Search results for "severity"
showing 10 items of 1287 documents
Retinol-binding protein 4: a new marker of virus-induced steatosis in patients infected with hepatitis C virus genotype 1.
2008
Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) is an adipocytokine associated with insulin resistance (IR). We tested serum levels of RBP4 to assess its link with steatosis in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Nondiabetic patients with CHC (n = 143) or NAFLD (n = 37) were evaluated by liver biopsy and anthropometric and metabolic measurements, including IR by the homeostasis model assessment. Biopsies were scored by Scheuer classification for CHC, and Kleiner for NAFLD. Steatosis was tested as a continuous variable and graded as absent-mild <30%, or moderate-severe > or =30%. Thirty nondiabetic, nonobese blood donors served as controls. …
Rearing style and depressive disorder in adulthood: a controlled study in a Spanish clinical sample
1999
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the style of rearing in a sample of depressive patients and compare it with a control group of normal subjects of similar age, sex, and civil status. The hypothesis to verify was that among the depressives the style of rearing is characterised by a deficit in Emotional Warmth and an excess of Rejection and Protection. We analysed whether the severity of the depression – Major Depressive Disorders versus Depressive Disorders Not Otherwise Specified – was associated with differences in the perceived rearing conditions. Design: It was an observational study of the case/control type. There were 50 patients, whose first depressive episode (DSM-…
Causal symptom attributions in somatoform disorder and chronic pain.
2009
Abstract Objective Somatoform disorders (SFD) are defined by symptoms that lack medical explanation. This study examined the type and pattern of patients' causal attributions using a new semistructured interview technique Methods The Causal Attributions Interview allows to assess and weigh 15 common explanations of physical symptoms. Attributions given by 79 patients with SFD were compared with those obtained from 187 chronic pain patients. Results The test–retest reliabilities of the interview-elicited attributions were satisfactory to good. SFD patients attributed most of their symptoms to mental/emotional problems (46.9%) and somatic disease (41.1%), while the pain sample preferred physi…
Distribution and categorization of left ventricular measurements in the general population: results from the population-based Gutenberg Heart Study.
2010
Background— Echocardiography, the dominant imaging modality for quantification of left ventricular metrics, has undergone continuing development in the past few decades. However, given the lack of population-based data, current guidelines are still based on restricted and small data sets analyzed with methods including expert opinion. This work presents empirically derived reference values from a large-scale, epidemiologic study conducted with state-of-the-art imaging technology and methods. Methods and Results— The distribution of echocardiographic measurements of the left ventricle was analyzed in a population-based sample of 5000 mid-Europeans from the Gutenberg Heart Study in Germany. …
Relation of endocrine and cardiac findings in acromegalics
1992
Cardiac involvement in 32 acromegalics was related to endocrine parameters, clinical score and duration of the disease as well as compared to that of 50 controls free of cardiac disease. Stress ECG, 24h Holter monitoring and echocardiography revealed that supraventricular premature complexes did not occur more often in acromegalics than in controls, both prevalence and severity of ventricular arrhythmia, however, were higher in patients compared to controls: 15/32 (48%) acromegalics had complex ventricular arrhythmia as compared with 6/50 (12%) normal subjects (p less than 0.01). Repetitive ventricular arrhythmia was manifest in 10/32 (31%) patients but only in 4/50 (8%) controls (p less th…
Lacrimal gland herniation in Graves ophthalmopathy: a simple and useful MRI biomarker of disease activity
2019
Lacrimal gland (LG) involvement in patients with Graves ophthalmopathy (GO) has been considered as a potential cause of the associated GO symptoms and different studies demonstrated the LG involvement in patients with GO than healthy controls. The aim of this study was to evaluate LG involvement, through measurement of its herniation, using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) index, in patients with different GO activities. Thirty-two consecutive Caucasian patients affected by GO were enrolled and grouped in group A (16 with inactive GO, CAS < 3) and B (16 with active GO, CAS ≥ 3) according to their GO activity. All patients underwent clinical-endocrinological assessment, a complete ocular e…
Sensitivity to heat in MS patients: a factor strongly influencing symptomology -- an explorative survey
2011
Published version of an article to be found in BMC Neurology 2011, 11:27, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2377-11-27 Background: Many individuals diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are sensitive to increased body temperature, which has been recognized as correlating with the symptom of fatigue. The need to explore this association has been highlighted. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of heat sensitivity and its relations to disease course, disability, common MS-related symptoms and ongoing immunosuppressive treatments among individuals 65 years of age or younger diagnosed with MS. Methods: A cross-sectional designed survey was undertaken. A questionnaire was sent …
Plasma PCSK9 is a late biomarker of severity in patients with severe trauma injury.
2013
PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9) is a secreted protease that modulates cholesterol homeostasis by decreasing low-density lipoprotein receptor expression. Low levels of plasma lipoproteins are related to severity of illness and survival in patients of intensive care units (ICU).The aim of the study was to investigate the regulation of plasma PCSK9 and its association with plasma lipid parameters and clinical markers of severity during critical illness.The plasma biobank from the previously published HYPOLYTE prospective study was used to measure PCSK9 concentrations by ELISA at days 0 and 8 in 111 patients admitted to surgical ICU for severe multiple trauma. Patients wer…
Value of contrast-enhanced MR angiography and helical CT angiography in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
2003
The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced MR angiography (ce MRA) and helical CT angiography (CTA) of the pulmonary arteries in the preoperative workup of patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The ce MRA and CTA studies of 32 patients were included in this retrospective evaluation. Image quality was scored by two independent blinded observers. Data sets were assessed for number of patent segmental, subsegmental arteries, and number of vascular segments with thrombotic wall thickening, intraluminal webs, and abnormal proximal to distal tapering. Image quality for MRA/CTA was scored excellent in 16 of 16, good in 11 of 14, m…
The cortisol awakening response at admission to hospital predicts depression severity after discharge in MDD patients.
2019
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) dysregulation and altered cortisol awakening response (CAR), a non-invasive biomarker for HPA axis reactivity. We theorized that the CAR resembles the accumulated effects of depression over time, and may therefore predict depressive symptom severity once patients return home following inpatient treatment. Two studies are reported. In Study 1 (n = 101; 57% female), the CAR was measured at intake and self-ratings of depression severity was assessed six weeks following discharge. Study 2 (n = 127; 58% female) was a replication and extension of Study 1 where a follow-up assessment of self-rated depressi…