Low vitamin D and the risk of developing chronic widespread pain: results from the European male ageing study.

Background: The association between low levels of vitamin D and the occurrence of chronic widespread pain (CWP) remains unclear. The aim of our analysis was to determine the relationship between low vitamin D levels and the risk of developing CWP in a population sample of middle age and elderly men.

Methods: Three thousand three hundred sixty nine men aged 40-79 were recruited from 8 European centres for a longitudinal study of male ageing, the European Male Ageing Study.

Functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and growth hormone axes in frequently unexplained disorders: results of a population study.

Background: The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that associations with specific stress systems [hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and growth hormone (GH) axes] would increase as the number of unexplained disorders increased while accounting for the possible confounding effects of psychosocial factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study identified those reporting chronic widespread pain, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic orofacial pain and chronic fatigue. Of the 1315 subjects, disorder status was available for 1180 (89.

Regional, age and sex differences in baseline characteristics of patients enrolled in the Trial Evaluating Cardiovascular Outcomes with Sitagliptin (TECOS).

Aims: To report baseline characteristics and cardiovascular (CV) risk management by region, age, sex and CV event type for 14 724 participants in the Trial Evaluating Cardiovascular Outcomes with Sitagliptin (TECOS), a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial exploring whether sitagliptin added to usual type 2 diabetes (T2DM) care affects time to first event in the composite endpoint of CV death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), non-fatal stroke or unstable angina hospitalization.

Methods: TECOS enrolled patients aged ≥50 years, with T2DM and CV disease from 38 countries in five regions: North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Participants had a glycated haemoglobin concentration of 6.

NY-ESO-1 specific antibody and cellular responses in melanoma patients primed with NY-ESO-1 protein in ISCOMATRIX and boosted with recombinant NY-ESO-1 fowlpox virus.

Vaccination strategies based on repeated injections of NY-ESO-1 protein formulated in ISCOMATRIX particles (NY-ESO-1 ISCOMATRIX) have shown to elicit combined NY-ESO-1 specific antibody and T cell responses. However, it remains unclear whether heterologous prime-boost strategies based on the combination with NY-ESO-1 ISCOMATRIX with different NY-ESO-1 boosting reagents could be used to increase NY-ESO-1 CD8(+) or CD4(+) T cell responses. To address this question, we carried out a randomized clinical trial in 39 high-risk, resected melanoma patients vaccinated with NY-ESO-1 ISCOMATRIX, and then boosted with repeated injections of either recombinant fowlpox virus encoding full length NY-ESO-1 (rF-NY-ESO-1) (Arm A) or NY-ESO-1 ISCOMATRIX alone (Arm B).

External validation of multivariable prediction models: a systematic review of methodological conduct and reporting.

Background: Before considering whether to use a multivariable (diagnostic or prognostic) prediction model, it is essential that its performance be evaluated in data that were not used to develop the model (referred to as external validation). We critically appraised the methodological conduct and reporting of external validation studies of multivariable prediction models.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of articles describing some form of external validation of one or more multivariable prediction models indexed in PubMed core clinical journals published in 2010.