Postnatal corticosteroid response in neonates < 32 weeks and relation with placental pathology.

Unlabelled: Acute chorioamnionitis and maternal vascular malperfusion are associated with an increased risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. To prevent bronchopulmonary dysplasia, postnatal corticosteroids are given to preterm neonates. Clinical observations indicate not all neonates respond to corticosteroids, the so-called non-responders.

Course of anxiety symptoms over an 18-month period in exhausted patients post percutaneous coronary intervention.

Objective: Anxiety is a neglected risk factor in coronary artery disease. We examined the different courses of anxiety over an 18-month period in patients post percutaneous coronary prevention (PCI) and the predictors of group membership of these courses.

Methods: Consecutive exhausted PCI patients (n = 638), participating in the EXhaustion Intervention Trial (EXIT), were assessed for depression at baseline using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition and for symptoms of anxiety at baseline, 6, and 18 months using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (state only).

Poor health-related quality of life is a predictor of early, but not late, cardiac events after percutaneous coronary intervention.

Poor health-related quality of life (HRQL) is associated with mortality in cardiac patients. Patients (N=667) with poor HRQL after percutaneous coronary intervention had a higher incidence of early (< or =6 months) major adverse cardiac events (MACE) than did patients with good HRQL, whereas there was no difference for late (>6 months) MACE over a 2-year follow-up period. Poor HRQL remained an independent predictor of early, but not late MACE, adjusting for other risk factors.

Exhaustion is associated with low macrophage migration inhibitory factor expression in patients with coronary artery disease.

Objective: Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a protein secreted by immune cells and the pituitary gland, may be associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and the mental state of coronary patients. The first origin of MIF suggests positive, the second negative associations. The aim of this study was to explore the direction of the association of MIF with CAD and of MIF with exhaustion, if any.

Effects of a behavioural intervention on quality of life and related variables in angioplasty patients: results of the EXhaustion Intervention Trial.

Objectives: The EXhaustion Intervention Trial investigated the effect of a behavioural intervention programme on exhaustion, health-related quality of life (HRQL), depression, anxiety, hostility, and anginal complaints in angioplasty patients who felt exhausted after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: Seven hundred ten patients were randomized into an intervention group and a usual care control group. The group intervention focused on stressors leading to exhaustion and on support of recovery.