Search results for "ILLNESS"

Body mass index as a predictor of all-cause mortality in nursing home residents during a 5-year follow-up.

2013

Background: Body mass index (BMI) is considered a short-term mortality predictor, but a consensus has not been reached on its role and that of other nutritional parameters in predicting long-term mortality in nursing home residents. Objectives: To correlate BMI, Mini Nutritional Assessment scores, and serum albumin levels with the 5-year mortality rate in institutionalized elderly subjects. Methods: A total of 181 nursing home residents aged ≥70 years were included in a 5-year longitudinal study. Data were collected on all participants' nutritional, health, cognitive, and functional status by means of a comprehensive geriatric assessment. Data on the participants' vital status were obtained…

SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, serum inflammatory biomarkers and clinical severity of hospitalized COVID-19 patients

2020

Background The involvement of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in mediating immunopathogenetic events in COVID-19 patients has been suggested. By using several experimental approaches, we investigated the potential association between SARS-CoV-2 IgGs recognizing the spike (S) protein receptor-binding domain (RBD), neutralizing antibodies (NtAb) targeting S, and COVID-19 severity. Patients and methods This unicenter, retrospective, observational study included 51 hospitalized patients (24 at the intensive care unit; ICU). A total of 93 sera from these patients collected at different time points from the onset of symptoms were analyzed. SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgGs were quantitated by ELISA and NtAb50 titers wer…

Lung microenvironments and disease progression in fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis

2022

Rationale: Fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (fHP) is an interstitial lung disease caused by sensitization to an inhaled allergen. Objectives: To identify the molecular determinants associated with progression of fibrosis. Methods: Nine fHP explant lungs and six unused donor lungs (as controls) were systematically sampled (4 samples/lung). According to microcomputed tomography measures, fHP cores were clustered into mild, moderate, and severe fibrosis groups. Gene expression profiles were assessed using weighted gene co-expression network analysis, xCell, gene ontology, and structure enrichment analysis. Gene expression of the prevailing molecular traits was also compared with idiopathi…

Permanent left atrial pacing therapy may improve symptoms in heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction and atrial dyssynchrony: a pilot…

2012

Aims Our group has recently shown that in some patients, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) may be explained by ‘atrial dyssynchrony syndrome’ (ADS) due to interatrial conduction delay (IACD), a short left atrioventricular interval (LAVI), and increased left atrial (LA) stiffness. Our primary objective was to evaluate LA pacing therapy as a new treatment to restore left ventricular active filling in patients with no other known causes for HF than ADS. Methods and results Six patients with severe HFPEF with IACD (P wave duration >120 ms in lead II), short LAVI during electrophysiological studies ( 15), and no standard indication for a pacemaker were implanted with a lead …

Novel technologies to detect atelectotrauma in the injured lung

2010

ABSTRACTCyclical recruitment and derecruitment of lung parenchyma (R/D) remains a serious problem in ALI/ARDS patients, defined as atelectotrauma. Detection of cyclical R/D to titrate the optimal respiratory settings is of high clinical importance. Image-based technologies that are capable of detecting changes of lung ventilation within a respiratory cycle include dynamic computed tomography (dCT), synchrotron radiation computed tomography (SRCT), and electrical impedance tomography (EIT). Time-dependent intra-arterial oxygen tension monitoring represents an alternative approach to detect cyclical R/D, as cyclical R/D can result in oscillations of PaO2 within a respiratory cycle. Continuous…

Optimal doses of caspofungin during continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration in critically ill patients

2017

Different skin prick test sensitization patterns do not influence the response to omalizumab in severe asthma

2017

Value of the deep femoral artery as alternative inflow source in infrainguinal bypass surgery.

2013

Background The purpose of this study was to analyze the long-term results of infrainguinal bypass surgery using the deep femoral artery (DFA) as the inflow source. Methods Between 1998 and 2011, 88 bypasses of the lower limb were placed in 86 patients (mean age 71 years) using the deep femoral artery as inflow. Patients' records were retrieved from a computerized database and analyzed retrospectively. Results Critical limb ischemia (rest pain/tissue loss) was the indication in the majority (87.5%) of cases. The distal anastomosis of the bypass grafts was located at the popliteal level in 32 cases and the tibial (pedal) level in 52 cases, respectively, with the autologous vein as conduit in …

Early motor development and later language and reading skills in children at risk of familial dyslexia.

2005

Relationships between early motor development and language and reading skills were studied in 154 children, of whom 75 had familial risk of dyslexia (37 females, 38 males; at-risk group) and 79 constituted a control group (32 females, 47 males). Motor development was assessed by a structured parental questionnaire during the child's first year of life. Vocabulary and inflectional morphology skills were used as early indicators of language skills at 3 years 6 months and 5 years or 5 years 6 months of age, and reading speed was used as a later indicator of reading skills at 7 years of age. The same subgroups as in our earlier study (in which the cluster analysis was described) were used in th…

Antiretroviral therapy abrogates association between arginase activity and HIV disease severity

2010

AbstractArginase-induced L-arginine deprivation is emerging as a key mechanism for the downregulation of immune responses. We hypothesised that arginase activity increases with disease severity in HIV-seropositive patients. Our results show that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 23 HIV-seropositive patients with low CD4+ T cell counts (≤350 cells/μl) expressed significantly more arginase compared with 21 patients with high CD4+ T cell counts. Furthermore, we found a significant association between the two principal prognostic markers used to monitor HIV disease (CD4+ T cell count and plasma viral load) and PBMC arginase activity in antiretroviral therapy naïve patients but not…