Arch Med Sci
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Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a severely underdiagnosed and undertreated genetic disorder. Little is known about regional variation in the prevalence of FH, and information for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is scarce. This paper assesses the prevalence of FH and related cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in Poland. ⋯ We believe that our study might facilitate the planning of a strategy to manage the disease at a population level, i.e. to develop a national strategy for the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of FH.
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Statin use might be associated with an increased risk of sleep disturbances including insomnia, but the evidence regarding sleep changes following statin therapy has not been conclusive. Therefore we assessed the impact of statin therapy on sleep changes through a systematic review and meta-analysis of available randomized controlled trials (RCTs). ⋯ The results indicated that statins have no significant adverse effect on sleep duration and efficiency, entry to stage I, or latency to stage I sleep, but significantly reduce wake time and number of awakenings.
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Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) remains a diagnostic challenge for clinicians. More recently, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has become readily available for the diagnosis of CDI, and many studies have investigated the usefulness of LAMP for rapid and accurate diagnosis of CDI. However, the overall diagnostic accuracy of LAMP for CDI remains unclear. In this meta-analysis, our aim was to establish the overall diagnostic accuracy of LAMP in detection of Clostridium difficile (CD) in stool samples. ⋯ The LAMP meets the minimum desirable characteristics of a diagnostic test of SEN, SPE and other measures of accuracy in the diagnosis of CD, and it is suitable as a rapid, effective and reliable stand-alone diagnostic test for diagnosis of CDI, potentially decreasing morbidity and nosocomial spread of CD.
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Many studies have shown that oral supplementation with astaxanthin may be a novel potential treatment for inflammation and oxidative stress in cardiovascular diseases, but evidence of the effects on lipid profile and glucose is still inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of astaxanthin supplementation on plasma lipid and glucose concentrations. ⋯ This meta-analysis of data from 10 RCT arms did not indicate a significant effect of supplementation with astaxanthin on plasma lipid profile, but a slight glucose-lowering effect was observed. Further, well-designed trials are necessary to validate these results.
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Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) is involved in regulating cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, and tissue remodeling. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between SPARC expression and the clinicopathologic features and outcomes of gastric cancer patients. ⋯ The SPARC may play an important role in the progression of gastric cancer, and SPARC overexpression is closely correlated with poor patient survival. The SPARC is a potential clinical marker for the survival of gastric cancer patients; however, well-designed prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.