Search results for "alas"
showing 10 items of 929 documents
A functional study of the esophagus in patients with non-cardiac chest pain and dysphagia.
2015
Background/Aims: Nutcracker esophagus and non-specific motility disorders are the main causes of non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP), with gastroesophageal reflux in 60% of cases. Achalasia and diffuse esophageal spasm are the most frequent anomalies described in patients with dysphagia. The goal of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of esophageal body and lower esophageal sphincter motor abnormalities in patients with dysphagia, NCCP, or both. Materials and Methods: This study is a retrospective analysis of 716 patients with NCCP and/or dysphagia tested between January 1994 and December 2010. 1023 functional studies were performed, 707 of which were esophageal manometries, 225 esophageal …
Impact of the components of metabolic syndrome on oxidative stress and enzymatic antioxidant activity in essential hypertension.
2006
The objective of the present study was to analyze the impact of metabolic syndrome (MS) and its individual components on oxidative stress (OX) and on the activity of antioxidant enzymes of patients with essential hypertension. One hundred and eighty-seven hypertensives, 127 (61.9%) of them having criteria for MS according to the International Diabetes Federation criteria and 30 healthy normotensive subjects were included. OX status was assessed by measuring glutathione oxidized/glutathione reduced and reactive oxygen species-induced byproducts of lipid peroxidation, malondialdehide, and DNA damage, 8-oxo-dG genomic and mitochondrial. Antioxidant enzymatic activity of Cu/Zn extracellular-sup…
Identification of glyoxalase 1 polymorphisms associated with enzyme activity.
2013
The glyoxalase system and its main enzyme, glyoxalase 1 (GLO1), protect cells from advanced glycation end products (AGEs), such as methylglyoxal (MG) and other reactive dicarbonyls, the formation of which is increased in diabetes patients as a result of excessive glycolysis. MG is partly responsible for harmful protein alterations in living cells, notably in neurons, leading to their dysfunction, and recent studies have shown a negative correlation between GLO1 expression and tissue damage. Neuronal dysfunction is a common diabetes complication due to elevated blood sugar levels, leading to high levels of AGEs. The aim of our study was to determine whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (S…
Oxidative stress markers in the neocortex of drug-resistant epilepsy patients submitted to epilepsy surgery
2013
Summary Purpose While there is solid experimental evidence of brain oxidative stress in animal models of epilepsy, it has not been thoroughly verified in epileptic human brain. Our purpose was to determine and to compare oxidative stress markers in the neocortex of epileptic and non-epileptic humans, with the final objective of confirming oxidative stress phenomena in human epileptic brain. Methods Neocortical samples from drug-resistant epilepsy patients submitted to epilepsy surgery ( n =20) and from control, non-epileptic cortex samples ( n =11) obtained from brain bank donors without neurological disease, were studied for oxidative stress markers: levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS)…
Different patterns of myocardial iron distribution by whole-heart T2* magnetic resonance as risk markers for heart complications in thalassemia major.
2014
Background The multislice multiecho T2* cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) technique allows to detect different patterns of myocardial iron overload (MIO). The aim of this cross-sectional study was to verify the association between cardiac complications (heart failure and arrhythmias), biventricular dysfunction and myocardial fibrosis with different patterns of MIO in thalassemia major (TM) patients. Methods We considered 812 TM patients enrolled in the Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia (MIOT) Network. The T2* value in all the 16 cardiac segments was evaluated. Results We identified 4 groups of patients: 138 with homogeneous MIO (all segments with T2* < 20 ms), 97 with heterogene…
Improvement of heart iron with preserved patterns of iron store by CMR-guided chelation therapy
2014
[Formula: see text] multislice multiecho cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) allows quantification of the segmental distribution of myocardial iron overload (MIO). We evaluated whether a preferential pattern MIO was preserved between two CMR scans in regularly chelated thalassaemia major (TM) patients.We evaluated prospectively 259 TM patients enrolled in the MIO in Thalassaemia (MIOT) network with a CMR follow-up (FU) study at 18 ± 3 months and significant MIO at baseline. The [Formula: see text] in the 16 segments and the global value were calculated. Four main circumferential regions (anterior, septal, inferior and lateral) were defined. We identified two groups: severe (n = 80, global [For…
Long-term treatment with deferiprone enhances left ventricular ejection function when compared to deferoxamine in patients with thalassemia major
2013
Transfusion and iron chelation treatment have significantly reduced morbidity and improved survival of patients with thalassemia major. However, cardiac disease continues to be the most common cause of death. We report the left-ventricular ejection fraction, determined by echocardiography, in one hundred sixtyeight patients with thalassemia major followed for at least 5 years who received continuous monotherapy with deferoxamine (N = 108) or deferiprone (N = 60). The statistical analysis, using the generalized estimating equations model, indicated that the group treated with deferiprone had a significantly better left-ventricular ejection fraction than did those treated with deferoxamine (c…
Myocardial scarring by delayed enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance in thalassaemia major
2009
Background: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) by delayed enhancement (DE) enables visualisation of myocardial scarring, but no dedicated studies are available in thalassaemia major. Objective: To investigate the prevalence, extent, clinical and instrumental correlates of myocardial fibrosis or necrosis by DE CMR in patients with thalassaemia major. Patients: 115 Patients with thalassaemia major consecutively examined at an MRI laboratory. Methods: DE images were acquired to quantify myocardial scarring. Myocardial iron overload was determined by multislice multiecho T2*. Cine images were obtained to evaluate biventricular function. Results: DE areas were present in 28/115 patients (24…
MR imaging of the brain: findings in asymptomatic patients with thalassemia intermedia and sickle cell-thalassemia disease.
1999
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spectrum of MR findings of the brain in asymptomatic patients affected with thalassemia intermedia or sickle cell-thalassemia disease to prevent brain damage by identifying patients at risk for stroke so that transfusional or pharmacologic treatment could be implemented.Forty-one asymptomatic patients who were younger than 50 years and were affected by minor hemoglobinopathies underwent MR imaging of the brain. Ischemic lesions were classified as small, medium, or large and as single or multifocal. Atrophic changes were graded subjectively as mild, moderate, or severe. A grade of brain damage was assigned to every patient. The frequency and seve…
Magnetic resonance imaging of the pituitary gland in patients with secondary hypogonadism due to transfusional hemochromatosis
1999
To identify pituitary iron overload in patients with transfusional hemochromatosis causing secondary hypogonadism, we prospectively evaluated signal intensity abnormalities of the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland of 18 patients affected by transfusion-dependent thalassemia major and secondary hypogonadism. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is useful to assess pituitary iron overload in patients with transfusional hemochromatosis and secondary hypogonadism by detection of a significant decreased signal intensity of the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland on GRE T2*-weighted images. The decreased signal intensity of the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland on GRE T2*-weighted images was co…