Could gonadal and adrenal androgen deficiencies contribute to the depressive symptoms in men with systolic heart failure?

Background: Testosterone (TT) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) are neurosteroids and their deficiencies constitute the hormone risk factors promoting the development of depression in elderly otherwise healthy men. We investigated the link between hypogonadism and depression in accordance with age and concomitant diseases in men with systolic HF using the novel scale previously dedicated for elderly population.

Methods: We analysed the prevalence of depression and severity of depressive symptoms in population of 226 men with systolic HF (40–80 years) compared to 379 healthy peers. The severity of depression was assessed using the Polish long version of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).

Results: In men aged 40–59 years the severity of depressive symptoms was greater in NYHA classes III–IV compared to NYHA classes I–II and reference group. In men aged 60–80 years depressive symptoms were more severe in NYHA class III-IV compared to controls (all p?≤?0.001). In multivariate logistic regression model in men aged 40–59 years advanced NYHA class was associated with higher prevalence of mild depression (OR?=?2.14, 95%CI: 1.07–4.29) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with higher prevalence of severe depression (OR?=?69.1, 95%CI: 2.11–2264.3). In men aged 60–80 years advanced NYHA class and TT deficiency were related to higher prevalence of mild depression (respectively: OR?=?2.9, 95%CI: 1.3–6.4; OR?=?3.6, 95%CI: 1.2–10.63).

Conclusion: TT deficiency, COPD and advanced NYHA class were associated with higher prevalence of depression in men with systolic HF.     

Linearity of regression for non-adjacent record values

Let X₁,X₂,… be a sequence of iid random variables having a continuous distribution; by R₁,R₂,… denote the corresponding record values. All the distributions allowing linearity of regressions either E(R_m+k|R_m) or E(R_m|R_m+k) are identified.     

Synthetic and composite estimation under a superpopulation model

Under a simple superpopulation model for an arbitrary sampling design we derive optimal linear unbiased estimators/predictors of a mean in a domain. They can be viewed as synthetic and composite estimators of small area estimation theory when no auxiliary variable is available. Moreover, we show that the only requirement for optimality of a sampling strategy is to use any sampling plan of fixed sample size together with traditional estimators (as designed for simple random sampling without replacement). Finally, for symmetric sampling plans, simplified formulas (based on the first two moments of sample sizes) for optimal synthetic and composite estimators and their MSE’s are derived. Throughout the paper we consistently use the model-design setup.     

Proposition of a General Formula for Price Indices

In this article, we propose a general formula for aggregative price indices that satisfies most postulates coming from the axiomatic price index theory. We show that the ideal Fisher index, Laspeyres and Paasche formulas, and a lot of other indices are particular cases of the proposed formula. Moreover, using the general formula we can easily define new indices, that would satisfy given postulates. We also present an interesting result for the proposed formula.     

Proactive international strategies of cluster SMEs

In this conceptual paper, proactive international strategies of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the cluster context are discussed. The majority of cluster SMEs assume passive roles as network participants in the process of internationalisation. However, a smaller fraction adopts proactive strategies to foreign expansion acting as leaders of networks. SMEs as network leaders are embedded in the source clusters and dependent on local networks that provide them with complementary resources. We assert that this mutual dependence between a firm's resources and the development of industrial agglomeration should be reflected in the strategic options that SMEs adopt when going international. This paper contributes by synthesising and evaluating a comprehensive range of SME-strategic options and by proposing the proactive competitive strategies of SMEs in the international arena that are both feasible and effective. The feasibility of adopting a specific strategy means the suitability for this group of companies, considering their characteristics. The evaluation of the effectiveness of each strategy was performed according to the objectives of avoiding lock-in and of protecting and developing the core competencies embedded in cluster networks. We address the research gap in evaluating the outcomes of SME international strategies and in synthesising a comprehensive range of cluster SMEs' strategic options.     

Typology of Slovenian Drama in the Period Between the Two World Wars

From the 1970s, the term metafiction has been mostly confined to studies of American and Western European literatures; I propose using metafiction as a means of approaching Sergei Dovlatov’s Zona [The Zone], a novel which blurs the line between fiction and memoir. In one sense a prison text, in that it concerns the lives of guards and prisoners in a camp, it is, however, divorced from survivor narratives in that the camp does not contain political prisoners, so the “heroes” are the thieves and criminals so universally reviled in other memoirs of the Soviet gulag. It is also a record of its author’s developing need to write as it tracks the transformation of the guard Boris Alikhanov, Dovlatov’s alter-ego. Dovlatov’s authorial persona serves not to elucidate the text, but to construct a hybrid prison memoir which supports his views on the prison experience; views which are in opposition to the pre-existing tradition, and this leads me to describe The Zone as a metatextual camp narrative, containing many of the attributes of the metafictional novel, though originating from the memoiristic impulse and still straddling the line between fiction and nonfiction in a way that true metafictions do not.     

Multivariate Matsumoto–Yor property is rather restrictive

Matsumoto and Yor [2001. An analogue of Pitman's 2M-X$2M-X$ theorem for exponential Wiener functionals. Part II: the role of the GIG laws. Nagoya Math. J. 162, 65–86] discovered an interesting invariance property of a product of the generalized inverse Gaussian (GIG) and the gamma distributions. For univariate random variables or symmetric positive definite random matrices it is a characteristic property for this pair of distributions. It appears that for random vectors the Matsumoto–Yor property characterizes only very special families of multivariate GIG and gamma distributions: components of the respective random vectors are grouped into independent subvectors, each subvector having linearly dependent components. This complements the version of the multivariate Matsumoto–Yor property on trees and related characterization obtained in Massam and Weso?owski [2004. The Matsumoto–Yor property on trees. Bernoulli 10, 685–700].     

Order statistics from overlapping samples: bivariate densities and regression properties

In this paper, we are interested in the joint distribution of two order statistics from overlapping samples. We give an explicit formula for the distribution of such a pair of random variables under the assumption that the parent distribution is absolutely continuous. We are also interested in the question to what extent conditional expectation of one of such order statistic given another determines the parent distribution. In particular, we provide a new characterization by linearity of regression of an order statistic from the extended sample given the one from the original sample, special case of which solves a problem explicitly stated in the literature. It appears that to describe the correct parent distribution it is convenient to use quantile density functions. In several other cases of regressions of order statistics we provide new results regarding uniqueness of the distribution in the sample.     

Transformed GARMA model: Properties and simulations

Real time series can present anomalies, like non-additivity, non-normality, and heteroscedasticity, which makes using GARMA models impossible. Our article introduces a new class of models called Transformed Generalized Autoregressive Moving Average (TGARMA) models that allow using transformations to guarantee the GARMA assumptions. We present an extensive simulation study of the influence of the transformation on GARMA estimation. We also propose using bootstrap methods to get more information about the distribution of the transformation parameter. We apply the methodology to data related to annual Swedish fertility rates.