Search results for "Laboratory medicine"
showing 10 items of 211 documents
Patients experiencing statin-induced myalgia exhibit a unique program of skeletal muscle gene expression following statin re-challenge
2017
Statins, the 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase inhibitors, are widely prescribed for treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Although statins are generally well tolerated, up to ten percent of statin-treated patients experience myalgia symptoms, defined as muscle pain without elevated creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels. Myalgia is the most frequent reason for discontinuation of statin therapy. The mechanisms underlying statin myalgia are not clearly understood. To elucidate changes in gene expression associated with statin myalgia, we compared profiles of gene expression in skeletal muscle biopsies from patients with statin myalgia who were undergoing statin re-challenge (cases)…
Peptide Processing Is Critical for T-Cell Memory Inflation and May Be Optimized to Improve Immune Protection by CMV-Based Vaccine Vectors.
2016
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) elicits long-term T-cell immunity of unparalleled strength, which has allowed the development of highly protective CMV-based vaccine vectors. Counterintuitively, experimental vaccines encoding a single MHC-I restricted epitope offered better immune protection than those expressing entire proteins, including the same epitope. To clarify this conundrum, we generated recombinant murine CMVs (MCMVs) encoding well-characterized MHC-I epitopes at different positions within viral genes and observed strong immune responses and protection against viruses and tumor growth when the epitopes were expressed at the protein C-terminus. We used the M45-encoded conventional epitope HGI…
Modic changes-Their associations with low back pain and activity limitation: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis.
2018
Background Previous systematic reviews have reported positive associations between Modic changes (MCs) and low back pain (LBP), but due to their narrow scope and new primary studies, there is a need for a comprehensive systematic review. Our objectives were to investigate if MCs are associated with non-specific LBP and/or activity limitation and if such associations are modified by other factors. Methods A protocol for this review was registered at PROSPERO prior to commencing the work (PROSPERO record: CRD42015017350). The MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE databases were searched for relevant studies from first record to June 15th 2016. Prospective or retrospective cross-sectional cohort studies …
New insights into the gut microbiome in loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta stranded on the Mediterranean coast
2019
Caretta caretta is the most common sea turtle species in the Mediterranean Sea. The species is threatened by anthropomorphic activity that causes thousands of deaths and hundreds of strandings along the Mediterranean coast. Stranded turtles are often cared for in rehabilitation centres until they recover or die. The objective of this study was to characterize the gut microbiome of nine sea turtles stranded along the Sicilian coast of the Mediterranean Sea using high-throughput sequencing analysis targeting V3–V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Stool samples were collected from eight specimens hosted in the recovery centre after a few days of hospitalization (under 7) and from one ho…
Ischemic stroke risk during long-term follow up in patients with successful catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in Korea
2018
The interruption of oral anticoagulation therapy (OAC) after CA of atrial fibrillation (AF) is controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between successful long-term outcomes of catheter resection and SR maintenance and ischemic stroke risk in Korea. We studied 1,548 consecutive patients who were followed up for more than 2 years after CA of AF. We investigated the incidence of ischemic stroke during long-term follow-up. Compared to the AF recurrence group (n = 619), the sinus rhythm (SR) maintenance group (n = 929) had more paroxysmal AF (74.6% versus 44.4%, p<0.001), smaller LA size (39.9±5.7mm versus 42.3±6.0mm, p<0.001), and younger age (54.2±10.9 years v…
Factors associated with influenza vaccination of hospitalized elderly patients in Spain
2016
Vaccination of the elderly is an important factor in limiting the impact of influenza in the com- munity. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors associated with influenza vacci- nation coverage in hospitalized patients aged 65 years hospitalized due to causes unrelated to influenza in Spain. We carried out a cross-sectional study. Bivariate analysis was performed comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, taking in to account sociodemographic variables and medical risk conditions. Multivariate analysis was per- formed using multilevel regression models. We included 1038 patients: 602 (58%) had received the influenza vaccine in the 2013 - 14 season. Three or more general p…
Impact of PNPLA3 and IFNL3 polymorphisms on hepatic steatosis in Asian patients with chronic hepatitis C.
2017
Background and aims A recent meta-analysis revealed that the genotype PNPLA3 rs738409 GG is associated with a higher risk of hepatic steatosis (HS) in Caucasian patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). However, controversial results were found regarding Asian populations. Furthermore, previous studies have shown a negative association between interferon lambda 3 (IFNL3) rs12979860 CC and HS in Caucasian CHC patients, but there have been no reports indicating any such association in Asian populations. In this study, then, we investigated the association of PNPLA3 and IFNL3 polymorphisms with HS in Asian CHC patients. Methods We enrolled consecutive CHC patients who underwent liver biopsy pri…
Procrastination, Distress and Life Satisfaction across the Age Range – A German Representative Community Study
2016
Addressing the lack of population-based data the purpose of this representative study was to assess procrastination and its associations with distress and life satisfaction across the life span. A representative German community sample (1,350 women; 1,177 men) between the ages of 14 and 95 years was examined by the short form of the General Procrastination Scale (GPS-K; 1) and standardized scales of perceived stress, depression, anxiety, fatigue and life satisfaction. As hypothesized, procrastination was highest in the youngest cohort (14-29 years). Only in the youngest and most procrastinating cohort (aged 14 to 29 years), men procrastinated more than women. As we had further hypothesized,…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Different Testing Strategies that Use Antibody Levels to Detect Chronic Hepatitis C in Blood Donors.
2016
Aim. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of seven hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing strategies in blood donors. Methods. Three of the seven strategies were based on HCV diagnosis and reporting guidelines in Mexico and four were from previous and current recommendations outlined by the CDC. The strategies that were evaluated determine antibody levels according to the signal-to-cut-off (S/CO) ratio and use reflex Immunoblot (IMB) or HCV RNA tests to confirm true positive (TP) cases of chronic HCV infection. Costs were calculated from the perspective of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS). A decision tree model was developed to estimate the expected number of true positive cas…
Impact of probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii on the gut microbiome composition in HIV-treated patients: A double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled…
2017
Dysbalance in gut microbiota has been linked to increased microbial translocation, leading to chronic inflammation in HIV-patients, even under effective HAART. Moreover, microbial translocation is associated with insufficient reconstitution of CD4+T cells, and contributes to the pathogenesis of immunologic non-response. In a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, we recently showed that, compared to placebo, 12 weeks treatment with probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii significantly reduced plasma levels of bacterial translocation (Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein or LBP) and systemic inflammation (IL-6) in 44 HIV virologically suppressed patients, half of whom (n = 22) had immun…