Search results for "Sect"
showing 10 items of 10622 documents
Distributions and determinants of urinary biomarkers of organophosphate pesticide exposure in a prospective Spanish birth cohort study
2017
Background: Prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OPs) has been associated with impaired child development. Pesticide exposure determinants need to be studied in order to identify sources and pathways of pesticide exposure. The aim of this paper is to describe prenatal exposure to OPs and evaluate the associated factors in pregnant women. Methods: The study population consisted of pregnant women ( n = 573) who participated in the INMA birth cohort study in Valencia (Spain, 2003 – 2006). OP metabolites were analyzed in maternal urine at the 32nd week of gestation using a liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry method. The analysis included non-specific (diethyl pho…
Validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey for Estimating Burnout in Dental Students.
2016
The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) as a tool for assessing the prevalence and level of burnout in dental students in Spanish universities. The survey was adapted from English to Spanish. A sample of 533 dental students from 15 Spanish universities and a control group of 188 medical students self-administered the survey online, using the Google Drive service. The test-retest reliability or reproducibility showed an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.95. The internal consistency of the survey was 0.922. Testing the construct validity showed two components with an eigenvalue greater than 1.5, w…
Functional evaluation of patients with anterior cruciate ligament injury. A transversal analytical study.
2018
Abstract Objective To evaluate, by means of biomechanical analysis, functional alterations of gait and balance of patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Material and methods Transversal analytical study on 64 people, 27 health subjects and 37 patients with ACL injury. Biomechanical analysis of gait in all individuals was performed by means of four tests: (1) kinematic test, to characterize gait pattern; (2) kinetic test, to characterize forces against the floor, duration of treads, symmetry of both legs, and the reproducibility of the gait; (3) pivot-shift test, to analyze the rotational stability of the knee on the sagittal axis; and (4) equilibrium test. Results Alteration…
Stability of the upper neck during isometric neck exercises in rheumatoid arthritis patients with atlantoaxial disorders.
2008
To study the effect of isometric neck strength exercises on upper cervical stability in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Twenty patients with a mean (SD) age of 58 (9) years and duration of RA of 27 (10) years volunteered for the study. Lateral radiographs of the cervical spine were taken to measure the current atlantoaxial distance (AAD) in flexion and extension. Maximal isometric neck flexion and extension strength values were measured by a dynamometer. Thereafter, AADs were measured from radiographs taken at 80-90% resistance of maximal strength.According to the full flexion radiographs at baseline, the patients were classified into three groups: eight patients without anterior at…
Robotic treatment of colorectal endometriosis: technique, feasibility and short-term results
2012
background: Deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) is a complex disease that impairs the quality of life and the fertility of women. Since a medical approach is often insufficient, a minimally invasive approach is considered the gold standard for complete disease excision. Roboticassisted surgery is a revolutionary approach, with several advantages compared with traditional laparoscopic surgery. methods: From March 2010 to May 2011, we performed 22 consecutive robotic-assisted complete laparoscopic excisions of DIE endometriosis with colorectal involvement. All clinical data were collected by our team and all patients were interviewed preoperatively and 3 and 6 months post-operatively and ye…
Serum visfatin levels in acromegaly: Correlation with disease activity and metabolic alterations
2015
Objective: The studies that have extensively evaluated the relation between adipokines and metabolic parameters in acromegaly treatment are quite discordant. We aimed to evaluate and correlate a set of selected adipokines, known to have a metabolic role, with the disease activity, metabolic status and treatment modalities. Design: Data of 56 consecutive acromegalic patients (31 M and 25 F; aged 54 ± 12 years), admitted to the section of Endocrinology of the University of Palermo during the years 2005-2014, including 16 newly diagnosed untreated (ND), 21 during therapy with somatostatin analogues (SA), 12 with pegvisomant (PE) and 7 after surgical treatment (SU), grouped into uncontrolled (g…
Fibrosis is not just fibrosis - basement membrane modelling and collagen metabolism differs between hepatitis B- and C-induced injury
2016
BACKGROUND: While morphological patterns differ, the molecular phenotype of liver fibrosis is considered a stereotypical response to chronic liver injury. However, with different cellular triggers and networks regulating fibrosis, the molecular responses of the injured liver may not be identical.AIM: To investigate whether differences in extracellular matrix (ECM) composition of the liver during fibrogenesis in two seemingly similar types of viral hepatitis could be reflected by differences in ECM turnover.METHODS: Utilising a cross-sectional design, we measured specific ECM protein fragments in plasma from 197 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and 403 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients ma…
Hepatitis delta infection in Italian patients: towards the end of the story?
2016
Background: The endemicity of hepatitis delta virus infection in Italy has decreased in the last decades. Aim: To evaluate the current epidemiology of chronic delta infection in Italy and to compare the present findings with the corresponding figures from the previous studies. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 16 referral centres scattered all over the country in 2014. Results: Out of the 513 hepatitis B surface antigen-positive subjects enrolled, 61 (11.9%) were anti-delta positive, with a sex ratio (M/F) of 2.05. The majority (80.3%) of them was 50 years or older, while the proportion of subjects younger than 30 years of age was as low as 3.3%. No difference was detected by geogr…
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Significant Fibrosis in Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Without Steatohepatitis
2019
In patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a risk factor for the development of fibrosis. However, fibrosis has been observed in livers of patients without NASH. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of fibrosis in patients without NASH and risk factors for fibrosis.We analyzed data from 1738 subjects (44.9% with severe obesity) in a cross-sectional liver biopsy cohort enrolled at referral centers in Italy and Finland. Biopsy specimens were analyzed histologically by a blinded pathologist at each center, and a diagnosis of NASH was made based on steatosis (≥5% of hepatocytes), hepatocellular ballooning, and lobular inflammation. We also c…
Hepatocellular carcinoma in Child's A cirrhosis: a retrospective analysis of matched pairs following liver transplantation vs. liver resection accord…
2013
This is the first matched pair analysis on the puzzling clinical problem of whether to perform liver transplantation (LT) or liver resection (LR) for Child's A hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. A total of 201 patients diagnosed with HCC and Child's A liver cirrhosis were treated with LT transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) or LR between 1998 and 2012. To achieve the most accurate study design, two groups of 57 patients were matched retrospectively according to their tumor characteristics detected by the initial computerized tomography (CT) scan. Sixteen of 57 LT candidates were not transplanted due to tumor progress during pre-treatment (TACE). Nevertheless, the retrospective analy…