Search results for "Case-Control Studies"
showing 10 items of 1567 documents
Neural Correlates of Deficits in Pain-Related Affective Meaning Construction in Patients With Chronic Pain Disorder
2013
OBJECTIVE Psychological and neural mechanisms of the affective dimension of pain are known to be disturbed in patients with chronic pain disorder. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to assess the neurofunctional and behavioral measures underlying the ability to construct pain-related affective meaning in a painful situation by comparing 21 clinically and psychometrically well-characterized patients with persistent non-nociceptive somatoform pain with 19 healthy controls. METHODS The functional magnetic resonance imaging task involved viewing pictures depicting human hands and feet in different painful and nonpainful situations. Participants were asked to estimat…
Cortisol awakening response and cognitive performance in hypertensive and normotensive older people.
2016
Healthy older people with a cortisol awakening response (CAR) of decreased magnitude show worse frontal cortex-related cognitive performance. Systemic hypertension has been related to a CAR of decreased magnitude. Additionally, worse executive function and processing speed have been observed in older people with systemic hypertension. This is the first study to examine the relationship between the CAR (measured with six saliva samples at home on two consecutive weekdays) and cognitive performance, in both hypertensive (n=26) and normotensive (n=28) older people (from 56 to 78years old). Hypertensive participants showed lower morning cortisol secretion, and they also woke up earlier. No diff…
Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and bone health outcomes: a systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis.
2017
Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is a common condition in the elderly. A number of studies have investigated the relationship between MGUS and bone health outcomes including bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporosis and fractures, but no meta-analysis exists. We conducted a systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis comparing bone health outcomes in patients with MGUS. Two independent authors searched PubMed and Scopus from inception until 19 October 2016. A meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies investigating fractures and BMD was conducted. Standardised mean differences (SMD) ± 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for BMD, and risk…
Senile anorexia in acute-ward and rehabilitations settings.
2008
The most common pathological change in eating behaviour among older persons is anorexia, which accounts for a large percent of undernutrition in older adults. The main research aims are to determine, in a sample of acute and rehabilitation elderly subjects, the prevalence of anorexia of aging and the causes most impacting on senile anorexia.Methods: four different Units cooperated to this research study. Patients were recruited from geriatric acute and rehabilitation wards in Italy. Each Research Unit, for the estimation of the prevalence of anorexia in elderly subjects evaluated all the patients aged over 65 recruited from April 2006 to June 2007. Nutritional status, depression, social, fu…
Hemoglobin, C-reactive protein and ferritin in patients with oral carcinoma and their clinical significance – A prospective clinical study
2017
For oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), biomarkers are much in need to predict prognosis and to overcome possible resistance mechanisms to adjuvant therapies. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum level of hemoglobin, C-reactive protein (CRP) and ferritin as possible liquid biopsy to predict survival, metastasis and tumor relapse of OSCC.A prospective clinical study was conducted. Overall, serum levels of hemoglobin, CRP and ferritin in 82 OSCC patients and 63 controls were preoperatively investigated.Patients with an anemia showed a significant lower survival than patients with no anemia preoperative. Patients with T3/T4 cancer had significant lower hemoglobin values (p = 0.002). CR…
Is obesity associated with oxidative stress in children?
2009
We evaluated the presence of oxidative stress in obese children without co-morbidities.The study population included 68 children (30 girls, 38 boys), between 6 and 14 years of age. The levels of markers of oxidative damage (malondialdehyde [MDA], and plasma carbonyl groups [CG]) and measures of antioxidant defense, such as the enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and low molecular scavengers (erythrocyte-reduced glutathione [GSH], alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene) were determined. Children were categorized in groups by the standard deviation score of body mass index (SDS-BMI). Twenty children were non-obese (SDS-BMIor =1.33), and the 48 obese children (SDS-BMIor =2) were further divided in…
Kidney donors and kidney transplants have abnormal aminothiol redox status, and are at increased risk of oxidative stress and reduced redox buffer ca…
2013
Abstract Objective Living kidney donors have been part of a successful kidney transplant programme in Norway for almost 50 years. Glomerular filtration rates (GFRs) have tended to remain stable at about 70% of pre-donation levels. Plasma total homocysteine (Hcy) has an inverse relationship to kidney function, and previous reports indicate elevated levels of Hcy in kidney donors. We wanted to examine the most important plasma aminothiols in kidney donors, i.e. Hcy, cysteine (Cys) and cysteinylglycine (CG) with their redox species. The aminothiol redox-system appears to be an integral part of the extracellular antioxidant defence system in the body. Design and methods Plasma concentrations of…
Human milk enhances antioxidant defenses against hydroxyl radical aggression in preterm infants
2008
Background: Preterm infants endowed with an immature antioxidant defense system are prone to oxidative stress. Hydroxyl radicals are very aggressive reactive oxygen species that lack specific antioxidants. These radicals cannot be measured directly, but oxidation byproducts of DNA or phenylalanine in urine are reliable markers of their activity. Human milk has a higher antioxidant capacity than formula. Objective: We hypothesized that oxidative stress associated with prematurity could be diminished by feeding human milk. Design: We recruited a cohort of stable preterm infants who lacked perinatal conditions associated with oxidative stress; were not receiving prooxidant or antioxidant drugs…
Polyunsaturated fatty acids interact with the PPARA-L162V polymorphism to affect plasma triglyceride and apolipoprotein C-III concentrations in the F…
2005
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) is a nuclear transcription factor regulating multiple genes involved in lipid metabolism. It was shown that a common leucine to valine (L162V) substitution at the PPARalpha gene (PPARA) is functional and affects transactivation activity of PPARalpha ligands, such as PUFA, on a concentration-dependent basis. The current study examined this gene-nutrient interaction in relation to plasma lipid variables in a population-based study consisting of 1003 men and 1103 women participating in the Framingham cohort and consuming their habitual diets. We found significant gene-nutrient interactions between the L162V polymorphism and total PUF…
Diagnostic accuracy of nonmydriatic fundus photography for the detection of glaucoma in diabetic patients.
2015
Purpose. To determine the diagnostic accuracy for glaucoma of a set of criteria with nonmydriatic monoscopic fundus photography (NMFP) in diabetics. Methods. Diabetics recruited from a screening program for diabetic retinopathy and diabetic glaucoma patients recruited from our glaucoma unit were included. Any patient with evidence of diabetic retinopathy was excluded. Diabetic patients had to have no visual field defects to be included as controls. Glaucoma patients had to have a glaucomatous field defect in at least one eye to be included. One NMFP was taken per eye for all subjects. These photographs were evaluated by two masked glaucoma specialists for the presence of the following: bila…