Search results for "connective tissue disease"
showing 10 items of 874 documents
Obesity related changes in cardiac structure and function: role of blood pressure and metabolic abnormalities.
2019
BACKGROUND: It has been reported that changes in cardiac structure and ventricular function associated with obesity have to be attributable to hemodynamic and non-hemodynamic alterations. Accordingly, the aim of this was to evaluate left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) prevalence and its effect on left ventricular systolic and diastolic function in a cohort of obese patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: LV internal diameter (LVID), left ventricular mass (LVM) and LVM/height2.7(LVMI), relative wall thickness (RWT), LV ejection fraction (LVEF), E/A ratio, isovolumic relaxation time, deceleration time of E velocity by echocardiography and pulsed-wave Doppler and total circulating adiponectin (ADPN) b…
Effect of head position on refraction in aphakic and phakic silicone-filled eyes.
1997
BACKGROUND The refraction of the eye is altered significantly after the instillation of silicone oil into the vitreous cavity because of the silicone oil's high refractive index. The degree of the refractive change shows diurnal variation and depends on the patient's head position. PATIENTS AND METHODS To analyze the degree and time course of refractive changes with respect to head position, the authors performed objective refraction in five aphakic and five phakic silicone oil-instilled eyes with attached maculae using an automatic hand-held refractometer. In each patient, 25 measurements were taken at short intervals using a hand-held autorefractometer with the patient in different positi…
Auditory‐evoked potentials to changes in sound duration in urethane‐anaesthetized mice
2019
Spectrotemporally complex sounds carry important information for acoustic communication. Among the important features of these sounds is the temporal duration. An event-related potential called mismatch negativity indexes auditory change detection in humans. An analogous response (mismatch response) has been found to duration changes in speech sounds in rats but not yet in mice. We addressed whether mice show this response, and, if elicited, whether this response is functionally analogous to mismatch negativity or whether adaptation-based models suffice to explain them. Auditory-evoked potentials were epidurally recorded above the mice auditory cortex. The differential response to the chang…
Reconstitution of the Complement Function in C1q-Deficient (C1qa−/−) Mice with Wild-Type Bone Marrow Cells
2001
Abstract Besides Ab-independent and Ab-dependent activation of the complement classical pathway in host defense, C1q plays a key role in the processing of immune complexes and in the clearance of apoptotic cells. In humans, C1q deficiency leads to systemic lupus erythematosus-like symptoms in over 90% of the cases, thus making this defect a strong disease susceptibility factor. Similarly, C1q-deficient mice (C1qa−/−) develop systemic lupus erythematosus-like symptoms, such as autoantibodies and glomerulonephritis. We have previously provided evidence that C1q is produced by cells of the monocyte-macrophage lineage. In this study, we have tested whether transplantation of bone marrow cells w…
Overlapping phenotypes between SHORT and Noonan syndromes in patients with PTPN11 pathogenic variants
2020
Overlapping syndromes such as Noonan, Cardio-Facio-Cutaneous, Noonan syndrome (NS) with multiple lentigines and Costello syndromes are genetically heterogeneous conditions sharing a dysregulation of the RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and are known collectively as the RASopathies. PTPN11 was the first disease-causing gene identified in NS and remains the more prevalent. We report seven patients from three families presenting heterozygous missense variants in PTPN11 probably responsible for a disease phenotype distinct from the classical Noonan syndrome. The clinical presentation and common features of these seven cases overlap with the SHORT syndrome. The latter is the c…
Targeting transcription factor Stat4 uncovers a role for interleukin-18 in the pathogenesis of severe lupus nephritis in mice
2011
Polymorphisms in the transcription factor Stat4 gene have been implicated as risk factors for systemic lupus erythematosus. Although some polymorphisms have a strong association with autoantibodies and nephritis, their impact on pathophysiology is still unknown. To explore this further we used signal transducers and activators of transcription 4 (Stat4) knockout MRL/MpJ-Fas(lpr)/Fas(lpr) (MRL-Fas(lpr)) mice and found that they did not differ in survival or renal function from Stat4-intact MRL-Fas(lpr) mice. Circulating interleukin (IL)-18 levels, however, were elevated in Stat4-deficient compared to Stat4-intact mice, suggesting that this interleukin might contribute to the progression of l…
Scores for functional disability in patients with rheumatoid arthritis are correlated at higher levels with pain scores than with radiographic scores
2000
Objective To analyze correlations of functional disability scores with other measures of clinical status, in particular, Larsen radiographic scores and pain scores, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods The functional capacity of 141 patients with RA (102 women, 39 men; median age 57 years; median disease duration 11.8 years; 83% rheumatoid factor positive) was assessed according to the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). Other variables studied included Larsen scores for radiographic damage of the small joints of the hands, wrists, and feet, pain scores by visual analog scale (VAS), Disease Activity Scores, general health scores by VAS, and Beck Depression Invento…
Fast recovery with etanercept in patients affected by polymyalgia rheumatica and decompensated diabetes: a case-series study
2008
We enrolled nine consecutive patients affected by newly diagnosed polymyalgia rheumatica and decompensated diabetes mellitus. All patients were treated with etanercept (25 mg twice weekly) and prednisone and were followed up to 1 year. At the sixth-month follow-up, etanercept and prednisone were withdrawn. Patients were seen at regular intervals (days 0, 30, 60, 90, 150, 180) and the following variables determined: erythrocytes sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, fasting serum glucose, pain measured by visual analog scale, and the Health Assessment Questionnaire. Our results indicate that etanercept might have some steroid-sparing effects, but controlled investigations are needed to sup…
Early serum creatinine changes and outcomes in patients admitted for acute heart failure: the cardio-renal syndrome revisited.
2017
Background: The changes in renal function that occurred in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) are prevalent, and have multifactorial etiology and dissimilar prognosis. To what extent the prognostic role of such changes may vary according to the presence of renal insufficiency at admission is not clear. Accordingly, we sought to determine whether early creatinine changes (Cr) (admission to 48-72 hours) had an effect on 1-year mortality relative to the presence of renal insufficiency at admission. Methods: We included 705 consecutive patients admitted with the diagnosis of ADHF. Admission renal insufficiency was defined as serum creatinine 1.4mg/dl (A-RIcr) or estimated gl…
Apple (Malus domestica) and Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) Fruits Cell-Wall Hemicelluloses and Xyloglucan Degradation during Penicillium expansum I…
2004
We characterized the changes in cell-wall hemicellulosic polysaccharides and the hemicellulose-degrading enzymes associated with apple and tomato fruits infected by Penicillium expansum. Our results showed a reduction in the molecular mass of hemicelluloses, with this reduction being particularly notable in the xyloglucan associated with P. expansum infection. The activation of fungal beta-glucanases was also highlighted. Fruit xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XTH)-specific activity decreased drastically during the infection process in both apple and tomato fruits. We suggest that XTH reduction during the infection might be related with the fungus attack mechanism. We also suggest…