Search results for "beta"

Prognostic Value of Immunohistochemical Expression of Beta-1 Integrin in Pancreatic Carcinoma

1999

<i>Background: </i>Prognostically relevant factors based on the histological assessment of the resected pancreas are known. However, the knowledge of additional factors associated with the prognosis is helpful in planning the therapy for an individual patient. β<sub>1</sub> Integrin expression is known to have a prognostic influence in some malignant tumors. No data are, however, available on the prognostic value of β<sub>1</sub> integrins in pancreatic carcinoma. <i>Method: </i>We investigated paraffin-embedded specimens of 19 patients undergoing surgical treatment for periampullary carcinoma and of 42 patients for ductal pancreatic carcinoma…

A Putatively Functional Haplotype in the Gene Encoding Transforming Growth Factor Beta-1 as a Potential Biomarker for Radiosensitivity

2011

Purpose To determine whether genetic variability in TGFB1 is related to circulating transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) plasma concentrations after radiotherapy and to radiosensitivity of lymphoid cells. Patients and Methods Transforming growth factor-β1 plasma concentrations ( n = 79) were measured in patients 1 year after radiotherapy and chromosomal aberrations ( n = 71) ex vivo before therapy start. Furthermore, TGF-β1 secretion and apoptosis were measured in isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 55 healthy volunteers. These phenotypes were analyzed in relation to five germline polymorphisms in the 5′ region of the TGFB1 gene. Because of high linkage disequilibrium, these fi…

Serial echocardiographic left ventricular ejection fraction measurements: A tool for detecting thalassemia major patients at risk of cardiac death

2013

Cardiac damage remains a major cause of mortality among patients with thalassemia major. The detection of a lower cardiac magnetic resonance T2* (CMR-T2*) signal has been suggested as a powerful predictor of the subsequent development of heart failure. However, the lack of worldwide availability of CMR-T2* facilities prevents its widespread use for follow-up evaluations of cardiac function in thalassemia major patients, warranting the need to assess the utility of other possible procedures. In this setting, the determination of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) offers an accurate and reproducible method for heart function evaluation. These findings suggest a reduction in LVEF≥7%, ov…

Modifications of general parameters of immune activation in the sera of Sicilian patients with Boutonneuse fever

1998

SUMMARYThe serum levels of β2-microglobulin (β2-M), soluble HLA class I antigen (sHLA-I), soluble CD4 (sCD4) and CD8 (sCD8) were studied in 98 Sicilian patients with Boutonneuse fever (BF). In different stages of infection all markers were significantly increased in sera from Sicilian patients with acute BF compared with healthy controls. sCD8 and sHLA-I reached the peak in the second week after the onset of symptoms, whereas sCD4 and β2-M reached the peak in the first week. Afterwards sCD8 decreased to the levels of controls within the third week, the other parameters decreased later and were unmodified until the third week of infection. Significant correlations were found between sCD4 and…

Comparison of clinical characteristics between coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia and community-acquired pneumonia

2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has high morbidity and mortality, and spreads rapidly in the community to result in a large number of infection cases. This study aimed to compare clinical features in adult patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia to those in adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).Clinical presentations, laboratory findings, imaging features, complications, treatment and outcomes were compared between patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and patients with CAP. The study group of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia consisted of 120 patients. One hundred and thirty-four patients with CAP were enrolled for comparison.Patients with COVID-19 pneumo…

Serum levels of cytokines in chronic liver diseases

1992

Serum levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1 beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interferon gamma (IFN-gamma), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were investigated in patients with chronic liver diseases (CLD) and correlated with the type of underlying disease and various clinical and laboratory parameters. Two hundred sixty-four patients suffering from various CLD were studied; 136 cases presented with liver cirrhosis, and 128 patients were in the noncirrhotic stage of their underlying liver diseases. Serum levels of IL-1 beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, and CRP were elevated in patients with CLD. Endogenous cytokine patterns in CLD were stage dependent and only margina…

Transforming growth factor-β1 in autoimmune hepatitis: correlation of liver tissue expression and serum levels with disease activity

1998

Abstract Background/Aims: Transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β 1 ) is considered the most important mediator of hepatic fibrogenesis. At the same time, TGF-β 1 is an immunosuppressive cytokine. Development of fibrosis, often rapid, is a characteristic of autoimmune hepatitis, as is spontaneous systemic immunosuppression. The aim of our study was therefore to define the role of TGF-β 1 in autoimmune hepatitis. Methods/Results: Using the MV 1Lu bioassay, we found markedly elevated serum levels of TGF-β 1 (median 109 ng/ml) in active autoimmune hepatitis, which normalised when patients reached biochemical remission following immunosuppressive therapy (median 34 ng/ml; p =0.0001 compared to ac…

Italian males recovering from mild COVID-19 show no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in semen despite prolonged nasopharyngeal swab positivity.

2020

Lithium and GSK3-β promoter gene variants influence white matter microstructure in bipolar disorder

2013

Lithium is the mainstay for the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD) and inhibits glycogen synthase kinase 3-beta (GSK3-beta). The less active GSK3-beta promoter gene variants have been associated with less detrimental clinical features of BD. GSK3-beta gene variants and lithium can influence brain gray matter structure in psychiatric conditions. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of white matter (WM) integrity showed widespred disruption of WM structure in BD. In a sample of 70 patients affected by a major depressive episode in course of BD, we investigated the effect of ongoing long-term lithium treatment and GSK3-beta promoter rs334558 polymorphism on WM microstructure, using DTI and …

Longitudinal analysis of the T-cell receptor (TCR)-VA and -VB repertoire in CD8+T cells from individuals immunized with recombinant hepatitis B surfa…

2002

SUMMARYRecent studies have suggested that vaccination induces alterations in the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. We investigate the diversity of the TCR repertoire after immunization with a recombinant hepatitis B surface vaccine in seven healthy subjects in CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Cellular immune responses were monitored over time by sorting CD8 T cells followed by TCR-VA and -VB complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) analysis. Frequency of individual VB families was determined by flow cytometry. TCR-VA/VB repertoires obtained from CD8+ T cells drawn after vaccination were compared to the TCR repertoire determined prior to vaccination. Monoclonal TCR transcript…