Search results for "phage"

Endoscopic sclerotherapy for hemostasis of acute esophageal variceal bleeding.

2014

Introduction. Currently the most widely used methods for endoscopic control of esophageal varices bleeding are sclerotherapy and rubber band ligation. Although the superiority of band ligation (BL) over endoscopic sclerotherapy (SCL) for the secondary prophylaxis of variceal hemorrhage has been proven, the best approach for acute bleeding remains controversial. Patients and methods. We performed a retrospective study between January 2005 and May 2013. We selected 104 patients with gastrointestinal hemorrhage from rupture of esophageal varices treated with endoscopic sclerotherapy. The sclerosing agent used was 1% polidocanol in 89 cases, butyl-cyanoacrylate in 8 cases and sodium tetradecyls…

Primary cultures of human synovial macrophages metabolize androgens.

1996

Oxygen Radical Production by Alveolar Inflammatory Cells in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

1990

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic inflammatory interstitial lung disease characterized by the accumulation of alveolar macrophages (AMs) and neutrophils in the lower respiratory tract, parenchymal cell injury, and fibrosis of the alveolar structure. Reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) are claimed to be a major cause of tissue damage in IPF; however, the source of ROI has not been unequivocally identified. AMs, as well as neutrophils, are capable of releasing these agents. The contributions of these possible sources are not known. To address this question, we evaluated the spontaneous and stimulated (PMA or zymosan) ROI release of total bronchoalveolar cells and isolated AMs i…

The prevalence of sleep impairments and predictors of sleep quality among patients with asthma

2020

Background: Sleep is a significant dimension of daily life. However, only a few studies have examined the sleep quality of asthmatics in a real-world clinical settings. Objective: This study is aimed to estimate the prevalence of sleep impairments among asthmatic patients and examine the relationship between sleep quality, asthma control, rhinitis symptoms, and sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: The present study adopted the observational cross-sectional research design that has been designed by the Italian Respiratory Society and used valid assessments to measure the study variables. Results: Data from 1150 asthmatic patients (mean age 51.01 years ± 16.03) were subjected to analysi…

Spontaneous gastroesophageal reflux and airway patency during the night in adult asthmatics

2000

Controversies still exist on the role of nighttime gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in precipitating nocturnal asthma. We tested the relationship between GER and nocturnal bronchoconstriction by continuously and simultaneously monitoring both respiratory resistances and esophageal pH in seven asthmatics with moderate to severe GER disease. Twenty-nine GER episodes were found during the study night lasting more than 5 min (LGER) and 72 not longer than 5 min (SGER). Both long (LGER) and short (SGER) gastroesophageal refluxes were able to maintain significantly higher lower respiratory resistances (RLR) at the resolution of each GER episode (RLR(e)) with respect to baseline values. RLR, expressed…

pT2 Adenocarcinoma of the Esophagus: Early or Advanced Cancer?

2013

Background There is an increasing trend to include patients with esophageal carcinoma invading the muscularis propria (pT2) in neoadjuvant therapy regimens. But it is unclear which patients have prognostic benefit from this strategy. The aim of this study was to assess the prognosis and prognostic factors in patients with pT2 esophageal adenocarcinoma to further optimize treatment strategies. Methods Included were patients with pT2 esophageal adenocarcinoma treated operatively at three centers specializing in upper gastrointestinal surgery. There were 159 patients (139 male) without induction therapy; median age was 64.5 years. Survival was analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis. …

Airway inflammation in nonasthmatic amateur runners

2001

Elite athletes show a high prevalence of symptoms and signs of asthma, but no study has assessed the acute effects of endurance exercise on airway cells in nonasthmatic athletes. We measured exhaled nitric oxide (NO) and collected samples of induced sputum after 3% NaCl aerosol administration for 20 min in nonasthmatic middle-aged amateur runners after the Fourth Palermo International Marathon and 6–9 wk later (habitual training period) at baseline. After the marathon, exhaled NO ( n = 9 subjects) was higher [27 ± 9 parts/billion (ppb)] than at baseline (12 ± 4 ppb; P < 0.0005). Polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) counts in induced sputum were much higher in runners (91.2 ± 3.6% of total…

Construction of quality of life change patterns: example in oncology in a phase III therapeutic trial (FFCD 0307)

2015

Objective Quality of life data in cancerology are often difficult to summarize due to missing data and difficulty to analyze the pattern of evolution in different groups of patients. The aim of this work was to apply a new methodology to construct Quality of Life (QoL) change patterns within patients included in a clinical trial comparing to regimen of treatment in locally advanced eosogastric cancer. Materials and methods In this trial, QoL was assessed every 2 months by self-reported EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Physical dimension scores were analyzed. After multiple imputation of missing data, 27 statistical measures aiming to describe the variation of QoL measures among follow-up were c…

Occupation and risk of upper aerodigestive tract cancer: The ARCAGE study

2012

We investigated the association between occupational history and upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) cancer risk in the ARCAGE European case-control study. The study included 1,851 patients with incident cancer of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx or esophagus and 1,949 controls. We estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for ever employment in 283 occupations and 172 industries, adjusting for smoking and alcohol. Men (1,457 cases) and women (394 cases) were analyzed separately and we incorporated a semi-Bayes adjustment approach for multiple comparisons. Among men, we found increased risks for occupational categories previously reported to be associated wit…

Cytokine Gene Transcription By NF-kappaB Family Members in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

1998

We examined the expression of the transcription factor NF-kappa B, a nuclear trans-acting factor known to play a key role in cytokine gene regulation, in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It was found that LP macrophages in Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) display high levels of NF-kappa B DNA-binding activity accompanied by an increased production of interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha. Western blot studies showed an increased expression of the p50 and c-rel subunits of NF-kappa B; however, the most striking finding was an increased expression level of NF-kappa B p65 in patients with CD and UC. Selective downregulation of p65 in IBD…