Search results for "Case-Control Studies"
showing 10 items of 1567 documents
Immunoglobulin A response to acute stress in intimate partner violence perpetrators: the role of anger expression-out and testosterone.
2014
Aggressive behavior and immune activity are shown to be positively associated in perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). This relationship follows an inverted-U curve, with the most violent individuals showing lower levels of immunocompetence than those with a history of moderate violence. Moreover, the activational and organizational effects of testosterone (T) may indirectly stimulate the immune response. Given this, we used the Trier Social Stress Test to establish whether the salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA) response to acute stress was a specific psychobiological feature in perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). IPV perpetrators showed higher sIgA levels than control…
Chronic alcohol intake abolishes the relationship between dopamine synthesis capacity and learning signals in ventral striatum
2014
Drugs of abuse elicit dopamine release in the ventral striatum, possibly biasing dopamine-driven reinforcement learning towards drug-related reward at the expense of non-drug-related reward. Indeed, in alcohol-dependent patients, reactivity in dopaminergic target areas is shifted from non-drug-related stimuli towards drug-related stimuli. Such 'hijacked' dopamine signals may impair flexible learning from non-drug-related rewards, and thus promote craving for the drug of abuse. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure ventral striatal activation by reward prediction errors (RPEs) during a probabilistic reversal learning task in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent pati…
Transitional hemodynamics in infants of diabetic mothers by targeted neonatal echocardiography, electrocardiography and peripheral flow study
2017
Objective: Metabolic alterations of intrauterine environment in diabetes mellitus (DM) lead to fetal cardiac dysfunctions that can persist after birth. The aim of the study was to assess the cardiovascular adaptation in infants born to diabetic mothers (IDM) with different degrees of glycometabolic control, in relation to revised guidelines for diagnosis of DM and quality improvements in neonatal care. Materials and methods: An observational case-control study was conducted on IDM with gestational, type 1 and type 2âDM. Relevant maternal and neonatal anamnestic, clinical and laboratory data were analyzed. Electrocardiographic and echocardiographic analyses, including structural and systo-…
Emotional reactivity in chronic schizophrenia: structural and functional brain correlates and the influence of adverse childhood experiences
2011
Background. Despite behavioural signs of flattened affect, patients affected by schizophrenia show enhanced sensitivity to negative stimuli. The current literature concerning neural circuitry for emotions supports dysregulations of cortico-limbic networks, but gives contrasting results. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) could persistently influence emotional regulation and neural correlates of response to emotional stimuli in healthy humans. This study evaluated the effect of ACEs and chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia on neural responses to emotional stimuli (negative facial expression). Method. Brain blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging neural response…
Intestinal permeability and genetic determinants in patients, first-degree relatives, and controls in a high-incidence area of Crohn's disease in Sou…
2005
1. Am J Gastroenterol. 2005 Dec;100(12):2730-6. Intestinal permeability and genetic determinants in patients, first-degree relatives, and controls in a high-incidence area of Crohn's disease in Southern Italy. Fries W, Renda MC, Lo Presti MA, Raso A, Orlando A, Oliva L, Giofré MR, Maggio A, Mattaliano A, Macaluso A, Cottone M. Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Terapia Medica, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy. OBJECTIVE: A defect of gastrointestinal barrier function is considered to represent an important step in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD) but the mechanisms leading to an increased intestinal permeability (IP) are poorly understood. Since IP is influenced by pro-inflammat…
A Common Genetic Variant inFCGR3A-V158F and Risk of Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus Infection and Classic Kaposi Sarcoma
2005
Associations of FCGR3A among men with HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome suggest that host responses affect the pathogenesis of Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) infection and risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome – associated Kaposi sarcoma. Using DNA from two HIV seronegative case-control populations in Italy, we examined whether the functional FCGR3A-V158F variant was associated with risk of KSHV infection or classic Kaposi sarcoma (CKS). In population I, we examined FCGR3A variants and risk of KSHV infection in 34 KSHV latent nuclear antigen (LANA)-seropositive and 120 LANAseronegative adults from Sardinia (52% male; median age, 45 years; range, 31-60), whereas in population II…
A new method to calculate external mechanical work using force-platform data in ecological situations in humans: Application to Parkinson's disease
2016
Abstract Background and aim To accurately quantify the cost of physical activity and to evaluate the different components of energy expenditure in humans, it is necessary to evaluate external mechanical work ( W EXT ). Large platform systems surpass other currently used techniques. Here, we describe a calculation method for force-platforms to calculate long-term W EXT . Methods Each force-platform (2.46 × 1.60 m and 3.80 × 2.48 m) rests on 4 piezoelectric sensors. During long periods of recording, a drift in the speed of displacement of the center of mass (necessary to calculate W EXT ) is generated. To suppress this drift, wavelet decomposition is used to low-pass filter the source signal.…
No evidence for attenuated stress-induced extrastriatal dopamine signaling in psychotic disorder
2015
AbstractStress is an important risk factor in the etiology of psychotic disorder. Preclinical work has shown that stress primarily increases dopamine (DA) transmission in the frontal cortex. Given that DA-mediated hypofrontality is hypothesized to be a cardinal feature of psychotic disorder, stress-related extrastriatal DA release may be altered in psychotic disorder. Here we quantified for the first time stress-induced extrastriatal DA release and the spatial extent of extrastriatal DA release in individuals with non-affective psychotic disorder (NAPD). Twelve healthy volunteers (HV) and 12 matched drug-free NAPD patients underwent a single infusion [18F]fallypride positron emission tomogr…
Associations of classic Kaposi sarcoma with common variants in genes that modulate host immunity
2006
AbstractClassic Kaposi sarcoma (CKS) is an inflammatory-mediated neoplasm primarily caused by Kaposi sarcoma–associated herpesvirus (KSHV). Kaposi sarcoma lesions are characterized, in part, by the presence of proinflammatory cytokines and growth factors thought to regulate KSHV replication and CKS pathogenesis. Using genomic DNA extracted from 133 CKS cases and 172 KSHV-latent nuclear antigen-positive, population-based controls in Italy without HIV infection, we examined the risk of CKS associated with 28 common genetic variants in 14 immune-modulating genes. Haplotypes were estimated for IL1A, IL1B, IL4, IL8, IL8RB, IL10, IL12A, IL13, and TNF. Compared with controls, CKS risk was decrease…
Different KIRs Confer Susceptibility and Protection to Adults with Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Latvian and Asian Indian Populations
2008
KIRs (killer Ig-like receptors) expressed on natural killer (NK) cells are an important component of innate (and adaptive) immunity. They are either activatory or inhibitory, and certain KIRs are known to interact with specific motifs of HLA Class I molecules, which is very crucial in determining whether a cell is targeted to lysis or otherwise. Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is a slowly progressive form of autoimmune diabetes, with an adult onset (>30 years). Because autoantibodies and autoimmunity involved are involved in the etiology of LADA, KIRs might play an important role in conferring susceptibility to or protection against the disease. The purpose of this study was to …