Search results for " laboratori"
showing 10 items of 167 documents
Performance of two HCV RNA assays during protease inhibitor-based triple therapy in patients with advanced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
2014
Introduction: On-treatment HCV RNA measurements are crucial for the prediction of a sustained virological response (SVR) and to determine treatment futility during protease inhibitor-based triple therapies. In patients with advanced liver disease an accurate risk/benefit calculation based on reliable HCV RNA results can reduce the number of adverse events. However, the different available HCV RNA assays vary in their diagnostic performance. Aim: To investigate the clinical relevance of concordant and discordant results of two HCV RNA assays during triple therapy with boceprevir and telaprevir in patients with advanced liver fibrosis/cirrhosis. Methods: We collected on-treatment samples of 1…
Corticotroph aggressive pituitary tumours and carcinomas frequently harbour ATRX mutations
2021
Abstract Context Aggressive pituitary tumors (APTs) are characterized by unusually rapid growth and lack of response to standard treatment. About 1% to 2% develop metastases being classified as pituitary carcinomas (PCs). For unknown reasons, the corticotroph tumors are overrepresented among APTs and PCs. Mutations in the alpha thalassemia/mental retardation syndrome X-linked (ATRX) gene, regulating chromatin remodeling and telomere maintenance, have been implicated in the development of several cancer types, including neuroendocrine tumors. Objective To study ATRX protein expression and mutational status of the ATRX gene in APTs and PCs. Design We investigated ATRX protein expression by us…
Adipose stem cell niche reprograms the colorectal cancer stem cell metastatic machinery.
2021
Obesity is a strong risk factor for cancer progression, posing obesity-related cancer as one of the leading causes of death. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms that endow cancer cells with metastatic properties in patients affected by obesity remain unexplored. Here, we show that IL-6 and HGF, secreted by tumor neighboring visceral adipose stromal cells (V-ASCs), expand the metastatic colorectal (CR) cancer cell compartment (CD44v6 + ), which in turn secretes neurotrophins such as NGF and NT-3, and recruits adipose stem cells within tumor mass. Visceral adipose-derived factors promote vasculogenesis and the onset of metastatic dissemination by activation of STAT3, which inhibits miR-200…
Effects of Suboptimally Presented Erotic Pictures on Moral Judgments: A Cross-Cultural Comparison.
2015
Previous research has identified a set of core factors that influence moral judgments. The present study addresses the interplay between moral judgments and four factors: (a) incidental affects, (b) sociocultural context, (c) type of dilemma, and (d) participant’s sex. We asked participants in two different countries (Colombia and Spain) to judge the acceptability of actions in response to personal and impersonal moral dilemmas. Before each dilemma an affective prime (erotic, pleasant or neutral pictures) was presented suboptimally. Our results show that: a) relative to neutral priming, erotic primes increase the acceptance of harm for a greater good (i.e., more utilitarian judgments), b) r…
Where are patients missed in the tuberculosis diagnostic cascade? A prospective cohort study in Ghana.
2020
BackgroundGhana's national prevalence survey showed higher than expected tuberculosis (TB) prevalence, indicating that many people with TB are not identified and treated. This study aimed to identify gaps in the TB diagnostic cascade prior to starting treatment.MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted in urban and rural health facilities in south-east Ghana. Consecutive patients routinely identified as needing a TB test were followed up for two months to find out if sputum was submitted and/or treatment started. The causal effect of health facility location on submitting sputum was assessed before risk factors were investigated using logistic regression.ResultsA total of 428 persons …
Fetuin-A is Associated to Serum Calcium and AHSG T256S Genotype but Not to Coronary Artery Calcification
2015
Vascular calcification has been recently associated to an increased cardiovascular risk and mortality. In few studies, Fetuin-A showed an association to coronary artery calcification (CAC), although the physiopathological mechanism underlying this association has not been fully established yet. Seventy-four patients with one or more cardiovascular risk factor and asymptomatic for coronary vasculopathy were included in the study. CAC was evaluated by Agatston score. Serum Fetuin-A levels were determined by ELISA. Molecular analysis of AHSG T256S gene variant (rs4918) was performed by PCR-RFLP. Serum Fetuin-A was correlated to serum calcium (r = 0,321; P = 0,018), but not to serum phosphorous…
Visual Acuity and Contrast Sensitivity in Eyes Implanted with Aspheric and Spherical Intraocular Lenses
2009
Purpose To compare visual acuity and contrast sensitivity (CS) in eyes implanted with aspheric and spherical intraocular lenses (IOLs) after cataract surgery. Design Randomized, prospective study. Participants Five hundred twenty-four eyes from 262 cataract surgery patients implanted with 2 IOL models: the AcrySof IQ (262 eyes) and AcrySof SN60AT (262 eyes; Alcon Laboratories, Fort Worth, TX). Methods High-contrast photopic best-corrected distance visual acuity (BCVA) and CS under photopic (85 cd/m 2 ) and mesopic (6 cd/m 2 ) conditions were measured. Pupil diameter was analyzed for distance vision under both lighting conditions. Follow-up was carried out for 6 months in all patients. Main …
Refractive Lens Exchange with Foldable Toric Intraocular Lens
2009
To assess visual and refractive outcomes, and rotational stability after refractive lens exchange (RLE) with toric intraocular lens (IOL) implantation to correct ametropia and preexisting astigmatism.Prospective, nonrandomized, observational case series (self-controlled).This prospective, nonrandomized, and self-controlled study included 32 eyes of 19 consecutive patients with more than 1.00 diopter (D) of preexisting corneal astigmatism having RLE with AcrySof Toric IOL implantation (Alcon Laboratories Inc, Fort Worth, Texas, USA). Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), refractive sphere, and keratometric and refractive cylinder were recorded preoperatively …
DeepSRE: Identification of sterol responsive elements and nuclear transcription factors Y proximity in human DNA by Convolutional Neural Network anal…
2021
SREBP1 and 2, are cholesterol sensors able to modulate cholesterol-related gene expression responses. SREBPs binding sites are characterized by the presence of multiple target sequences as SRE, NFY and SP1, that can be arranged differently in different genes, so that it is not easy to identify the binding site on the basis of direct DNA sequence analysis. This paper presents a complete workflow based on a one-dimensional Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model able to detect putative SREBPs binding sites irrespective of target elements arrangements. The strategy is based on the recognition of SRE linked (less than 250 bp) to NFY sequences according to chromosomal localization derived from …