Search results for " test"
showing 10 items of 7948 documents
Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and atrophic gastritis in Latvia.
2012
Helicobacter pylori infection and atrophic gastritis are related to an increased risk for gastric cancer. There is a decrease in global H. pylori prevalence. We analyzed the prevalence of H. pylori infection in Latvia by the plasma IgG test and the presence of atrophy by means of pepsinogen testing.This subanalysis was carried out on a randomly selected cross-sectional sample of a general population of adults to access cardiovascular risk factors. Plasma samples were screened for H. pylori IgG (cutoff value 24 U/ml), and pepsinogens (Pg) I and II. Pg cutoff values of PgI/PgII ≤ 3 and PgI ≤ 70 ng/ml were used to assess the prevalence of atrophy of any grade and PgI/PgII ≤ 2 and PgI ≤ 30 ng/m…
A mutation in myotilin causes spheroid body myopathy
2005
Background: Spheroid body myopathy (SBM) is a rare, autosomal dominant, neuromuscular disorder, which has only been previously reported in a single large kindred. Identification of the mutated gene in this disorder may provide insight regarding abnormal neuromuscular function. Methods: The authors completed a detailed clinical evaluation on an extensive kindred diagnosed with SBM. Genome-wide linkage analysis was performed to localize the disease gene to a specific chromosomal region. Further marker genotyping and screening of a positional, functional candidate gene were completed to detect the disease-causing mutation. Pathologic analysis of muscle biopsy was performed on three individuals…
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: an indicator of vulnerability to schizophrenia?
1992
The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a neuropsychological test, hypothesized to be an indicator of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) functioning. The performance of schizophrenic patients in our sample (off medication) was worse than the performance of healthy controls in all variables of the WCST, including perseverative responses (PR) as well as non-perseverative responses (NPR). The rate of perseverative and non-perseverative responses was neither a function of the severity of the illness (measured by SANS/SAPS scales) nor the duration of the disease. Healthy siblings of schizophrenic probands revealed more perseverative responses than healthy controls, but did not show any dif…
A novel Angiogenin gene mutation in a sporadic patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis from southern Italy
2007
Mutations in the Angiogenin gene (ANG) linked to 14q11.2 have been recently discovered to be associated with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in Irish and Scottish populations. In our study we investigated the role of ANG gene in ALS patients from southern Italy. We found a novel mutation in the signal peptide of the ANG gene in a sporadic patient with ALS (SALS). The molecular analysis of the ANG gene also demonstrated an allelic association with the rs11701 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in familial ALS (FALS) but not in SALS patients. Our finding supports the evidence that the ANG gene is involved in ALS.
Forty-two supernumerary marker chromosomes (SMCs) in 43,273 prenatal samples: chromosomal distribution, clinical findings, and UPD studies.
2005
Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses were performed on supernumerary marker chromosomes (SMCs) detected in 43 273 prenatal diagnoses over a period of 11 years, 1993–2003. A total of 42 pregnancies with SMC were identified, indicating a prevalence of one in 1032. A total of 15 SMCs were endowed with detectable euchromatin (prevalence, 1/2884), including six SMCs containing the cat eye critical region (CECR) on chromosome 22q11.21 (1/7212). De novo SMCs were found in 29 pregnancies (1/1492), including 14 euchromatic SMCs (48.2%). Follow-up studies were available for 24 cases. Nine pregnancies (37.5%) were terminated; two children (8.3%) were born with Pallister–Killian syndrome …
Influence of the luminance level on visual performance with a disposable soft cosmetic tinted contact lens.
2001
The purpose of the present work was to study the effect on visual performance of wearing disposable soft tinted contact lenses for cosmetic purposes. Parameters such as contrast sensitivity (Vistech 6000), colour vision (Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue colour test), visual fields (static Goldmann perimetry) and subjective vision (what the wearer feels while wearing the lenses) were studied under different illumination levels in order to check for possible vision losses while wearing these contact lenses at low illumination levels. Sixteen emmetropic subjects were fitted consecutively with seven pairs of different colour lenses (Optima Colors lenses by BauschLomb), and the experimental parameters…
16thIHIW: Anti-HLA alloantibodies of the of IgA isotype in re-transplant candidates
2012
Summary In this multicentre study, sera from 803 retransplant candidates, including 775 kidney transplant recipients, were analysed with regard to the presence and specificity of anti-HLA alloantibodies of the IgA isotype using a modified microsphere-based platform. Of the kidney recipients, nearly one-third (n = 237, 31%) had IgA alloantibodies. Mostly, these antibodies were found in sera that also harboured IgG alloantibodies that could be found in a total of 572 (74%) of patients. Interestingly, IgA anti-HLA antibodies were preferentially targeting HLA class I antigens in contrast to those of the IgG isotype, which targeted mostly both HLA class I and II antigens. Donor specificity of th…
The extent of HLA-DR expression on HLA-DR+Tregs allows the identification of patients with clinically relevant borderline rejection
2013
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) were shown to be involved into the pathogenesis of acute rejection after transplantation. The suppressive activity of the total regulatory T cell pool depends on its percentage of highly suppressive HLA-DR(+) -Treg cells. Therefore, both the suppressive activity of the total Treg pool and the extent of HLA-DR expression of HLA-DR(+) -Tregs (MFI HLA-DR) were estimated in non transplanted volunteers, patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRF), healthy renal transplant patients with suspicion on rejection, due to sole histological Bord-R or sole acute renal failure (ARF), and patients with clinically relevant borderline rejection (Bord-R and ARF). Compared to patie…
Effects of immunosuppressive drugs on the cognitive functioning of renal transplant recipients: A pilot study
2011
Some renal transplant patients show cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes as part of possible neurotoxic effects associated with immunosuppressive medication, especially tacrolimus. This study evaluated effects of immunosuppressive drugs on some cognitive tasks. Patients treated with sirolimus and cyclosporine reported some of the noncognitive side effects related to immunosuppressive treatment. We observed attention and working memory impairment in patients treated with sirolimus or tacrolimus. Performance of cyclosporine-treated subjects was similar to that of healthy volunteer controls. Since the mood, anxiety, and sleep patterns measured were unaffected, it could be concluded tha…
Association of SNPs with the efficacy and safety of immunosuppressant therapy after heart transplantation.
2015
Aim: Studying the possible influence of SNPs on efficacy and safety of calcineurin inhibitors upon heart transplantation. Materials & methods: In 60 heart transplant patients treated with tacrolimus or cyclosporine, we studied a panel of 36 SNPs correlated with a series of clinical parameters during the first post-transplantation year. Results: The presence of serious infections was correlated to ABCB1 rs1128503 (p = 0.012), CC genotype reduced the probability of infections being also associated with lower blood cyclosporine concentrations. Lower renal function levels were found in patients with rs9282564 AG (p = 0.003), related to higher blood cyclosporine blood levels. A tendency tow…