Journal of investigative medicine : the official publication of the American Federation for Clinical Research
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While non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in non-pregnant patients, the clinical significance of NAFLD during pregnancy is still unclear. We hypothesized that sonographic findings of NAFLD during pregnancy would be associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and predict abnormal postpartum glucose metabolism. NAFLD was assessed by ultrasound during and after pregnancy. ⋯ There was a non-significant trend toward higher mean weight and body mass index during and after gestation in the NAFLD group, but no statistically significant differences in mean age, ethnicity, prepregnancy and postpregnancy hemoglobin A1C values, and postpartum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glucose, insulin, or FFA. We did not find an association between sonographic evidence of NAFLD during the third trimester of pregnancy and abnormal glucose metabolism during or after pregnancy. This study also suggests that while AST and ALT are not reliable diagnostic tools for NAFLD during the postpartum period, ultrasound is a reasonably safe, practical, and cost-effective modality to assess maternal hepatic fat during pregnancy.
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Nephropathy is a common health issue associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Treatment of diabetic nephropathy (DN) in an early stage can effectively inhibit its progression. Albuminuria is the currently accepted marker for detection of DN. ⋯ AUCs of periostin were higher than that for cyclophilin A with a significant AUC difference (p=0.022) in overt DN stage. Periostin and cyclophilin A could be regarded as a potential urinary biomarker for early prediction of DN. Periostin exhibits a higher diagnostic accuracy than urinary cyclophilin A specifically in overt DN stage.
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Infants requiring hospitalization due to a viral lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) have a high risk of developing recurrent respiratory illnesses in early life and asthma beyond childhood. Notably, all validated clinical scales for viral LRTI have focused on predicting acute severity instead of recurrence. We present a novel clinical approach combining individual risk factors with bedside clinical parameters to predict recurrence after viral LRTI hospitalization in young children. ⋯ After the first hospitalization, the strongest predictors of subsequent episodes were wheezing (OR=5.62; 95% CI 1.03 to 30.62; p=0.04) and family history of asthma (OR=5.39; 95% CI 1.04 to 27.96; p=0.04). We found that integrating individual risk factors (eg, prematurity or family history of asthma) with bedside clinical assessment (eg, wheezing, subcostal retractions or hypoxemia) can predict the risk of recurrence after viral LRTI hospitalization in infants. This strategy may enable clinically oriented subsetting of infants with viral LRTI based on individual predictors for recurrent respiratory illnesses during early life.
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The present study aimed to investigate the influence of several important preanalytical factors (storage period of the tumor block, maximal diameter of the tumor circled area, tumor volume and tumor fraction) on the isolated DNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues in a series of thyroid carcinomas. ⋯ The maximal diameter of the tumor circled area, tumor volume and tumor fraction are important morphological factors that correlate with the DNA concentration and should be carefully assessed in routine practice prior to performing DNA isolation from FFPE tissues.
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To analyze the maternal and fetal factors affecting emergency cesarean section (EmCS) and establish a risk scoring system to quantitatively predict the risk of EmCS. ⋯ An effective risk scoring system has been developed to quantitatively assess the risk of EmCS based on measurable maternal and fetal factors. The system is simple, easy to operate and has good repeatability in clinical practice.