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Data Addressing (data + addressing)

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Medical Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Familial clustering of Crohn's disease in Israel: Prevalence and association with disease severity

INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES, Issue 2 2009
Shomron Ben-Horin MD
Abstract Background: There is limited data addressing the severity of Crohn's disease (CD) in patients with a family history of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) compared to sporadic cases. Methods: We investigated the familial occurrence of IBD and its correlation with disease behavior in CD patients attending the Israeli IBD Foundation meeting using a structured questionnaire. Results: The study group consisted of 181 CD patients with a total of 825 1st degree relatives. Positive family history for IBD in a 1st degree relative was reported in 30 patients (16%). Nine out of the 360 parents (2.5%) had IBD (4 CD, 5 UC). There were 17 siblings with IBD (15 CD, 2 UC) out of 351 (4.8%). Ten out of 114 (8.8%) offsprings had IBD (6 CD, 4 UC). When two siblings were affected, their respective age of disease onset was strikingly concordant (r = 0.76, p = 0.008). There was no difference between sporadic and familial CD patients in the age of disease onset, the location of disease, proportion of smokers or percentage of Ashkenazi origin. Furthermore, similar proportions of sporadic and familial patients underwent intestinal surgery, had penetrating or obstructive complications or were treated by immunomodulators and/or biologics. There was also no difference in the reported percentage of time with active disease or the number of flare-ups. Conclusions: The prevalence of familial disease among Jewish CD patients in Israel is at the high range of the rate found in other ethnicities. Having a positive family history of IBD has no impact on the severity of the disease. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2008) [source]

Antifungal susceptibility testing by flow cytometry: is it the future?

MYCOSES, Issue 4 2006
Luís André Vale-Silva
Summary The current increase in the number and significance of fungal infections, the expanding armamentarium of antifungal agents, and the emergence of the problem of antifungal drug resistance have been intensifying the importance of antifungal susceptibility testing (AST). The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, formerly NCCLS) in the United States and the Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AFST-EUCAST) published standard methodologies in order to achieve higher reproducibility and allow direct inter-laboratory comparison of the susceptibility results. Nevertheless, several problems remain unresolved and the methods depend on long incubation periods of a minimum of 24 h (EUCAST) or even 48 h (CLSI). Over the last 15 years, successful applications of flow cytometric techniques to AST of both yeast and moulds have been reported. These techniques are based on the analysis of a great number of fungal cells individually and frequently rely on short incubation times of no more than a few hours. Considering these attributes, flow cytometry (FC) seems to have the potential to achieve clinical usefulness in the near future. The collection of data on the reproducibility of the results and on the correlation with clinical outcomes has barely started, however. Practical validation of the experimental methodologies is not granted before a significant amount of data addressing those questions is available. [source]

The influence of antimalarial treatment on IL-1,, IL-6 and TNF-, mRNA expression on UVB-irradiated skin in systemic lupus erythematosus

BRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2008
A. Wozniacka
Summary Background, There are very few data addressing the mechanisms of antimalarial treatment benefit locally within the skin of patients with lupus erythematosus, at the level of cytokine messenger RNA (mRNA) expression. Objectives, The aim of this study was to evaluate whether 3 months of monotherapy with chloroquine influences the mRNA skin expression of interleukin (IL)-1,, IL-6 and tumour necrosis factor-, (TNF-,) in nonirradiated and locally ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiated nondiseased skin of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Patients/Methods, Skin biopsies were collected from 14 patients with SLE 24 h after irradiation at one site and from an adjacent unirradiated site, before and after 3 months of chloroquine treatment. Messenger RNA levels for IL-1,, IL-6 and TNF-, were determined by relative quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results, There were no significant differences in the levels of mRNA cytokine expressions in the unirradiated sites before and after 3 months of chloroquine administration. In the irradiated sites, the expression of all three cytokine mRNA levels was significantly higher than in the unirradiated group, approximately 24 h after irradiation, before chloroquine treatment. Significantly lower expression of IL-1,, IL-6 and TNF-, mRNAs was noted in irradiated skin samples after 3 months of chloroquine treatment. Conclusions, These results demonstrate the local inhibitory effects of chloroquine on UVB-induced upregulation in the mRNA expression of proinflammatory cytokines in irradiated skin of SLE patients, and provide further insight into the apparent immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and photoprotective properties of chloroquine. [source]

The outcome of endometrial carcinoma surveillance by ultrasound scan in women at risk of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal carcinoma and familial colorectal carcinoma

CANCER, Issue 6 2002
Isis Dove-Edwin
Abstract BACKGROUND Endometrial carcinoma is the most common extracolonic malignancy associated with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal carcinoma syndrome (HNPCC). The risk of endometrial carcinoma in HNPCC mutation carriers is approximately ten times that of the general population, and endometrial ultrasound surveillance to detect early cancer in asymptomatic individuals is recommended by the International Collaborative Group on HNPCC. There is little, if any, published data addressing the effectiveness of surveillance in HNPCC and familial colorectal carcinoma. METHODS The outcomes of endometrial carcinoma surveillance scans were collected from the St Mark's Hospital Imperial Cancer Research Fund Family Cancer Clinic in the UK and the Netherlands Foundation for the Detection of Hereditary Tumors. Two hundred ninety two women from HNPCC (171) or HNPCC-like (98) families between the ages of 25-65 years were offered pelvic ultrasound surveillance scans for a period of up to 13 years. RESULTS Results were available from 269 women. The study period included a total of 825.7 years of risk. Two cases of endometrial carcinoma were reported. Neither case was detected by surveillance scanning. Both cases presented at an early stage with symptoms and were subsequently cured. CONCLUSIONS Endometrial carcinoma surveillance in hereditary colorectal carcinoma may not offer obvious clinical benefits. Cancer 2002;94:1708,12. © 2002 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.10380 [source]