Greenness Exposure and Mortality Risk in a Cardio-Oncologic Population.

Background And Aims: Knowledge is lacking on the relationship between greenness and mortality in cancer survivors who experience coronary artery disease (CAD), a cardio-oncologic population. We aimed to investigate the association between residential greenness exposure and all-cause mortality in a cardio-oncologic population.

Methods: Cancer survivors undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention at the Rabin Medical Center in Israel between 2004 and 2014 were included in the study.

The role of models in the covid-19 pandemic.

Mathematical and statistical models have played an important role in the analysis of data from COVID-19. They are important for tracking the progress of the pandemic, for understanding its spread in the population, and perhaps most significantly for forecasting the future course of the pandemic and evaluating potential policy options. This article describes the types of models that were used by research teams in Israel, presents their assumptions and basic elements, and illustrates how they were used, and how they influenced decisions.

Association between objective measures and parent-reported measures of child tobacco smoke exposure: A secondary data analysis of four trials.

Introduction: Tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) harms children and adults. Studies of childhood TSE exposure often relies on parental reports, but may benefit from objective measures. The objective of our study was to study the relationship between reported and objective measures of TSE.

The role of statisticians in the response to COVID-19 in Israel: a holistic point of view.

The COVID-19 pandemic cast a dramatic spotlight on the use of data as a fundamental component of good decision-making. Evaluating and comparing alternative policies required information on concurrent infection rates and insightful analysis to project them into the future. Statisticians in Israel were involved in these processes early in the pandemic in some silos as an ad-hoc unorganized effort.

Statistical Emulation of Neural Simulators: Application to Neocortical L2/3 Large Basket Cells.

Many scientific systems are studied using computer codes that simulate the phenomena of interest. Computer simulation enables scientists to study a broad range of possible conditions, generating large quantities of data at a faster rate than the laboratory. Computer models are widespread in neuroscience, where they are used to mimic brain function at different levels.

JAK2V617F Is a Risk Factor for TIA/Stroke in Young Patients.

The objective of this study was to assess the risk of arterial thrombosis in patients who harbor the allele burden ≥1% detected during workup for myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). We conducted a large cross-sectional analysis consisted of 5,220 patients who were tested for and 1,047,258 people matched in age from health care insurance provider, taking into account age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, atrial fibrillation. Compared with noncarriers, mutation carriers were older, less likely to be current or past smokers and had lower body mass index.

Effective bubble-based testing for SARS-CoV-2 using swab-pooling.

Objectives: Despite the success in developing COVID-19 vaccines, containment of the disease is obstructed worldwide by vaccine production bottlenecks, logistics hurdles, vaccine refusal, transmission through unvaccinated children, and the appearance of new viral variants. This underscores the need for effective strategies for identifying carriers/patients, which was the main aim of this study.

Methods: We present a bubble-based PCR testing approach using swab-pooling into lysis buffer.

Association of BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy With Neonatal and Early Infant Outcomes.

Importance: Pregnant women were excluded from the BNT162b2 messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) preauthorization trial. Therefore, observational data on vaccine safety for prenatally exposed newborns are critical to inform recommendations on maternal immunization.

Objective: To examine whether BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination during pregnancy is associated with adverse neonatal and early infant outcomes among the newborns.

An impact of lipid profile and lipid lowering drugs on ≥70 year olds of an upper socioeconomic class: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Life expectancy has greatly increased, generating an improvement in screening programs for disease prevention, lifesaving drugs and medical devices. The impact of lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the very elderly is not well-established. Our aim was to explore the association of LDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and lipid lowering drugs (LLDs) on cognitive decline, malignancies and overall survival.

Pre-diagnosis thyroid hormone dysfunction is associated with cancer mortality.

Research on the association between thyroid hormone levels and cancer mortality remains limited and inconclusive. We determined the relation of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free T4 (FT4), and free T3 (FT3) levels with mortality in overall cancer and specific tumor types. Thyroid hormone levels 1-5 years prior to cancer diagnosis, as well as multiple clinical and demographic parameters, were retrospectively collected for 10,325 Israeli cancer patients, diagnosed between 2000 and 2016.

Association Between BNT162b2 Vaccination and Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Pregnant Women.

Importance: Data on BNT162b2 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) effectiveness and safety in pregnancy are currently lacking because pregnant women were excluded from the phase 3 trial.

Objective: To assess the association between receipt of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among pregnant women.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a retrospective cohort study within the pregnancy registry of a large state-mandated health care organization in Israel.

Efficient study design to estimate population means with multiple measurement instruments.

Outcomes from studies assessing exposure often use multiple measurements. In previous work, using a model first proposed by Buonoccorsi (1991), we showed that combining direct (eg, biomarkers) and indirect (eg, self-report) measurements provides a more accurate picture of true exposure than estimates obtained when using a single type of measurement. In this article, we propose a tool for efficient design of studies that include both direct and indirect measurements of a relevant outcome.

Lag Time between Onset of First Symptom and Treatment of Retinoblastoma: An International Collaborative Study of 692 Patients from 10 Countries.

Background: The relationship between lag time and outcomes in retinoblastoma (RB) is unclear. In this study, we aimed to study the effect of lag time between onset of symptoms and diagnosis of retinoblastoma (RB) in countries based on their national-income and analyse its effect on the outcomes.

Methods: We performed a prospective study of 692 patients from 11 RB centres in 10 countries from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.

Opposing effects of thyroid hormones on cancer risk: a population-based study.

Objective: The association between dysregulated thyroid hormone function and cancer risk is inconclusive, especially among different age groups and uncommon malignancies. We sought to determine the relation of TSH and free T4 levels with overall cancer risk as well as risk of specific cancer types.

Design And Methods: Data on thyroid hormone profile was collected from 375 635 Israeli patients with no prior history of cancer.

The effect of civil and military flights on coagulation, fibrinolysis and blood flow: insight from a rat model.

Background: Air travel thrombosis continues to be a controversial topic. Exposure to hypoxia and hypobaric conditions during air travel is assumed a risk factor. The aim of this study is to explore changes in parameters of coagulation, fibrinolysis and blood flow in a rat model of exposure to hypobaric conditions that imitate commercial and combat flights.

Leisure-Time Physical Activity and Cancer Risk Among Older Adults: A Cohort Study.

Objective: To examine the association between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and long-term cancer risk in a nationwide cohort of older adults.

Participants And Methods: The cohort comprised participants of a national survey conducted between July 2005 and December 2006, constituting a random sample of Israeli community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older. Based on self-reported LTPA habits, participants were classified as sufficiently active, insufficiently active, or inactive according to published guidelines.

An ancestral variant causing type I xanthinuria in Turkmen and Arab families is predicted to prevail in the Afro-Asian stone-forming belt.

Classical xanthinuria is a rare autosomal recessive metabolic disorder characterized by lack of xanthine dehydrogenase activity that often manifests as xanthine urolithiasis and risk of drug toxicity. Variants in the or gene underlie classical xanthinuria type I and type II, respectively. Here we present two Israeli Arab families affected by type I xanthinuria in whom a c.

Estimating the intervention effect in calibration substudies.

Exposure assessment is often subject to measurement errors. We consider here the analysis of studies aimed at reducing exposure to potential health hazards, in which exposure is the outcome variable. In these studies, the intervention effect may be estimated using either biomarkers or self-report data, but it is not common to combine these measures of exposure.

Tetrac Delayed the Onset of Ocular Melanoma in an Orthotopic Mouse Model.

Ocular melanoma research, the most common primary intraocular malignancy in adults, is hindered by limited models. In a series of experiments using melanoma cells injected intraocularly into mouse eyes, we developed a model for ocular melanoma. Inoculation of 5 × 10 B16F10 cells led to rapid tumor growth, extensive lung metastasis, and limited animal survival, while injection of 10 cells was sufficient for intraocular tumors to grow with extended survival.