Search results for "death"
showing 10 items of 1744 documents
NF-κB protects Behçet's disease T cells against CD95-induced apoptosis up-regulating antiapoptotic proteins
2005
Objective To determine whether prolongation of the inflammatory reaction in patients with Behcet's disease (BD) is related to apoptosis resistance and is associated with the up-regulation of antiapoptotic factors. Methods The percentage of cell death was evaluated by flow cytometry in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 35 patients with BD and 30 healthy volunteers. The expression levels of antiapoptotic factors and NF-κB regulatory proteins were measured using Western blotting and immunohistochemical analyses. To down-regulate NF-κB nuclear translocation, BD T lymphocytes were exposed in vitro to thalidomide and subjected to transfection with NF-κB small interfering RNA. Results Althou…
Quantitative and qualitative analysis of DNA extracted from postmortem muscle tissues
1990
DNA extracted from 33 postmortem muscle specimens was analyzed using MZ 1.3, a hypervariable minisatellite probe, as well as locus-specific minisatellite probes (g3, MS1 and MS43). After storage at -25 degrees C for 10 months, DNA from all the samples was partially (approximately 21% of total DNA) degraded even when autopsy was performed 1 day postmortem. However, more than 90% of DNA samples up to at least 3 days postmortem were suitable to obtain good restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns. When small strips of specimen were stored for 8 days at room temperature in moist chambers, approximately 42% of total DNA was degraded. Only 30% of these DNA samples still showed goo…
Forensic microbiology applications: A systematic review.
2019
Abstract According to the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), a healthy human body contains ten times more microbes than human cells. Microbial communities colonize different organs of the body, playing fundamental roles both in human health and disease. Despite the vast scientific knowledge of the role of microbial communities in a living body, little is known at present about microbial changes occurring after death, thus leading many authors to investigate the composition of the thanatomicrobiome and its potential applications in the forensic field. The aim of the following review is to provide a general overview of the advances of postmortem microbiology research, mainly focusing on the role…
PD-1, PD-L1 and PD-L2 Gene Expression on T-Cells and Natural Killer Cells Declines in Conjunction with a Reduction in PD-1 Protein during the Intensi…
2015
Background The PD-1 axis is a cell intrinsic immunoregulatory pathway that mediates T cell exhaustion in chronic infection particularly in some viral infections. We hypothesized that PD-1, PD-L1 and PD-L2 would be highly expressed in untreated tuberculosis patients compared to controls due to their chronic infection and would decrease with successful TB treatment. Materials and Methods Untreated tuberculosis patients (n = 26) were recruited at diagnosis and followed up during treatment. Household contacts (n = 24) were recruited to establish baseline differences. Blood gene expression ex vivo was investigated using qRT-PCR. Flow cytometry was performed to establish protein expression patter…
Prognostic Relevance of Cardiorespiratory Fitness as Assessed by Submaximal Exercise Testing for All-Cause Mortality: A UK Biobank Prospective Study
2020
Objective: To investigate if the inverse associations of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the general population vary among individuals who are at different pre-test risk. Patients and Methods: CRF was assessed through submaximal bike tests in 58,892 participants aged 40-69 years who completed baseline questionnaires between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010 in the UK Biobank study. Participants were categorized into risk categories, which determined allocation to an individualized bike protocol. These were “minimal risk (1)”, “small risk (2)” and “medium risk (3)” groups (i.e., those who cycled at 50%, 35% of predicted maximal workload and …
MEK inhibitors combined with programmed cell death-1 blockade immunotherapy for metastatic uveal melanoma: is it warranted?
2020
In the setting of metastatic uveal melanoma (mUM), prognosis is dismal and treatment options are limited. MEK inhibition using selumetinib has led to promising results with improved progression-free survival. While immune checkpoint inhibitors such as programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) blockade therapy (anti-PD-1) has shown discrete efficacy in mUM, combining MEK inhibitors (MEKi) to anti-PD-1 might be an option as such combinations have shown synergistic efficacy in metastatic cutaneous melanoma. We report here and discuss our experience in three patients who received this combination in the absence of suitable alternative treatment. The efficacy was difficult to assess due to early severe tox…
Symptom prevalence in the last days of life in Germany: the role of place of death.
2011
Investigations have shown that symptom prevalence varies according to the place of death. We sought to assess the symptom prevalence of chronically ill people in Germany and how this prevalence differs depending on the place of death. We sent questionnaires to 5000 bereaved people in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), whose relatives died between May 25 and August 24, 2008. In all, 3832 questionnaires were delivered and 1378 completed (response 36.0%). Most decedents had moderate-to-severe weakness (94.5%), fatigue (93.5%), need for help in daily activities (87.9%), and appetite loss (87.4%). Pain and dyspnea were most severe in hospitals; fatigue, confusion/disorientation, and problems with w…
Prospective risk stratification of sudden cardiac death in Marfan's syndrome.
2013
Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a variable, autosomal-dominant disorder of the connective tissue. In MFS serious ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) can occur. The aim of this prospective study was to reveal underlying risk factors and to prospectively investigate the association between MFS and SCD in a long-term follow-up.77 patients with MFS were included. At baseline serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), transthoracic echocardiogram, 12-lead resting ECG, signal-averaged ECG (SAECG) and a 24-h Holter ECG with time- and frequency domain analyses were performed. The primary composite endpoint was defined as SCD, ventricular tachycardia (VT), ventricular fi…
Differential regulation of Fas-mediated apoptosis in both thyrocyte and lymphocyte cellular compartments correlates with opposite phenotypic manifest…
2001
Several mechanisms are probably involved in determining the evolution of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) towards either hypothyroidism and the clinical syndrome known as Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) or toward hyperthyroidism and the symptoms of Graves' disease (GD). To gain further insight into such mechanisms we performed an exhaustive comparative analysis of the expression of key molecules regulating cell death (Fas, Fas ligand [FasL], Bcl-2) and apoptosis in both thyrocytes and thyroid infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from patients with either GD or HT. GD thyrocytes expressed less Fas/FasL than HT thyrocytes, whereas GD TILs had higher levels of Fas/FasL than HT TILs. GD thyrocytes exp…
Mortality in affective disorders.
2001
Abstract Background : To investigate the mortality rates in affective disorders due to unnatural and natural causes with respect to illness subtype and social–demographic features. Methods : Mortality data were determined from a prospective study of 354 outpatients with affective disorders during a follow-up period of 5 years. Death from natural and unnatural causes was compared to sex- and age-specific expectations in the general population. Standardized mortality rates (SMR) in diagnostic subgroups and the influence of social–demographic features were investigated. Results : The observed 30 deaths represented nearly three times (SMR, 2.9) the number expected on the basis of age- and sex-s…