Search results for " Medicina Interna"
showing 10 items of 1302 documents
Pro-Inflammatory Genetic Markers of Atherosclerosis
2013
Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic, progressive, multifactorial disease mostly affecting large and medium-sized elastic and muscular arteries. It has formerly been considered a bland lipid storage disease. Currently, multiple independent pathways of evidence suggest this pathological condition is a peculiar form of inflammation, triggered by cholesterol-rich lipoproteins and influenced both by environmental and genetic factors. The Human Genome Project opened up the opportunity to dissect complex human traits and to understand basic pathways of multifactorial diseases such as AS. Population-based association studies have emerged as powerful tools for examining genes with a role in common mul…
Familial combined hypolipidemia due to mutations in the ANGPTL3 gene
2013
The role of ANGPTL3 in lipoprotein metabolism emerged from studies in a mutant mouse strain characterized by severe hypotriglyceridemia and carrying a loss-of-function (LOF) mutation of the ANGPTL3 gene. ANGPTL3 was found to inhibit lipoprotein lipase and endothelial lipase. Genome-wide association studies in humans demonstrated the association of ANGPTL3 variants with plasma triglyceride levels and LOF mutations of ANGPTL3 were found in hypotriglyceridemic subjects in population studies. Recently, individuals originally classified as affected by familial hypobetalipoproteinemia were found to be homozygotes/compound heterozygotes for rare LOF mutations of ANGPTL3. They show a striking reduc…
The ANP Genetic Variant RS5068 is Associated With a Favorable Cardiometabolic Phenotype in a Mediterranean Population
2012
Introduction: Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) possesses cardiorenal protective properties including natriuresis, aldosterone suppression and vasodilation. Importantly, ANP also exerts lipolytic effects in vitro and in vivo. Previous studies reported that the ANP genetic variant rs5068 is associated with increased plasma levels of ANP, lower blood pressure values, and reduced risk of hypertension. We recently reported that in a random sample of the general population from Olmsted County, MN the G allele of rs5068 was associated with increased levels of ANP, lower blood pressure and BMI, waist circumference, reduced prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. To date, these associations ha…
Gerontology is essential to the identity of geriatric medicine
2019
The concept of the preeminence of multidimensional func-tional status in health care, one of the first achievements of geriatric medicine, has been endorsed by diverse sources, and is now a cultural patrimony of medicine. One of the main goals of geriatric medicine is to allow older people to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible. The integrated research of geriatricians and gerontologists has been at the forefront of the development, testing, and application of tools to assess functional status, including activities of daily living, gait and mobility, cognition, psy-chological status, depression, and social support.
AGING IN EUROPE AND GERIATRIC CARE
2017
Europeans are living longer than ever, and this pattern is expected to continue. The increased life expectancy is a remarkable achievement, which however poses obvious challenges for health care and geriatric assistance. There is a progressive increase of older persons living alone and in need of assistance. European countries are handling these challenges with very different approaches. There are countries and regional differences in social policies and sanitary assistance, in providers of care, in quality of the assistance and in lodging costs. The long term care models are also very different (cash benefits, public provision of care services, or hybrid rather than pure models of care). T…
The global cardiovascular risk transition: associations of four metabolic risk factors with national income, urbanization, and Western diet in 1980 a…
2013
Background— It is commonly assumed that cardiovascular disease risk factors are associated with affluence and Westernization. We investigated the associations of body mass index (BMI), fasting plasma glucose, systolic blood pressure, and serum total cholesterol with national income, Western diet, and, for BMI, urbanization in 1980 and 2008. Methods and Results— Country-level risk factor estimates for 199 countries between 1980 and 2008 were from a previous systematic analysis of population-based data. We analyzed the associations between risk factors and per capita national income, a measure of Western diet, and, for BMI, the percentage of the population living in urban areas. In 1980, the…
National, regional, and global trends in body-mass index since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies wi…
2011
Summary Background Excess bodyweight is a major public health concern. However, few worldwide comparative analyses of long-term trends of body-mass index (BMI) have been done, and none have used recent national health examination surveys. We estimated worldwide trends in population mean BMI. Methods We estimated trends and their uncertainties of mean BMI for adults 20 years and older in 199 countries and territories. We obtained data from published and unpublished health examination surveys and epidemiological studies (960 country-years and 9·1 million participants). For each sex, we used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate mean BMI by age, country, and year, accounting for whether a …
Obesity in Aging and Art
2009
THIS issue of Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences highlights new findings on obesity in older persons and its consequences for health and function (1,2,3). The obesity epidemic is spreading rapidly in both developed and developing countries, and perspectives on the negative effects of overweight and obesity abound in recent medical literature. What do we know so far about obesity over the lifetime? Obesity does not spare older persons (4). Obese older persons experience a wide range of negative consequences, including metabolic abnormalities, arthritis, pulmonary diseases, cataracts, cancer, impaired mobility, disability, and mortality. Given the already extensive knowledge base, why a…
Dietary Patterns and Cognitive Decline: key features for prevention
2019
The decline in cognitive function is generally the result of the complex interaction of several factors. First of all, age, but also demographic, educational, genetic, socio-economic, and environmental determinants, including nutrition. Cognitive decline and dementia prevalence are increasing, and they are projected to continue increasing in the next decades due to the aging of the world population. Currently, there are no effective pharmacological treatments for these devastating and disabling conditions, which emphasize the key role of preventive strategies. There is compelling evidence of the role of diet and lifestyle on cognitive function. Therefore, dietary/ nutritional approaches th…
Adverse Clinical Events and Mortality During Hospitalization and 3 Months After Discharge in Cognitively Impaired Elderly Patients
2012
BACKGROUND: Controversial findings are reported on hospital outcome in cognitively impaired patients. The aim of this study was to explore mortality risk according to cognitive status during hospitalization and after 3 months in elderly patients. METHODS: Sixty-six internal medicine and geriatric wards in Italy participated in the "Registry Politerapie SIMI (REPOSI)" during 2010. Of the 1,380 in-patients, aged 65 and older enrolled, 1,201 were included. Cognition was evaluated with the Short Blessed Test (SBT). Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association of questionable and impaired cognition (according to SBT cutoff points) with mortality during hospitalization and at follow-u…