Search results for " Risk Factors"
showing 10 items of 570 documents
New Therapeutic Implications of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS) Function/Dysfunction in Cardiovascular Disease
2019
The Global Burden of Disease Study identified cardiovascular risk factors as leading causes of global deaths and life years lost. Endothelial dysfunction represents a pathomechanism that is associated with most of these risk factors and stressors, and represents an early (subclinical) marker/predictor of atherosclerosis. Oxidative stress is a trigger of endothelial dysfunction and it is a hall-mark of cardiovascular diseases and of the risk factors/stressors that are responsible for their initiation. Endothelial function is largely based on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) function and activity. Likewise, oxidative stress can lead to the loss of eNOS activity or even “uncoupli…
Mediterranean diet and sars-cov-2 infection: Is there any association? a proof-of-concept study
2021
The aim of this observational study was investigating the possible correlation between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MeD) and SARS-COV-2 infection rates and severity among healthcare professionals (HCPs). An online self-administrated questionnaire (evaluating both MeD adherence and dietary habits) was filled out by HCPs working in Piedmont (Northern Italy) from 15 January to 28 February 2021. Out of the 1206 questionnaires collected, 900 were considered reliable and analyzed. Individuals who reported the SARS-COV-2 infection (n = 148) showed a significantly lower MeD score, with a lower adherence in fruit, vegetables, cereals, and olive oil consumption. In a logistic regression model…
New approach to generating insights for aging research based on literature mining and knowledge integration.
2017
The proportion of the elderly population in most countries worldwide is increasing dramatically. Therefore, social interest in the fields of health, longevity, and anti-aging has been increasing as well. However, the basic research results obtained from a reductionist approach in biology and a bioinformatic approach in genome science have limited usefulness for generating insights on future health, longevity, and anti-aging-related research on a case by case basis. We propose a new approach that uses our literature mining technique and bioinformatics, which lead to a better perspective on research trends by providing an expanded knowledge base to work from. We demonstrate that our approach …
Spectrum of mutations in Italian patients with familial hypercholesterolemia: New results from the LIPIGEN study
2017
Abstract Background Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by elevated plasma levels of LDL-cholesterol that confers an increased risk of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Early identification and treatment of FH patients can improve prognosis and reduce the burden of cardiovascular mortality. Aim of this study was to perform the mutational analysis of FH patients identified through a collaboration of 20 Lipid Clinics in Italy (LIPIGEN Study). Methods We recruited 1592 individuals with a clinical diagnosis of definite or probable FH according to the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network criteria. We performed a parallel sequencing of the major…
Frequency and prognostic impact of ALK amplifications and mutations in the European Neuroblastoma Study Group (SIOPEN) high-risk neuroblastoma trial …
2021
Purpose: In neuroblastoma (NB), the ALK receptor tyrosine kinase can be constitutively activated through activating point mutations or genomic amplification. We studied ALK genetic alterations in high-risk (HR) patients on the HR-NBL1/SIOPEN trial to determine their frequency, correlation with clinical parameters, and prognostic impact. Materials and methods: Diagnostic tumor samples were available from 1,092 HR-NBL1/SIOPEN patients to determine ALK amplification status (n = 330), ALK mutational profile (n = 191), or both (n = 571). Results: Genomic ALK amplification (ALKa) was detected in 4.5% of cases (41 out of 901), all except one with MYCN amplification (MNA). ALKa was associated with …
Should we continue to use prediction tools to identify patients at risk of Candida spp. infection? If yes, why?
2016
Background Given the predominance of invasive fungal disease (IFD) amongst the non-immunocompromised adult critically ill population, the potential benefit of antifungal prophylaxis and the lack of generalisable tools to identify high risk patients, the aim of the current study was to describe the epidemiology of IFD in UK critical care units, and to develop and validate a clinical risk prediction tool to identify non-neutropenic, critically ill adult patients at high risk of IFD who would benefit from antifungal prophylaxis. Methods Data on risk factors for, and outcomes from, IFD were collected for consecutive admissions to adult, general critical care units in the UK participating in the…
Familial hypercholesterolemia: The Italian Atherosclerosis Society Network (LIPIGEN)
2017
Background and aims: Primary dyslipidemias are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by abnormal levels of circulating lipoproteins. Among them, familial hypercholesterolemia is the most common lipid disorder that predisposes for premature cardiovascular disease. We set up an Italian nationwide network aimed at facilitating the clinical and genetic diagnosis of genetic dyslipidemias named LIPIGEN (LIpid TransPort Disorders Italian GEnetic Network). Methods: Observational, multicenter, retrospective and prospective study involving about 40 Italian clinical centers. Genetic testing of the appropriate candidate genes at one of six molecular diagnostic laboratories serving as nationw…
Fruit and vegetable consumption and health outcomes: an umbrella review of observational studies
2019
The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive evaluation of current evidence on fruit and vegetable consumption and health outcomes. A systematic search for quantitative syntheses was performed. Several criteria, including study design, dose-response relationship, heterogeneity and agreement of results over time, and identification of potential confounding factors, were used to assess the level of evidence. The strongest (probable) evidence was found for cardiovascular disease protection; possible evidence for decreased risk of colon cancer, depression and pancreatic diseases was found for fruit intake; and colon and rectal cancer, hip fracture, stroke, depression and pancreatic dise…
Compliance, practices, and attitudes towards VTIs (Vehicle Technical Inspections) in Spain: What prevents Spanish drivers from checking up their cars?
2021
Objective Mechanical conditions of vehicles may play a determinant role in driving safety, the reason why vehicle periodical technical inspections (VTIs) are mandatory in many countries. However, the high number of drivers sanctioned for not complying with this regulation is surprisingly high, and there is not much evidence on what kind(s) of motives may explain this concerning panorama. This study aimed to identify the aspects that modulate the relationship between complying (or not) with VTI’s standards in a nationwide sample of Spanish drivers. The study design also addressed the drivers’ awareness regarding different risky behaviors while driving, depending on their sex and their crash…
Integration of animal health and public health surveillance sources to exhaustively inform the risk of zoonosis: An application to echinococcosis in …
2020
The analysis of zoonotic disease risk requires the consideration of both human and animal geo-referenced disease incidence data. Here we show an application of joint Bayesian analyses to the study of echinococcosis granulosus (EG) in the province of Rio Negro, Argentina. We focus on merging passive and active surveillance data sources of animal and human EG cases using joint Bayesian spatial and spatio-temporal models. While similar spatial clustering and temporal trending was apparent, there appears to be limited lagged dependence between animal and human outcomes. Beyond the data quality issues relating to missingness at different times, we were able to identify relations between dog and …