Search results for "Control subjects"
showing 10 items of 55 documents
β-amyloid wall deposit of temporal artery in subjects with spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage.
2018
// Antonino Tuttolomondo 1 , Rosario Maugeri 4 , Elisabetta Orlando 2 , Giulio Giannone 2 , Francesco Ciccia 3 , Aroldo Rizzo 5 , Domenico Di Raimondo 1 , Francesca Graziano 4 , Rosaria Pecoraro 1 , Carlo Maida 1 , Irene Simonetta 1 , Anna Cirrincione 1 , Francesca Portelli 2 , Francesca Corpora 1 , Domenico Gerardo Iacopino 4 and Antonio Pinto 1 1 Internal Medicine and Stroke Care Ward, Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy 2 Human Pathology Section, Human Pathology Section, Department of Health Sciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy 3 Rheumathology Ward, Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, Univers…
Reducing sample size in experiments with animals: historical controls and related strategies
2015
Reducing the number of animal subjects used in biomedical experiments is desirable for ethical and practical reasons. Previous reviews of the benefits of reducing sample sizes have focused on improving experimental designs and methods of statistical analysis, but reducing the size of control groups has been considered rarely. We discuss how the number of current control animals can be reduced, without loss of statistical power, by incorporating information from historical controls, i.e. subjects used as controls in similar previous experiments. Using example data from published reports, we describe how to incorporate information from historical controls under a range of assumptions that mig…
Multi-Dimensional, Short-Timescale Quantification of Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor Motor Dysfunction
2020
Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive movement disorder characterized by heterogenous motor dysfunction with fluctuations in severity. Objective, short-timescale characterization of this dysfunction is necessary as therapies become increasingly adaptive. Objectives: This study aims to characterize a novel, naturalistic, and goal-directed tablet-based task and complementary analysis protocol designed to characterize the motor features of PD. Methods: A total of 26 patients with PD and without deep brain stimulation (DBS), 20 control subjects, and eight patients with PD and with DBS completed the task. Eight metrics, each designed to capture an aspect of motor dysfunction in…
Relationship between PMN-endothelium interactions, ROS production and Beclin-1 in type 2 diabetes.
2020
Type 2 diabetes is closely related to oxidative stress and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we hypothesized that polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN)-endothelium interactions and autophagy are associated. We evaluated PMN-endothelial interactions, ROS production and autophagy parameters in 47 type 2 diabetic patients and 57 control subjects. PMNs from type 2 diabetic patients exhibited slower rolling velocity (p < 0.001), higher rolling flux (p < 0.001) and adhesion (p < 0.001) in parallel to higher levels of total (p < 0.05) and mitochondrial ROS (p < 0.05). When the protein expression of autophagy markers was analysed, an increase of Beclin-1 (p < 0.05), LC3I (p < 0.05), LC3II (p < 0…
Lubricin in synovial fluid of mild and severe temporomandibular joint internal derangements
2015
Background To understand the molecular basis of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pathologies, we aimed to investigate the lubricin levels in the TMJ synovial fluid (SF) of patients with mild to severe internal derangements (IDs). Material and Methods A total, 34 joints were the study group. Only patients, with a Wilkes stage of III, IV and V were included, in this sample. Control group consisted of SF from eight joints, from patients undergoing to orthognatic surgery. Concentrations of lubricin in the SF from both samples were measured using ELISA system. Results The mean lubricin concentration was 7.029 ± 0.21 µg/mL in stage III patients; 5.64 ± 0.10 µg/mL in stage IV patients, and 4.78 ± 0.1…
Ultrasonographic Measurements of the Achilles Tendon in Elderly Athletes and Sedentary Men
1994
Ultrasonography was performed on the Achilles tendon of the dominant limb of 18 male elderly athletes and 11 sedentary men, aged 70 to 80 years. The tendons were examined with a real-time linear array scanner using a 7.5 MHz transducer. Both longitudinal and transverse images were taken. The mean width of the Achilles tendon was significantly larger in the athletes than in the control subjects. The tendon thickness and cross-sectional area did not differ significantly between the groups, but the figures may indicate a tendency for larger cross-sectional area in the athletes. The results suggest tendon hypertrophy following long-term training.
Association between irisin and homocysteine in euglycemic and diabetic subjects
2014
Abstract Objectives The aim of study was to explore whether a relationship exists between homocysteine and irisin in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients—a population with a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease—and euglycemic controls. Design and methods 69 T2D patients and 75 control subjects (adjusted by body mass index (BMI)) were included in the study. Irisin and homocysteine concentrations and anthropometric and biochemical variables were determined. Results Levels of homocysteine were significantly higher (11.0 ± 3.0 vs 12.4 ± 4.2 μmol/l) and levels of irisin were lower (279 ± 58 vs 263 ± 38 ng/ml) in T2D patients. When both T2D and controls were considered, irisin was found to co…
The Use of Frozen-Thawed Platelet-Derived Phospholipids as a Confirmatory Test for the Diagnosis of Lupus Anticoagulants. Comparison with Two Commerc…
1999
Lupus anticoagulants (LAs) belong to acquired circulating anticoagulants interfering with phospholipid-dependent coagulation tests. Owing to the remarkable variability among patients, SSC guidelines recommend more than one test to detect and confirm the presence of LAs. However, this is an expensive procedure and greatly raises the work load of the laboratory. A standardised platelet-derived phospholipid preparation was obtained and platelet neutralisation (PNP) procedures with APTT and DRVVT reagents were performed on plasmas from 16 patients with LAs and from 41 control subjects. In comparisons, STAclot-PNP and DVVconfirm clotting assays were conducted. PNP by using APTT or DRVVT reagents…
Evaluation of the anterior chamber angle in keratoconus and normal subjects.
2015
To evaluate the anterior chamber angle in keratoconus eyes by use of the Visante™ OCT and Orbscan™ II.Anterior chamber angle was measured with the Visante™ OCT and Orbscan™ II in 52 subjects, 26 KC subjects and 26 age and control subjects.When comparing the nasal and temporal angles obtained with the two techniques no correlation was found (R(2) always below 0.01) in either the control subjects or in the KC subjects. Despite this, there was an overall statistically significant difference in mean anterior chamber angles (p0.001) between Visante™ OCT and Orbscan™ II. There was no statistical difference (p0.05) between nasal and temporal anterior chamber angles when comparing controls and KC s…
Comparison of Macular Thickness in Patients with Keratoconus and Control Subjects Using the Cirrus HD-OCT
2014
Purpose.The aim of the present study was to compare macular thickness in patients with keratoconus (KC) with macular thickness in healthy subjects.Subjects and Methods.Twenty-six patients with KC and 52 control subjects were included. The macular structure was evaluated using a Zeiss Cirrus HD-OCT. The scan pattern used was 512 × 128, which covers an area of approximately 6 × 6 mm of the retina. The cube volume was assessed as well as macular thickness in each of the 9 sectors defined by the software.Results.The mean signal strength was significantly lower in the KC group (mean 8.4, range 6–10) compared with the control group (mean 9.7, range 7–10),P<0.0001(unpairedt-test). There were no…