the standards and processes around health data privacy and transparent data usage is important to build trust in the public eye. An open dialogue is required to develop a common consent on data governance for Switzerland, which would allow health data sharing with third parties. This open dialogue should involve all stakeholders of the healthcare system, so as to strive towards both a more personalised and a more sustainable Swiss healthcare system.

Willingness to provide informal care to older adults in Germany: a discrete choice experiment

As the German population is continually aging and the majority of older adults still wish to ‘age in place’, the need for informal care provided by family and friends will correspondingly continue to increase. In addition, while the need for formal (professional) care services is also likely to increase, the supply already does not meet the demand in Germany today. The aim of our study is the elicitation of people’s willingness to provide informal care by means of a discrete choice experiment. The self-complete postal survey was disseminated to a random sample of the German general population in Lower Saxony. Data cleansing resulted in a final sample size of 280 participants. A conditional logit and a latent class model were estimated. All attributes were judged as highly relevant by the respondents. The results revealed that an increase in the care hours per day had the greatest negative impact overall on the willingness to provide informal care in our sample. The marginal willingness-to-accept for 1 h of informal care was €14.54 when having to provide informal care for 8 h in reference to 2 h per day. This value is considerably higher than the national minimum wage of €9.82. A three-class latent class model revealed preference heterogeneity. While a monetary compensation is often discussed to increase the willingness and availability of informal care in a country, our results show that this statement could not be generalized within our entire sample.

Estimation of blood lead levels in the French population using two complementary approaches: Esteban (2014–2016) as part of the human biomonitoring program and the national surveillance system for childhood lead poisoning (2015–2018)

BackgroundUsed widely for centuries, lead is a common environmental pollutant. As a cumulative toxic, its presence in the body is always evidence of exposure, and health effects occur without threshold. Though regulated by European directives, lead requires close monitoring due to its environmental persistence and toxicity. MethodsThe first data source was the French surveillance system for monitoring childhood lead poisoning, which records the screening results of children (−18 years), providing data on their temporal and geographical distribution, characteristics, and risk factors. The second data source was Esteban, a cross-sectional study conducted in 2014–2016 on a random sample of the French population as part of the human biomonitoring program. The Esteban lead study concerns 904 children (6–17 years) and 999 adults (18–74 years), providing data on biological samples, sociodemographic characteristics, occupational exposure, environmental and dietary factors. ResultsThe surveillance system highlighted that lead poisoning affected 10% of children screened between 2015 and 2018. The main risk factor remains housing. Esteban confirmed this observation, finding a general mean of blood lead level (BLL) at 9.9 and 18.5 μg/L for children and adults, respectively. In children, parents’ occupation increased BLLs. In adults, the greatest exposure factors were smoking, age, place of residence, alcohol, bread-based products, and homegrown livestock products. In both, drinking tap water and year of housing construction increased BLLs. ConclusionsThe surveillance system showed a high number of children with lead poisoning despite the implementation of prevention measures, which mainly concern lead paints in old and degraded homes. To help identify children at risk, healthcare providers need to know about exposure from housing and the emerging sources identified in the Esteban survey. Despite lower BLLs, the well-known risk factors of lead exposure persist, meaning prevention efforts must continue in order to limit their impact on the population.

Correlated physical and mental health composite scores for the RAND-36 and RAND-12 health surveys: can we keep them simple?

BackgroundThe RAND-36 and RAND-12 (equivalent to versions 1 of the SF-36 Health Survey and SF-12 Health Survey, respectively) are widely used measures of health-related quality of life. However, there are diverging views regarding how to create the physical health and mental health composite scores of these questionnaires. We present a simple approach using an unweighted linear combination of subscale scores for constructing composite scores for physical and mental health that assumes these scores should be free to correlate. The aim of this study was to investigate the criterion validity and convergent validity of these scores.MethodsWe investigated oblique and unweighted RAND-36/12 composite scores from a random sample of the general Norwegian population (N = 2107). Criterion validity was tested by examining the correlation between unweighted composite scores and weighted scores derived from oblique principal component analysis. Convergent validity was examined by analysing the associations between the different composite scores, age, gender, body mass index, physical activity, rheumatic disease, and depression.ResultsThe correlations between the composite scores derived by the two methods were substantial (r = 0.97 to 0.99) for both the RAND-36 and RAND-12. The effect sizes of the associations between the oblique versus the unweighted composite scores and other variables had comparable magnitudes.ConclusionThe unweighted RAND-36 and RAND-12 composite scores demonstrated satisfactory criterion validity and convergent validity. This suggests that if the physical and mental composite scores are free to be correlated, the calculation of these composite scores can be kept simple.

Protocol for EXICODE: the EXIstential health COhort DEnmark—a register and survey study of adult Danes

IntroductionWe established the EXIstential health COhort DEnmark (EXICODE) to examine how existential and spiritual needs, practices and orientations in a secular culture are linked to health outcomes, illness trajectory and...

ELECTROCARDIOGRAM CHANGES IN PREHYPERTENSIVE SUBJECTS – EPIDEMIOLOGY OF HYPERTENSION IN CROATIA-1 (EH UH-1) STUDY

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics and changes in the ECG findings of adults with prehypertension (PHT) in a random sample of the general population included in the EH-UH 1 project. Design and method: Epidemiology of hypertension in Croatia 1 (EH UH-1) study is nation-wide survey on prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension (HT) in Croatia. In 2001–2003 a random sample of 1267 subjects were enrolled. Mortality data were analyzed after average period of 17 years. In this sub-analysis we included 189 untreated subjects whom GPs did an ECG. Subjects were divided into 3 groups: optimal blood pressure (OBP) < 120/80 mmHg (N = 42), PHT 120–139/80–89 mmHg (N = 78) and untreated HT (UHT) > = 140/90 mmHg (N = 69). Results: Atrial fibrillation was found in 2%, 3% and 4% in OBP, PHT and UHT group, respectively (PHT vs OBP p < 0.05). QTc interval was prolonged in 2%, 13% and 65% in OBP, PHT and UHT group, respectively (PHT vs OBP p < 0.05; UHT vs PHT p < 0.01). Tpe interval was elevated in 12%, 14% and 17% in OBP, PHT and UHT group, respectively. Left ventricular hypertrophy (Cornell) was diagnosed in 5%, 9%, and 13% in OBP, PHT and UHT group, respectively (PHT vs OBP p < 0.05; PHT vs UHT p < 0.05). Conclusions: Gradual increases in ECG changes were observed across BP groups. Even in this small cohort, we observed significantly more pathological ECG findings in the PHT group than in subjects with OBP. ECG is of utmost importance in risk stratification of subjects with PHT and helpful, simple and cheap tool in making decision how to treat PHT patient. ECG should be recorded in all subjects with PHT.

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF HYPERTENSION IN CROATIA (EHUH STUDY) -ECG FINDINGS AND CARDIOVASCULAR MORTALITY DATA AFTER 17 YEARS OF FOLLOW-UP

Objective: Our aim was to association of ECG findings and mortality data in random sample of Croatian population, an original cohort from the EHUH study after 17 years of follow up. Design and method: EHUH study is nation-wide survey on prevalence, treatment and control of hypertension in Croatia. In 2001–2003 a random sample of 1267 subjects were enrolled. Mortality data were analyzed after average period of 17 years. Office blood pressure (BP) was measured in sitting position using mercury sphygmomanometer three times at two visits and once at home visit: total 9 measurements -average BP values were calculated. Mortality data were collected from National Public Health Institute records. ECG scans were taken 17 years ago in 162 subjects and scans were analyzed by 2 different examiners manually, regardless one of another. In this group there were 17 deaths. Heart rate, intrinsic heart rate, RR interval, QT, TPe and QRS times, QTc and TPe/QTc ratios were analyzed across the groups. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed in distributions of intrinsic heart rate (p < 0.001) and QTc (p < 0.05) between subjects who died and survivors. Higher values of intrinsic heart rate were linked with lower mortality (B = -0.361, (p < 0.001). A smaller, but statistically significant difference was observed for QRS time (B = -0.045, p < 0.05) suggesting longer QRS times are linked with lower mortality. Conclusions: Our results which are not in line with other reports could be explained with small group, small number of events and most probably it is the case of reverse epidemiology.

SEASONAL VARIATION IN METEOROLOGICAL PARAMETERS AND BLOOD PRESSURE IN CROATIAN ADULT POPULATION

Objective: There are many reports on the seasonality of cardiovascular risk factors particularly of blood pressure (BP). Our aim was to analyze association of BP with various meteorological parameters in random sample of general Croatian adult population. Design and method: EHUH -2 study is nation-wide survey (Croatian Science Foundation) on prevalence, treatment and control of hypertension in Croatia. In 2018–2021 a random sample of 1321 subjects were enrolled. Office blood pressure (BP) and heart rate were measured in sitting position using Omron 3 device three times and average BP values were calculated. Estimated pulse wave velocity (ePWV) was calculated using validated equation. Meteorological data (mean daily 2 m air temperature – T2m, atmosphere pressure, air humidity measured at meteorological stations according to WMO standards) were collected in Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service. Results: We found significant difference in systolic and diastolic BP, heart rate and ePWV accorss nalys (Figure 1a and Figure 2), as well significant correlation between all parameters and T2m. (Figure 3 for systolic BP). There is nonsignificant trend in association between systolic BP and air humidity. We failed to find association of diastolic BP, heart rate and ePWV with any of nalysed meteorological parameters. Furthermore, we found inverse association between systolic BP, diastolic BP and heart rate with T2m i.e. we confirmed seasonal fluctuations (Figure 1b). Conclusions: Our data confirmed findings of seasonal (inverse) variation between BP and T2m. Interestingly, we found association of seasonal variation and ePWV. T2m has impact on long-term BP variability but also on ePWV and should be taken into account in clinical research as well as in regular clinical work.

Digital Infographics Design (Static vs Dynamic): Its Effects on Developing Thinking and Cognitive Load Reduction

The current study investigates the effect of the difference between two styles of infographics (static vs. dynamic) on developing visual thinking and reducing the cognitive load of grade six students in their science course. The researcher relied on the quasi-experimental design. The random sample population included 40 students who were divided into two equal experimental groups: the first group of students was exposed to static infographics, while the second was exposed to dynamic infographics. The experimental treatment of independent variables was done by Wepik and Vyond web applications. Data were collected by two tools, a Visual Thinking Test (prepared by the researcher) and a Cognitive Load Scale (NASA-TLX). The results indicated that there was a significant impact of dynamic infographics on developing students’ visual thinking and reducing their cognitive load compared with static infographics. This can be attributed to the diverse stimuli and multimedia elements that dynamic infographics provide, which are compatible with the students’ tendencies and abilities, as well as their learning, cognitive and perception styles. Furthermore, the presentation of concepts in a sequential and orderly manner can allow for in-depth understanding and assimilation with a limited cognitive load.

High C-reactive protein is associated with increased risk of biochemical hypogonadism: a population-based cohort study.

ContextObesity seems to decrease levels of testosterone. It is still unknown what role inflammation plays in the secretion of testosterone in men.ObjectiveThe objective is to study the association between levels of C-reactive protein and testosterone and its role in predicting biochemical hypogonadism in men.DesignThis was a longitudinal observational study between 2002 and 2014 in Sweden.Patients or other participantsAt the first visit, a random population sample of 1400 men was included, and 645 men fulfilled a similar protocol at a 10-year follow-up visit. After exclusion, 625 men remained to be included in the final analyses.Main outcome measure(s)Serum concentrations of testosterone and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured at both visits. Bioavailable testosterone was calculated. Biochemical hypogonadism was defined as total testosterone levels <8 nmol/L.ResultsAt the first visit and in the longitudinal analyses, a strong association was found between high levels of CRP and low levels of calculated bioavailable testosterone even after adjustments for age, waist–hip ratio, hypertension, smoking, type 2 diabetes, and leisuretime physical activity (B = −0.31, 95% CI −0.49 to −0.13, P = 0.001, B = −0.26, 95% CI −0.41 to −0.11, P = 0.001). Similarly, increase with one s. d. in CRP was associated with increased risk of having hypogonadism after adjustment in the final model (odds ratio (OR) 1.76, 95% CI 1.12–2.78, P = 0.015, OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.16–2.78, P =0.008).ConclusionsIn this representative cohort of men in southwestern Sweden, high levels of CRP were longitudinally associated with low concentrations of calculated bioavailable testosterone and increased risk of biochemical hypogonadism.

Who prescribes quetiapine in Denmark?

The second‐generation antipsychotic quetiapine is commonly used off‐label for its anxiolytic and hypnotic properties. However, quetiapine is associated with problematic side‐effects. We used Danish Medicinal Product Statistics and a 20% random sample of the Danish population's prescription fills (2001–2020) to describe the utilization of quetiapine and proportion of various prescriber types (general practitioner [GP], specialist in private practice, hospital physician and other prescribers) both in connection to first‐time and subsequent prescriptions. In 2020, 92% of all quetiapine was dispensed outside hospitals and the average daily dispensed quantity of quetiapine per user corresponded to 100 mg/user/d. A GP issued 53% of first‐time prescriptions and 75% of subsequent prescriptions for quetiapine in 2020. The proportion of quetiapine prescriptions issued by GPs varied by age group—from 14% among 0–17‐year‐olds to 93% among the ≥80‐year‐olds. Future initiatives on the rational use of quetiapine and related drugs, especially among adults, should target GPs.

Validation of the AGCU Expressmarker 20 + 20Y kit: A 6-dye multiplex assay for forensic application

The AGCU Expressmarker 20 + 20Y Kit is a newly devised short tandem repeat (STR) multiplex system that simultaneously analyses a set of 19 autosomal STR loci, 20 Y chromosomal STR loci and the amelogenin locus with six-dye fluorescent labelling. Here, the AGCU Expressmarker 20 + 20Y system was validated following the guidelines published by the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM), including PCR-condition, sensitivity, mixtures, species specificity, models of inhibition, precision, stutter percentage, concordance, population genetic studies, performance on three kinds of degraded DNA and a type of casework samples. The results indicated that the kit had high sensitivity when there was a small amount of DNA (0.0625 ng), more than one male (minor: major=1:19), or a mixture of males and females (male: female=1:32), models of inhibition (250 μM hematin, 1500 ng/μL humic acid and more than 100 ng/μL tannic acid) and degraded samples. The kit showed high precision level with standard deviation of allele size no more than 0.0930. Furthermore, this system was also tested in 444 random male samples of Chinese Han and Hui population, showing its high discrimination capability in Han and Hui population. Meanwhile, the system was applicable to the case of the AMELY abnormality. In short, the kit was verified and proved to be a robust, reliable and suitable tool for human identification and casework samples.

Risk of Dementia After Hospitalization Due to Traumatic Brain Injury: A Longitudinal Population-Based Study.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered a potential modifiable dementia risk factor. We aimed to determine whether TBI actually increases the risk of dementia when adjusting for other relevant dementia risk factors. This was a national prospective longitudinal cohort study that included random and representative population samples from different parts of Finland of patients 25 through 64 years of age from 1992 to 2012. Major TBI was defined as a diagnosis of traumatic intracranial hemorrhage and hospital length of stay (LOS) ≥3 days and minor TBI was defined as a diagnosis of concussion and hospital LOS ≤1 day. Dementia was defined as any first hospital contact with a diagnosis of dementia, first use of an antidementia drug, or dementia as an underlying or contributing cause of death. Follow-up was until death or end of 2017. Of 31,909 participants, 288 were hospitalized due to a major TBI and 406 were hospitalized due to a minor TBI. There was a total of 976 incident dementia cases during a median follow-up of 15.8 years. After adjusting for age and sex, hospitalization due to major TBI (hazard ratio [HR] 1.51, 95% CI 1.03-2.22), but not minor TBI, increased the risk of dementia. After additional adjustment for educational status, smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and hypertension, the association between major TBI and dementia weakened (HR 1.30, 95% CI 0.86-1.97). The risk factors most strongly attenuating the association between major TBI and dementia were alcohol consumption and physical activity. There was an association between hospitalized major TBI and incident dementia. The association was diluted after adjusting for confounders, especially alcohol consumption and physical activity. Hospitalization due to minor TBI was not associated with an increased risk of dementia. This study provides Class I evidence that major TBI is associated with incident dementia.

Atrial fibrillation and 13-year risk of CVD mortality in Russian population cohort

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): The study was supported by RFBR #20-313-90015, RAS # АААА-А17-117112850280-2 Introduction Given the worldwide increase in life expectancy, ageing-related conditions are becoming increasingly important. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia and a serious predictor of the progression of heart failure and thromboembolic events (largely, stroke). Thus, the study of AF impact on cardiovascular (CVD) mortality is of particular relevance. Objectives We aimed to analyze the impact of AF on the 13-year risk of CVD mortality in the Russian population sample of elderly age. Methods A random population sample (n=9360, age 45-69 years) was examined at baseline in 2003-2005 in the Russian arm of the HAPIEE project. The cohort was re-examined twice and was followed up for end points up to end of 2017 (12.7 years on the average). Fatal end-points were ascertained by local mortality register; the current study focused on CVD deaths. Baseline AF was defined by rest ECG with evaluation by the Minnesota code (MC 8-3-1, 8-3-2; 6-8 with "fibrillation" for atrium). Those with prevalent CVD at baseline and with inadequate ECGs were excluded from analysis; Cox-regression age- and multivariable-adjusted models were estimated. Results In total, data on 8565 persons aged 45-69 years at baseline were analyzed. Among those, 145 (1.6%) subjects had AF at baseline and of those 100 subjects had no existing CVD. During the 13-year follow-up, there were 431 cases of CVD death (10.9%) in the cohort, among them 63% (n=272) were fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) and 23% (n=101) were fatal stroke (2.5%). In age-adjusted models, men with baseline AF had increased risk of CVD death (HR=5.76; 95%CI 3.88-8.55), fatal stroke (HR=6.26; 95%CI 2.96-13.22), and fatal CHD (HR=5.86; 95%CI 3.58-9.59). After adjusting for other risk factors, the increased risk remained for all CVD outcomes: 4.49 (95%CI 2.84-7.09) for CVD death, 3.62 (95%CI 1.46-8.96) for fatal stroke, and 4.95 (95%CI 2.81-8.70) for fatal CHD. In women, the age-adjusted HR for CVD death in women with baseline AF was 3.92 (95%CI 1.60-9.62) but in fully-adjusted models the HR was attenuated (HR=2.22; 95%CI 0.87-5.70). The numbers of deaths from CHD and stroke in women were too small for meaningful analyses. Conclusion In this urban population-based cohort of subjects free from CVD at baseline, 11% of participants died from CVD death during 13 years follow-up. Men and women with baseline AF had approximately 4-fold increase in CVD mortality risk. The estimated CVD excess mortality risk associated with AF in this Russian cohort is consistent with findings from Western European and North American populations.

Examining the Relationships between Religious Affiliation, External and Internal Behavioural Factors, and Personal Carbon Footprint

Different studies have shown that daily consumption is responsible for a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions. Since consumption is closely linked to individuals’ preferences, motivations, and beliefs, the personal carbon footprint should be a good indicator of actual consumers’ commitments towards climate change mitigation. Previous research has shown the importance of considering individual-level religion as an antecedent of mitigation outcomes, although the evidence is inconclusive in this regard. This study examines the relationship between religious affiliation and personal carbon footprint, following socio-psychological models that consider behaviour to depend on external or situational factors, and internal or intrinsic ones. A questionnaire was carried out on a random sample of the Spanish population (N = 845) to determine the main drivers of carbon footprint for different religious groups. External factors (i.e., socioeconomic) and internal ones related to climate change knowledge, commitment, and intractability, on the one hand, and value orientation, nature-relatedness, and the main motivation to conserve nature on the other hand, were analysed. Intergroup differences in the personal carbon footprint were found, especially based on sex, age group, and type of work among external factors and value orientation, the main motivation for conserving nature and climate change perceived commitment within the internals. Intragroup differences for food carbon footprint were also observed, as follows: the main motivation to conserve nature and the level of commitment implied differences among Catholic believers, whereas value orientation and the level of commitment implied differences among non-believers. Our conclusions suggest, on the one hand, the importance of examining the religion-mitigation link in a socio-psychological framework and, on the other, the need for further study within groups to promote better behavioural responses to climate change.

High training volume is associated with increased prevalence of non-allergic asthma in competitive cross-country skiers

BackgroundCross-country skiers have a high prevalence of asthma, but its phenotypes and association with success in competitions are not known.ObjectiveTo investigate, by means of a postal survey, the relative proportions...

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for respiratory failure in phases of COVID-19 variants.

BackgroundAdaptive mutations of the severe acute respiratory syndrome‐related coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) virus have emerged throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. The characterization of outcomes in patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for severe respiratory distress from COVID‐19 during the peak prevalence of different variants is not well known.MethodsThere were 131 patients with laboratory‐confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2 infection supported by ECMO at two referral centers within a large healthcare system. Three predominant variant phase time windows (Pre‐Alpha, Alpha, and Delta) were determined by a change‐point analyzer based on random population sampling and viral genome sequencing. Patient demographics and outcomes were compared.ResultsThe average age of patients was 46.9 ± 10.5 years and 70.2% (92/131) were male. Patients cannulated for ECMO during the Delta variant wave were younger compared to earlier Pre‐Alpha (39.3 ± 7.8 vs. 48.0 ± 11.1 years) and Alpha phases (39.3 ± 7.8 vs. 47.2 ± 7.7 years) (p < .01). The predominantly affected race in the Pre‐Alpha phase was Hispanic (52.2%; 47/90), while in Alpha (61.5%; 16/26) and Delta (40%; 6/15) variant waves, most patients were White (p < .01). Most patients received a tracheostomy (82.4%; 108/131) with a trend toward early intervention in later phases compared to Pre‐Alpha (p < .01). There was no significant difference between the duration of ECMO, mechanical support, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), or hospital LOS over the three variant phases. The in‐hospital mortality was overall 41.5% (54/131) and was also similar. Six‐month survival of patients who survived to discharge was 92.2% (71/77).ConclusionsThere was no significant difference in survival or time on ECMO support in patients during the peak prevalence of the three variants.

The effect of business intelligence practices on job satisfaction in the Saudi Electricity Company in the Asir Region

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the effect of business intelligence on job satisfaction in the Saudi Electricity Company in the Asir. It aims to evaluate employee job satisfaction after adopting a BI system for job practices.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method including descriptive, questionnaire for data collection and analytical approach was used. The random sample population consists of 354 employees out of 3,000.FindingsIt is found that the implementation of a BI system and the associated practices have a statistically significant effect on employee job satisfaction. The study recommends the adoption of BI systems for organizational activities. Such organizations must consider the latest BI tools for solving business problems.Originality/valueTo the best of authors' knowledge, the current study is the first attempt to evaluate the performance of BI practices in the region and in context of employee job satisfaction. This will contribute to understanding the job satisfaction in similar organizational environment.

Biological reference interval of nitric oxide in health and disease.

There is a need to develop reference interval of NO in health and disease. Subjects aged between 25 and 55 years were drawn from a random sample of the north Indian population, based on defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Measurement of NO was done based on principle of greiss reaction. Reference interval of NO in healthy individual of age group 25-55 years was 21±13.3μM/L (n=350), Premenopausal women of age group 25-35 years was 12.7±4.9μM/L (n=180), Postmenopausal women of age group 40-55 years was 10.3±3.84μM/L (n=100) and healthy pregnant females of age group 25-35 years was 70.9±15.95μM/L (n=330). In pathological state group, reference interval of NO in metabolic syndrome cases of age group 25-55 years was 19.4±15.3μM/L (n=100), coronary artery disease patient of age group more than 35 years was 17.6±10.8μM/L (n=160), pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) of age group 25-30 years was 45.7±7.2μM/L (n=330), pre-eclampsia patient of age group 25-35 years was 39.8±14.7μM/L (n=200) and diabetic individuals of age group of more than 30 years was 15.5±1.4μM/L (n=50). The reference intervals presented may be used for various research purposes. Based upon our study, reference interval for NO levels of various disease states like MetS, CAD, diabetes, PIH showed lower levels of NO compared to their respective healthy group due to shared etiopathologies with decreased NO levels.

Demographic Imbalances Resulting From the Bring-Your-Own-Device Study Design.

Digital health technologies, such as smartphones and wearable devices, promise to revolutionize disease prevention, detection, and treatment. Recently, there has been a surge of digital health studies where data are collected through a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) approach, in which participants who already own a specific technology may voluntarily sign up for the study and provide their digital health data. BYOD study design accelerates the collection of data from a larger number of participants than cohort design; this is possible because researchers are not limited in the study population size based on the number of devices afforded by their budget or the number of people familiar with the technology. However, the BYOD study design may not support the collection of data from a representative random sample of the target population where digital health technologies are intended to be deployed. This may result in biased study results and biased downstream technology development, as has occurred in other fields. In this viewpoint paper, we describe demographic imbalances discovered in existing BYOD studies, including our own, and we propose the Demographic Improvement Guideline to address these imbalances.