Analysis of the common genetic component of large-vessel vasculitides through a meta- Immunochip strategy

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu's arteritis (TAK) are major forms of large-vessel vasculitis (LVV) that share clinical features. To evaluate their genetic similarities, we analysed Immunochip genotyping data from 1,434 LVV patients and 3,814 unaffected controls. Genetic pleiotropy was also estimated. The HLA region harboured the main disease-specific associations. GCA was mostly associated with class II genes (HLA-DRB1/HLA-DQA1) whereas TAK was mostly associated with class I genes (HLA-B/MICA). Both the statistical significance and effect size of the HLA signals were considerably reduced in the cross-disease meta-analysis in comparison with the analysis of GCA and TAK separately. Consequently, no significant genetic correlation between these two diseases was observed when HLA variants were tested. Outside the HLA region, only one polymorphism located nearby the IL12B gene surpassed the study-wide significance threshold in the meta-analysis of the discovery datasets (rs755374, P?=?7.54E-07; ORGCA?=?1.19, ORTAK?=?1.50). This marker was confirmed as novel GCA risk factor using four additional cohorts (PGCA?=?5.52E-04, ORGCA?=?1.16). Taken together, our results provide evidence of strong genetic differences between GCA and TAK in the HLA. Outside this region, common susceptibility factors were suggested, especially within the IL12B locus

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures on the sexual functions of women treated for vaginismus (genitopelvic pain/penetration disorder)

Introduction and hypothesis Female sexual function is influenced by the emotional and hormonal state. COVID-19 has been the major global health crisis of our time with high psychosocial impact. Vaginismus is a form of female sexual dysfunction and a subset of genitopelvic pain/penetration disorder in which any form of vaginal penetration is painful or impossible. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual function of women treated for vaginismus. Materials and methods All women treated using dilators between 2018-2019 were included. Data obtained 3 months after comfortable penetration and during the pandemic via telephone interview were compared. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), Golombok-Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to evaluate sexual function and depression. Frequency of sexual intercourse and pain was compared using a visual analogue scale. Results Seventy-seven women were included. Mean duration of treatment and number of treatment sessions were 3.5 +/- 2.6 months and 4.2 +/- 2.6, respectively. There were significant improvements in the FSFI desire, arousal, orgasm, and pain subscales and total score and in the GRISS infrequency, noncommunication, avoidance, non-sensuality, and vaginismus subscales and total score during the pandemic. The GRISS dissatisfaction and anorgasmia subscales and BDI score significantly worsened. Mean frequency of sexual intercourse was 2.3 +/- 1.8/week and did not change significantly. Pain scores decreased during the pandemic (2.7 +/- 2.8) compared to post-treatment (6.2 +/- 2.9). Conclusion Although frequency of sexual intercourse was not affected and pain scores and FSFI total and subscale scores improved, satisfaction and orgasm were adversely affected, which may be attributed to increased stress and anxiety during the pandemic

Potential Novel Biomarkers for Diabetic Testicular Damage in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats: Nerve Growth Factor Beta and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

Background. It is well known that diabetes mellitus may cause testicular damage. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and nerve growth factor beta (NGF-β) are important neurotrophic factors for male reproductive system. Objective. We aimed to investigate the correlation between testicular damage and testicular VEGF and NGF-β levels in diabetic rats. Methods. Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin (STZ, 45 mg/kg/i.p.) in adult rats. Five weeks later testicular tissue was removed; testicular VEGF and NGF-β levels were measured by ELISA. Testicular damage was detected by using hematoxylin and eosin staining and periodic acid-Schiff staining, and apoptosis was identified by terminal-deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). Seminiferous tubular sperm formation was evaluated using Johnsen’s score. Results. In diabetic rats, seminiferous tubule diameter was found to be decreased; basement membrane was found to be thickened in seminiferous tubules and degenerated germ cells. Additionally, TUNEL-positive cells were increased in number of VEGF+ cells and levels of VEGF and NGF-β were decreased in diabetic testes. Correlation between VEGF and NGF-β levels was strong. Conclusion. These results suggest that the decrease of VEGF and NGF-β levels is associated with the increase of the apoptosis and testicular damage in diabetic rats. Testis VEGF and NGF-β levels could be potential novel biomarkers for diabetes induced testicular damage

Potential Novel Biomarkers for Diabetic Testicular Damage in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats: Nerve Growth Factor Beta and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

WOS: 000333171500001PubMed ID: 24771956Background. It is well known that diabetes mellitus may cause testicular damage. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and nerve growth factor beta (NGF-beta) are important neurotrophic factors for male reproductive system. Objective. We aimed to investigate the correlation between testicular damage and testicular VEGF and NGF-beta. levels in diabetic rats. Methods. Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin (STZ, 45mg/kg/i.p.) in adult rats. Five weeks later testicular tissue was removed; testicular VEGF and NGF-beta. levels were measured by ELISA. Testicular damage was detected by using hematoxylin and eosin staining and periodic acid-Schiff staining, and apoptosis was identified by terminal-deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). Seminiferous tubular sperm formation was evaluated using Johnsen's score. Results. In diabetic rats, seminiferous tubule diameter was found to be decreased; basement membrane was found to be thickened in seminiferous tubules and degenerated germ cells. Additionally, TUNEL-positive cells were increased in number of VEGF+ cells and levels of VEGF and NGF-beta. were decreased in diabetic testes. Correlation between VEGF and NGF-beta. levels was strong. Conclusion. These results suggest that the decrease of VEGF and NGF-beta. levels is associated with the increase of the apoptosis and testicular damage in diabetic rats. Testis VEGF and NGF-beta. levels could be potential novel biomarkers for diabetes induced testicular damage

Acute effects of Red Bull energy drink on ventricular repolarization in healthy young volunteers: a prospective study

Objective: Energy drinks (EDs) are widely consumed products of the beverage industry and are often chosen by teenagers and young adults. Several adverse cardiovascular events and malignant cardiac arrhythmias following consumption of EDs have been reported in the literature. Several studies have suggested that the interval from the peak to the end of the electrocardiographic T wave (Tp-e) may correspond to the dispersion of repolarization and that an increased Tp-e interval and Tp-e/QT ratio are associated with malignant ventricular arrhythmias. This study investigated the acute effects of Red Bull ED on ventricular repolarization as assessed by the Tp-e interval and Tp-e/QT ratio

Multimodal concept detection in broadcast media: KavTan

Concept detection stands as an important problem for efficient indexing and retrieval in large video archives. In this work, the KavTan System, which performs high-level semantic classification in one of the largest TV archives of Turkey, is presented. In this system, concept detection is performed using generalized visual and audio concept detection modules that are supported by video text detection, audio keyword spotting and specialized audio-visual semantic detection components. The performance of the presented framework was assessed objectively over a wide range of semantic concepts (5 high-level, 14 visual, 9 audio, 2 supplementary) by using a significant amount of precisely labeled ground truth data. KavTan System achieves successful high-level concept detection performance in unconstrained TV broadcast by efficiently utilizing multimodal information that is systematically extracted from both spatial and temporal extent of multimedia data