Reply to "Triple or dual therapy for HCV-1 naive patients? Optimizing selection tools"

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Associations Between Personality Traits, Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Gynecological Cancer Patients Characterized by the Short and Long Allele Variant of the 5-HTTLPR Genotype: Preliminary Results

Objective: The study explored associations between personality traits, perceived stress and symptoms of depression in oncological patients characterized by the two variants of the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) polyrnorphisms.Method: The sample was composed of 41 gynecological cancer patients who completed self-reported questionnaires including the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the dimension of depression-dejection (D/D) of the Profile of Moods State and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The polymerase chain reaction was also employed to identify genotypes in the serotonin (5HTT) polymorphism.Results: The one-way ANOVA test, across the 5-HTTLPR genotype groups, showed significant effects of the short variants on neuroticism (p=0.009) and of the long variant on agreeableness (p=0.022), as well as a tendency to a statistical significance of the 1/1 variant on consciousness (p=0.074). Bivariate correlations showed positive correlations of neuroticism with both psychopathological symptoms (D/D r=0.522; PSS r=0.586) in the combined group S, negative association of agreeableness with depression (D/D 1=-0.613) and of consciousness with depression (DID r=0.750) and perceived stress (PSS r=-0.702) in the group of the long variant of 5-HTTLPR genotype.Conclusions: Personalized medicine should consider the interaction between genotype and phenotype in reducing levels of clinical psychological distress, highlighting how psychotherapeutic processes should improve patients' quality of life

Psychosomatic syndromes are associated with IL-6 pro-inflammatory cytokine in heart failure patients

Psychosomatic syndromes have emerged as an important source of comorbidity in cardiac patients and have been associated with increased risk for adverse outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF). Understanding of the mechanisms underlying this connection is limited, however immune activity represents a possible pathway. While there have been numerous studies connecting immune activity to psychosomatic psychopathology, there is a lack of research on patients with HF. We examined forty-one consecutive outpatients affected by HF. We assessed psychosomatic psychopathology using the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research (DCPR) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15). The Psychosocial Index (PSI) was used for assessing stress and psychosocial dimensions. Depression was evaluated with Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-alpha were ascertained. Univariate and multivariable regression models were used to test for associations between inflammatory cytokines and psychosomatic psychopathology (i.e., DCPR syndromes, PHQ-15) and psychological dimensions (i.e., BDI-II, PSI). A significant positive correlation was found between IL-6 levels and psychosomatic psychopathology even when controlling for any confounding variables (i.e., Body-mass index (BMI), New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, statin use, aspirin use, beta blockers use, age, and gender). In contrast, the associations between TNF-alpha levels were non-significant. These findings can contribute to research in support of a psychoneuroimmune connection between psychosomatic psychopathology and HF. Findings also suggest the possibility that elevated IL-6 levels are more relevant for the pathogenesis of psychosomatic syndromes than for depression in patients with HF

Towards the genetic basis of cerebral venous thrombosis-the BEAST Consortium: a study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare cerebrovascular condition accounting for <1% of all stroke cases and mainly affects young adults. Its genetic aetiology is not clearly elucidated. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: To better understand the genetic basis of CVT, we have established an international biobank of CVT cases, Biorepository to Establish the Aetiology of Sinovenous Thrombosis (BEAST) which aims to recruit highly phenotyped cases initially of European descent and later from other populations. To date we have recruited 745 CVT cases from 12 research centres. As an initial step, the consortium plans to undertake a genome-wide association analysis of CVT using the Illumina Infinium HumanCoreExome BeadChip to assess the association and impact of common and low-frequency genetic variants on CVT risk by using a case-control study design. Replication will be performed to confirm putative findings. Furthermore, we aim to identify interactions of genetic variants with several environmental and comorbidity factors which will likely contribute to improve the understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying this complex disease. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: BEAST meets all ethical standards set by local institutional review boards for each of the participating sites. The research outcomes will be published in international peer-reviewed open-access journals with high impact and visibility. The results will be presented at national and international meetings to highlight the contributions into improving the understanding of the mechanisms underlying this uncommon but important disease. This international DNA repository will become an important resource for investigators in the field of haematological and vascular disorders

Association of a sequence variant in DAB2IP with coronary heart disease

Aims: A sequence variant, rs7025486[A], in DAB2IP on chromosome 9q33 has recently been associated with coronary heart disease (CHD). We sought to replicate this finding and to investigate associations with a panel of inflammatory and haemostatic biomarkers. We also sought to examine whether this variant, in combination with a chromosome 9p21 CHD variant (rs10757278) and the Framingham risk score (FRS), could improve the prediction of events compared with the FRS alone. Methods and results: rs7025486 was genotyped in 1386 CHD cases and 3532 controls and was associated with CHD [odds ratio (OR) of 1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.29, P = 0.003]. Meta-analysis, using data from the original report and from genome-wide association studies in both the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium and the Cardiovascular Health Study, comprising 9968 cases and 20 048 controls, confirmed the association (OR of 1.10, 95% CI 1.06-1.14, P = 3.2 x 10 -6). There was no association with a panel of CHD biomarkers, including any lipid, inflammation, or coagulation trait, nor with telomere length. Addition to the FRS of this variant plus rs10757278 on chromosome 9p21 improved the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AROC) from 0.61 to 0.64 (P = 0.03) as well as improving the reclassification (net reclassification index = 11.1%, P = 0.007). Conclusion: This study replicates a previous association of a variant in DAB2IP with CHD. Addition of multiple variants improves the performance of predictive models based upon classical cardiovascular risk factors