Arch Med Sci
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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory, connective tissue disease, leading to foot deformities, impairment of locomotive functions, and reducing patients' quality of life. Obesity prevalence is rising in early RA and is associated with worse disease activity, function and health-related quality of life, with a significant negative impact on achieving a low Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28). The aim of the study was to evaluate foot deformities in overweight RA patients according to the severity of the disease. ⋯ Plantar contourography showed a trend of an increase of α angle values and the Sztriter-Godunow index (KY) in overweight RA patients with increasing severity of radiological changes and DAS28, requiring use of proper prevention and therapeutic strategies of destructive changes.
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The risk of unfavourable outcomes after an acute heart failure (AHF) episode remains high. Effective decongestion, reflected by haemoconcentration (HC), may guide therapy. Optimal timing of HC remains unspecified. ⋯ Patients reaching HC earlier seem to present the best prognosis regarding the analysed composite endpoint.
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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common adult-onset neurodegenerative disorder caused by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons due to the accumulation of α-synuclein in the substantia nigra. Mitochondria are known to play a key role in cell respiratory function and bioenergetics. Indeed, mitochondrial dysfunction causes insufficient energy production required to satisfy the needs of several organs, especially the nervous system. However, the profiling of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of mitochondrial subunits in PD has not been systematically investigated yet. ⋯ The over-expression of mitochondrial subunits in PD subjects with respect to NC might be secondary to a degeneration-related alteration of the mitochondrial structure and/or dynamics, or to the occurrence of a compensatory mechanism. The study of specific mRNA by peripheral blood mononuclear cells may provide a further diagnostic frame for early detection PD patients.
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This study aimed to investigate the potential role of moxibustion (MOX) in the treatment of lung infection in patients bed-ridden due to osteoporotic fracture of the spine. ⋯ Moxibustion significantly alleviated the inflammatory responses, thus leading to a better survival rate of patients bed-ridden due to osteoporotic fracture of the spine.
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MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small (approximately 17 to 25 nucleotides in length), single stranded, non-coding RNAs that play an important role in the control of gene expression at the post-transcriptional stage, by inhibiting protein translation or promoting mRNA degradation. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical utility of the tested markers (miRNAs 19a-3p and 99a-5p), which might be important in the diagnostics of non-invasive bladder cancer (BC). ⋯ Our data indicated that miR-19a-3p and miR-99a-5p were significantly altered in bladder cancer samples and useful as diagnostic markers.