Circulating irisin in healthy adults : Changes after acute exercise, correlation with body composition, and energy expenditure parameters in cross-sectional study

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Background and Objectives: Skeletal muscles are considered to be the main source of circulating irisin, both at rest and during physical activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the connection between irisin, body composition, and energy metabolism in humans. Materials and Methods: Serum irisin concentrations before and after acute aerobic exercise on a treadmill in 84 healthy adults were measured and their association with body composition and energy expenditure (EE) (obtained from indirect calorimetry) was determined. Results: The total pre-exercise irisin concentrations in males and females were similar, but higher in females when expressed per body mass kg (p <0.001). There was an association between pre-exercise irisin per body mass kg, visceral fat rating (rho = −0.52, p = 0.001), and lean tissue % (rho = 0.41, p <0.05) in males and lean body mass index (LBMI) (rho = −0.59, p <0.001) in females. The pre-exercise irisin concentration correlated with the resting metabolic rate (RMR) in both sexes (rho = 0.44 in males, rho = 0.36 in females; p <0.05), but with walking, running, and the EE difference from RMR in running (∆ running EE) in males only (rho = 0.32 to 0.37, p <0.05). There was no significant change in irisin concentration after exercise in 58% of participants, while it decreased in 23%, and increased in 19%. In male subjects with no change in irisin concentration after exercise, running (p < 0.05) and ∆ running EE per body mass kg (p <0.05) were higher than in those with decreased irisin concentration. Conclusions: These findings indicate that the association of irisin concentration with body composition and EE parameters has sex-dependent differences, and acute exercise can lead to various changes in post-exercise irisin levels.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Laboratory Tests in Addition to the Alvarado Score in the Management of Acute Appendicitis in School-Age Children

Funding Information: The study was financially supported by a Grant No. 2010.10-4/VPP-4 of the framework of the Latvian National Programme and Grant No. 2009/0147/1DP/1.1.2.1.2/09/ IPIA/VIAA/009 from the project Support for Doctoral and Post-doctoral Investigations Rîga Stradiòð University fellowship. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Astra Zviedre et al., published by Sciendo 2019.The aim of the study was to determine whether the Alvarado score (AS) together with laboratory tests could be used to distinguish patients with acute appendicitis (AA) from acute mesenteric lymphadenitis (AML). Fifty-seven patients (7-18 years) with suspected AA were included in the prospective study (October 2010 - October 2013). Thirty-one patients underwent surgery for AA and 26 were not treated surgically and were diagnosed AML on ultrasonography. AS, white blood cell count (WBC), C - reactive protein (CRP) and serum cytokines (EGF, IL-10, IL-12(p70), IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17, MCP-1, TNF-α) were obtained on admission and were compared between groups. Mean age of the 57 patients was 12.9 (SD 3.2). Accuracy (AR) for AS ≥ 7 alone was 73.7% for AA. Modified AS with certain serum cytokines seemed to be a reliable tool for initial differential diagnosis between AA and AML in school-age children. Based on these results, AS ≥ 7, WBC ≥ 10.7 × 103/μL and serum IL-6 ≥ 4.3 pg/mL assessed altogether will yield more sensitivity for AA. Also for further advanced diagnostics, we propose to take into account the serum IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, CRP cut-off levels in the differential diagnosis between complicated and uncomplicated AA to decide whether the treatment should be conservative or surgical.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Levels of Inflammatory Cytokines and Chemokines in Hospitalized Children with Sepsis and Pneumonia

Introduction. Pneumonia is a common childhood lower respiratory tract infection, which accounts for large number of hospitalization and death among children; its diagnosis is based mainly on clinical signs.Aim of the study was to measure inflammatory cytokine panels in children with pneumonia, and their correlation with clinically used inflammatory markers. Materials and methods. We included 20 patients, hospitalized in Children’s Clinical University hospital, with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and radiologically confirmed pneumonia from October 2011 to January 2013. In all patients cytokine and chemokine panels and clinical inflammatory markers were measured at the time of admission, after 24 hours and on the time of discharge.Results. 12 different inflammatory cytokines were measured. sFAS, sVCAM1, IL-8, IL-10, TNF alpha, Eotaxin, G-CSF, IL1ra, IP10 and MCP1 showed statistically significant changes between levels of inclusion in the study and levels after 24 hours. G-CSF, IL-8, IFN gamma, TNF alpha and IL-10 showed also medium strong correlation with clinically used inflammatory markers (PCT, CRO, and IL-6).Conclusions. Inflammatory cytokines show statistically significant changes during course of treatment, thus they could be used in diagnostics in septic patients with pneumonia, and also could show patients response to therapy.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Influence of Migraine on Axon Reflex-Mediated and Endothelial-Dependent Vasodilatation in the Skin

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Aelita Plinta et al., published by Sciendo.The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in skin blood flow as a result of local heating tests in migraine patients during the interictal period, measured by laser Doppler perfusion imaging (LDI). The aim of the study was also to estimate the correlations between the results of these tests and interleukin (IL)-8 levels. Twelve migraine patients during their interictal period were compared with twelve healthy control subjects. Only women were included in the study. Both groups were matched with regard of their age, body mass index and blood pressure. For the purpose of measuring cutaneous microvascular blood flow, heating (+44 °C) of the dorsal side of the palm as a response to the local LDI was used. IL-8 was measured in serum by ELISA method. The findings suggested that migraine patients have a cutaneous vasomotor dysfunction during the interictal period. The results showed a significant decrease in the initial peak of vasodilation and the second peak of vasodilation (plateau phase). Also there were significant changes observed in the length of the time interval required to reach the first and second vasodilation peak. It is known that migraine patients have a shorter time interval to reach the first perfusion peak (axonal reflex-mediated) and longer time interval to reach the second peak (endothelium-dependent). The results confirmed the correlation between proinflammatory chemokine IL-8 levels, and the time interval till the second peak of blood flow in all study subjects.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Association between inflammatory markers and clinical and metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular diseases

Funding Information: The work was supported by the National Research Programme in Medicine 2006–2009, project nr. 9, „Prospective follow-up programme (registry) on risk factors and clinical forms of the cardiometabolic syndrome”. Copyright: Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.The inflammatory reaction plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis. The clinical significance of the main inflammatory markers - C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL6), tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI1), etc. - has not been fully established. CRP, IL6, TNF-α, and PAI1 were assessed in 100 patients in terms of certain clinical indicators (sex, obesity indicators, blood pressure, and heart rate), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), glucose, insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), adiponectin, and leptin levels. CRP and PAI1 levels were elevated in subjects with increased body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. CRP correlated positively with indicators of carbohydrate metabolism and negatively with TC, HDL-C, and adiponectin. PAI1 correlated positively with insulin levels, HOMA-IR, leptin, and TG, but negatively with HDL-C. IL6 correlated negatively with TC, but TNF-α correlated negatively with HDL-C. Both IL6 and TNF-α correlated positively with leptin levels. TNF-α correlated with TG levels and the indicators of carbohydrate metabolism only in women. CRP and PAI1 are the most sensitive inflammatory markers; their levels were higher in adipose subjects.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Characteristics of cardiovascular risk factors and their correlation with the sex and age of patients in the Latvian population

Funding Information: The work was supported by the National Research Programme in Medicine 2006–2009, project nr. 9, „Prospective follow-up programme (registry) on risk factors and clinical forms of the cardiometabolic syndrome”. Copyright: Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Various cardiovascular risk factors (RFs) were determined in 773 out-patients (mean age 55.8 ± 14.5 years). Male individuals had a larger waist circumference (WC) than did female patients (99.1 ± 13.6 cm vs 93.3 ± 15.2 cm), higher diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (83.6 ± 9.6 mmHg vs 81.8 ± 9.6 mmHg), and higher levels of blood glucose (5.73 ± 1.4 mmol/L vs 5.49 ± 1.3 mmol/L) and triglycerides (TG) (1.89 ± 1.3 mmol/L vs 1.60 ± 1.0 mmol/L), but lower levels of total cholesterol (TC) (5.54 ± 1.2 mmol/L vs 5.79 ± 1.2 mmol/L) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (1.21 ± 0.4 mmol/L vs 1.44 ± 0.4 mmol/L). Compared with the younger age group (i.e., males, < 7 years; females, < 65 years), patients in the older age group had a larger WC (98.4 ± 14.2 cm vs 92.8 ± 15.1 cm), higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) (144.2 ± 19.2 mmHg vs 131.6 ± 18.5 mmHg), higher DBP (84.5 ± 8.8 mmHg vs 80.9 ± 9.8 mmHg), higher blood glucose level (5.74 ± 1.3 mmol/L vs 5.46 ± 1.3 mmol/L), and higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (LDL-C) (3.68 ± 1.0 mmol/L vs 3.52 ± 1.0 mmol/L), but lower HDL-C level (1.3 ± 0.4 mmol/L vs 1.41 ± 0.4 mmol/L). Age was significantly correlated with all RFs, with the exception of the level of C-reactive protein. In conclusion, analysis of cardiovascular RFs in different age subgroups of both sexes clearly showed individual peculiarities of risk profile. This conclusion challenges the usual way of risk calculation using "universal" markers like adiposity or dyslipidemia in all population. The new approach requires individual attention depending on sex and age also in management of risk.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Biomarker combinations in predicting sepsis in hospitalized children with fever

Funding Information: This study was conducted as a part of the Republic of Latvia “State Research Program VPP BIOMEDICINE” Project No 8.2 „Clinical, molecular-biological and morpho-functional research of diagnostics and treatment of inherited and acquired diseases of childhood”. Funding Information: This study was also partially funded by “The Latvian National Research Program BIOMEDICINE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH”, project No 6. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).Sepsis is among the leading causes of critical illness worldwide. It includes physiologic, pathologic, and biochemical abnormalities, induced by infection. Novel methods for recognizing a dysregulated inflammatory response and predicting associated mortality must be developed. Our aim was to investigate biomarkers that characterize a pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory response in patients with fever by comparing predictive validity for sepsis. 165 patients with fever were enrolled in this study, 55 of them had sepsis according to pSOFA criteria. All patients had blood samples drawn at the time of inclusion and after 24 h. CRP, PCT and also IL-6, IL-8 and sFAS levels were significantly higher in patients with sepsis. The AUC of CRP to predict sepsis was 0.799, all the other biomarkers had AUC’s lower than that. Cytokines, when used as a single marker, did not show a significant diagnostic performance We analyzed various models of biomarker combinations. CRP combined with sFAS showed increase in sensitivity in predicting sepsis (88% vs. 83%). The highest AUC was achieved, when CRP, IL-6, sFAS and sVCAM-1 markers were combined 0.830 (95% CI 0.762–0.884) with a sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 84%. vs. 0.799 for CRP alone.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Increased serum chemerin level to predict early onset of aortic valve stenosis

Publisher Copyright: © 2018, Spandidos Publications. All rights reserved.Inflammation appears to be the cause of aortic valve (AoV) stenosis and identification of predictive biomarkers is therefore imperative. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the potential role of serum chemerin and fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) in the pathogenesis of the disease. A total of 102 patients were selected based on certain criteria and divided into an aortic stenosis group and a control group. Patients with AoV stenosis were subdivided into three groups depending on the severity according to the echocardiography criteria: Aortic jet velocity, Vmax (m/ sec); mean pressure gradient, PG (mmHg); aortic valve area (AVA), cm2; and indexed AVA, cm2/m2. Patients were graded as: Severe: Vmax >4 m/sec, PG >40 mmHg, AVA 1.5 cm2, indexed AVA >0.85. ELISA was used for the detection of chemerin and FGF-21. Post-hoc analysis with Tukey's correction was performed. The highest chemerin levels were found in mild and moderate AoV stenosis and decreased along with the grade of severity, compared with the control group. The FGF-21 level was increased in all the stenosis groups, reaching the highest level at severe stenosis. Receiver-operating characteristic analysis of chemerin in all the AoV stenosis groups without grading the severity included, area under the curve (AUC)=0.76; 0.70-0.80= fair; P<0.001 and for mild AoV stenosis was AUC=0.82; 0.80-0.90= good; P<0.001. In conclusion, chemerin is a good diagnostic biomarker for mild AoV stenosis, while FGF-21 is a moderate diagnostic marker.publishersversionPeer reviewe

HDL-C role in acquired aortic valve stenosis patients and its relationship with oxidative stress

Publisher Copyright: © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Background and objectives: Mechanical stress is currently considered as the main factor promoting calcific aortic valve stenosis (AS) onset. It causes endothelial damage and dysfunction. The chronic inflammatory process causes oxidative stress. Oxidative stress-induced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) dysfunction is an important component of the development of AS. The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of HDL-C in AS patients in three severity grades and in relation to the biomarkers of oxidative stress, thioredoxin reductase 1 (TrxR1) and myeloperoxidase (MPO). Materials and Methods: 18 patients with mild, 19 with moderate. and 15 with severe AS were included in the study, and 50 individuals were enrolled in the control group. Stenosis severity was determined by echocardiography. The TrxR1 and MPO were analyzed by ELISA, and HDL-C by commercially available tests. Data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism 8. Results: HDL-C in AS patients vs. control substantially decreases and this decline was observed in all three AS severity groups: mild (p = 0.018), moderate (p = 0.0002), and severe (p = 0.004). In both the control and the stenosis group, the HDL-C was higher in women than in men. In comparison to control, the HDL-C level was lower in the AS group, and more pronounced in women (p = 0.0001) than in men (p = 0.049). A higher TrxR1 level was observed in patients with mild (p = 0.0001) and severe AS (p = 0.047). However, a clear correlation between TrxR1 and HDL-C was not obtained. Analysis of MPO showed differences in all severity grades vs. control (p = 0.024 mild stenosis; p = 0.002 moderate stenosis; p = 0.0015 severe stenosis). A negative correlation (p = 0.047; rp = −0.28) was found between MPO and HDL-C, which confirms the adverse effects of MPO resulting in HDL-C dysfunction. Conclusions: In this study, we justified HDL-C level association with AS development process. The results unequivocally substantiated the association between HDL-C and AS in all severity grades in women, but only in moderate AS for men, which we explained by the small number of men in the groups. The obtained correlation between the HDL-C and MPO levels, as well as the concurrent decrease in the HDL-C level and increase in the TrxR1 level, indicate in general an HDL-C association with oxidative stress in AS patients.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Prognostic utility of novel biomarkers in aortic valve stenosis

Funding Information: This study was supported in part by grant No. 2014.10-4/VPP-1.1.2 of the framework of the Latvian National Programme. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Peteris Tretjakovs et al., published by Sciendo 2019.The aim of the present study was to evaluate plasma levels of chemerin, myeloperoxidase (MPO), fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21), thioredoxin reductase-1 (TrxR1), and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) in acquired aortic valve (AoV) stenosis patients to determine correlations between the studied cellular factors, and also clarify the predictive values of these factors as biomarkers in AoV stenosis. AoV stenosis patients were classified into three groups: 17 patients with mild AoV stenosis; 19 with moderate and 15 with severe AoV stenosis. Twenty-four subjects without AoV stenosis were selected as a control group. Our findings suggest that AoV stenosis might be associated with increased chemerin, TrxR1, MPO, and FGF-21 levels in plasma. Moreover, these factors and also MMP-9 already reached statistically significantly elevated levels in the early stages of AoV stenosis, but MPO levels were more pronounced in patients with moderate and severe AoV stenosis. Chemerin was correlated with all of the studied cytokines; TrxR1 and MMP-9 were correlated with several other cellular factors. Our findings (by ROC analysis) suggest that MPO and chemerin might serve as specific and sensitive biomarkers for AoV stenosis without grading the severity, but, in relation to mild AoV stenosis, TrxR1, FGF-21, and MMP-9 also reached good or moderate levels as biomarkers. The cellular factors might serve as novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in AoV stenosis patients, while chemerin and MPO may be more powerful.publishersversionPeer reviewe