Search results for "eps"
showing 10 items of 1777 documents
High-Sensitivity Procalcitonin (hs-PCT): A Marker for Identification of Arteriosclerosis and Myocardial Infarction?
2008
Background: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a protein hormone induced by bacterial inflammation that serves as a marker of sepsis. C-reactive protein (CRP) is also known to be a marker of inflammation and, in low concentrations, a prognostic marker for latent or early arteriosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis is considered as an inflammatory process that begins in the wall of an artery. In addition to CRP, the concentration of other markers of inflammation increases in the presence of arteriosclerosis. Methods: To determine if PCT is among these markers, the serum concentration of PCT was quantified in blood samples from healthy individuals (n = 410) and at admission in 774 patients, 92 with peripheral art…
Focusing on Increasing Velocity during Heavy Resistance Knee Flexion Exercise Boosts Hamstring Muscle Activity in Chronic Stroke Patients
2016
Background. Muscle strength is markedly reduced in stroke patients, which has negative implications for functional capacity and work ability. Different types of feedback during strength training exercises may alter neuromuscular activity and functional gains.Objective. To compare levels of muscle activity during conditions of blindfolding and intended high contraction speed with a normal condition of high-intensity knee flexions.Methods. Eighteen patients performed unilateral machine knee flexions with a 10-repetition maximum load. Surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded from the quadrics and hamstring muscles and normalized to maximal EMG (nEMG) of the nonparetic limb.Results. For the …
Differences in visual information processing style between Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy with and without photosensitivity.
2021
Purpose: Recently, altered visual cortical processes i.e., lack of habituation to visual evoked potentials (VEP), has been highlighted in both photosensitive epilepsy and in a specific i.e., analytic mode of processing visual inputs. In this study we aimed at evaluating the relationship between photosensitivity (PS) and analytic style of processing visual information, in a sample of 30 patients with Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy (IGE) and matched healthy controls. Methods: At our Epilepsy unit of the Sapienza University of Rome, we consecutively enrolled 15 patients with IGE with PSand matched them with 15 patients with IGE without PS and 15 Healthy Volunteers. All patients underwent EEG …
Minor salivary gland biopsy in Sjögren's syndrome: a review and introduction of a new tool to ease the procedure
2013
Objectives: To review the existing techniques for minor salivary gland biopsy (MSGB) in the lip and to suggest a new approach to ease the procedure and reduce post-operative complications. Study Design: A comprehensive literature review and a descriptive study of a new surgical technique. Results: Diverse incisions have been suggested for MSGB with different designs (ellipse, circular, linear), different directions (parallel, oblique, vertical) and a wide range of lengths (from 1 mm up to 3 cm), but no comparative studies supporting the advantages of a particular type of incision over the others could be retrieved. A variety of features of the existing techniques for MSGB are linked to unde…
A Case of Epididymo-orchitis after intravesical bacille Calmette-Guérin therapy for superficial bladder carcinoma in a patient with latent tuberculos…
2016
Background: Intravesical instillation of bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has been established as efficient therapy for superficial bladder carcinoma. Overall, intravesical BCG is well tolerated and results in complications of less than 5 %. However, adverse effects such as granulomatous prostatitis, pneumonitis, hepatitis, sepsis, and hypersensitivity reactions may occur. The reported rate for tuberculous orchitis after BCG intravesical therapy is 0.4 %. Findings: We report a case of monolateral tuberculous orchitis occurring one month after the second course of intravescical instillation of bacille Calmette-Guérin in a patient with proven superficial bladder carcinoma and latent tuberculosis…
Zinc acexamate inhibits gastric acid and pepsinogen secretion in the rat.
1990
Abstract Pretreatment with zinc acexamate (25–100 mg kg−1 i.p.) inhibited acid and pepsinogen secretion in the pylorus-ligated rat. Zinc acexamate (5–50 mg kg−1 p.o.) also inhibited the increases in acid secretion induced by carbachol (10 μg kg−1) and 2-deoxy-D-glucose (200 mg kg−1) in the perfused stomach of the anaesthetized rat. A delayed antisecretory effect was observed with this drug on histamine induced responses. High concentrations of zinc acexamate (10−5-10−2 M) did not modify the in-vitro activity of pepsin. Administration of zinc acexamate resulted in an increase in the presence of pepsinogen at the mucosal level. A morphological examination of the gastric mucosa confirmed an ac…
Dual specificity phosphatase 1 knockout mice show enhanced susceptibility to anaphylaxis but are sensitive to glucocorticoids.
2007
Dual specificity phosphatase DUSP1 (otherwise known as mitogen-activated phosphatase 1 or MKP-1) dephosphorylates MAPKs, particularly p38, and negatively regulates innate immunity. Recent studies have shown that the DUSP1 gene is transcriptionally up-regulated by glucocorticoids (GCs) and that the antiinflammatory action of GCs is impaired in DUSP1-/- mice. Here we show that GC-mediated dephosphorylation of ERK-1 and ERK-2 activated by IgE receptor cross-linking is unimpaired in bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs) of DUSP1-/- mice. Dephosphorylation of phospho-p38 MAPK is impaired but only at early times of GC treatment. Proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine gene expression (CCL2, IL-6,…
A new tool for sepsis screening in the Emergency Department
2021
Abstract Objectives In this study, we developed and evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of the Sepsis Index for early sepsis screening in the Emergency Department (ED). Methods Sepsis Index is based on the combination of monocyte distribution width (MDW) and mean monocyte volume (MMV). Sepsis Index≥1 was selected to define sepsis. We tested its diagnostic accuracy in an ED population stratified in four groups: controls, Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), infection, and sepsis, according to Sepsis-2 criteria. Results Patients with sepsis displayed higher median Sepsis Index value than patients without sepsis. At the receiver operating characterictis (ROC) curve analysis for the pr…
Typical asymmetry in the hemispheric activation during an fMRI verbal comprehension paradigm is related to better performance in verbal and non-verba…
2018
Chronic exposure to seizures in patients with left hemisphere (LH) epileptic focus could favor higher activation in the contralateral hemisphere during language processing, but the cognitive effects of this remain unclear. This study assesses the relationship between asymmetry in hemispheric activation during language fMRI and performance in verbal and non-verbal tasks. Whereas prior studies primarily used fMRI paradigms that favor frontal lobe activation and less prominent activation of the medial or superior temporal lobes, we used a verbal comprehension paradigm previously demonstrated to activate reliably receptive language areas. Forty-seven patients with drug-resistant epilepsy candid…
Local Sleep Slow-Wave Activity Colocalizes With the Ictal Symptomatogenic Zone in a Patient With Reflex Epilepsy
2020
Background: Slow-wave activity (SWA) during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep reflects synaptic potentiation during preceding wakefulness. Epileptic activity may induce increases in state-dependent SWA in human brains, therefore, localization of SWA may prove useful in the presurgical workup of epileptic patients. We analyzed high-density electroencephalography (HDEEG) data across vigilance states from a reflex epilepsy patient with a clearly localizable ictal symptomatogenic zone to provide a proof-of-concept for the testability of this hypothesis. Methods: Overnight HDEEG recordings were obtained in the patient during REM sleep, NREM sleep, wakefulness, and during a right facial motor s…