BACKGROUND: The relationship between inducible nitric oxide synthatase activity and disease severity in leptospirosis is unclear. Nitric oxide is converted to nitrites and nitrates, thus nitrite and nitrate levels (NOx) in serum are considered surrogate markers for nitric oxide. NOx are excreted through the kidneys, and elimination is diminished in ...

In the last decades it has been appreciated that many patients with heart failure (HF) suffer from HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The diagnosis and treatment of HFpEF is difficult, as we lack specific markers of the disease and no specific treatments have been identified. Galectin-3 has a strong ...

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the most devastating complication of oral anticoagulation (OAC). As the number of patients on long-term OAC is expected to rise, the proportion of intracerebral hemorrhage related to OAC (OAC-ICH) in relation to spontaneous ICH (spont-ICH) is expected to increase as well. We determined the proportion of ...

To determine whether the IL2/IL21 region, a general autoimmunity locus, contributes to the observed variation in response to rituximab in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus as well as to analyze its influence in a cohort including other autoimmune diseases. rs6822844 G/T polymorphism at the IL2-IL21 region was analyzed by TaqMan ...

BACKGROUND: /st>Vasospasm and other secondary neurological insults may follow subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Biomarkers have the potential to stratify patient risk and perhaps serve as an early warning sign of delayed ischaemic injury. METHODS: /st>Serial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected from 38 consecutive patients with aneurysmal SAH admitted to the ...

INTRODUCTION: Deficit schizophrenia (DS) is defined for identifying a relatively homogeneous subgroup of patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia, characterized by the presence of primary and enduring negative symptoms. There have been several studies which investigated status of oxidative stress and total antioxidant level in patients with schizophrenia. However, there is ...

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether copper deficiency plays a role in the recently described cysteamine toxicity in patients with cystinosis, and to examine whether polymorphisms in copper transporters, lysyl oxidase, and/or type I procollagen genes could be responsible for the occurrence of cysteamine toxicity in a small subset of patients with ...

To compare the radiation-induced oxidative stress response in blood samples from breast cancer patients that developed severe acute skin reactions (RTOG 3-4) during the radiotherapy, with the response in blood samples from patients with no side effects (RTOG 0). Peripheral blood was collected from 12 breast cancer patients showing no ...

AIM: The study evaluated function and quality of life (QoL) in all patients having restorative proctocolectomy (RPC) in Denmark for ulcerative colitis (UC) from 1980 to 2010. Inclusion of all patients in one country has never previously been achieved. METHOD: All patients who had had a restorative proctectoly in Denmark ...

INTRODUCTION: A retrospective analysis of utility and outcomes of diagnostic laparoscopy at our center in the last 5 years was done. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In the last 5 years, we subjected 90 patients to diagnostic laparoscopy (DL) when final diagnosis could not be achieved after all necessary imaging methods and serological, cytological, ...

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is an inherited neuromuscular disease caused by expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ) tract in the androgen receptor (AR). SBMA is triggered by the interaction between polyQ-AR and its natural ligands, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT). SBMA is characterized by the loss of lower motor neurons ...

PURPOSE: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the ablation rate after administration of 1.1 or 3.7 GBq of iodine-131 (I) to patients with low-risk differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) primarily treated by lobectomy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Enrolled were 136 consecutive patients affected by histologically proven low-risk DTC previously treated by ...

OBJECTIVE: Patients with irritable bowel syndrome and abdominal bloating exhibit abnormal responses of the abdominal wall to colonic gas loads. We hypothesised that in patients with postprandial bloating, ingestion of a meal triggers comparable abdominal wall dyssynergia. Our aim was to characterise abdominal accommodation to a meal in patients with ...

BACKGROUND: The initial symptoms of childhood leukaemia and lymphoma are often similar to those of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). In our study, we analyzed the frequency and characteristics of musculoskeletal complaints as the initial presenting symptoms of newly diagnosed leukaemia and lymphoma patients in the past 10 years in our ...

Isolated methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) results either from a defect in the mitochondrial enzyme methylmalonylCoA mutase (MCM), or in the intracellular conversion of vitamin B12 (cobalamin) into its active coenzyme adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl). Mutations in the MMAB gene affect the function of the enzyme ATP:cob(I)alamin adenosyltransferase (ATR) and the production of AdoCbl. ...

Few data are available concerning the neurocognitive outcome and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) following neurosurgery in meningioma patients, and even less is known about neurocognitive functioning and HRQOL in untreated patients with stable lesions. The present study aims at quantifying the nature and extent of neurocognitive deficits and HRQOL ...

Bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) is a complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). BO-management comprises intensive immunosuppression, but treatment response is poor. We investigated the effect of cyclosporine A (CsA), tacrolimus (FK506), methylprednisolone (mPRED), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), and everolimus on the proliferation of primary lung myofibroblasts from HSCT-patients with bronchiolitis ...

BACKGROUND: Excess body mass increases the risk of development of asthmatic symptoms and their severity and decreases the treatment effectiveness. One of the hypotheses explaining the link between the two diseases concerns the adipokines, hormones produced by adipose tissue with a proinflammatory character. The aim of this study was to ...

OBJECTIVES: Hemoconcentration markers are predictors of severe acute pancreatitis but have not been specifically evaluated in post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis (PEP). METHODS: Case-control study of patients undergoing ERCP for suspected sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. We identified patients with PEP (PEP positive) and controls (PEP negative) in a 1:2 ratio. blood ...

In this retrospective study, cardiovascular risk factors of patients with acute limb ischemia (ALI) were compared with those of intermittent claudication (IC). Furthermore, the association of ALI with environmental temperature and/or hematocrit level was tested. A total of 436 patients treated for ALI and 832 patients with IC were included ...

PURPOSE: Fifteen percent to 25% of patients with refractory epilepsy require invasive video-electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring (IVEM) to precisely delineate the ictal-onset zone. This delineation based on the recorded intracranial EEG (iEEG) signals occurs visually by the epileptologist and is therefore prone to human mistakes. The purpose of this study is ...

BACKGROUND: Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease of unknown cause that affects the lungs in over 90% of cases. Breath analysis by electronic nose technology provides exhaled molecular profiles that have potential in the diagnosis of several respiratory diseases. OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that exhaled molecular profiling may distinguish well-characterized patients ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify possible correlations between nailfold microangiopathy severity, finger dermal thickness (DT) and fingertip blood perfusion (FBP) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients. METHODS: Fifty-seven SSc patients and 37 healthy subjects were enrolled. All patients were evaluated by nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) to classify and ...

BACKGROUND: Acromegaly is an illness usually defined by excessively high growth hormone (GH) and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels, the latter mainly reflecting GH action on the liver. IGF-1, also known as somatomedin C, mediates several actions of GH. The diagnosis and management of acromegaly is relatively straight ...

Abstract Background: Hereditary transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis is a systemic neuropathic disorder caused by TTR gene mutations. Gastrointestinal complications are common and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) function as pacemaker cells in the gastrointestinal tract and are important for gastrointestinal motility. The aim of this ...

Aim: To evaluate caries prevalence in non-syndromic patients with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) in comparison with a matched non-CLP population. Methods: A literature search was conducted in order to identify articles reporting on the prevalence of caries in CLP versus non-CLP individuals. The related citations function in PubMed and ...

Abstract Objective. The aim of the current study was to investigate the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in human saliva and correlate with oral and systemic conditions. Methods. Saliva samples were collected from 118 patients and inoculated in 2 ml of modified Postgate's E medium culture. After 28 days of ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate cases of chronic Chagas' disease for the long-term effects of treatment with itraconazole on Trypanosoma cruzi infections and the regression or development of ECG abnormalities. METHODS: In March 1992, we treated 46 patients with chronic Chagas' disease with 6 mg/kg/day of itraconazole for 120 days in a ...

Trauma transfusion strategies, which incorporate balanced red-cell concentrate (RCC) to fresh frozen plasma (FFP) ratios, may be associated with improved survival in massively transfused patients. However, the use of this approach in non-massively transfused patients has led to concern regarding an increase in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The aim ...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the duration of remission and low disease activity (LDA) after cessation of tocilizumab (TCZ) treatment in rheumatoid arthritis patients who showed remission or LDA as assessed by DAS28 in response to preceding TCZ monotherapy, and to explore the factors contributing to prolonged efficacy duration. METHODS: Disease activity ...

Serum uric acid (UA) is increased in respiratory disease, especially in the presence of hypoxia and systemic inflammation. We evaluated serum UA as a biomarker for prediction of mortality and future AECOPD.Serum UA was measured in 314 eligible consecutive patients on admission for acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD). Patients were ...

Purpose<b>: The aim of this work was to assess the effect of statin therapy on inflammatory and fibrinolytic/endothelial (dys)function markers in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients under hemodialysis (HD), according to the type of vascular access.</b><b>Methods: This transversal study includes 191 ESRD patients under regular HD, divided into four groups ...

Lupus enteritis is a rare and poorly understood cause of abdominal pain in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In this study, we report a series of 7 new patients with this rare condition who were referred to French tertiary care centers and perform a systematic literature review of SLE ...

To evaluate the possible role of the autonomic (sympathetic) nervous system function among the patients with primary premature ejaculation (PPE) and determine whether there is an etiological basis for this condition. We performed sympathetic skin response located in the penis (PSSR) in 52 patients with PPE and 46 normally potent ...

Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are uremic toxins that accumulate progressively in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The aim of this study was to assess the 1-year increase in skin autofluorescence (ΔAF), a measure of AGEs accumulation and plasma markers, as predictors of mortality in HD patients. One hundred sixty-nine HD patients were ...

IMPORTANCE Optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH) is an increasingly recognized cause of congenital blindness in children; however, there is significant discord regarding its incidence and the rate of associated conditions. OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence of ONH and the rate of associated endocrine, neurologic, and developmental abnormalities among a population-based cohort ...

Interleukin (IL)-10 expression is regulated by its promoter and correlated with the activity of adult-onset lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)). As the pathogenesis of adult-onset SLE may differ from SLE with the age at onset <18 years old (juvenile SLE or JSLE), we evaluated polymorphisms at positions -1082A/G, -819T/C and ...

Background: The role of the D allele of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene I/D polymorphism in the clinical outcomes of patients with acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) remains controversial. Our aim was to assess simultaneously the effect of the ACE I/D polymorphisms as well as the ...

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between atherosclerotic manifestations and brachial and radial arterial wall elasticity (AWE) measured using the phased tracking method in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods: This study included T2DM patients (n= 220, mean age 59 years) without a history ...

OBJECTIVE: Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a new inflammatory marker that is the prototype of the long pentraxin group, while C-reactive protein (CRP) is the short pentraxin group. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical significance of plasma PTX3 and CRP levels in heart failure (HF). MATERIALS ...

The corticoreticular pathway (CRP) innervates mainly the proximal muscles of extremities. Identification of the CRP by diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) in the human brain has recently become possible. However, little is known about the relation between proximal weakness and injury of the CRP in stroke patients. In this study, we ...

Context:Traditionally, acromegaly is viewed as a disease resulting from GH hypersecretion from an autonomous pituitary somatotropinoma.Objective:To test the hypothesis that GH secretion in acromegaly is still subjected to normal hypothalamic control, we studied the daily rhythmicity of GH secretion in normal controls and patients with newly diagnosed, untreated acromegaly.Design and ...

AIMS: Red cell distribution width (RDW), a measure of variability in red blood cell size, is a novel prognostic marker in chronic heart failure (CHF). Iron deficiency contributes to elevated RDW. In the FAIR-HF trial, i.v. ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) improved the 6 min walk test (6MWT) distance in iron-deficient CHF ...

The aim of this study was to explore the risk factors of tunneled-cuffed catheter (TCC)-related central venous thrombosis (CVT) for the maintenance of hemodialysis patients. In this study, 285 patients on maintenance hemodialysis were enrolled who had received their first TCC in the right jugular vein. Patients were divided into ...

Precise delineation of pathological and eloquent cortices is essential in pre-neurosurgical diagnostics of epilepsy. A limitation of existing experimental procedures, however, is that they critically require active cooperation of the patient, which is not always achievable, particularly in infants and in patients with insufficient cognitive abilities. In the present study, ...

Magnesium containing compounds present promising oral phosphate binders for the treatment of hyperphosphataemia in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the impact of magnesium in CKD patients still remains unclear in clinical routine practice. Therefore, this publication provides a practicable overview of knowledge about the physiological role of magnesium ...

Loss of estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-α) in the liver is associated with hepatic steatosis and inflammation. We conducted a study in order to investigate the presence and extent of ER-α expression in NASH, and its relationship with histological findings. Fifty-four patients with histologically confirmed NASH, 12 patients with simple steatosis (SS), ...

Adult-onset asthma differs from childhood-onset asthma in many respects. It is more heterogeneous, often severe and frequently associated with loss of lung function. To identify underlying mechanisms of adult-onset asthma and to capture predictors of disease progression, detailed characterization and phenotyping is necessary. To characterize adult-onset asthma and identify subphenotypes ...

OBJECTIVE: To date only 38 cases of childhood-onset eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (cEGPA; formerly Churg-Strauss syndrome) have been reported. Additional patients with cEGPA could enhance the understanding of this rare and life-threatening condition. Our objectives were (1) to determine the frequency of specific organ system involvement; (2) to examine initial ...

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated factors associated with cardiac troponin T (cTnT) release from failing myocardium. BACKGROUND: Persistent and modest elevation of serum cTnT is frequently observed in heart failure (HF) patients free of coronary artery disease, although the mechanisms underlying this finding remain unclear. METHODS: We evaluated serum cTnT levels ...