Plos One
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We investigated the role of pancreatic stone protein (PSP) in predicting the occurrence of infection in the postoperative course of cardiac surgery patients. Several biomarkers indicating the presence of inflammation and infection are available in the clinical routine; yet, their utility in the postoperative course of patients following cardiac surgery remains uncertain. Moreover, cardiopulmonary bypass, also referred to as "on-pump surgery", increases the susceptibility to an exaggerated inflammatory state. However, the impact of such extracorporeal circulation on circulating PSP levels remains poorly understood. ⋯ In an unselected population of cardiac surgery patients, post-operative serum PSP levels were significantly associated with the presence of infection in both the on-pump and off-pump setting. Of note, the surgical technique employed (sternotomy vs. minimally invasive approach) had a significant impact on postoperative PSP levels.
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To explore the joint and independent effects of gestational weight gain (GWG) and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) on pregnancy outcomes in a population of Chinese Han women and to evaluate pregnant women's adherence to the 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) gestational weight gain guidelines. ⋯ GWG above the recommended range is common in this population and is associated with multiple unfavorable outcomes independent of pre-pregnancy BMI. Obese women may benefit from avoiding weight gain above the range recommended by the 2009 IOM. Underweight women should avoid low GWG to prevent delivering an SGA infant. Pregnant women should therefore be monitored to comply with the IOM recommendations and should have a balanced weight gain that is within a range based on their pre-pregnancy BMI.
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The source of inter-subject variability and the influence of age and gender on morphometric characteristics of the spinal cord, such as the total cross-sectional area (TCA), the gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) areas, currently remain under investigation. Understanding the effect of covariates such as age, gender, brain volumes, and skull- and vertebra-derived metrics on cervical and thoracic spinal cord TCA and GM areas in healthy subjects would be fundamental for exploring compartment specific changes in neurological diseases affecting the spinal cord. Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 3T we investigated 32 healthy subjects using a 2D phase sensitive inversion recovery sequence and we measured TCA, GM and WM areas at 4 cervical and thoracic levels of the spinal cord. ⋯ The total intracranial volume and C3 vertebra dimensions showed the highest correlations with cord measures. When used in multi-regression models, they reduced cord areas group variability by approximately a third. Age and gender influences on cord measures and normalization strategies here presented might be of use in the study of compartment specific changes in various neurological diseases affecting the spinal cord.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Multicomponent interdisciplinary group intervention for self-management of fibromyalgia: a mixed-methods randomized controlled trial.
This study evaluated the efficacy of the PASSAGE Program, a structured multicomponent interdisciplinary group intervention for the self-management of FMS. ⋯ The PASSAGE Program was effective in helping FMS patients gain a sense of control over their symptoms. We suggest including PGIC in future clinical trials on FMS as they appear to capture important aspects of the patients' experience.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Increased missense mutation burden of Fatty Acid metabolism related genes in nunavik inuit population.
Nunavik Inuit (northern Quebec, Canada) reside along the arctic coastline where for generations their daily energy intake has mainly been derived from animal fat. Given this particular diet it has been hypothesized that natural selection would lead to population specific allele frequency differences and unique variants in genes related to fatty acid metabolism. A group of genes, namely CPT1A, CPT1B, CPT1C, CPT2, CRAT and CROT, encode for three carnitine acyltransferases that are important for the oxidation of fatty acids, a critical step in their metabolism. ⋯ The increased number and frequency of deleterious variants in these fatty acid metabolism genes in Nunavik Inuit may be the result of genetic adaptation to their diet and/or the extremely cold climate. In addition, the identification of these variants may help to understand some of the specific health risks of Nunavik Inuit.