PubMed · 12053911
The source did not provide an abstract. Follow the original record for more information.
Explore connections, maps & timelines
2002. A long-term perspective.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12053911/
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.
KEEP EXPLORING
This paper, arising out of an event to honour the statistical and scientific contributions of Professor Peter Armitage, is concerned with research strategies and needs for chronic disease prevention. A few highlights from recent intervention trials for the prevention of cancer, cardiovascular disease, fractures and diabetes is provided, along with a discussion of some settings where intervention trial results seem discrepant with a body of preceding observational data. This background is used to identify research strategies and infrastructure needs for moving this vitally important research area forward, for both chemoprevention and lifestyle modification interventions.
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, like the sympathetic nervous system and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAA) system, sustains life in stressful situations by increasing vascular tone and ensuring fuel availability. It also modulates inflammation and tissue repair processes. Untoward cardiovascular effects of chronic sympathetic and RAA activation are well recognized, illustrating that the short-term benefit of the physiologic stress response can be detrimental in the long term. Similarly, chronic tissue exposure to glucocorticoids may lead to metabolic and vascular changes that accelerate vascular senescence. Specific situations associated with chronic activation of the HPA axis-such as major depression, inflammatory disease and perhaps the metabolic syndrome-may derive some of their associated cardiovascular risk from untoward glucocorticoid effects. Since there are no definitive clinical studies directly addressing the relationship between the HPA axis and cardiovascular disease, we present indirect evidence from two types of studies: (1) studies that examine the cardiovascular effects of exogenous glucocorticoids, and (2) studies demonstrating that endogenous glucocorticoid activity varies between individuals. The effects of physiologic increases in endogenous glucocorticoid activity may not always mirror the effects of supraphysiologic glucocorticoids. Nevertheless, the known effects of exogenous glucocorticoids provide important insights into the putative effects of endogenous glucocorticoids.
BACKGROUND: Motivated by a biomedical database set up by our group, we aimed to develop a generic database front-end with embedded knowledge discovery and analysis features. A major focus was the human-oriented representation of the data and the enabling of a closed circle of data query, exploration, visualization and analysis. RESULTS: We introduce a non-task-specific database front-end with a new visualization strategy and built-in analysis features, so called d-matrix. d-matrix is web-based and compatible with a broad range of database management systems. The graphical outcome consists of boxes whose colors show the quality of the underlying information and, as the name suggests, they are arranged in matrices. The granularity of the data display allows consequent drill-down. Furthermore, d-matrix offers context-sensitive categorization, hierarchical sorting and statistical analysis. CONCLUSIONS: d-matrix enables data mining, with a high level of interactivity between humans and computer as a primary factor. We believe that the presented strategy can be very effective in general and especially useful for the integration of distinct data types such as phenotypical and molecular data.