Abstract This study aims to detect S100A12 in serum and synovial fluid (SF) of knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients and to investigate their correlation with clinical severity of the disease. This study enrolled 198 OA patients and 84 healthy controls. The radiological/symptomatic severity of the disease was assessed by the Kellgren-Lawrence ...

Factor X (FX) is the component of both extrinsic and intrinsic coagulation cascade and is the first enzyme of the common pathway which results in thrombus. Congenital FX deficiency (FXD) is an extremely rare coagulation defect. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical and laboratory data of the ...

Background We report our experience of using perventricular device closure (PVDC) in treating perimembranous ventricular septal defect (pm-VSD) with emphasis on technical and morphological considerations.Method Thirty-one pediatric patients with pm-VSD who underwent successful PVDC were enrolled in this study. The pm-VSDs were divided into three different types (type I: tunnel ...

Variation in protein binding ratio (PBR) of teicoplanin (TEIC) was investigated in continuous hemodiafiltration (CHDF) patients. TEIC is classified as a high PBR drug (≧90%), and it was reported that the PBR of TEIC decreased with an decrease in the serum albumin level in hypoalbuminemia patients. However, few reports can ...

OBJECTIVEs: Interferon-α (IFN-α) is a gold standard in the therapy of viral chronic hepatitis type C (CHC). However, such treatment might lead to thyroid dysfunction. Patients usually present hypothyroidism, but rarely also hyperthyroidism may develop. The aim of the study is to present two-year clinical follow-up of patients with CHC ...

PURPOSE: To determine the utility of urodynamics (UDS) in patients with obstruction secondary to anti-incontinence surgery (AIS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all procedures to relieve obstruction due to AIS from 01/01-06/11. Patients were excluded if they had prior procedures to relieve obstruction, if follow-up data was missing, or ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship among obesity, incidence of idiopathic median nerve lesion at the wrist (MNLW), idiopathic severe MNLW and diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMT2)-associated severe MNLW. METHODS: Clinical and electrodiagnostic data were prospectively collected from 676 patients (≥20years, 76% females) with carpal tunnel syndrome who were referred to ...

PURPOSE: The aims of this study are to determine the general relationship of perfused vessel density (PVD) to mortality and organ dysfunctions and to explore if patients in the lowest quartile of distribution for this parameter present a higher risk of bad outcome and to identify systemic hemodynamic and perfusion ...

Anemia is a known comorbidity found in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Hypoxemia is common and basically due to ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) mismatch in COPD. Anemia, by decreasing arterial oxygen content, may be a contributing factor for decreased delivery of oxygen to tissues. The objective of this study is to ...

OBJECTIVE: Neurogenic shock considered a distributive type of shock secondary to loss of sympathetic outflow to the peripheral vasculature. In this study, we examine the hemodynamic profiles of a series of trauma patients with a diagnosis of neurogenic shock. METHODS: Hemodynamic data were collected on a series of trauma patients ...

A disabling impairment of higher-order language function can be seen in patients with Lewy body spectrum disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). We focus on script comprehension in patients with Lewy body spectrum disorders. While scripts unfold sequentially, constituent events ...

BACKGROUND: The importance of vascular risk factors (VRF) and hypercoagulable state in patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO) has not been conclusively established. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the relevance of VRF, prevalence of thrombophilia, and ultrasonography findings in the supra-aortic trunks in patients with RVO. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective study ...

OBJECTIVE: Overactivity of dopaminergic neurotransmission is a putative mechanism of tardive dyskinesia (TD). Dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH) is a key enzyme in the conversion of dopamine to norepinephrine, and plasma DBH activity is altered in TD patients. This study examined whether the functional DBH 5'-Ins/Del polymorphism was associated with TD severity ...

Thromboembolic events may be seen in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We investigated the mean platelet volume (MPV), an indicator of platelet activation in patients with HCM. This study included 112 patients with HCM, in which 40 were patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), and 106 were control participants. The ...

BACKGROUND: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have established guidelines that outline patients who are considered "high risk" for complications after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for which carotid artery stenting (CAS) may provide benefit. The validity of these high-risk criteria are yet unproven. In this study, we stratified patients ...

Background: This study reports on a patient with traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a thalamic lesion in the ventroposterolateral nucleus which was demonstrated by diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) for the spinothalamic tract and its thalamocortical pathway (STP). Methods: One patient with TBI and eight normal control subjects were recruited. A ...

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) often leads to hydrocephalus, which is commonly treated by placement of a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt. There is controversy over which factors affect the need for such treatment. In this study, data were prospectively collected from 389 consecutive patients who presented with an aneurysm-associated SAH at a single ...

This study aimed to evaluate serum prolidase activity and the effects of gender, body mass index (BMI), disease severity and duration, and therapy type on prolidase activity in patients with psoriatic as well as the relationship between serum NO· and prolidase levels in these patients. The study included 29 clinically ...

we read with great interest the paper by Ocak et al. (1). The authors found that the age- and sex-standardized mortality rate (SMR) for pulmonary embolism (PE) was 12.2 (95% CI 10.2-14.6) times higher in dialysis patients than in the general population. Such SMR was even higher than that of ...

ObjectiveTo evaluate the safety and efficacy of rituximab in patients suffering from rhupus unresponsive to therapy with non-biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).MethodsSix patients fulfilling criteria for both rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and with a DAS28 score >5.1 were enrolled to receive two fortnightly 1000 mg rituximab doses ...

Cardiovascular complications are the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in acromegaly. However, there is little data regarding cardiac autonomic functions in these patients. Herein, we aimed to investigate several parameters of cardiac autonomic functions in patients with acromegaly compared to healthy subjects. We enrolled 20 newly diagnosed acromegalic ...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Cardiac dysfunction has been described in patients with cirrhosis. Conventional echocardiographic methods are frequently unable to detect abnormalities at rest and have limitations. We aimed to evaluate cardiac function in cirrhosis patients assessing: (i) left ventricular systolic function using speckle-tracking imaging; (ii) diastolic function using a tissue-Doppler ...

Objectives/HypothesisTo characterize the anatomic distribution of lymphatic malformations of the upper airway.Study DesignCase series with chart review.SettingTertiary care referral center specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular anomalies.MethodsA 7-year (2004-2011) retrospective chart review of patients with lymphatic malformations was performed at a tertiary care referral center. Patients with airway ...

PURPOSE: Medial temporal impairment can be detected clinically and by morphological imaging during Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the existence of a functional impairment in this area seems to be less well established. Yet such functional impairment is classically found in other degenerative cortical dementias, such as the frontal variant of ...

PURPOSE: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides source localization of interictal spikes. This study evaluated the inhibitory effects of propofol on MEG spike sources (MEGSSs) among different types of seizures in patients who underwent two separate MEG studies with and without total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) using propofol. METHODS: We studied 19 children (1-14 ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) failure remains an important cause of morbidity in hemodialysis patients. The exact underlying mechanisms responsible for AVF failure are unknown but processes like proliferation, inflammation, vascular remodeling, and thrombosis are thought to be involved. The current objective was to investigate the association between AVF ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Limited data are available regarding the use of golimumab (100 mg) every 4 weeks, with or without methotrexate (MTX). The aim of this retrospective analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of golimumab following usual clinical practice in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) according to the recommendations ...

The aim of the present study is to examine the applicability of the isokinetic DEC parameter for identifying submaximal effort in workers with potential weakness of the shoulder external rotators. A previous study indicated that the DEC was a powerful identifier of submaximal effort of shoulder external rotation in normal ...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is strictly connected with aging and frailty. Although dementia contributes to frailty, it is not well established whether AD patients could be per se defined "frail". At the same time, it is not known whether among AD patients, which are a heterogeneous group of patients, it is ...

Parasitic infections may induce variable immunomodulatory effects and control of autoimmune disease. Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a ubiquitous intracellular protozoan that was recently associated with autoimmunity. This study was undertaken to investigate the seroprevalence and clinical correlation of anti-T. gondii antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic ...

Although acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, aspirin) reduces the risk of ischemic events in patients with atherosclerosis, a substantial number of incidents continue to occur. As only limited data exist we evaluated the antiplatelet effectiveness of ASA in patients with different manifestations of atherosclerosis as in cerebrovascular, coronary artery and peripheral arterial ...

PURPOSE: Atherosclerosis is responsible for the high mortality rate in end-stage renal disease patients. Defining risk factors for atherosclerosis may lead to reduction in cardiovascular disease through modification of these factors. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients are subjected to high glucose loads on a daily basis, which results in considerable weight ...

Background:Observational studies show that glucocorticoid therapy and the endogenous hypercortisolism of Cushing's syndrome (CS) are associated with increased rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, the causes of these findings remain largely unknown.Objective:To determine whether CS patients have increased coronary atherosclerosis.Design:A prospective case-control study was performed.Setting:Subjects were evaulated in a ...

Objective: To evaluate the differences in clinical features and expression of cytokine thymic stromal lymphopoetin (TSLP) and its receptors in patients with eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (ECRS and NECRS). Method: 36 ECRS patients and 50 NECRS patients were evaluated for symptoms, nasal sinus computed tomography scanning, nasal endoscopy, skin ...

BACKGROUND: High-frequency airway clearance (HFCWC) assist devices generate either positive or negative trans-respiratory pressure excursions to produce high-frequency, small-volume oscillations in the airways.HFCWC can lead to changes in volume of 15--57 ml and in flow up to 1.6 L/s, which generate minimal coughing to mobilize secretions. The typical treatment lasts ...

The aim of this study was to determine whether skin ulcer can be used as a predictive and prognostic factor of acute/subacute interstitial lung disease (ILD) in Japanese patients with dermatomyositis (DM). We reviewed the medical records of 39 consecutive DM patients who were admitted to Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the association of body size and muscle mass with survival among patients undergoing long-term hemodialysis (HD) is consistent across race, especially in East Asian vs white and African American patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using data from 20,818 patients from South Korea who underwent HD from February ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the topography of dilated perivascular spaces (DPVS) corresponds with markers of particular small-vessel diseases such as cerebral amyloid angiopathy and hypertensive vasculopathy. METHODS: Patients were recruited from an ongoing single-center prospective longitudinal cohort study of patients evaluated in a memory clinic. All patients underwent structural, high-resolution ...

OBJECTIVES: Oligoclonal bands (OCB) of immunoglobulins (IgG) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) provides an evidence for the humoral response and have been screened in the CSF and serum of patients revealing 5 different patterns. In this study, patients with Behçet's disease (BD) are screened in a larger sample to potentially ...

To assess the role of interleukin (IL)-33 and ST2, the receptor for IL-33, in the pathogenesis of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (s-JIA), we sequentially measured the serum levels of IL-33 and soluble ST2 (sST2) in patients with s-JIA and determined their correlation with measures of disease activity and severity. Twenty-four ...

BACKGROUND: Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and warfarin are used to prevent ischemic cerebrovascular events. They have serious complications including intracranial hemorrhages (ICHs). Warfarin-related intracerebral hemorrhage (ich) incidence is .2%-5% in population that accounts for 10%-12% of all ichs. In this article, we investigated the profile of ASA and warfarin-related spontaneous ICHs ...

The hippocampus has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and hippocampal volume deficits have been a consistently reported abnormality, but the subregional specificity of the deficits remains unknown. The authors explored the nature and developmental trajectory of subregional shape abnormalities of the hippocampus in patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS), ...

BACKGROUND: In the late post-operative period, the necessity of performing an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (GIE) to check for complications is controversial. Some authors suggest it should be routine for all patients, others selectively, but not all patients with endoscopic abnormalities are symptomatic and some abnormalities are potentially severe. The study ...

OBJECTIVE: The ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) involves the ligament that lines the posterior surface of the spinal vertebral bodies. Hormonal and metabolic factors as well as hereditary factors have been proposed to be involved in pathologic ligamentous OPLL. However, there are currently no definitive serological biomarkers for ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of baseline high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) on initial stroke severity and clinical outcomes in acute ischemic stroke. METHODS: From August 2006 through December 2011, patients with acute atherosclerotic ischemic stroke were included. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) ...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze the pathological features of prostatectomy specimens from patients with low-risk prostate cancer eligible for active surveillance (AS) and evaluate preoperative data suitable for predicting upstaged (≥pT3) or upgraded disease (Gleason score of ≥7), defined as 'reclassification'. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of ...

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to examine α-synuclein in the CSF of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its relationship with clinical characteristics and long-term outcomes. METHODS: This prospective case-control study enrolled patients with severe TBI (Glasgow Coma Score ≤8) who underwent ventriculostomy. CSF samples were taken from each ...

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the Model of End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score and its modified versions, established measures of liver dysfunction, as a tool to evaluate HTx urgency in ambulatory HF patients. BACKGROUND: Liver abnormalities have prognostic impact on the outcome of patients with advanced heart failure. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated ...

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) involvement has been studied in systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, Sjogren's syndrome, and ankylosing spondylitis but still has not been studied in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and the nature of autonomic neuropathy in patients with ...

AIM: The aim of this study was to observe the insides of the fallopian tubes of patients with unilateral or bilateral endometriomas by using salpingoscopy and evaluate the inner cavity of the fallopian tubes according to our original scoring system. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From April 2008 through December 2010, patients ...