Search results for "Case-control study"
showing 10 items of 563 documents
Hyperhomocysteinemia, obesity and cryptogenic stroke
2011
BACKGROUND: The pathogenic role of hyperhomocysteinemia in cryptogenic stroke is not well established. We aimed to determine homocysteine levels in patients with cryptogenic stroke considering the possible variables that may act as confounders and analyze the influence of obesity on this association. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a case-control study in 123 patients with cryptogenic stroke aged 42 ± 12 years and in 153 control subjects aged 42 ± 13 years. Serum homocysteine was determined by fluorescence polarization immunoassay. RESULTS: Patients showed statistically higher levels of homocysteine, creatinine and higher BMI than controls (p = 0.045, p = 0.014, p = 0.013), respectively.…
Adrenal morphology and function in acromegalic patients in relation to disease activity.
2009
Visceromegaly is a common consequence of acromegaly. However, few studies investigated the chronic effects of growth hormone on adrenal glands. Our aim was to evaluate adrenal morphology and function in a cohort of acromegalic patients in relation to disease activity. Twenty-six acromegalics (10 males and 16 females) and 21 healthy subjects were investigated. Gland morphology was evaluated by computerized axial tomography, measuring central, lateral, and medial adrenal segments. Uncontrolled acromegalics showed increased volume of all adrenal segments, higher urinary free cortisol (UFC), and lower morning adrenocorticotropic hormone in comparison with healthy subjects. However, normal corti…
Modification of Interleukin-15 Serum Levels in Workers Exposed to Chemotherapeutic Agents
2005
Cytostatic anticancer drugs are known as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic risk factors for health care workers occupationally exposed. It has been demonstrated that the administration of interleukin-15 in rat models of colon carcinoma protects against chemotherapy-induced gastrointestinal toxicities. We found that occupational exposure to chemotherapeutic antiblastic agents in vivo modified circulating levels of interleukin-15 in 17 health care workers exposed to antineoplastic drugs in relation to their jobs and in as many healthy age- and sex-matched subjects. Health care workers displayed significantly higher circulating interleukin-15 levels compared to their age-matched control…
Risk factors of ocular hypertension and glaucoma. The Casteldaccia Eye Study.
1994
A case-control study was planned as a part of the Casteldaccia Eye Study in order to investigate about risk factors of ocular hypertension and glaucoma. Cases were 44 subjects with glaucoma or intraocular pressure of 24 mm Hg or more. Controls were 220 subjects with intraocular pressure of 20 mm Hg or less and no signs of glaucoma. A number of environmental, behavioral, systemic and ocular variables were studied. Among the others we investigated the following: sunlight exposure, smoking, alcohol intake, pregnancies, systemic hypertension, diabetes, use of corticosteroids, refractive status, anterior chamber depth, lens nuclear sclerosis, iris color and texture. After univariate analysis the…
Functional polymorphism in the neuropeptide Y gene promoter (rs16147) is associated with serum leptin levels and waist-hip ratio in women
2013
<b><i>Objective:</i></b> The neuropeptide-Y (NP-Y) gene is a strong candidate gene in the pathophysiology of obesity-linked behavior, and several single-nucleotide polymorphisms of NP-Y have already been linked to body weight and appetite. However, the results from current studies remain inconclusive. The aim of the present study was to test whether a certain functional genetic variant (SNP rs16147) in the NP-Y promoter gene is associated with serum leptin levels and body fat distribution. <b><i>Method:</i></b> We genotyped and measured the serum leptin levels of the NP-Y rs16147 polymorphism in 1,097 Caucasian subjects in the context of a pop…
Metabolite profiling of fecal water extracts from human colorectal cancer.
2009
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in developed countries. There is a need for better preventive strategies to improve the outcome of this disease. The increasing availability of high-throughput methodologies opens up new possibilities for screening new markers. The application of NMR metabolic profiling to fecal water extracts has interesting potential as a diagnostic tool for detecting colorectal cancer. We obtained NMR metabolic profiles of fecal water extracts from patients with colorectal cancer and healthy individuals, to characterize possible differences between them and to identify potential diagnostic markers. Our results show that metabolic profiling of …
Replication of previous genome-wide association studies of psychiatric diseases in a large schizophrenia case-control sample from Spain.
2014
Genome wide association studies (GWAS) has allowed the discovery of some interesting risk variants for schizophrenia (SCZ). However, this high-throughput approach presents some limitations, being the most important the necessity of highly restrictive statistical corrections as well as the loss of statistical power inherent to the use of a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) analysis approach. These problems can be partially solved through the use of a polygenic approach. We performed a genotyping study in SCZ using 86 previously associated SNPs identified by GWAS of SCZ, bipolar disorder (BPD) and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) patients. The sample consisted of 3063 independent cases wit…
Large-scale association analysis identifies 13 new susceptibility loci for coronary artery disease
2011
1. The CARDIoGRAM Consortium. Large-scale association analysis identifies 13 new susceptibility loci for coronary artery disease. Nature Genetics. 2011;43:333–338. ### Study Hypothesis Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several common variants that are associated with risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI). The authors state that the current loci discovered in CAD and MI GWAS explain only a small fraction of the heritability of this complex disease. The authors hypothesized that a larger study would provide more power to discover common variants with modest effect sizes. Therefore, they formed the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-wid…
Angiotensin type 2 receptor is important in the normal development of the ureter
1999
In humans, the actions of angiotensin II are transduced through the AT1 and AT2 receptors which have recently been implicated in renal organogenesis. Polymorphisms in the human angiotensin II receptor genes have been linked to cardiovascular and nephrological disorders. In this study we evaluated 35 patients with either primary obstructive megaureter or posterior urethral valves. Each was genotyped for the A1166 AT1 polymorphism and the recently described A-1332G AT2 transition. The incidence of these genetic variants was also evaluated in normal controls without any ultrasonographic urological abnormalities. Similar to our previous findings in congenital urological abnormalities, the AT1 r…
Medical exposure to ionising radiation and the risk of brain tumours: Interphone study group, Germany
2007
Abstract Background The role of exposure to low doses of ionising radiation in the aetiology of brain tumours has yet to be clarified. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between medically or occupationally related exposure to ionising radiation and brain tumours. Methods We used self-reported medical and occupational data collected during the German part of a multinational case–control study on mobile phone use and the risk of brain tumours (Interphone study) for the analyses. Results For any exposure to medical ionising radiation we found odds ratios (ORs) of 0.63 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.48–0.83), 1.08 (95% CI = 0.80–1.45) and 0.97 (95% CI = 0.54–1.75)…