: To estimate whether levator ani deficiency severity is a predictor of clinically significant pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and to determine whether there is a levator ani deficiency threshold above which POP occurs. : Two-hundred twenty three-dimensional ultrasound scans performed on urogynecologic clinic patients were reviewed, and each levator ani ...

BACKGROUND: Large, population-based administrative healthcare databases can be used to identify patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) when serum creatinine laboratory results are unavailable. We examined the validity of algorithms that used combined hospital encounter and physician claims database codes for the detection of CKD in Ontario, Canada. METHODS: We ...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Cardioembolism is one of the most common causes of ischemic stroke, with an estimated prevalence of 20-30%, and correct diagnosis is essential given the therapeutic implications. Although stroke risk scores (CHADS2 and more recently CHA2DS2-VASc) have been validated in heterogeneous populations of patients with atrial fibrillation, their ...

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies have provided cumulative evidence of gray matter (GM) atrophy in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) relative to healthy controls (HC). However, not all findings have been entirely concordant. Herein, we performed a quantitative meta-analysis study in order to consistently quantify GM anomalies in PSP. We ...

PURPOSE: To define a new index of gait pathology in adults based on electromyographic data: the Ker-EGI for Kerpape-Rennes EMG-based Gait Index. The principle is similar to the one of Gait Deviation Index but using EMG profiles instead of joint angles. It first needs to build a database of healthy ...

BACKGROUND: We aimed to derive a simple noninvasive test for liver-fibrosis staging and then estimate its performance against four simple noninvasive tests in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients. METHODS: CHC patients were divided into two cohorts: an estimation set (n = 324) and a validation set (n = 524). Liver fibrosis was staged according ...

PURPOSE: Global sagittal alignment is considered as an important aspect in the management of spinal disorders, but the evidence establishing its clinical impact in lumbosacral spondylolisthesis is still poor. This study evaluated the impact of global sagittal alignment on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with spondylolisthesis. METHODS: ...

Deglutition is a highly integrated process of neural signaling and coordinated muscular contraction that begins with bolus preparation in the oral cavity and ends with closure of the lower esophageal sphincter after bolus passage. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between measures of oropharyngeal and esophageal ...

Key Words: Segmental colitis; Colon diverticulosis; Qualitative meta-analysis; Tumor necrosis factor. Abbreviations: Segmental Colitis Associated with Diverticulosis (SCAD); Ulcerative Colitis (UC); Crohn's Disease (CD); Qualitative Meta-Analysis (QMA); Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α). Background/Aims: Segmental colitis associated with colonic diverticulosis is a new and emerging entity. We systematically evaluated 486 cases of ...

BACKGROUND: Interpretation of a patient's 12-lead ECG frequently involves comparison to a previously recorded ECG. Automated serial ECG comparison can be helpful not only to note significant ECG changes but also to improve the single-ECG interpretation. Corrections from the previous ECG are carried forward by the serial comparison algorithm when ...

BACKGROUND Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of selected β-blockers for preventing cardiovascular (CV) events in patients following myocardial infarction (MI) or with heart failure (HF). However, the effectiveness of β-blockers for preventing CV events in patients with hypertension has been questioned recently, but it is unclear whether this ...

BACKGROUND: Aortic coarctation (CoA) is reported to predispose to coronary artery disease (CAD). However, our clinical observations do not support this premise. Our objectives were to describe the prevalence of CAD among adults with CoA and to determine if CoA is an independent predictor of CAD or premature CAD. METHODS ...

Serum levels of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) may be considered a useful marker of neuronal functioning. We aimed to measure serum NAA in cohorts of migraine and tension-type headache patients versus controls, performing correlations with main clinical features. A total of 147 migraine patients (including migraine without aura, with aura and chronic ...

AIMS: Aortic coarctation (CoA) occurs as a "simple" isolated disorder, and in a more "complex" form, combined with associated congenital cardiac abnormalities. Long term outcome of all CoA patients may be complicated by dilatation of the thoracic aorta. The aim of this study was to quantify progressive aortic dilatation, and ...

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a significant cause of death and morbidity. Detection of liver fibrosis at an early stage could provide opportunities for more optimal management. Serum markers of liver fibrosis offer an alternative to biopsy. Evidence of the performance of biomarkers in ALD is needed and a systematic ...

The two most relevant pathologies of long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) are simple sclerosis and encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS). The histological differentiation of those two entities is difficult. The Aim of the study was to establish a method to standardize and facilitate the differentiation between simple sclerosis and EPS METHODS: We ...

Treatments for coarctation of the aorta (CoA) can alleviate blood pressure (BP) gradients (Δ), but long-term morbidity still exists that can be explained by altered indices of hemodynamics and biomechanics. We introduce a technique to increase our understanding of these indices for CoA under resting and nonresting conditions, quantify their ...

Aims: To evaluate if obesity has an additional negative impact on left ventricular (LV) geometry and function in normotensive pediatric patients >12 months after successful treatment of aortic coarctation (CoA). Methods and Results: We studied 40 CoA patients (mean age 14 ± 3 years, and male sex 70%), of them ...

Excessive keratinocyte proliferation is thought to be responsible for the formation and development of psoriasis vulgaris. Evidence indicates that epigenetic modifications are associated with aberrant gene expression, however, nothing is known about the status of histone modifications in psoriasis vulgaris. We investigated alterations in histone modifications in patients with psoriasis ...

This was a screening study that aimed to determine the presence of nephrotoxic mycotoxins in urine samples from patients with chronic kidney disease of uncertain etiology in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. The percentage detection of aflatoxins, ochratoxins and fumonisins in 31 patients were 61.29%, 93.5% and 19.4%, ...

Objective: This systematic review evaluates the clinical utility of a novel biomarker kidney injury molecule 1 (Kim-1) in the prediction, diagnosis and prognosis of acute kidney injury (AKI). Methods: We searched literature in electronic databases from January 2002 to December 2009 by the key words "kidney injury molecule 1" or ...

BACKGROUND: Adequate pump flow is a prerequisite for recovery of end-organ failure and outcome in patients treated with a biventricular assist device (BiVAD). We hypothesized that hemodynamics and organ recovery would improve after biventricular, apical cannulation compared with right atrial cannulation. METHODS: Between 2003 and 2009, we treated 31 patients ...

Abstract Incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with pyogenic liver abscess is rare. In our study we found AKI in 32.6% of patients with liver abscess. Majority of the patients were in their fifties and sixties. As per acute kidney injury network trial criteria, renal failure was in ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate neurological manifestations of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) and investigate the etiology and pathogenesis of peripheral and central nervous complications in pSS. Thirty-two patients with pSS were enrolled in the present study, 20 of whom had neurological involvement plus sicca symptoms. The clinical ...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death. We evaluated the association between CKD and severity of coronary artery stenosis by calculating SYNTAX Score in patients with left main coronary artery and/or 3-vessel coronary artery disease. Coronary angiograms of 217 patients were assessed. Chronic ...

An acute increase in the international normalized ratio (INR; a comparison of prothrombin time to monitor the effects of warfarin) over 3 in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is often associated with an unexplained acute increase in serum creatinine (SC) and an accelerated progression of CKD. Kidney biopsy in ...

Few studies have been done on the relation between acetylator status and allergic diseases. To determine any possible association between acetylating phenotype in pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and the disease prognosis. Thirty-six pediatric patients and forty two healthy children as a control group were participated in the study. ...

BACKGROUND: Kidney impairment is noted in primary aldosteronism (PA), and probably initiated by glomerular hyperfiltration. METHODS: A prospectively defined survey was conducted of 602 patients who were suspected of PA in the multiple-center Taiwan Primary Aldosteronism Investigation (TAIPAI) database. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated and followed up at ...

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are high in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients compared to the general population. Systemic inflammation may contribute to endothelial dysfunction and accelerated atherosclerosis in CKD patients. We assessed the relationship among, endothelial dysfunction, early atherosclerosis and inflammation in predialysis, dialysis and post kidney-transplantation CKD patients. ...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in patients with multiple myeloma (MM), most commonly caused by cast nephropathy resulting from precipitation of free light chains (FLC) in renal tubules. AKI may be irreversible and require dialysis and predicts a poor prognosis. Reduction in serum FLC concentration is thought to be ...

The purpose of the current study was to identify clinical and kidney morphologic features that predict a favorable blood pressure (BP) response to renal artery stenting (RAS). The study cohort consisted of 149 patients who underwent primary RAS over 9 years. Patients were categorized as "responders" based on modified American ...

Aim:  Hyperuricemia is associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression and cardiovascular events (CVE). In a US study, only 4% of rheumatologists initiated urate-lowering therapy in patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia (AHU). The present study aimed to clarify how Japanese board-certified nephrologists manage AHU in CKD patients. Methods:  Questionnaires on management ...

Background: The evaluation of health-related quality of life (QOL) in chronic kidney disease intends to quantify its consequences, according to the patient’s subjective perception. Aim: To evaluate the health-related QOL in four groups of patients followed at our Nephrology Department: chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 1-4, kidney transplant (KT), haemodialysis ...

BACKGROUND: Anemia is a factor that affects the outcome of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD); however, there are only a few reports on the management of anemia in Japanese patients with CKD who are not on dialysis. METHODS: We investigated the prevalence, related factors and management of anemia in ...

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: The RIFLE (risk, injury, failure, loss of kidney function, and end-stage renal failure) classification for acute kidney injury (AKI) was recently modified by the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN). The two definition systems differ in several aspects, and it is not clearly determined which has the better clinical ...

Objective. Recent studies have identified chronic kidney disease (CKD) as an important risk factor for vasculopathies. While the link between CKD and cardiovascular events is well established, the link with cerebrovascular lesions (CVL) has been less well described. METHODS: We studied the prevalence and prognostic importance of CKD in 1014 ...

We examined the associations of circulating levels of pentraxin 3 (PTX3), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and some other inflammatory mediators with cardiorenal syndrome. In advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients (estimated glomerular filtration rate <30 mL/min/1.73 m(2)), the values of area under the curve of PTX3, tumor necrosis factor α, ...

Idiopathic peripheral facial nerve palsy or Bell's palsy (BP) is the most common cause of facial nerve palsy. To evaluate the role of glucose metabolism abnormalities in BP. We identified 148 patients with unilateral BP and 128 control subjects. In all we evaluated glucose level at fasting and after a ...

Early detection and timely intervention are important for improving contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) prognosis. Whether urinary N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase (NAG) is a useful marker for early detection of CIN was investigated in 590 patients undergoing diagnostic coronary angiography (CA) and/or therapeutic percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndromes or stable angina, and ...

OBJECTIVE: Inflammation and loss of appetite is the most common problem in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This comparative cross-sectional study aimed to characterize the changes in circulating levels of ghrelin, obestatin, leptin, all of which have an effect on food intake, and proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor ...

Background: Cinacalcet reduces intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), Ca and P serum levels in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). Methods: This Spanish, multicenter, observational, retrospective study collected data from SHPT dialysis patients 12 weeks before and up to 72 weeks after starting cinacalcet in clinical practice. Results: Data from 428 patients ...

Leptospirosis is the most important zoonosis in the world. Patients are typically young men. Several factors are involved in acute kidney injury (AKI) in leptospirosis, including direct nephrotoxic action of the leptospira, hyperbilirubinemia, rhabdomyolysis and hypovolemia. The major histological findings are acute interstitial nephritis and acute tubular necrosis. Leptospirosis-induced AKI ...

Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that is characterized by recurrent episodes of intense vomiting. There are several postulated mechanisms involved in its pathogenesis and one potential explanation for this disorder may be linked to autonomic dysfunction. The aim of our study was to evaluate autonomic nerve ...

Continuous ionic dialysance monitoring is a useful clinical tool to determine the dialysis dose in real time in each hemodialysis session. We followed up 49 patients for 16 months. Six patients with a Kt reduction of ≥20% in >3 consecutive hemodialysis sessions were identified. Fistulography demonstrated significant stenosis in all ...

Abstract Conclusions: Ramsay Hunt syndrome (RHS) with multiple involvement of cranial nerves is more severe and intractable than RHS without such involvement. Objectives: Typically, RHS involves VII and VIII nerves and unilaterally, and RHS accompanied by multiple cranial neuropathy is very rare. We describe 11 patients who developed RHS with ...

This study reports the signs and symptoms that are the features of trigeminal nerve injuries caused by local anaesthesia (LA). Thirty-three patients with nerve injury following LA were assessed. All data were analysed using the SPSS statistical programme and Microsoft Excel. Lingual nerve injury (LNI; n = 16) and inferior ...

Efforts to increase the number of functioning arteriovenous fistulas in chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 4 and 5 have been impacted by concerns about the risk for contrast-induced nephropathy during diagnostic and interventional procedures for poorly developed fistulas. We conducted a prospective observational study of low volume iodinated contrast administration ...

This study reports the signs and symptoms that are the features of trigeminal nerve injuries caused by local anaesthesia (LA). Thirty-three patients with nerve injury following LA were assessed. All data were analysed using the SPSS statistical programme and Microsoft Excel. Lingual nerve injury (LNI; n = 16) and inferior ...

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is one of the reasons of acute polyneuropathy causing severe morbidity and mortality. Forty-six patients with GBS were included in our study. Clinical, laboratory, electrophysiological and prognostic features of the patients were evaluated retrospectively. Patients were divided into two groups. Group A consisted of children who attained ...

Hemifacial spasm is commonly caused by arterial compression of the facial nerve. Although vascular compression usually occurs at the facial nerve exit zone, in some cases, the facial nerve is compressed more distally. We analyzed the clinical outcome of microneurovascular decompression in patients with hemifacial spasm caused by either distal ...