Search results for "informatics"
showing 10 items of 2542 documents
Genetic variants of ANP and cardiometabolic protection: from populations to novel therapeutics
2013
Background The cardiac hormone atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) induces natriuresis, vasodilation and inhibits aldosterone through the activation of the guanylyl cyclase A receptor (GC-A) and the second messenger cGMP. ANP possesses also metabolic properties enhancing lipolysis and release of the adipokine adiponectin. Previous studies in general populations reported that the minor G allele of the ANP genetic variant rs5068 is associated with increased circulating levels of ANP and B-type natriuretic peptide, lower blood pressure (BP), and reduced risk of hypertension. We recently reported that in the general population from Olmsted County, MN, USA the G allele of rs5068 is associated not o…
The search for novel avenues for the therapy and prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
2006
The prevention and therapy of neurodegenerative disorders in the elderly is one of the greatest challenges facing molecular medicine today. Alzheimer's is an excellent example of a disease being studied by many groups worldwide. Indeed, while many molecular details of this disorder have been elucidated in the last two decades, there are still no strictly causal therapies available. While certain symptomatic pharmacological treatments are frequently employed, current molecular medicine research is focused on central Alzheimer-associated biochemical changes to find the key switch that turns the detrimental Alzheimer process on. Although amyloid beta proteins and tau proteins are the focus of …
Comparative ergonomic workflow and user experience analysis of MRI versus fluoroscopy-guided vascular interventions: an iliac angioplasty exemplar ca…
2014
A methodological framework is introduced to assess and compare a conventional fluoroscopy protocol for peripheral angioplasty with a new magnetic resonant imaging (MRI)-guided protocol. Different scenarios were considered during interventions on a perfused arterial phantom with regard to time-based and cognitive task analysis, user experience and ergonomics. Three clinicians with different expertise performed a total of 43 simulated common iliac angioplasties (9 fluoroscopic, 34 MRI-guided) in two blocks of sessions. Six different configurations for MRI guidance were tested in the first block. Four of them were evaluated in the second block and compared to the fluoroscopy protocol. Relevant…
Emotional tone, analytical thinking, and somatosensory processes of a sample of Italian Tweets during the first phases of the COVID-19 pandemic : obs…
2021
Background The COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic individual and collective chronic experience, with tremendous consequences on mental and psychological health that can also be reflected in people’s use of words. Psycholinguistic analysis of tweets from Twitter allows obtaining information about people’s emotional expression, analytical thinking, and somatosensory processes, which are particularly important in traumatic events contexts. Objective We aimed to analyze the influence of official Italian COVID-19 daily data (new cases, deaths, and hospital discharges) and the phase of managing the pandemic on how people expressed emotions and their analytical thinking and somatosensory processes …
Clinical implications ofCYP3Apolymorphisms
2006
Due to their enormous substrate spectrum CYP3A4, -3A5 and -3A7 constitute the most important drug-metabolising enzyme subfamily in humans. CYP3As are expressed predominantly, but not exclusively, in the liver and intestine, where they participate in the metabolism of 45 - 60% of currently used drugs and many other compounds such as steroids and carcinogens. CYP3A expression and activity vary interindividually due to a combination of genetic and nongenetic factors such as hormone and health status, and the impact of environmental stimuli. Over the past several years, genetic determinants have been identified for much of the variable expression of CYP3A5 and -3A7, but not for CYP3A4. Using th…
Feasibility of a personal health technology-based psychological intervention for men with stress and mood problems: Randomized controlled pilot trial
2013
BackgroundWork-related stress is a significant problem for both people and organizations. It may lead to mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, resulting in increased work absences and disabilities. Scalable interventions to prevent and manage harmful stress can be delivered with the help of technology tools to support self-observations and skills training. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of the P4Well intervention in treatment of stress-related psychological problems. P4Well is a novel intervention which combines modern psychotherapy (the cognitive behavioral therapy and the acceptance and commitment therapy) with personal health technologies to deliv…
The Potential Use of Resveratrol for Cancer Prevention.
2019
In addition to the traditional treatments of cancer and cancer prevention, the use of natural compounds, especially those found in food, should be considered. To clarify if resveratrol has the potential for cancer prevention and the possibility of use in therapy, the following must be taken into account: data from epidemiology, clinical protocol (case and control), preclinical studies (lab animals), use of established cell lines as models of cancer cells, test tube assays (enzymes activities), and requirements of nanotechnologies in order to discover new drugs to fight cancer. From this perspective and future expected advances, more information is needed such as improved efficacy, methods o…
The rodent tibia fracture model: A critical review and comparison with the complex regional pain syndrome literature
2018
Abstract Distal limb fracture is the most common cause of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), thus the rodent tibia fracture model (TFM) was developed to study CRPS pathogenesis. This comprehensive review summarizes the published TFM research and compares these experimental results with the CRPS literature. The TFM generated spontaneous and evoked pain behaviors, inflammatory symptoms (edema, warmth), and trophic changes (skin thickening, osteoporosis) resembling symptoms in early CRPS. Neuropeptides, inflammatory cytokines, and nerve growth factor (NGF) have been linked to pain behaviors, inflammation, and trophic changes in the TFM model and proliferating keratinocytes were identified …
Motor imagery and cortico-spinal excitability: A review
2016
International audience; Motor imagery (MI) has received a lot of interest during the last decades as its chronic or acute use has demonstrated several effects on improving sport performances or skills. The development of neuroimagery techniques also helped further our understanding of the neural correlates underlying MI. While some authors showed that MI, motor execution and action observation activated similar motor cortical regions, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies brought great insights on the role of the primary motor cortex and on the activation of the cortico-spinal pathway during MI. After defining MI and describing the TMS technique, a short report of MI activities on…
Frequency of polymorphisms of signal peptide of TGF-beta1 and -1082G/A SNP at the promoter region of Il-10 gene in patients with carotid stenosis
2006
The role of inflammation in atherosclerosis is well recognized. We have evaluated the allele frequencies of the +869T/C and +915G/C polymorphisms (SNPs) at the TGF-beta1 gene and -1082G/A SNP at IL-10 promoter sequence, two well-known immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory cytokines, in patients with carotid stenosis. Our data suggest a lack of association between these SNPs and the susceptibility to atherosclerosis although other reports have demonstrated this association. These results may be due to the pleiotropic effects of the cytokines and/or differences in haplotype combination that should be investigated to elucidate the role of TGF-beta1 and IL-10 polymorphisms in atherosclerosis.