Search results for "Function"

Compliance with patient-reported outcome assessment in glioma patients: predictors for drop out

2017

Abstract Background Patient-reported outcomes are of high importance in clinical neuro-oncology. However, assessment is still suboptimal. We aimed at exploring factors associated with the probability for a) drop out of study and b) death during follow-up. Methods Patients were assessed twice during follow-up visits scheduled within 3 to 5 months of each other by using 3 validated patient-reported outcome measures (t1: first assessment, t2: second assessment). As “death” was seen as a competing risk for drop out, univariate competing risk Cox regression models were applied to explore factors associated with dropping out (age, gender, WHO grade, living situation, recurrent surgery, Karnofsky …

Relation of Endothelial Dysfunction and Adipokines Levels to Insulin Resistance in Metabolic Syndrome Patients

2009

Relation of Endothelial Dysfunction and Adipokines Levels to Insulin Resistance in Metabolic Syndrome Patients Obese metabolic syndrome (MS) patients were categorised into three groups: 44 with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)(D); 20 with T2DM and coronary artery disease (CAD) (DC), and 26 with MS alone (M). Eighteen healthy subjects were selected as controls (C). Insulin resistance (IR) was assessed by HOMA-IR. Adiponectin, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) concentrations were measured by xMAP technology. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) was determined by ELISA. We used laser Doppler imaging for evaluating cut…

2021

Background Health literacy is a concept that refers to patients’ ability to manage their disease and the health system’s ability to guarantee access to services. There is evidence that health literacy impacts the health outcomes of patients with chronic diseases, but detailed information on this topic in patients with liver cirrhosis is scarce. It was the aim of this study to identify risk factors for poorer health literacy in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods 89 patients with liver cirrhosis were enrolled in this study and health literacy was measured using the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Covert hepatic encephalopathy (CHE) was diagnosed clinically according to the West-Have…

2021

BackgroundExecutive functions underlie self-regulation and are thus important for physical activity and adaptation to new situations. The aim was to investigate, if yearlong physical and cognitive training (PTCT) had greater effects on physical activity among older adults than physical training (PT) alone, and if executive functions predicted physical activity at baseline, after six (6m) and twelve months (12m) of the interventions, one-year post-intervention follow-up and an extended follow-up during COVID-19 lockdown.MethodsData from a single-blinded, parallel-group randomized controlled trial (PASSWORD-study, ISRCTN52388040) were utilized. Participants were 70–85 years old community-dwel…

2014

Nonsimultaneous maskers can strongly impair performance in an auditory intensity discrimination task. Using methods of molecular psychophysics, we quantified the extent to which (1) a masker-induced impairment of the representation of target intensity (i.e., increase in internal noise) and (2) a systematic influence of the masker intensities on the decision variable contribute to these effects. In a two-interval intensity discrimination procedure, targets were presented in quiet, and combined with forward maskers. The lateralization of the maskers relative to the targets was varied via the interaural time difference. Intensity difference limens (DLs) were strongly elevated under forward mas…

Erectile dysfunction: Prevalence and its relationship with lower urinary tract symptoms

2020

Abstract Background and objective The objective was to determine the prevalence of erectile dysfunction in men over 40 years of age and their relationship with frequent pathologies in Primary Care. Patients and methods Three hundred two men (40–79 years) were included. Anthropometric medical history, habits and parameters were determined. They were given the international prostate symptomatology questionnaire (IPSS), the male sexual health questionnaire (SHIM) and the Goldberg test for anxiety and depression. The prevalence of erectile dysfunction was determined and the relationship of the different variables obtained by univariate and multivariate analysis was studied. Results The prevalen…

Clinical utility of antigen carbohydrate 125 for planning the optimal length of stay in acute heart failure.

2021

BACKGROUND: The optimal length of stay (LOS) in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure (AHF) remains controversial. Plasma antigen carbohydrate 125 (CA125) has emerged as a reliable proxy of congestion. We aimed to evaluate whether there is a differential impact of LOS on the risk of 6-month AHF readmission across CA125 levels. METHODS: This is a retrospective study that included 1,387 patients discharged for AHF in two third-level centers. CA125 was measured 48±24h after admission. The association between CA125 and LOS with the risk of subsequent AHF readmission at 6 months was analyzed by Cox regression analysis accounting for death as a competing event. RESULTS: The median (IQR) a…

Effects of electrical stimulation pattern on quadriceps isometric force and fatigue in individuals with spinal cord injury

2015

Introduction Variable frequency trains (VFT) or train combinations have been suggested as useful strategies to offset the rapid fatigue induced by constant frequency trains (CFT) during electrical stimulation. However, most studies have been of short duration with limited functional application in those with spinal cord injury (SCI). We therefore tested force and fatigue in response to VFT, CFT, and combined patterns in strength training-like conditions (6-s contractions). Methods Ten SCI individuals underwent either CFT or VFT patterns until target torque was no longer produced and then switched immediately to the other pattern. Results Target torque was reached more times when VFT was use…

Short‐term changes in left and right systolic function following ferric carboxymaltose: a substudy of the Myocardial‐IRON trial

2020

Funding: This work was supported in part by an unrestricted grant from Vifor Pharma and Proyectos de Investigación de la Sección de Insuficiencia Cardiaca 2017 from Sociedad Española de Cardiología. The mechanisms underlying the beneficial effect of ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) in patients with heart failure (HF) and iron deficiency (ID) have not been completely characterized. The Myocardial-IRON trial was a double-blind, randomized trial that evaluated myocardial iron repletion following FCM vs. placebo in 53 patients with HF and ID. In this post hoc analysis, we evaluated whether treatment with FCM was associated with cardiac magnetic resonance changes in left and right ventricular functio…

Echocardiographic assessment of coronary microvascular dysfunction: Basic concepts, technical aspects, and clinical settings

2021

Abstract Coronary flow reserve is the capacity of the coronary circulation to augment the blood flow in response an increase in myocardial metabolic demands and has a powerful prognostic significance in different clinical situations. It might assess with invasive and noninvasive technique. Transthoracic echocardiography Doppler is an emerging diagnostic technique, noninvasive, highly feasible, safe for patient and physician, without radiation, and able to detect macrovascular and microvascular anomalies in the coronary circulation. This review aims to describe the benefit and limits of echocardiographic assessment of coronary flow reserve.