Search results for "REF"
showing 10 items of 8690 documents
Omalizumab rapidly improves angioedema-related quality of life in adult patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria: X-ACT study data
2018
Background The X-ACT study aims to examine the effect of omalizumab treatment on quality of life (QoL) in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) patients with angioedema refractory to high doses of H1-antihistamines. Methods In X-ACT, a phase III, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, CSU patients (18–75 years) with ≥4 angioedema episodes during the 6 months before inclusion were randomized (1:1) to receive omalizumab 300 mg or placebo every 4 weeks for 28 weeks. Angioedema-related QoL, skin-related QoL impairment, and psychological well-being were assessed. Results Ninety-one patients were randomized and 68 (omalizumab, n=35; placebo, n=33) completed the 28-week treatment period. At baselin…
Gastrointestinal symptoms in infancy: A population-based prospective study
2005
Abstract Background. During the first months of life, infants can suffer from many ‘minor’ gastroenterological disturbances. However, little is known about the frequency of these problems and the factors which predispose or facilitate their onset. Aims. (a) To ascertain the frequency of the most common gastrointestinal symptoms in infants during the first 6 months after birth; (b) to evaluate the influence of some variables on the onset of the symptoms. Study design and patients. Each of the 150 paediatricians distributed throughout Italy followed 20 consecutive infants from birth to 6 months. 2879 infants (1422 f, 1457 m) concluded the study. The presence of the following symptoms was eval…
Distribution, genetic and cardiovascular determinants of FVIII:c - Data from the population-based Gutenberg Health Study
2015
Background: Elevated levels of FVIII:c are associated with risk for both venous and arterial thromboembolism. However, no population-based study on the sex-specific distribution and reference ranges of plasma FVIII: c and its cardiovascular determinants is available. Methods: FVIII:c was analyzed in a randomly selected sample of 2533 males and 2440 females from the Gutenberg Health Study in Germany. Multivariable regression analyses for FVIII:c were performed under adjustment for genetic determinants, cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease. Results and conclusions: Females (126.6% (95% CI: 125.2/128)) showed higher FVIII:c levels than males (121.2% (119.8/122.7)). FVIII:c le…
Human eyes do not need monochromatic aberrations for dynamic accommodation
2017
Purpose To determine if human accommodation uses the eye's own monochromatic aberrations to track dynamic accommodative stimuli. Methods Wavefront aberrations were measured while subjects monocularly viewed a monochromatic Maltese cross moving sinusoidally around 2D of accommodative demand with 1D amplitude at 0.2 Hz. The amplitude and phase (delay) of the accommodation response were compared to the actual vergence of the stimulus to obtain gain and temporal phase, calculated from wavefront aberrations recorded over time during experimental trials. The tested conditions were as follows: Correction of all the subject's aberrations except defocus (C); Correction of all the subject's aberratio…
Reference interval by the indirect approach of serum thyrotropin (TSH) in a Mediterranean adult population and the association with age and gender.
2019
Abstract Background The serum concentration of thyrotropin (TSH) represents a first-line test in diagnostic algorithms. The estimation of TSH reference intervals (RIs) is still a matter of debate due to the high prevalence of subclinical disease making difficult the definition of truly healthy subjects. The aim of this study was to estimate TSH RIs in healthy subjects and to evaluate the effect of age and gender on TSH concentration. Methods Forty-four thousand one hundred and fifty-six TSH data were collected between July 2012 and April 2018 at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, University-Hospital, Palermo. Common and sex-specific RIs were estimated by Arzideh’s indirect method after …
Prismatic Adaptation Modulates Oscillatory EEG Correlates of Motor Preparation but Not Visual Attention in Healthy Participants.
2017
Prismatic adaption (PA) has been proposed as a tool to induce neural plasticity and is used to help neglect rehabilitation. It leads to a recalibration of visuomotor coordination during pointing as well as to aftereffects on a number of sensorimotor and attention tasks, but whether these effects originate at a motor or attentional level remains a matter of debate. Our aim was to further characterize PA aftereffects by using an approach that allows distinguishing between effects on attentional and motor processes. We recorded EEG in healthy human participants (9 females and 7 males) while performing a new double step, anticipatory attention/motor preparation paradigm before and after adaptat…
Parieto-frontal interactions in visual-object and visual-spatial working memory: Evidence from transcranial magnetic stimulation
2001
This study aimed to investigate whether transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can induce selective working memory (WM) deficits of visual-object versus visual-spatial information in normal humans. Thirty-five healthy subjects performed two computerized visual n-back tasks, in which they were required to memorize spatial locations or abstract patterns. In a first series of experiments, unilateral or bilateral TMS was delivered on posterior parietal and middle temporal regions of both hemispheres after various delays during the WM task. Bilateral temporal TMS increased reaction times (RTs) in the visual-object, whereas bilateral parietal TMS selectively increased RTs in the visual-spatial W…
Direction‐dependent visual cortex activation during horizontal optokinetic stimulation (fMRI study)
2005
Looking at a moving pattern induces optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and activates an assembly of cortical areas in the visual cortex, including lateral occipitotemporal (motion‐sensitive area MT/V5) and adjacent occipitoparietal areas as well as ocular motor areas such as the prefrontal cortex, frontal, supplementary, and parietal eye fields. The aim of this functional MRI (fMRI) study was to investigate (1) whether stimulus direction‐dependent effects can be found, especially in the cortical eye fields, and (2) whether there is a hemispheric dominance of ocular motor areas. In a group of 15 healthy subjects, OKN in rightward and leftward directions was visually elicited and statistically compa…
Visuospatial attention shifts by gaze and arrow cues: an ERP study.
2007
Orienting of visual attention can be automatically triggered not only by illumination changes occurring in the visual periphery but also by centrally presented gaze and arrow cues. We investigated whether the automatic shifts of visuospatial attention triggered by centrally displayed gaze and arrow cues rely on the same neural systems. To this end we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to the cue and target onsets while the participants (n=17) performed a spatial cuing task. In the task, the participants detected and responded to laterally presented targets preceded by centrally presented, non-predictive, gaze or arrow cues. Manual reaction times and target-triggered ERP da…
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Activations of Cortical Eye Fields during Saccades, Smooth Pursuit, and Optokinetic Nystagmus
2009
Saccades, smooth pursuit, and optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) are three basic eye movements in our ocular motor repertoire that enable us to explore the visual field. These eye movements are cortically controlled in different cortical eye fields, including the frontal eye fields (FEF) and parietal eye fields (PEF), as well as the motion-sensitive visual area MT+/V5. It is not known if this cortical control is organized in parallel cortico-cortical networks or in adjacent subregions of one system. Nor do we know where the specific eye fields are exactly located. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate these open questions about the FEF, PEF, and MT+/V5. Activations o…