Search results for "HRA"
showing 10 items of 1703 documents
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…
Influence of St John's wort on catecholamine turnover and cardiovascular regulation in humans
2004
BACKGROUND: St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a popular over-the-counter antidepressant. Its antidepressive effect has been attributed in part to inhibition of monoamine transporters and monoamine oxidase, on the basis of in vitro studies. METHODS: In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study, 16 healthy subjects (11 men and 5 women; mean age, 31 +/- 5 years) ingested either St John's wort (300 mg three times daily) or placebo for 7 days. Imipramine treatment (50 mg three times daily) in 7 subjects served as a positive control. After treatment, physiologic and biochemical tests included cardiovascular reflex testing, graded head-up tilt testing, and plasma catec…
Mycotoxin Dietary Exposure Assessment through Fruit Juices Consumption in Children and Adult Population
2019
Consumption of fruit juice is becoming trendy for consumers seeking freshness and high vitamin and low caloric intake. Mycotoxigenic moulds may infect fruits during crop growth, harvest, and storage leading to mycotoxin production. Many mycotoxins are resistant to food processing, which make their presence in the final juice product very likely expected. In this way, the presence of 30 mycotoxins including aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), aflatoxin G2 (AFG2), alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), Ochratoxin A (OTA), fumonisin B1 (FB1), fumonisin B2 (FB2), enniatin A (ENNA), enniatin A1 (ENNA1), enniatin B (ENNB), enniatin B1 (ENNB1), beauverici…
Body Mass Index as a Risk Factor for Toxicities in Patients with Advanced Soft-Tissue Sarcoma Treated with Trabectedin
2017
<b><i>Objectives:</i></b> Low body mass index (BMI) and/or low lean body mass have been shown to be risk factors for chemotherapy-related toxicities in a number of different cancers. However, no data are available regarding the role of BMI as a risk factor for developing toxicities related to the novel anticancer agent, trabectedin, in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma (STS). We evaluated the role of BMI as a risk factor for trabectedin-related toxicity in patients with STS. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Data from 51 patients with metastatic/advanced STS treated with trabectedin after progression on ≥1 anthracycline ± ifosfamide regimen were retrospe…
Influence of ABCB1 polymorphisms upon the effectiveness of standard treatment for acute myeloid leukemia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of ob…
2015
The ABCB1 gene encodes for P-glycoprotein (P-gp), an efflux pump for a variety of xenobiotics. The role of ABCB1 polymorphisms in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) outcomes of standard chemotherapy (cytarabine plus anthracyclines) remains controversial. A systematic search was made of studies evaluating the association between ABCB1 polymorphisms 1236C>T, 2677G>T/A and 3435C>T and effectiveness variables. We found seven cohort studies (1241 patients) showing a significantly higher overall survival (OS) among carriers of the variant allele of 1236C>T at year 4 (odds ratio (OR): 1.47, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07-2.01), 2677G>T/A at years 4-5 (OR: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.01-1.86) and 3435C>T at year…
PML expression in soft tissue sarcoma: Prognostic and predictive value in alkylating agents/antracycline-based first line therapy
2012
Soft tissue sarcomas are aggressive tumors representing <1% of all adult neoplasms. Aim of our study was to evaluate promyelocytic leukemia gene expression value as prognostic factor and as a factor predicting response to alkylating agents/antracycline-based first line therapy. One hundred eleven patients affected by locally advanced and metastatic soft tissue sarcoma were selected. PML expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis in pathological samples and in the corresponding normal tissue from each case. PML immunohistochemical results were correlated with prognosis and with radiological response to alkylating agents/antracycline-based first line therapy. PML expression was …
Functional pain in hospitalised and school children
2012
Aim. Aim of the study was to recognise the role of psychological disagreement in children and adolescents suffering from functional pain. Methods. Two groups of children, adolescents and their parents were interviewed: group H (hospitalized patients), group S (students, at school). Suitable investigations excluded organic lesions. The following data were analysed: 1) presence of pain in relation with: i) sex and age; ii) relation with parents, brothers, other relatives, schoolfellows; 2) efficacy of possible treatments. Results. Group H: 194 patients, median age 10 years; 134 referred pain: 62 out of 92 males and 72 out of 102 females; location of pain: abdomen, limbs, head, back. Family di…
The role of intrinsic pathway in apoptosis activation and progression in Peyronie's Disease.
2014
Peyronie’s disease (PD) is characterized with formation of fibrous plaques which result in penile deformity, pain, and erectile dysfunction. The aim of this study was to investigate the activation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway in plaques from PD patients. Tunica albuginea from either PD or control patients was assessed for the expression of bax, bcl-2 and caspases 9 and 3 using immunohistochemistry and by measurement of apoptotic cells using TUNEL assay. Bax overexpression was observed in metaplastic bone tissue, in fibroblasts, and in myofibroblast of plaques from PD patients. Little or no bcl-2 immunostaining was detected in samples from either patients or controls. Caspase 3 immunos…
Linguistic Bias Modulates Interpretation of Speech via Neural Delta-Band Oscillations.
2017
Language comprehension requires that single words be grouped into syntactic phrases, as words in sentences are too many to memorize individually. In speech, acoustic and syntactic grouping patterns mostly align. However, when ambiguous sentences allow for alternative grouping patterns, comprehenders may form phrases that contradict speech prosody. While delta-band oscillations are known to track prosody, we hypothesized that linguistic grouping bias can modulate the interpretational impact of speech prosody in ambiguous situations, which should surface in delta-band oscillations when grouping patterns chosen by comprehenders differ from those indicated by prosody. In our auditory electroenc…
Non-contact breath sampling for sensor-based breath analysis
2019
Breath analysis holds great promise for real-time and non-invasive medical diagnosis. Thus, there is a considerable need for simple-in-use and portable analyzers for rapid detection of breath indicators for different diseases in their early stages. Sensor technology meets all of these demands. However, miniaturized breath analyzers require adequate breath sampling methods. In this context, we propose non-contact sampling; namely the collection of breath samples by exhalation from a distance into a miniaturized collector without bringing the mouth into direct contact with the analyzing device. To evaluate this approach different breathing maneuvers have been tested in a real-time regime on a…