Journal of investigative medicine : the official publication of the American Federation for Clinical Research
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The Lambda-Mu-Sigma (LMS) method calculates the lower limit of normal for spirometric measures of pulmonary function as the fifth percentile of the distribution of z scores, suitably accounting for age-related changes in pulmonary function. Extending prior work, and to assess whether the LMS method is clinically valid when evaluating respiratory impairment in the elderly, our current objective was to evaluate the association of LMS-defined respiratory impairment (airflow limitation and restrictive pattern) with all-cause mortality and respiratory symptoms (chronic bronchitis, dyspnea, or wheezing) in older persons. ⋯ The LMS-defined airflow limitation and restrictive pattern confers a significantly increased risk of death and likelihood of having respiratory symptoms. These results support the use of LMS-derived spirometric z scores as a basis for evaluating respiratory impairment in older persons.
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Malignant breast tumors are often hormone-dependent, and to this end, both estrogen and progesterone receptors are good prognostic markers for evaluation of the outcomes after therapy. In addition, HER-2/neu, whose expression is increasingly being associated with poor prognosis of breast cancer, has predictive potential after immunotherapy. Cytochrome P450 3A4 is highly involved in the metabolism of steroids. Thus, we investigated the impact of CYP 3A4 gene variants in association with clinical outcomes in African American (AFAM) versus Caucasian (CAU) patients with breast cancer diagnosis. ⋯ Genotype association was affected by race. Expression levels of total CYP 3A4 mRNA were inversely correlated with clinical diagnosis. This may suggest mRNA testing as an additional tool that accelerates improvement in the diagnosis of the onsets of breast cancer.