Medicina
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Background and objective: Spinal pain is a common and growing problem, not only in the general population but also among athletes. Lifestyle, occupation, and incorrectly exerted effort have a significant impact on low back pain. To assess the prevalence of low back pain among those practicing Kyokushin karate, we take into account age, body weight, sex, length of karate experience, level of skill, and occupation. ⋯ The intensity of low back pain is influenced by sex, occupation, overall length of training experience, and one's level of karate skill. Lumbar spine ailments reduce functionality and quality of life to a small degree. Karate practitioners seldom seek treatment for spinal pains, and only few use physiotherapy and pharmacology.
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Background and Objectives: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental condition with a lifetime prevalence estimated around 2% among the general population. Due to risk factors, etiological mechanisms, and the chronic use of psychotropic medications, people with BD are frequently affected by medical comorbidities, such as metabolic syndrome (MetS), associated with altered blood levels of glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides. Moreover, the lipid concentration may be associated with the severity of psychiatric symptoms. ⋯ Moreover, the total and LDL cholesterol levels were significantly lower in (hypo)manic than depressed patients. Mood episodes did not influence the triglyceride and glucose levels in our sample. Conclusions: Clinicians should pay attention to blood cholesterol levels in patients with BD, as differences in concentrations may predispose them to severe medical conditions and can be associated with the onset of mood episodes.
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Background and objective: Dental fluorosis is a disease affecting dental hard tissues featured with white or yellowish lesions. Several treatments are proposed in the literature, some even invasive. This clinical study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of resin infiltration in terms of lesions resolution, trend of sensitive teeth and satisfaction of patients over time. ⋯ Overall, the treatment was found to be statistically significantly associated with differences in answers of aesthetic dissatisfaction between t0 and t1 and those collected between t1 and t2. Between t2 and t3 and between t3 and t4 no statistical differences were found in answers of patients about dissatisfaction, indicating the stability of the results. Conclusions: The ICON resin infiltration technique was found to be effective in lesions resolution with steady results.
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Background and objective: Ninety percent of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) feel foot pain during the disease process. Pharmacological treatment of RA has a systematic effect on the body and includes: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biologics. The objective of our review was to examine the impact of biologics on patients with RA 'foot. ⋯ The benefits of biologics, in terms of the disease evolution, were assessed using X-ray. Conclusion: Evidence suggests that the use of biologics is not a risk factor for post-operative surgical site infection or delayed wound healing. The use of biologics presents benefits in terms of the disease evolution assessed through X-ray.
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Background and objectives: The carcinogenicity of coal tar pitch (CTP) to occupational workers has been confirmed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, especially for lung cancer. Herein, we explored the dynamic changes of epigenetic modifications in the malignant transformation process of CTP-induced BEAS-2B cells and also provided clues for screening early biomarkers of CTP-associated occupational lung cancer. Methods: BEAS-2B cells treated with 3.0 μg/mL CTP extract (CTPE) were cultured to the 30th passage to set up a malignant transformation model, which was confirmed by platelet clone formation assay and xenograft assay. ⋯ The mRNA levels of DNMT1, DNMT3a and HDAC1 as well as the expression of DNMT1 protein were up-regulated since the 10th passage. From the 20th passage, the transcriptional levels of DNMT3b, let-7a and the expression of DNMT3a, DNMT3b, and HDAC1 proteins were detected to be higher than vehicle control, while the level of miR-21 increased only at the 30th passage. Conclusion: Data in this study indicated that the changes of epigenetic molecules including DNMT1, DNMT3a, DNMT3b, HDAC1, and let-7a occurred at the early stages of BEAS-2B cell malignant transformation after CTPE exposure, which provided critical information for screening early biomarkers of CTP-associated occupational lung cancer.