The early evaluation of prognostic tumour markers is commonly performed by comparing the survival of two groups of patients identified on the basis of a cut-off value. The corresponding hazard ratio () is usually estimated, representing a measure of the relative risk between patients with marker values above and below the cut-off. A posteriori methods identifying an optimal cut-off are appropriate when the functional form of the relation between the marker distribution and patient survival is unknown, but they are prone to an overestimation bias.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although a satisfactory disease control is nowadays achievable in most patients with JIA, a substantial proportion of them still do not respond adequately or reach long-term drug-free remission. According to current recommendations, treatment should be escalated in subsequent steps. A different approach is based on the assumption that the initial start of an aggressive therapy may take advantage of the "window of opportunity" and could alter the biology of the disease, leading to an improvement of long-term outcomes, including the prevention of cumulative joint damage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTech Bull Regist Med Technol
May 1967
An improved preparation of proteolipid from bovine brain white matter is described. The product obtained by repeated acetone precipitation is completely soluble in chloroform-methanol and has a fairly constant composition: 35% protein, 40% galactocerebroside, and about 25% phospholipid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF