Environmental and Parental Influences on Offspring Health and Growth in Great Tits (Parus major)

PMCID: PMC3728352This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Measuring health-related quality of life in men with osteoporosis or osteoporotic fracture

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteoporosis is a serious health problem that worsens the quality of life and the survival rate of individuals with this disease on account the osteoporotic fractures. Studies have long focused on women, and its presence in men has been underestimated. While many studies conducted in different countries mainly assess health-related quality of life and identify fracture risks factors in women, few data are available on a Spanish male population.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>Observational study.</p> <p>Study population</p> <p>Men ≥ 40 years of age with/without diagnosed osteoporosis and with/without osteoporotic fracture included by their family doctor.</p> <p>Measurements</p> <p>The relationship between customary clinical risk factors for osteoporotic fracture and health-related quality of life in a Spanish male population. A telephone questionnaire on health-related quality of life is made.</p> <p>Statistical analysis</p> <p>The association between qualitative variables will be assessed by the Chi-square test. The distribution of quantitative variables by Student's t-test. If the conditions for using this test are not met, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney's U test will be used.</p> <p>The validation of the results obtained by the FRAX™ tool will be performed by way of the Hosmer-Lemeshow test and by calculating the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). All tests will be performed with a confidence intervals set at 95%.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The applicability and usefulness of Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) studies are well documented in many countries. These studies allow implementing cost-effective measures in cases of a given disease and reducing the costly consequences derived therefrom. This study attempts to provide objective data on how quality of life is affected by the clinical aspects involved in osteoporosis in a Spanish male population and can be useful as well in cost utility analyses conducted by health authorities.</p> <p>The sample selected is not based on a high fracture risk group. Rather, it is composed of men in the general population, and accordingly comparisons should not lead to erroneous interpretations.</p> <p>A possible bias correction will be ensured by checking reported fractures against healthcare reports and X-rays, or by consulting health care centers as applicable.</p

Crk and CrkL adaptor proteins: networks for physiological and pathological signaling

The Crk adaptor proteins (Crk and CrkL) constitute an integral part of a network of essential signal transduction pathways in humans and other organisms that act as major convergence points in tyrosine kinase signaling. Crk proteins integrate signals from a wide variety of sources, including growth factors, extracellular matrix molecules, bacterial pathogens, and apoptotic cells. Mounting evidence indicates that dysregulation of Crk proteins is associated with human diseases, including cancer and susceptibility to pathogen infections. Recent structural work has identified new and unusual insights into the regulation of Crk proteins, providing a rationale for how Crk can sense diverse signals and produce a myriad of biological responses

Clinical profile of a new monoclonal-antibody-based immunoassay for tissue polypeptide antigen

Our preliminary evaluation of a new monoclonal antibody-based assay for tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) has shown it to be clinically equivalent to the polyclonal antibody-based assay for TPA. The new assay (TPA-M) employs three monoclonal antibodies to epitopes on cytokeratins 8, 18 and 19. This multicenter, multinational study included 266 patients with newly diagnosed carcinomas of the lung, breast, large bowel and urinary bladder. TPA values from the two assays were compared with three other cytokeratin markers (TPS, CYFRA 21–1 and TPACyk) and with the established reference markers for these malignancies (CEA and NSE for lung, CA 15–3 for breast, CEA and CA 19–9 for colorectal tumors). Analysis of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves in lung, colorectal and bladder cancer showed similar sensitivities for the two assays, ranging from 50% to 80% with a specificity of 95%. In breast cancer all the markers studied showed poor sensitivity. However, TPA determination by either method could discriminate advanced stage (stages III and IV) from early stage disease (stages 0 to II). TPA showed similar discriminating ability in bladder cancer. On the basis of the results obtained in our patient series, it seems that of the cytokeratin markers studied, TPA and TPA-M are the most sensitive and offer a wide range of clinical applications. </jats:p

Rationale of the Spanish FRAX model in decision-making for predicting osteoporotic fractures: an update of FRIDEX cohort of Spanish women

Background: The FRAX® tool estimates the risk of a fragility fracture among the population and many countries have been evaluating its performance among their populations since its creation in 2007. The purpose of this study is to update the first FRIDEX cohort analysis comparing FRAX with the bone mineral density (BMD) model, and its predictive abilities. Methods: The discriminatory ability of the FRAX was assessed using the ‘area under curve’ of the receiver operating characteristic (AUC-ROC). Predictive ability was assessed by comparing estimated risk fractures with incidence fractures after a 10-year follow up period. Results: One thousand three hundred eight women ≥ 40 and ≤ 90 years followed up during a 10-year period. The AUC for major osteoporotic fractures using FRAX without DXA was 0.686 (95 % CI 0.630–0.742) and using FN T-score of DXA 0.714 (95 % CI 0.661–0.767). Using only the traditional parameters of DXA (FN T-score), the AUC was 0.706 (95 % CI 0.652–0.760). The AUC for hip osteoporotic fracture was 0.883 (95 % CI 0.827–0.938), 0.857 (95 % CI 0.773–0.941), and 0.814 (95 % CI 0.712–0.916) respectively. For major osteoporotic fractures, the overall predictive value using the ratio Observed fractures/Expected fractures calculated with FRAX without T-score of DXA was 2.29 and for hip fractures 2.28 and with the inclusion of the T-score 2.01 and 1.83 respectively. However, for hip fracture in women < 65 years was 1.53 and 1.24 respectively. Conclusions: The FRAX tool has been found to show a good discriminatory capacity for detecting women at high risk of fragility fracture, and is better for hip fracture than major fracture. The test of sensibility shows that it is, at least, not inferior than when using BMD model alone. The predictive capacity of FRAX tool needs some adjustment. This capacity is better for hip fracture prediction and better for women < 65 years. Further studies in Catalonia and other regions of Spain are needed to fine tune the FRAX tool’s predictive capability.This study was supported in part by a research grants from: FEDER (European Union), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministry of Economy and Competitivity and the Institut Universitari d’ Investigació en Atenció Primària IDIAP Jordi Gol. Barcelona. Spain. [registries n°:01133, 4464] and Cátedra UAB-Novartis 2009 Scholarship