Search results for " project"
showing 10 items of 1296 documents
Treatment of chronic hepatitis B in sub-Saharan Africa: 1-year results of a pilot program in Ethiopia
2018
Background The World Health Organization has set an ambitious goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a major public health threat by 2030. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is virtually unavailable. Herein, we present the 1-year results of a pilot CHB treatment program in Ethiopia. Methods At a public hospital in Addis Ababa, CHB patients were treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate based on simplified eligibility criteria. Baseline assessment included liver function tests, viral markers, and transient elastography (Fibroscan). Changes in laboratory markers were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Adherence to therapy was measured by …
Clinical Trial: High-dose furosemide plus small-volume hypertonic saline solutions vs. repeated paracentesis as treatment of refractory ascites.
2009
Summary Background In patients with cirrhosis, ascites is defined as refractory when it cannot be mobilized or recurs early in standard diuretic therapy. Aim To compare the safety and efficacy of intravenous high-dose furosemide + hypertonic saline solutions (HSS) with repeated paracentesis in patients with cirrhosis and refractory ascites. Patients and methods Eighty-four subjects (59/25 M/F) with cirrhosis, mostly of viral aetiology, admitted for refractory ascites, were randomly assigned to receive furosemide (250–1000 mg/bid i.v.) plus HSS (150 mL H2O with NaCl 1.4–4.6% or 239–187 mEq/L) (60 patients, Group A) or to repeated paracentesis and a standard diuretic schedule (24 patients,…
A meta-analysis of 120 246 individuals identifies 18 new loci for fibrinogen concentration
2015
Genome-wide association studies have previously identified 23 genetic loci associated with circulating fibrinogen concentration. These studies used HapMap imputation and did not examine the X-chromosome. 1000 Genomes imputation provides better coverage of uncommon variants, and includes indels. We conducted a genome-wide association analysis of 34 studies imputed to the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel and including similar to 120 000 participants of European ancestry (95 806 participants with data on the X-chromosome). Approximately 10.7 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms and 1.2 million indels were examined. We identified 41 genome-wide significant fibrinogen loci ; of which, 18 …
Comparison of US Strain Elastography and Entero-MRI to Typify the Mesenteric and Bowel Wall Changes during Crohn’s Disease: A Pilot Study
2017
Purpose. To evaluate and compare the mesenteric and bowel wall changes during Crohn’s disease (CD) on ultrasonography (US) Strain Elastography (SE) and Enterography Magnetic Resonance Imaging (E-MRI). Methods. From July 2014 to September 2016, 35 patients with ileocolonoscopy diagnosis of CD were prospectively examined with E-MRI and in the same time with US and SE. Results. A total of 41 affected bowel segments and 35 unaffected bowel segments in 35 patients were evaluated. US-SE color-scale coding showed a blue color pattern in the fibrotic mesentery and bowel wall in 15 patients and a green color pattern in the edematous ones in 20 patients. The signal of the bowel wall and mesenteric fa…
Tauroursodeoxycholic acid in the treatment of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
2015
Background and purpose: Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) is a hydrophilic bile acid that is produced in the liver and used for treatment of chronic cholestatic liver diseases. Experimental studies suggest that TUDCA may have cytoprotective and anti-apoptotic action, with potential neuroprotective activity. A proof of principle approach was adopted to provide preliminary data regarding the efficacy and tolerability of TUDCA in a series of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: As a proof of principle, using a double-blind placebo controlled design, 34 ALS patients under treatment with riluzole who were randomized to placebo or TUDCA (1 g twice daily for 54 weeks) were e…
The role of body muscle mass as an indicator of activity in inflammatory bowel disease patients
2020
Malnutrition is an objective disease activity parameter for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), particularly Crohn's Disease (CD), and is an indicator of lesion expansion or inflammatory activity. Active disease is correlated with the systemic response of the body's immune system, activating a hypermetabolic state and protein degradation (Argiles JM, 2015). These conditions lead to malnutrition, which significantly increases the risk of impaired clinical outcomes, such as delayed recovery or increased mortality (Landi F, 2019). Our aim was to identify malnutrition parameters associated with more pronounced metabolic status changes in IBD patients (i.e., classified as by low and …
A risk-adapted approach to treating respiratory syncytial virus and human parainfluenza virus in allogeneic stem cell transplantation recipients with…
2017
Here we report the applicability of a protocol based on clinical conditions and risk factors (RFs) for managing 35 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) recipients who developed a total of 52 episodes of respiratory viral infections (RVIs) caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV; n=19), human parainfluenza virus (HPIV; n=29), or both (n=4) over a 2-year study period. Risk categories were classified as high risk (cat-1) when the immunodeficiency scoring index was >= 3 and/or >= 3 RFs and/or >= 1 co-infective virus(es) were present; the remaining cases were classified as low risk (cat-0). The presence of two or more signs or symptoms including fever (T>38 degrees C…
Competence feedback improves CBT competence in trainee therapists: A randomized controlled pilot study.
2016
The development and improvement of therapeutic competencies are central aims in psychotherapy training; however, little is known about which training interventions are suitable for the improvement of competencies.In the current pilot study, the efficacy of feedback regarding therapeutic competencies was investigated in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Totally 19 trainee therapists and 19 patients were allocated randomly to a competence feedback group (CFG) or control group (CG). Two experienced clinicians and feedback providers who were blind to the treatment conditions independently evaluated therapeutic competencies on the Cognitive Therapy Scale at five treatment times (i.e., at Sess…
Upregulating Positive Affectivity in the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders: A Randomized Pilot Study
2019
Transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral therapy for emotional disorders (ED) has proven to be effective. However, current transdiagnostic treatment protocols address only the regulation of negative affectivity, and they do not include treatment components to more directly target the regulation of positive affectivity. In this study, we propose to evaluate the preliminary efficacy and acceptability of a transdiagnostic treatment protocol for ED that includes, as an innovative feature, a specific treatment component to directly upregulate positive affectivity based on positive psychology interventions. A total of 24 participants were randomized to either a transdiagnostic treatment protocol ( n…
Accommodative Functions with Multifocal Contact Lenses: A Pilot Study
2011
PURPOSE: To evaluate accommodative response and facility in presbyopic patients fitted with several types of simultaneous-image multifocal contact lenses (CLs). METHODS: Six presbyopic patients, unadapted wearers of simultaneous-image bifocals, were fitted with the Focus Progressives and the low- and high-addition Pure Vision simultaneous vision multifocal CLs. Each individual wore each of the three types of lenses in successive random order. Accommodative response, accommodative facility, visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity at distance and near were evaluated in all cases. A control group of eight non-presbyopic patients was also studied. RESULTS: The mean age was 28.6 +/- 2.72 and 51.…