Search results for "chronic"

Accumulation of dysfunctional effector CD8+T cells in the liver of patients with chronic HCV infection

2005

Background/Aims Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes a chronic infection that can lead to fibrosis and carcinoma. Immune responses mediated by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) could be involved in viral clearance or persistence, and therefore in determining the course of the disease. Methods Intrahepatic and peripheral blood CD8+T cells were obtained from 32 HCV-chronically infected patients and analysed by flow-cytometry for surface markers of differentiation, IFNγ and TNFα production, degranulation capacity and perforin content, after CD3 triggering. Results were compared with those obtained from 13 patients with a non-viral liver disease. Results Intrahepatic CD8+T cells of HCV-infected patients…

The PACE study: Past-year prevalence of migraine in Parma's adult general population

2012

Background: In the literature there are few data about the prevalence of primary headaches, including migraine, in the Italian general population. The PACE study (PArma CEfalea, or ‘Headache in Parma’) is an observational study aimed at detecting the prevalence and clinical features of primary headaches in the city of Parma’s adult general population. Materials and methods: A total of 904 subjects representative of Parma’s adult general population were interviewed face-to-face by a physician from the Parma Headache Centre. They were given a specially designed and validated questionnaire for the diagnosis of primary headaches according to the ICHD-II criteria. Results: Past-year adjusted pr…

No Association Between Genetic Polymorphism at Codon 129 of the Prion Protein Gene and Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

2011

Impact of a primary-based telemonitoring programme in HRQOL, satisfaction and usefulness in a sample of older adults with chronic diseases in Valenci…

2015

Abstract Background Chronic patients are frequent users of healthcare services and are prone to hospital admissions. In Valencia (Spain) the Valcronic programme aims to manage chronic patients through different levels of telemonitoring and telecare. This paper examines the impact of the Valcronic programme on self-perceived HRQOL in a one-year period and on perceptions of satisfaction and usefulness in a sample of older adults with chronic diseases. Methods The sample ( n  = 74) was randomly selected from Valcronic users and was stratified considering different variables. HRQOL was assessed using the EQ-5D questionnaire at two points in time: before the beginning of the Valcronic programme …

De novo mutation in a male patient with Fabry disease: a case report

2014

Abstract Background Fabry disease is an X-linked inherited metabolic condition where the deficit of the α-galactosidase A enzyme, encoded by the GLA gene, leads to glycosphingolipid storage, mainly globotriaosylceramide. To date, more than 600 mutations have been identified in human GLA gene that are responsible for FD, including missense and nonsense mutations, small and large deletions. Such mutations are usually inherited, and cases of de novo onset occur rarely. Case presentation In this article we report an interesting case of a 44-year-old male patient suffering from a severe form of Fabry disease, with negative family history. The patient showed signs such as cornea verticillata, ang…

Attrition and Use of Proxy Respondents and Auxiliary Information in the Sicilian Neuroepidemiologic Study

1994

Two-phase prevalence surveys with screening (phase 1) and examination (phase 2) are useful for some chronic diseases. Attrition, which may bias estimates, occurs in either phase because some eligible subjects die before contact, some refuse to cooperate, some are incapacitated, and some are unreachable. This investigation relates to a survey of neurologic diseases conducted in three municipalities of Sicily (prevalence date, November 1, 1987) and considers the attrition experienced and the use of proxy respondents in phase 1 and auxiliary information in phase 2 to offset, in part, this attrition. Regarding case finding, the salvage effort was more productive for decreased and incapacitated …

Cross-validation of the SCL-27: a short psychometric screening instrument for chronic pain patients

2001

We constructed a short multidimensional screening instrument for chronic pain patients based on the items contained in the Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). The proposed dimensional structure of the SCL-90-R was recently shown to be irreproducible in chronic pain patients. As a consequence, the use of the Global Severity Index (GSI) was recommended, although it did not capture all information contained in the many items of the SCL-90-R. Based on an exploratory factor analysis, a six-dimensional structure using 27 items from the SCL-90-R was explored utilizing the data of 2780 chronic pain patients. A short form was prospectively tested on 581 patients in the same setting. Criteria f…

Emotional words induce enhanced brain activity in schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations.

2005

Neuroimaging studies of emotional response in schizophrenia have mainly used visual (faces) paradigms and shown globally reduced brain activity. None of these studies have used an auditory paradigm. Our principal aim is to evaluate the emotional response of patients with schizophrenia to neutral and emotional words. An auditory emotional paradigm based on the most frequent words heard by psychotic patients with auditory hallucinations was designed. This paradigm was applied to evaluate cerebral activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 11 patients with schizophrenia with persistent hallucinations and 10 healthy subjects. We found a clear enhanced activity of the fronta…

Extracellular matrix composition in COPD

2012

Extracellular matrix (ECM) composition has an important role in determining airway structure. We postulated that ECM lung composition of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients differs from that observed in smoking and nonsmoking subjects without airflow obstruction. We determined the fractional areas of elastic fibres, type-I, -III and -IV collagen, versican, decorin, biglycan, lumican, fibronectin and tenascin in different compartments of the large and small airways and lung parenchyma in 26 COPD patients, 26 smokers without COPD and 16 nonsmoking control subjects. The fractional area of elastic fibres was higher in non-obstructed smokers than in COPD and nonsmoking controls…

Airway neutrophilia in COPD is not associated with increased neutrophil survival

2006

Neutrophilic airway inflammation is a prominent feature of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and correlates with disease severity. The mechanisms that determine the extent of neutrophilia could involve increased influx or prolonged survival of neutrophils. The aim of the study was to assess whether neutrophil pro-survival mechanisms are increased in the airways of subjects with COPD owing to the presence of anti-apoptotic factors in the bronchial lining fluid. Induced sputum samples were collected from 20 subjects with stable COPD, 14 healthy smokers and 14 healthy controls. Quantification of apoptotic neutrophils was based on typical morphological cell changes. Anti-apoptotic, p…