Journal of investigative medicine : the official publication of the American Federation for Clinical Research
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Fibromax is a diagnostic tool composed of the combination of 4 non-invasive biomarker panels for the diagnosis of steatosis (SteatoTest), necrosis and inflammation (ActiTest and NashTest-2) and fibrosis (FibroTest). The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of these biomarker panels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). All patients underwent routine labs, a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test, a liver proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to measure intrahepatic triglyceride content, and a percutaneous liver biopsy to establish the diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and to grade and stage the disease in those patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by 1H-MRS. ⋯ Regarding the FibroTest score, its performance to identify patients with moderate or advanced fibrosis was 0.67 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.76) and 0.72 (95% CI 0.61 to 0.83), respectively. Non-invasive panels for the diagnosis of steatosis, NASH and/or fibrosis, which were developed and validated in non-diabetic cohorts, underperformed when applied to a large cohort of patients with T2DM. Results from non-diabetic populations should not be extrapolated to patients with T2DM.
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We aimed to evaluate the changes in plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase (PMCA) and sarcoendoplasmic reticulum CA2+-ATPase (SERCA-2) according to the antepartal magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) administration in the placentas from pregnancies with pre-eclampsia (PE) or fetal growth restriction (FGR). Pregnant women were classified as follows: (group 1) pregnancies without PE or FGR (n=16), (group 2) pregnancies with PE or FGR but without MgSO4 administration (n=14), and (group 3) pregnancies with PE or FGR and with MgSO4 administration (n=28). We observed the localization of PMCA and SERCA-2 in placentas and compared its expression among 3 groups. ⋯ In BeWo cells, MgSO4 treatment increased PMCA and SERCA-2 expression. PMCA expression was influenced by gestational age at delivery, and SERCA-2 expression was increased in the presence of PE and antepartal MgSO4 administration. This indicates that antepartal MgSO4 administration has a greater influence on SERCA-2 than PMCA.
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Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a high risk of fatal arrhythmias. The extended severe corrected QT (QTc) interval is a hallmark of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of acquired long QT syndrome (aLQTS) in hospitalized patients with CKD and search for potential risk factors to improve clinical risk stratification in patients with CKD. ⋯ The prevalence of aLQTS among all 804 patients was 56.97%, and the prevalence of QTc prolongation (>500 ms) was 10.07%. Among the elderly, impaired kidney function, hemodialysis, low serum potassium and low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were associated with QTc prolongation in patients with CKD. The prevalence of aLQTS is much higher and increases with the decline of kidney function in hospitalized patients with CKD, which is related to older age, impaired kidney function, hemodialysis, serum potassium and low LVEF.
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Previous studies have demonstrated that CXCL12/CXCR4 axis is closely related to tumors such as malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). This research was conducted in order to detect whether CXCL12/CXCR4 inhibitors could restrain MPM and have a synergistic effect with chemotherapy, also to investigate the relationship of CXCL12/CXCR4 with other gene expressions in MPM. Forty mice were injected MPM cells and randomly divided into four groups: the PBS (control group), AMD3100 (CXCR4-CXCL12 antagonist), pemetrexed and AMD3100 plus pemetrexed. ⋯ Among the 2.5 billion genes, several hundreds of genes expressed differently between groups. Results show that AMD3100 and pemetrexed can inhibit the growth of MPM in vivo, also that there is a better result if both are used together. Our findings suggest that CXCL12/CXCR4 axis affects a certain amount of gene expression in MPM.
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Letter Randomized Controlled Trial
Copeptin levels upon corticosteroid treatment in acute community-acquired pneumonia.