1,666 research outputs found
Human leukocyte antigen (Hla) haplotype does not influence the inflammatory pattern of duodenal lymphocytosis linked to irritable bowel syndrome
Background and objectives: Duodenal lymphocytosis (DL) is a condition characterized by enhanced infiltration of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) in the duodenal mucosa, and it can be linked to both gluten-and non-gluten-related diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Materials and methods: We retrospectively selected patients with DL linked to IBS. Formalin-embedded biopsy samples of the duodenum were collected. CD3 lymphocyte immunohistochemistry was used for IELs. The real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the amount of mRNA coding for tissue transglutaminase 2 (tTG2), interferon-gamma (IFNγ), toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), and myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88). All subjects underwent DQ2-8 haplotype analysis. Controls were represented by subjects with IBS without DL. Results: Thirty-two patients with IBS-DL were retrospectively recruited. Fourteen subjects (43.8%) had a DQ2-8 haplotype. DQ2-8 positive subjects had similar levels compared to negative ones for tTG2, IFNγ, TLR2, and MyD88. Cigarette smoke did not influence molecular expression in our study. Smokers had a statistically higher IELs count than non-smokers (54.2 ± 7.7 vs. 36.0 ± 8.8, p < 0.001). A significant, direct correlation between IELs and duodenal expression of IFNγ was found (r = 0.36, p = 0.04). Conclusions: IBS with DL showed higher expression of inflammatory markers than controls, but DQ2-8 haplotype did not seem to affect their expression. Smoking might increase IELs infiltration
Serologic diagnosis of celiac disease: May it be suitable for adults?
The diagnosis of coeliac disease (CD) in adult patients requires the simultaneous assessment of clinical presentation, serology, and typical histological picture of villous atrophy. However, several years ago, the European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition guidelines approved new criteria for the diagnosis in children: Biopsy could be avoided when anti-transglutaminase antibody (TGA) values exceed the cut-off of × 10 upper limit of normal (ULN) and anti-endomysium antibodies are positive, independently from value. This “no biopsy” approach is a decisive need for pediatric population, allowing to avoid stressful endoscopic procedures in children, if unnecessary. This approach relies on the correlation existing in children between TGA levels and assessment of mucosal atrophy according to Marsh’s classification. Several lines of evidence have shown that patients with villous atrophy have markedly elevated TGA levels. Therefore, we aim to perform a narrative review on the topic in adults. Despite that some studies confirmed that the × 10 ULN threshold value has a very good diagnostic performance, several lines of evidence in adults suggest that TGA cut off should be different from that of pediatric population for reaching a good correlation with histological picture. In conclusion, the heterogeneity of study reports as well as some conditions, which may hamper the serological diagnosis of CD (such as seronegative CD and non-celiac villous atrophy) and are much more common in adults than in children, could represent a limitation for the “no biopsy” approach to CD diagnosis in patients outside the pediatric age
Colorectal cancer-screening program improves both short- and long-term outcomes: a single-center experience in Trieste
Screening programs (SC) have been proven to reduce both incidence and mortality of CRC. We retrospectively analyzed patients who underwent surgical treatment for CRC between 01/2011 and 01/2017. The current screening program in our region collects patients aged from 50 to 69. For this reason, out of a total of 600 patients, we compared 125 patients with CRC founded during the SC to 162 patients who presented with symptoms and were diagnosed between\ua050\u201369\ua0years old (NO-SC). 45% patients in the SC group were diagnosed as AJCC stage I vs 27% patients in the NO-SC group; 14% vs 20% were stage II, 14% vs 26% were stage III, and 3% vs 14% were stage IV (p 0.002). We found a significant difference in surgical approach: 89% SC vs 56% NO-SC patients had laparoscopic surgery (p 0.002). In the NO-SC group, 16% patients underwent resection in an emergency setting. Only 5% patients in the SC group had postoperative complications vs 14% patients in the NO-SC group (p 0.03). We had a 2-year OS of 86%, being 95% in the SC group and 80% in the NO-SC group (p 0.002). Likewise, the whole 2-year DFS was 77%, whereas it was 90% in the SC group and 66% in the NO-SC group (p 0.002). Screening significantly improves early diagnosis and accelerated surgical treatment. We obtained earlier stages at diagnosis, a less invasive surgical approach, and lower rates of complications and emergency surgery, all this leading to an improvement in both OS and DFS
Migraine, arousal and sleep deprivation: comment on: "sleep quality, arousal and pain thresholds in migraineurs: a blinded controlled polysomnographic study"
We discuss the hypothesis proposed by Engstrom and coworkers that Migraineurs have a relative sleep deprivation, which lowers the pain threshold and predispose to attacks. Previous data indicate that Migraineurs have a reduction of Cyclic Alternating Pattern (CAP), an essential mechanism of NREM sleep regulation which allows to dump the effect of incoming disruptive stimuli, and to protect sleep. The modifications of CAP observed in Migraineurs are similar to those observed in patients with impaired arousal (narcolepsy) and after sleep deprivation. The impairment of this mechanism makes Migraineurs more vulnerable to stimuli triggering attacks during sleep, and represents part of a more general vulnerability to incoming stimuli
Displacement power spectrum measurement of a macroscopic optomechanical system at thermal equilibrium
The mirror relative motion of a suspended Fabry-Perot cavity is studied in
the frequency range 3-10 Hz. The experimental measurements presented in this
paper, have been performed at the Low Frequency Facility, a high finesse
optical cavity 1 cm long suspended to a mechanical seismic isolation system
identical to that one used in the VIRGO experiment. The measured relative
displacement power spectrum is compatible with a system at thermal equilibrium
within its environmental. In the frequency region above 3 Hz, where seismic
noise contamination is negligible, the measurement distribution is stationary
and Gaussian, as expected for a system at thermal equilibrium. Through a simple
mechanical model it is shown that: applying the fluctuation dissipation theorem
the measured power spectrum is reproduced below 90 Hz and noise induced by
external sources are below the measurement.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, to be submitte
Brain morphology and immunohistochemical localization of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone in the bluefin tuna, <i>Thunnus thynnus</i>
The present study was focused on the morphology of the
diencephalic nuclei (likely involved in reproductive functions)
as well as on the distribution of GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing
hormone) in the rhinencephalon, telencephalon and the
diencephalon of the brain of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)
by means of immunohistochemistry. Bluefin tuna has an
encephalization quotient (QE) similar to that of other large
pelagic fish. Its brain exhibits well-developed optic tecta and
corpus cerebelli. The diencephalic neuron cell bodies
involved in reproductive functions are grouped in two main
nuclei: the nucleus preopticus-periventricularis and the
nucleus lateralis tuberis. The nucleus preopticus-periventricularis
consists of the nucleus periventricularis and the nucleus
preopticus consisting of a few sparse multipolar neurons
in the rostral part and numerous cells closely packed and
arranged in several layers in its aboral part. The nucleus lateralis
tuberis is located in the ventral-lateral area of the
diencephalon and is made up of a number of large multipolar
neurones.
Four different polyclonal primary antibodies against salmon
(s)GnRH, chicken (c)GnRH-II (cGnRH-II 675, cGnRH-II 6)
and sea bream (sb)GnRH were employed in the immunohistochemical
experiments. No immunoreactive structures were
found with anti sbGnRH serum. sGnRH and cGnRH-II antisera
revealed immunoreactivity in the perikarya of the olfactory
bulbs, preopticus-periventricular nucleus, oculomotor
nucleus and midbrain tegmentum. The nucleus lateralis
tuberis showed immunostaining only with anti-sGnRH serum.
Nerve fibres immunoreactive to cGnRH and sGnRH sera were
found in the olfactory bulbs, olfactory nerve and neurohypophysis.
The significance of the distribution of the GnRHimmunoreactive
neuronal structures is discussed
Inertial control of the mirror suspensions of the VIRGO interferometer for gravitational wave detection
In order to achieve full detection sensitivity at low frequencies, the
mirrors of interferometric gravitational wave detectors must be isolated from
seismic noise. The VIRGO vibration isolator, called 'superattenuator', is fully
effective at frequencies above 4 Hz. Nevertheless, the residual motion of the
mirror at the mechanical resonant frequencies of the system are too large for
the interferometer locking system and must be damped. A multidimensional
feedback system, using inertial sensors and digital processing, has been
designed for this purpose. An experimental procedure for determining the
feedback control of the system has been defined. In this paper a full
description of the system is given and experimental results are presented.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication on Review of
Scientific Instrument
A Gradient-Based Approach for Breast DCE-MRI Analysis
Breast cancer is the main cause of female malignancy worldwide. Effective early detection by imaging studies remains critical to decrease mortality rates, particularly in women at high risk for developing breast cancer. Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a common diagnostic tool in the management of breast diseases, especially for high-risk women. However, during this examination, both normal and abnormal breast tissues enhance after contrast material administration. Specifically, the normal breast tissue enhancement is known as background parenchymal enhancement: it may represent breast activity and depends on several factors, varying in degree and distribution in different patients as well as in the same patient over time. While a light degree of normal breast tissue enhancement generally causes no interpretative difficulties, a higher degree may cause difficulty to detect and classify breast lesions at Magnetic Resonance Imaging even for experienced radiologists. In this work, we intend to investigate the exploitation of some statistical measurements to automatically characterize the enhancement trend of the whole breast area in both normal and abnormal tissues independently from the presence of a background parenchymal enhancement thus to provide a diagnostic support tool for radiologists in the MRI analysis
On line power spectra identification and whitening for the noise in interferometric gravitational wave detectors
In this paper we address both to the problem of identifying the noise Power
Spectral Density of interferometric detectors by parametric techniques and to
the problem of the whitening procedure of the sequence of data. We will
concentrate the study on a Power Spectral Density like the one of the
Italian-French detector VIRGO and we show that with a reasonable finite number
of parameters we succeed in modeling a spectrum like the theoretical one of
VIRGO, reproducing all its features. We propose also the use of adaptive
techniques to identify and to whiten on line the data of interferometric
detectors. We analyze the behavior of the adaptive techniques in the field of
stochastic gradient and in the
Least Squares ones.Comment: 28 pages, 21 figures, uses iopart.cls accepted for pubblication on
Classical and Quantum Gravit
Precision tests of QED and non-standard models by searching photon-photon scattering in vacuum with high power lasers
We study how to search for photon-photon scattering in vacuum at present
petawatt laser facilities such as HERCULES, and test Quantum Electrodynamics
and non-standard models like Born-Infeld theory or scenarios involving
minicharged particles or axion-like bosons. First, we compute the phase shift
that is produced when an ultra-intense laser beam crosses a low power beam, in
the case of arbitrary polarisations. This result is then used in order to
design a complete test of all the parameters appearing in the low energy
effective photonic Lagrangian. In fact, we propose a set of experiments that
can be performed at HERCULES, eventually allowing either to detect
photon-photon scattering as due to new physics, or to set new limits on the
relevant parameters, improving by several orders of magnitude the current
constraints obtained recently by PVLAS collaboration. We also describe a
multi-cross optical mechanism that can further enhance the sensitivity,
enabling HERCULES to detect photon-photon scattering even at a rate as small as
that predicted by QED. Finally, we discuss how these results can be improved at
future exawatt facilities such as ELI, thus providing a new class of precision
tests of the Standard Model and beyond.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. Corrected few mistakes in section and 4. Results
unchanged. Added a referenc
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