46 research outputs found
FIRST RESULTS OF THE EVOLUTION AND THE INFLUENCE OF STATIN TREATMENT ON NAFLD IN A PRIMARY CARE COHORT OVER A 2-YEAR PERIOD
No full textBackground: A novel term, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), was proposed by a group of experts. However, it remains unclear whether hepatic steatosis per se in MAFLD contributes to an elevated risk of mortality in individual's with overweight/obesity, metabolic dysregulation, or type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) (referred to as the metabolic dysfunction-association (MA) group), which are known significant risk factors for increased mortality. This study aimed to compare all-cause and cause-specific mortality between the 'MAFLD' group and the 'MA without fatty liver' group. Methods: A total of 10,052 participants from NHANES III were included. Fatty liver was diagnosed using ultrasound, and MAFLD was defined based on the criteria proposed by an international panel of experts. Mortality risks were compared between the 'MAFLD' group and the 'MA without fatty liver' group using the Cox proportional hazards model with complex survey design weights, adjusted for demographic and anthropometry factors (age, sex, race, body mass index and waist circumference), social history (education, marriage status, smoking and alcohol history and exercise) and comorbidity variables (hypertension, DM and hyperlipidemia). Linked mortality data, including all-cause, cancer, cardiovascular, and other causes-related mortality, were examined from 1988 through 2019. For liver-related mortality, data were evaluated from 1988 through 2006. Results: Over an average follow-up period of 23.0 years, the 'MAFLD' group did not exhibit a significant increase in all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.07 [0.99-1.16], P = 0.100), cancer mortality (1.08 [0.86-1.36], P = 0.508), or cardiovascular mortality (0.89 [0.78-1.02], P = 0.084) compared to the 'MA without fatty liver' group. However, other causes-related mortality , which included liver-related mortality, was higher in the MAFLD group (1.36 [1.14-1.62], P = 0.001). This trend persisted in sensitivity analyses conducted on participants without viral hepatitis or heavy alcohol consumption. No significant effect modification was observed according to subgroups. Liver-related mortality , assessed over a 13.8-year follow-up period, showed a marginal increase in the 'MAFLD' group (2.49 [0.99-6.23], P = 0.052) compared to the 'MA without fatty liver' group. Conclusion: The 'MAFLD' group did not demonstrate an elevated risk of all-cause, cardiovas-cular, or cancer mortality when compared to the 'MA without fatty liver' group. However, there was a trend toward an increased risk of liver-related mortality in the MAFLD group
FIRST RESULTS OF THE EVOLUTION AND THE INFLUENCE OF STATIN TREATMENT ON NAFLD IN A PRIMARY CARE COHORT OVER A 2-YEAR PERIOD
No full textBackground: A novel term, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), was proposed by a group of experts. However, it remains unclear whether hepatic steatosis per se in MAFLD contributes to an elevated risk of mortality in individual's with overweight/obesity, metabolic dysregulation, or type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) (referred to as the metabolic dysfunction-association (MA) group), which are known significant risk factors for increased mortality. This study aimed to compare all-cause and cause-specific mortality between the 'MAFLD' group and the 'MA without fatty liver' group. Methods: A total of 10,052 participants from NHANES III were included. Fatty liver was diagnosed using ultrasound, and MAFLD was defined based on the criteria proposed by an international panel of experts. Mortality risks were compared between the 'MAFLD' group and the 'MA without fatty liver' group using the Cox proportional hazards model with complex survey design weights, adjusted for demographic and anthropometry factors (age, sex, race, body mass index and waist circumference), social history (education, marriage status, smoking and alcohol history and exercise) and comorbidity variables (hypertension, DM and hyperlipidemia). Linked mortality data, including all-cause, cancer, cardiovascular, and other causes-related mortality, were examined from 1988 through 2019. For liver-related mortality, data were evaluated from 1988 through 2006. Results: Over an average follow-up period of 23.0 years, the 'MAFLD' group did not exhibit a significant increase in all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.07 [0.99-1.16], P = 0.100), cancer mortality (1.08 [0.86-1.36], P = 0.508), or cardiovascular mortality (0.89 [0.78-1.02], P = 0.084) compared to the 'MA without fatty liver' group. However, other causes-related mortality , which included liver-related mortality, was higher in the MAFLD group (1.36 [1.14-1.62], P = 0.001). This trend persisted in sensitivity analyses conducted on participants without viral hepatitis or heavy alcohol consumption. No significant effect modification was observed according to subgroups. Liver-related mortality , assessed over a 13.8-year follow-up period, showed a marginal increase in the 'MAFLD' group (2.49 [0.99-6.23], P = 0.052) compared to the 'MA without fatty liver' group. Conclusion: The 'MAFLD' group did not demonstrate an elevated risk of all-cause, cardiovas-cular, or cancer mortality when compared to the 'MA without fatty liver' group. However, there was a trend toward an increased risk of liver-related mortality in the MAFLD group
Virtual Presenting
No full textIn this episode of the BAJ (British Academy of Jewellery) Podcast: Lockdown Series, BAJ discusses creative ways to keep exhibiting and promoting jewellery in times of lockdown, in conversation with Anneleen Swillen, author of the PhD entitled, ‘‘THIS PLAY: An artistic research on the interactions between jewellery and presentation,’ at the PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt and Hasselt University. Sofie Boons hosts.
As professionals in the jewellery industry have been forced to break with their usual routines, BAJ has been looking at the alternative ways in which jewellers can continue working. And what better time than now to discuss them? In our dedicated Lockdown podcast series, BAJ and guests will cover a range of topics providing insights those in the jewellery field navigating this difficult time
Virtual Presenting
No full textIn this episode of the BAJ (British Academy of Jewellery) Podcast: Lockdown Series, BAJ discusses creative ways to keep exhibiting and promoting jewellery in times of lockdown, in conversation with Anneleen Swillen, author of the PhD entitled, ‘‘THIS PLAY: An artistic research on the interactions between jewellery and presentation,’ at the PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt and Hasselt University. Sofie Boons hosts.
As professionals in the jewellery industry have been forced to break with their usual routines, BAJ has been looking at the alternative ways in which jewellers can continue working. And what better time than now to discuss them? In our dedicated Lockdown podcast series, BAJ and guests will cover a range of topics providing insights those in the jewellery field navigating this difficult time
Response to the Letter to the Editor on 'On Quantile-based Asymmetric Family of Distributions: Properties and Inference'
No full textsponsorship: This research was supported by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) research project G.0826.15N (Flemish Science Foundation). The first author gratefully acknowledges support from the GOA/12/014 project of the KU Leuven Research Fund. The third author acknowledges support from the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO research grant 1518917N) and from the Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Hasselt University (Universiteit Hasselt). (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO)|G.0826.15N, KU Leuven Research Fund|GOA/12/014, Flemish Science Foundation (FWO research grant)|1518917N, Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Hasselt University (Universiteit Hasselt))status: Publishe
A new distance based measure of asymmetry
No full textsponsorship: The authors are grateful to an Associate Editor and two reviewers for their valuable comments which led to an improvement of the manuscript. The first and second author gratefully acknowledge support from the Research Fund KU Leuven [C16/20/002 project] . The third author was supported by Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Hasselt University [BOF14NI06] . (Research Fund KU Leuven, Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Hasselt University, C16/20/002, BOF14NI06)status: Publishe
Flexible asymmetric multivariate distributions based on two-piece univariate distributions
No full textsponsorship: The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that led to an improvement of the work. The first and second author gratefully acknowledge support from the Research Fund KU Leuven [C16/20/002 project]. The third author was supported by Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Hasselt University [BOF14NI06]. (Research Fund KU Leuven|C16/20/002, Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Hasselt University|BOF14NI06)status: Publishe
Estimation in copula models with two-piece skewed margins using the inference for margins method
No full textsponsorship: The authors thank an Associate Editor and two reviewers for their valuable comments, which led to an improvement of the manuscript. The first and second author gratefully acknowledge support from the Research Fund KU Leuven [C16/20/002 project] . The third author was supported by Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Hasselt University [BOF14NI06] (Research Fund KU Leuven|C16/20/002, Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds) of Hasselt University|BOF14NI06)status: Published onlin
A hybrid hazard-based model using two-piece distributions
No full textCox proportional hazards model is widely used to study the relationship between the survival time of an event and covariates. Its primary objective is parameter estimation assuming a constant relative hazard throughout the entire follow-up time. The baseline hazard is thus treated as a nuisance parameter. However, if the interest is to predict possible outcomes like specific quantiles of the distribution (e.g. median survival time), survival and hazard functions, it may be more convenient to use a parametric baseline distribution. Such a parametric model should however be flexible enough to allow for various shapes of e.g. the hazard function. In this paper we propose flexible hazard-based models for right censored data using a large class of two-piece asymmetric baseline distributions. The effect of covariates is characterized through timescale changes on hazard progression and on the relative hazard ratio; and can take three possible functional forms: parametric, semi-parametric (partly linear) and non-parametric. In the first case, the usual full likelihood estimation method is applied. In the semi-parametric and non-parametric settings a general profile (local) likelihood estimation approach is proposed. An extensive simulation study investigates the finite-sample performances of the proposed method. Its use in data analysis is illustrated in real data examples.The authors thank the reviewers for their valuable comments that led to an improvement
of the manuscript. The second author gratefully acknowledges support from Research Grant C16/20/002
project of the Research Fund KU Leuven
Two-piece distribution based semi-parametric quantile regression for right censored data
No full textWidely used methods such as Cox proportional hazards, accelerated failure time, and Bennet proportional odds models do not model the quantiles directly, but rather allow to assess the influence of the covariates only on the location of the distribution. Quantile regression allows to assess the effects of covariates, not only on a location parameter (such as a mean or median) but also on specific percentiles of the conditional distribution. In recent years, a large family of flexible two-piece asymmetric distributions where the location parameter coincides with a specific quantile of the distribution has been studied. In a conditional (regression) setting the use of such a family of two-piece asymmetric distributions has only been investigated in the complete data case in the literature. In this paper, we propose a semi-parametric procedure to estimate the conditional quantile curves of two-piece asymmetric distributions based on right censored survival data. We use a local likelihood estimation technique in a multi-parameter functional form, via which the effect of a covariate on the location, scale, and index of the conditional survival distribution can be assessed. The finite sample performance of the estimators is investigated via simulations, and the methodology is illustrated on real data examples.The authors are grateful to an Associate Editor and two reviewers for their comments which led to an improvement of the manuscript. We thank the authors of Christou and Akritas (2019) to provide us with the R code to calculate their estimator in the SIQR model. The second author gratefully acknowledges support from Research Grant FWO G0D6619N of the Flemish Science Foundation, and from the C16/20/002 project of the Research Fund KU Leuven. The resources and services used in this work were provided by the VSC (Flemish Supercomputer Center), funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and the Flemish Government
