Search results for "middle age"
showing 10 items of 14743 documents
Characterisation of a household norovirus outbreak occurred in Valencia (Spain)
2016
Background Human noroviruses (NoVs) are the main cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Several studies have linked human susceptibility to NoVs with the expression of histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs). In January 2012, a NoV gastroenteritis outbreak affected a household in Valencia, Spain, and the personal susceptibility to NoV was investigated. Methods To reach this aim 8 members of the affected household were recruited for this study and their secretor status, ABO and Lewis antigens were determined. NoV-specific saliva IgA and serum IgG antibody titers were analyzed. Their capacity to block viral binding to saliva receptors was analyzed, using virus-like particles (VLPs) of t…
Is Italian population protected from Poliovirus? Results of a seroprevalence survey in Florence, Italy
2018
ABSTRACT Objectives: Periodical assessments of population susceptibility to polioviruses (PV) is essential for evaluating population protection and planning appropriate vaccination strategies. The aim of the current work was to assess serological protective titers against all three polioviruses in the general population of Florence. Methods: A convenience sample of 328 sera, collected in 2009 in Florence (Central Italy) was analyzed. Samples were considered protective if neutralizing antibodies were detected at dilutions ≥1:8, according to the WHO protocols. Results: The immune coverage was 75.3%, 69.2% and 46% for PV1, PV2 and PV3, respectively. The protective titers of neutralizing antibo…
KIR2DL3 and the KIR ligand groups HLA-A-Bw4 and HLA-C2 predict the outcome of hepatitis B virus infection.
2017
Killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) regulate the activation of Natural Killer cells through their interaction with human leukocyte antigens (HLA). KIR and HLA loci are highly polymorphic and certain HLA-KIR combinations have been found to protect against viral infections. In this study we analyzed whether the KIR/HLA repertoire may influence the course of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Fifty-seven subjects with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 44 subjects with resolved HBV infection, and 60 healthy uninfected controls (HC) were genotyped for KIR and their HLA ligands. The frequency of the HLA-A-Bw4 ligand group was higher in CHB (58%) than subjects with resolved infection (23%) (crude…
Vestibular thalamus: Two distinct graviceptive pathways.
2015
Objective: To determine whether there are distinct thalamic regions statistically associated with either contraversive or ipsiversive disturbance of verticality perception measured by subjective visual vertical (SVV). Methods: We used modern statistical lesion behavior mapping on a sample of 37 stroke patients with isolated thalamic lesions to clarify which thalamic regions are involved in graviceptive otolith processing and whether there are distinct regions associated with contraversive or ipsiversive SVV deviation. Results: We found 2 distinct systems of graviceptive processing within the thalamus. Contraversive tilt of SVV was associated with lesions to the nuclei dorsomedialis, intrala…
Netrin-1 receptor antibodies in thymoma-associated neuromyotonia with myasthenia gravis.
2017
Objective:To identify cell-surface antibodies in patients with neuromyotonia and to describe the main clinical implications.Methods:Sera of 3 patients with thymoma-associated neuromyotonia and myasthenia gravis were used to immunoprecipitate and characterize neuronal cell-surface antigens using reported techniques. The clinical significance of antibodies against precipitated proteins was assessed with sera of 98 patients (neuromyotonia 46, myasthenia gravis 52, thymoma 42; 33 of them with overlapping syndromes) and 219 controls (other neurologic diseases, cancer, and healthy volunteers).Results:Immunoprecipitation studies identified 3 targets, including the Netrin-1 receptors DCC (deleted i…
Temporal association between the influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV): RSV as a predictor of seasonal influenza.
2016
SUMMARYEpidemiologists agree that there is a prevailing seasonality in the presentation of epidemic waves of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections and influenza. The aim of this study is to quantify the potential relationship between the activity of RSV, with respect to the influenza virus, in order to use the RSV seasonal curve as a predictor of the evolution of an influenza virus epidemic wave. Two statistical tools, logistic regression and time series, are used for predicting the evolution of influenza. Both logistic models and time series of influenza consider RSV information from previous weeks. Data consist of influenza and confirmed RSV cases reported in Comunitat Valenciana (…
Temporal-spatial characteristics of phase-amplitude coupling in electrocorticogram for human temporal lobe epilepsy.
2017
Objective Neural activity of the epileptic human brain contains low- and high-frequency oscillations in different frequency bands, some of which have been used as reliable biomarkers of the epileptogenic brain areas. However, the relationship between the low- and high-frequency oscillations in different cortical areas during the period from pre-seizure to post-seizure has not been completely clarified. Methods We recorded electrocorticogram data from the temporal lobe and hippocampus of seven patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The modulation index based on the Kullback-Leibler distance and the phase-amplitude coupling co-modulogram were adopted to quantify the coupling strength between t…
Cortical network fingerprints predict deep brain stimulation outcome in dystonia.
2018
AbstractBackgroundDeep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective evidence-based therapy for dystonia. However, no unequivocal predictors of therapy responses exist. We investigate whether patients optimally responding to DBS present distinct brain network organization and structural patterns.MethodsBased on a German multicentre cohort of eighty-two dystonia patients with segmental and generalized dystonia, who received DBS implantation in the globus pallidus internus patients were classified based on the clinical response 36 months after DBS, as superior-outcome group or moderate-outcome group, as above or below 70% motor improvement, respectively. Fifty-one patients met MRI-quality and treat…
Prediction of unfavorable outcomes in West Nile virus neuroinvasive infection - Result of a multinational ID-IRI study
2019
Background: WNV causes 1.4% of all central nervous system infections and is the most common cause of epidemic neuro-invasive disease in humans. Objectives: Our main objective was to investigate retrospectively West Nile virus neuroinvasive disease (WNND) cases hospitalized during 2010–2017 and identified factors that can influence prognosis. Study design: We documented the demographic, epidemiologic, clinical and laboratory data of WNND and identified factors that can influence prognosis. The data were recruited through Infectious Diseases International Research Initiative (ID-IRI), which serves as a network for clinical researches. Results: We investigated 165 patients with WNND in 10 coun…
Impact of immunosuppressive therapy on therapy-neutralizing antibodies in transplanted patients with Fabry disease.
2017
Background Inhibitory antibodies towards enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) are associated with disease progression and poor outcome in affected male patients with lysosomal disorders such as Fabry disease (FD). However, little is known about the impact of immunosuppressive therapy on ERT inhibition in these patients with FD. Methods In this retrospective study, we investigated the effect of long-term immunosuppression on ERT inhibition in male patients with FD (n = 26) receiving immunosuppressive therapy due to kidney (n = 24) or heart (n = 2) transplantation. Results No ERT-naive transplanted patient (n = 8) developed antibodies within follow-up (80 ±72 months) after ERT initiation. Seven (…