BACKGROUND: Paraesophageal hernias may produce a variety of clinical sequelae including anemia and esophagogastric ulcerations or erosions. We examined the prevalence of anemia in patients with paraesophageal hernias and frequency of anemia resolution with hernia repair. METHODS: Patients undergoing paraesophageal hernia repairs from July 1996 to September 2010 were included. ...

To determine whether cardiac sympathetic denervation in idiopathic Parkinson disease (IPD) affects the left ventricle in a distinct regional pattern versus a more global pattern with use of carbon 11 (11C) meta-hydroxyephedrine (HED) positron emission tomography (PET). This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board and was compliant ...

Background: In this paper, we report about new insights regarding clinical course, long-term outcome, ethnic/genetic predisposition and cardio-circulatory status in the large stress-induced cardiomyopathy (SIC) cohort from Sweden. Methods and Results: We have included 115 consecutive SIC patients between January 2005 and January 2010 at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. ...

Background:Measurement of cortisol in 24-h urine collections and midnight saliva are standard screening tests for Cushing's syndrome (CS). These tests reflect cortisol levels during a maximum of 24 h and do not provide historical information. Therefore, they can yield normal results in case of cyclic CS, which is a rare ...

BACKGROUND: Calciphylaxis is a rare, life-threatening syndrome marked by vascular calcification and cutaneous necrosis. The role of radiographic imaging in assisting in diagnosis has not been established. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential role of plain radiographic imaging in the diagnosis of calciphylaxis. METHODS: We searched for cases of patients at ...

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to assess, in the setting of a single-institution prospective clinical trial, the necessity of planned neck dissection (PND) in physically and radiologically complete responders with pretherapy advanced nodal disease. METHODS: Between January 2000 and July 2007 a total of 139 patients were ...

Object The authors hypothesized that cooling before evacuation of traumatic intracranial hematomas protects the brain from reperfusion injury and, if so, further hypothesized that hypothermia induction before or soon after craniotomy should be associated with improved outcomes. Methods The National Acute Brain Injury Study: Hypothermia I (NABIS:H I) was a ...

RATIONALE: The influence of COPD exacerbation on the endothelium is not completely understood. Circulating endothelial microparticles (EMPs) are membrane vesicles in circulating blood that are shed by activated or apoptotic endothelial cells. OBJECTIVE: To compare EMP numbers in stable COPD patients with those during and after exacerbation. METHODS: We examined ...

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: Identification of patients who are in early stages of lupus is currently done through clinical evaluation and is not greatly facilitated by available diagnostic tests. Profiling for patient characteristics and antibody specificities that predict disease would enhance the ability of physicians to identify and treat early cases prior ...

Experimental evidence demonstrates that therapeutic temperature modulation with the use of mild induced hypothermia (MIH, defined as the maintenance of body temperature at 32-35 °C) exerts significant neuroprotection and attenuates secondary cerebral insults after traumatic brain injury (TBI). In adult TBI patients, MIH has been used during the acute "early" phase ...

Patients undergoing peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection for autologous transplantation may have a greater incidence of thrombosis due to a number of risk factors (RFs). These factors may be related to the patient himself (history of thromboembolism, tumour type and stage, treatment), to the procedure and/or to the mobilizing ...

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the contributions of embolic etiologies, patent foramen ovale (PFO) and atrial septal aneurysm (ASA) to the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). We performed transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examination for consecutive stroke patients who had been diagnosed with ...

Structural brain abnormalities have consistently been found in patients with schizophrenia. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been shown to be a useful method to measure white matter (WM) integrity in this illness, but findings in the earlier disease stages are inconclusive. Moreover, the relationship between WM microstructure and the familial ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Sexual dysfunction is common in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) and treatment options are limited. Observational studies suggest that nocturnal hemodialysis may improve sexual function. We compared sexual activity and responses to sexual related questions in the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form questionnaire among ...

Background: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), endogenous cytokine with pleiotropic repairing and regeneration properties in relation to most tissues and organs, contributes to the progression of periodontal disease (PD). Furthermore, PD is a significant health problem in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). The role of HGF in the development of ...

BACKGROUND: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common disease with still unclear pathophysiologic mechanisms. Epithelial tight junctions (TJs) have been shown to be involved in different chronic disorders, including bronchial asthma, inflammatory bowel diseases, and skin disorders. The regulation of epithelial barrier function and TJ expression has not been extensively studied ...

BACKGROUNDS: Nummular headache (NH) is currently considered a form of peripheral neuralgia originating from the terminal branch in epicranial tissue but its etiopathogenesis is still unknown. Since autoimmune disorders often involve the trigeminosensory nerve to provoke craniofacial pain, we hypothesize that autoimmunity aberration may play a role with regard to ...

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to investigate plasma concentrations of Gas6 and its soluble tyrosine kinase receptor sAxl in Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Behçets disease (BD) patients and to correlate those levels with clinical and laboratory manifestations of the diseases. METHODS: The study included 89 female ...

Abstract Conclusions: The olfactory and intranasal trigeminal systems are closely connected. With regard to intranasal trigeminal event-related potential (ERP), patients with olfactory dysfunction (OD) showed longer latency and lower amplitude, which indicated decreased trigeminal sensitivity. Different age, etiology, and olfactory status also affect trigeminal sensitivity differently. Objective: OD is a ...

ABSTRACT: Glutamine synthetase (GS) is ubiquitously expressed in mammalian organisms and is a key enzyme in nitrogen metabolism. It is the only known enzyme capable of synthesising glutamine, an amino acid with many critical roles in the human organism. A defect in GLUL, encoding for GS, leads to congenital systemic ...

OBJECTIVES:Acute cerebral infarction may coexist with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) because lacunae and hypertensive ICH share common risk factors and small-vessel pathology. We sought to determine the frequency and predictors of new ischemic lesions (NIL) on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), in patients with acute hypertensive ICH, and to investigate whether NIL ...

AF Ablation in HD Patients. Introduction: It is not common for patients on chronic hemodialysis (HD) to undergo catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to show the outcomes of AF ablation in the HD patients. Methods and Results: Thirty HD patients who underwent pulmonary vein (PV) isolation for drug ...

Background: Norovirus enteritis (NVE) can be fatal in frail patients. High blood lactate levels indicate hypoperfusion and predict mortality in many infectious diseases. The objective was to determine the frequency and association with mortality of elevated lactate levels in patients with community-onset NVE. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. ...

The disease activity and functional impact of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is currently measured through various questionnaire instruments, the most popular of which are the Bath indices. However, Hindi versions for use in Indian patients are not available. This study aimed to fill this lacuna. Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although there is emerging evidence that excess visceral fat is associated with a cluster of cardiometabolic abnormalities in these patients, the impact of visceral obesity evaluated by a gold-standard method on future ...

OBJECTIVES: Patients with chronic pancreatitis may be at an increased risk of low bone density because of malabsorption of vitamin D and calcium, poor diet, pain, alcoholism, and smoking. We investigated the rates of osteoporosis in patients with chronic pancreatitis compared to matched controls. METHODS: The study was cross sectional ...

To examine whether frontal lobe abnormalities on magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) correlate with poor letter fluency (LF). Twenty-five patients with ALS (20 with definite, probable, or possible ALS and 5 with progressive muscular atrophy) performed an LF task, involving F word generation in 1 minute, ...

This study evaluated the significance of aortic calcification index (ACI), an estimate of abdominal aortic calcification by plain abdominal computed tomography (CT), in terms of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction, mortality, and nonfatal cardiovascular (CV) events in chronic hemodialysis patients. Hemodialysis patients who took both an abdominal CT and echocardiography ...

Mixed autonomic hyperactivity disorder (MAHD) among patients with acquired brain injury can be rare. A delayed diagnosis of MAHD might exacerbate the clinical outcome and increase healthcare expenses with unnecessary testing. However, MAHD is still an underrecognized and evolving disease entity. A 25-yr-old woman was admitted the clinic due to ...

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the impact of injury severity, patient origin, and payer on charges and payments associated with treatment of femoral fractures at a Level I trauma center. We hypothesized that transfer patients and patients with minor injury would be underinsured, whereas reimbursement rate would be higher for patients ...

The authors seek to clarify the nomenclature used to describe cervical spinal cord injuries, particularly the use of the terms "tetraplegia", "quadriplegia", "quadriparesis", "tetraparesis", "incomplete quadriplegia" or "incomplete tetraplegia" when applied to patients with lower cervical cord injuries. A review of the origin of the terms and nomenclature used currently ...

BACKGROUND: Although dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common form of neurodegenerative dementia after Alzheimer's disease (AD), the clinical diagnosis is frequently difficult. Because both REM sleep behavior disorders and Parkinson's disease also have alpha-synucleinopathy similar to DLB, and show an increase in periodic limb movements (PLM), ...

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the deterioration of language functions. The Han language bears some unique features from the Latin languages; however, the features of PPA in the Han language-speaking population are not well understood. In this study, we performed a 3-year follow-up on ...

BACKGROUND: Long-term parenteral nutrition (PN) can be associated with micronutrient deficiency or toxicity depending on supplementation. Recently, hypermanganesemia and potential neurological toxicity were reported. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of manganese supplementation in a sample of patients on long-term PN receiving manganese (Mn) as part ...

BACKGROUND: In normal observers gazing at one's own face in the mirror for some minutes, at a low illumination level, triggers the perception of strange faces, a new perceptual illusion that has been named 'strange-face in the mirror'. Subjects see distortions of their own faces, but often they see monsters, ...

Atrial fibrillation is an important cause of preventable, disabling stroke and is particularly frequent in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Stage 3 CKD is an independent risk factor for stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. Warfarin anticoagulation is efficacious for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation patients with stage 3 ...

BackgroundCirculating cell-free DNA (CFD) appears following cell damage and DNA release, and increases in hemodialysis (HD) patients particularly following HD. We hypothesized that CFD is an integrative marker of tissue damage and can be an independent predictor for all-cause mortality in HD patients.MethodsIn a prospective study, CFD levels before and ...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Current therapies for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) comprise synthetic drugs and tumour necrosis factor inhibitors. In contrast, other biologicals including rituximab (RTX) are available for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RTX is effective in autoantibody positive RA patients, although some efficacy has been reported in seronegative individuals. RTX has not yet ...

Neurobiological models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) assume abnormalities in corticostriatal networks involving cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices, but the connectivity within these systems is rarely addressed in experimental imaging studies in this patient group. Using an established monetary reinforcement paradigm known to involve cingulate cortex and ventral striatum, the present study ...

BACKGROUND: Few large population-based studies have compared the occurrence of peptic ulcer bleeding (PUB) in cirrhotic and noncirrhotic patients. AIMS: To investigate if cirrhotic patients have higher risk of PUB than the general population and to identify possible risk factors of PUB in cirrhotic patients. METHODS: Using the National Health ...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship between lower limb symptoms and generic health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with varicose veins (VV). METHODS: 284 patients on the waiting list for VV treatment completed the Short Form-12 (SF12) and a questionnaire asking about the presence of lower limb symptoms commonly attributed ...

Percutaneous femoral venoarterial (VA) or jugular venovenous (VV) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can result in delivery of hypoxic blood to the brain, coronaries, and upper extremities. Additionally, VA-ECMO by percutaneous femoral artery cannulation may compromise perfusion to the lower limbs. Use of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) detects regional ischemia and warns ...

Biomarkers should have high sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility, be cost-effective, and provide incremental predictive or diagnostic utility over standard risk factors or tests. Despite numerous studies investigating biomarkers in heart failure (HF), there are only a few that predict HF in hypertensive patients. This article summarizes data from numerous studies concerning ...

Non-motor symptoms (NMS) of Parkinson's disease (PD) have only recently been increasingly recognized for their impact on a patient's quality of life. In this study, we applied the validated, comprehensive self-completed NMS questionnaire for PD (NMS Quest) to 101 patients with young-onset PD (onset between 21 and 45 years, YOPD) and ...

Supratentorial superficial siderosis (SS) is a frequent imaging marker of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). It is most probably caused by focal subarachnoid hemorrhages (fSAHs). Based on single-case observations, it has been proposed that such fSAHs might be a predisposing factor for future intracranial hemorrhage. Here we tested the hypothesis if ...

BACKGROUND: Scleritis belongs to the group of chronic inflammatory eye diseases that may cause ocular hypertension (OHT) and secondary glaucoma (SG). Aim of this study was to identify the incidence and risk factors for OHT and SG with regard to the scleritis form. METHODS: Single-center retrospective analysis of all consecutive ...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the frequencies and clinical characteristics of fallers and non-fallers at different stages of Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: The sample consisted of 232 patients in an unselected cross-sectional cohort of patients with PD, 207 newly diagnosed and drug naive patients and 175 controls. The examinations included the Unified ...

OBJECTIVES: Current studies have provided valuable evidence that Parkinson's disease (PD) is closely associated with olfactory loss and that the use of olfactory testing is regarded as one of the potential screening tools for early diagnosis of PD. METHODS: Twenty-six patients with PD, age- and sex-matched 14 patients with other ...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem chronic inflammatory disease with a broad spectrum of clinical and serological manifestations. Although articular involvement is known in SLE, articular cartilage has not been studied before. Therefore, in this study, we have evaluated the femoral cartilage by using ultrasonography. Twenty-nine SLE patients (5 ...

Brown-Vialetto-van Laere (BVVL) and Fazio-Londe (FL) are rare and clinically overlapping motor neurons syndromes. Recently BVVL has been associated with mutations in C20orf54/hRFT2 and defective riboflavin transport. We compared clinical and laboratory features of 6 patients (age range 11-17years), with features of BVVL and FL overlap syndromes. Patients were assessed ...