Clinics
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Aging causes a progressive worsening in postural balance, affecting functional independence and increasing the risk of falls. ⋯ Posturography showed a decline in postural balance with advancing age, suggesting that the 9th decade of life is a borderline age to this detriment due to an increase in postural instability.
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As a greater proportion of patients survived their initial cardiac insult, Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) is becoming a major cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. However, the mechanism underlying the inflammation in patients with CHF has not yet been elaborated. This study aims to explore the associations between inflammation and CHF patients, and the predictive performance of inflammatory indicators in identifying patients with CHF. ⋯ The systemic inflammatory indicators such as hs-CRP, LMR, and MHR were independently correlated with the attack of CHF and might be the complementary markers of the diagnosis of CHF.
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Osteoblasts are derived from Bone Marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BM-MSCs), which play an indispensable role in bone formation. In this study, the authors aim to investigate the role of IRF4 in the osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs and its potential molecular mechanism. ⋯ In summary, this paper proposed that IRF4/miR-636/DOCK9 may be considered as targets for the treatment of osteoporosis (OP).
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Despite ambulation capacity being associated with a decreased level of physical activity and survival may be influenced by the functional capacity, studies have not addressed the association between ambulation capacity and death in patients hospitalized by COVID-19. ⋯ Decreased ambulation capacity, age, length of ICU stay, immunosuppression, and mechanical ventilation was associated with a high risk of in-hospital death due to COVID-19.
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Defense against respiratory viruses depends on an immune response present in the mucosa, as saliva IgA secretes antibodies. During the pandemic, such as influenza or SARS-CoV-2, most infected patients are asymptomatic but retain specific antibodies post-infection. The authors evaluated IgG and IgA antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza in the saliva of asymptomatic volunteers, validated with controls or vaccinated individuals. ⋯ Specific antibodies for respiratory viruses in saliva are found in either infection or vaccination and are a convenient and sensitive diagnostic tool for host immune response.