Adv Exp Med Biol
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Observational Study
Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin: A Biomarker for Early Diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infections in Infants.
Early diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI) is challenging in infants due to unspecific symptoms, difficulty in urine collection and possible contamination. The aim of this study was to assesses the usefulness of serum and urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (sNGAL and uNGAL, respectively) in the diagnosis of febrile and non-febrile UTI in infants. This prospective observational study enrolled 66 infants with the first episode of UTI and 18 healthy controls. ⋯ The receiver operating curves (ROC) demonstrate that the optimum cut-off of 76.2 ng/ml for sNGAL (sensitivity 92.9%, specificity 94.4%, and the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.98) and of 42.2 ng/ml for uNGAL (sensitivity 73.8%, specificity 72.2%, and AUC of 0.76) for diagnosing febrile UTI and 39.0 ng/ml for sNGAL (sensitivity 83.3%, specificity 55.6%, and AUC of 0.70) for diagnosing non-febrile UTI. In conclusion, serum NGAL is an excellent marker for the early diagnosis of febrile UTI, with sensitivity and specificity higher than those of urine NGAL. Diagnostic sensitivity of serum NGAL is smaller in non-febrile infants suffering from UTI, and urine NGAL is not useful for this purpose at all.
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The expression of light-sensitive microbial opsins is a promising mutation-independent approach to restore vision in retinal degenerative diseases. Using viral vectors, optogenetic tools can be genetically expressed in various subpopulations of retinal neurons. The choice of cell type depends on the availability of surviving retinal cells. ⋯ In late-stage degeneration, when bipolar cells degenerate, "artificial photoreceptors" can be made from retinal ganglion cells, but with this approach, upstream retinal processing cannot be utilized. However, when ganglion cells are stimulated directly, higher brain regions might be able to compensate for some loss of retinal processing, which is indicated by clinical studies with epiretinal implants, where patients can perform simple visual tasks. Finally, optogenetics in combination with neuroprotective approaches could serve as a valuable strategy to restore the function of remaining cells, as well as to rescue retinal neurons from progressive degeneration.
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Scientific reports underscore the importance of measuring the health-related quality of life in sarcoidosis patients. The present study seeks to define how sarcoidosis patients' quality of life, daily physical activity, and physical performance are related to each other. Seventeen patients (mean age 46.8 ± 8.8 years) suffering from sarcoidosis completed the following questionnaires: the fatigue assessment scale (FAS), the quality of life scale (SF-36 questionnaire), and the Borg dyspnea scale. ⋯ In contrast, SF-36 scores associated with fatigue and dyspnea scores (r = 0.72; p < 0.001 and r = 0.85; p < 0.001). These findings imply that sarcoidosis patients are less active compared with healthy subjects. The FAS and SF-36 scales seem to be effective tools for assessing the severity of fatigue in sarcoidosis patients.
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Substance addiction (or drug addiction) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by a recurring desire to continue taking the drug despite harmful consequences. Non-substance addiction (or behavioral addiction) covers pathological gambling, food addiction, internet addiction, and mobile phone addiction. Their definition is similar to drug addiction but they differ from each other in specific domains. This review aims to provide a brief overview of past and current definitions of substance and non-substance addiction, and also touches on the topic of diagnosing drug addiction and non-drug addiction, ultimately aiming to further the understanding of the key concepts needed for a foundation to study the biological and psychological underpinnings of addiction disorders.
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Two major guide-line committees (JNC-8 and NICE UK) have dropped beta-blockers as first-line therapy in the treatment of hypertension. Also, recent meta-analyses (that do not take age into account) have concluded that beta-blockers are inappropriate first-line agents in the treatment of hypertension. This review seeks to shed some light on the "rights and wrongs" of such actions and conclusions. ⋯ Primary/essential hypertension in younger/middle-age is underpinned by high sympathetic nerve activity. In this age-group high resting heart rates and high plasma norepinephrine levels (independent of blood pressure) are linked to premature cardiovascular events and death. Thus, anti-hypertensive agents that increase sympathetic nerve activity ie diuretics, dihydropyridine calcium blockers, and ARBs, are inappropriate first-line choices in this younger age-group. Beta-blockers perform well vs randomised placebo and other antihypertensive agents regarding reduced risk of death/stroke/myocardial infarction in younger (<60 years) hypertensive subjects, and are a reasonable first-line choice of therapy (certainly in men). These facts should be reflected in the recommendations of guideline committees around the world.