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Background: Epidemiological data indicate decreased risk for development and growth of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), but DM also goes with increased cardiovascular (CV)morbidity and mortality. We evaluated the effects of DM on mortality and CV morbidity after elective open AAA repair. Methods: This is a nationwide observational cohort study of patients

Aims: The hypothesis of 'metabolically healthy obesity' implies that, in the absence of metabolic dysfunction, individuals with excess adiposity are not at greater cardiovascular risk We tested this hypothesis in a large pan-European prospective study. Methods and results: We conducted a case-cohort analysis in the 520 000-person European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (

At the southern margin of permafrost in North America, climate change causes widespread permafrost thaw. In boreal lowlands, thawing forested permafrost peat plateaus (‘forest’) lead to expansion of permafrost‐free wetlands (‘wetland’). Expanding wetland area with saturated and warmer organic soils is expected to increase landscape methane (CH4) emissions. Here, we quantify the thaw‐induced increa

Background: Almost 1/3 of heart failure patients fail to respond to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). A simple clinical score to predict who these patients are at the moment of referral or at time of implant may be of importance for early optimization of their management. Methods: Observational study. A risk score was derived from factors associated to CRT response. The derivation cohort wa

Arsenic (As) is one of the most important dangerous elements as more than 100 million of people are exposed to risk, globally. The permissible threshold of As for drinking water is 10 μg/L according to both the WHO’s drinking water guidelines and the Iranian national standard. However, several studies have indicated that As concentrations exceed this threshold value in several regions of Iran. Thi

Background: Cancer Antigen 125 (CA125) is currently the best available ovarian cancer screening biomarker. However, CA125 has been limited by low sensitivity and specificity in part due to normal variation between individuals. Personal characteristics that influence CA125 could be used to improve its performance as screening biomarker. Methods: We developed and validated linear and dichotomous (≥3

BackgroundAccumulating evidence suggests that many psychiatric disorders etiologically represent the extreme end of dimensionally distributed features rather than distinct entities. The extent to which this applies to eating disorders (EDs) is unknown.MethodsWe investigated if there is similar etiology in (a) the continuous distribution of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), (b) the extremes

AIMS: Remodelling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is a key mechanism involved in the development and progression of heart failure (HF) but also functional in associated pulmonary hypertension (PH). Our aim was to identify plasma ECM proteins associated to end-stage HF and secondary PH in relation to haemodynamics, before and after heart transplantation (HT).METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty ECM plasma

AIM: Epidural analgesia reduces the surgical stress response. However, its effect on pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the genesis of inflammation following major abdominal surgery remains unclear. Our main objective was to elucidate whether perioperative epidural analgesia prevents the inflammatory response following colorectal cancer surgery.METHODS: Ninety-six patients scheduled for open

Background: Perlecan is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) constituent of the extracellular matrix with roles in cell growth, differentiation, and angiogenesis. The role of the HS side chains in regulating invivo angiogenesis after hind-limb ischemia is unknown. Methods: Heparan sulfate (HS)-deficient perlecan (Hspg2 δ3/δ3 ) mice (n= 35), containing normal perlecan core protein but deficient i

Purpose: To assess and correlate the levels of inflammatory mediators in the eyes from non-diabetic and diabetic subjects without retinopathy (NDR), with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) or with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) to corresponding erum levels. Methods: The levels of interleukin 1β, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were analysed by an EL

Quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been shown to provide protection from HPV 6/11/16/18-related cervical, vaginal, and vulvar disease through 3 years. We provide an update on the efficacy of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine against high-grade cervical, vaginal, and vulvar lesions based on end-of-study data from three clinical trials. Additionally, we stratify vaccine efficacy by sever

Background The aim of this study was to investigate gene transfer to human umbilical cord blood (CB) CD34(+)/CD38(low) and NOD/SCID repopulating cells using oncoretroviral vectors and to compare the transduction efficiency using three different viral envelopes. Methods CB cells were transduced on Retronectin using an MSCV-based vector with the gene for GFP (MGIN), which was packaged into three dif

Background Treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis with interferon beta is only partly effective, and new more effective and safe strategies are needed. Our aim was to assess the efficacy of oral methylprednisolone as an add-on therapy to subcutaneous interferon beta-1a to reduce the yearly relapse rate in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Methods NORMIMS (NORdic tr

The apolipoprotein (apoE) epsilon4 allele was studied in fronto-temporal dementia (FTD), a diagnostic category including the specific disorders Pick's disease and frontal lobe degeneration of non-Alzheimer type (FLD). These dementing diseases have neuronal and synaptic degeneration in common with Alzheimer's disease (AD), for which the presence of the apoE epsilon4 allele is a known risk factor, a

Background: Lewy body Dementia (LBD) is a well-known neurocognitive disorder in the elderly. The hallmarks of LBD are Parkinsonism without tremor, recurrent and persistent visual hallucinations often with insight, fluctuating cognition and alertness, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder with vivid dreams and violent movements, but relatively preserved memory functions. Nevertheless, LB

Axonal injury is a hallmark of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is associated with a poor clinical outcome. Following central nervous system injury, axons regenerate poorly, in part due to the presence of molecules associated with myelin that inhibit axonal outgrowth, including myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG). The involvement of MAG in neurobehavioral deficits and tissue loss following experi

Huntington's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by an abnormal CAG repeat expansion within exon 1 of the huntingtin gene HTT. While several genetic modifiers, distinct from the Huntington's disease locus itself, have been identified as being linked to the clinical expression and progression of Huntington's disease, the exact molecular mechanisms driving its pathogenic cascade and clini

Objectives: Increasing incidences of non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) with β-lactam resistance mediated through mutations in penicillin-binding protein 3 (BLNAR or rPBP3) have been observed in the past decades. Recently, an rPBP3 NTHi sequence type (ST) 14 with PBP3 type IIb/A caused a disease outbreak in a nursing home in Sweden with severe outcomes, indicating increased bacterial virul