Annals of medicine
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Preeclampsia (PE), one of hypertension-related disorders of pregnancy, is a common cause of maternal death worldwide. This study aimed to identify a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA-associated ceRNA network and related pathways in PE. ⋯ GNB5 and IL2RB might be key genes involved in the PI3K-Akt signalling pathway in PE, and hsa_circ_0087208, hsa_circ_0035443, hsa_circ_0067557 and hsa_circ_0052661 might regulate these key genes in PE by binding miR-1248 or miR-4303.Key messagesThere is still a lack of predictive and diagnostic factors for preeclampsia, which is a common cause of maternal death worldwide.This study identified a novel circRNA-associated ceRNA network and related pathways in preeclampsia.GNB5 and IL2RB might be key genes in their related circRNA-associated ceRNA network, and probably take an important role in preeclampsia via PI3K-Akt signalling pathway, which made them to be potential markers of preeclampsia.
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Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) are highly heritable tumours, with up to 40% of cases carrying germline variants. Current guidelines recommend genetic testing for all patients with PPGLs. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) enables accurate, fast, and inexpensive genetic testing. This study aimed to compare the costs related to PPGL genetic testing between the sequential testing using the decisional algorithm proposed in the 2014 Endocrine Society guidelines and targeted NGS gene panels. ⋯ Targeted NGS can reduce both the cost of PPGL genetic testing and the number of hospital visits, compared with the conventional approach. Our proposed algorithm is the preferred approach due to its significant reduction of the cost of genetic testing.Key messagePheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are highly heritable neoplasms.The targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) gene panels have proven to be fast, accurate, and inexpensive for the genetic analysis.According to this cost analysis, it is economically reasonable to use targeted NGS gene panels for genetic screening.
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Observational Study
Variability of blood eosinophil count and prognosis of COPD exacerbations.
Eosinophils in peripheral blood are one of the emerging biomarkers in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. However, when analysing the relationship between peripheral eosinophilia and COPD prognosis, highly variable results are obtained. The aim of our study is to describe the serum eosinophilia levels in COPD patients and to analyse their relationship to prognosis following hospital admission. ⋯ The results of our study do not seem to support the usefulness of BEC as a COPD biomarker.KEY MESSAGESThere is evidence that BEC participates in pathophysiological mechanisms of the COPD.BEC may be useful as a biomarker in COPD for aspects such as the optimization of treatments.We did not find any relationship between BEC levels and prognosis following hospital admission for AECOPD.
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Little is known about the relationship between arterial stiffness and cardiovascular target organ damage (TOD) in the general population. The aim was to analyse the relationship between different measurements of arterial stiffness and TOD, in a general Spanish population without a history of cardiovascular event. ⋯ The different measurements of arterial stiffness are highly associated with each other. Moreover, cf-PWV and ba-PWV were associated with vascular TOD, and ba-PWV with LVH, although they disappear when adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors. Key Messages There is a strong correlation between the different measurements of vascular structure and function. Carotid-femoral and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity were positively associated with vascular target organ damage, the latter was also positively associated with left ventricular hypertrophy. This associations disappear when adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors.
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Epicardial fat thickness is an interesting parameter of early atherosclerosis. We prospectively assessed whether weight loss following laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) leads to a significant reduction in the epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and the correlation between the decline in the epicardial fat thickness with other clinical parameters. ⋯ LSG can have a favourable impact on metabolic syndrome aspects, namely EFT, as it can decrease it considerably.