Lower Extremity Lymphatic Flow/Drainage Assessment by Indocyanine Green Fluorescent Lymphography in Heart Failure Patients.

The purpose of this study was to present a protocol for visualizing lymphatic flow in patients with heart failure (HF) by using indocyanine green fluorescence lymphography. We studied 37 subjects: 20 patients with acute heart failure (AHF) and lower limb edema, 7 patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) without lower limb edema, and 10 control subjects (no HF, no limb edema). All subjects were assessed at rest, and 11 subjects (6 control and 5 with CHF) were assessed again after a 10-minute walk.

Association between skin lymphangiogenesis parameters and arterial hypertension status in patients: An observational study.

Background: Recent studies have indicated that the skin lymphatic system and interstitium may play a role in the pathophysiology of arterial hypertension (AH).

Objectives: We aimed to determine whether the set of pathway parameters described previously in rodents would allow for the distinction between hypertensive and normotensive patients.

Material And Methods: Molecular and histopathological parameters from the skin and blood of patients with AH (AH group, n = 53), resistant AH (RAH group, n = 32) and control (C group, n = 45) were used, and a statistical multivariate bootstrap methodology combining partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and selectivity ratio (SR) were applied.

Disability and emotional symptoms in women with lipedema: A comparison with overweight/obese women.

Background: Lipedema is characterized by the painful abnormal deposition of adipose tissue in the lower limbs and is often misdiagnosed as obesity. Considering the numerous bothersome physical symptoms of lipedema, women with lipedema may have greater disability and emotional problems than women with lifestyle-induced obesity.

Objectives: Our study aims to assess disability, anxiety and depression symptoms in women with lipedema compared to women with overweight/obesity.

The Benefits of Low-Carbohydrate, High-Fat (LCHF) Diet on Body Composition, Leg Volume, and Pain in Women with Lipedema.

This study aimed to assess the potential benefits of a low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet on body composition, leg volume, and pain reduction in women with lipedema compared to overweight or women with obesity. The study included 113 female participants, 56 with lipedema and 57 with overweight/obesity (BMI >25 kg/m) without lipedema. All subjects were prescribed a low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet with anti-inflammatory properties to adhere to for a duration of 7 months.

Sodium accumulation in the skin is associated with higher density of skin lymphatic vessels in patients with arterial hypertension.

Purpose: Recent studies, conducted mainly on the rodent model, have demonstrated that regulatory pathway in the skin provided by glycosaminoglycans, nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 (NFAT5), vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) and process of lymphangiogenesis may play an important role in extrarenal regulation of sodium (Na) balance, body water volume, and blood pressure. We aimed to investigate the concentrations and relations among the main factors of this pathway in human skin to confirm that this regulatory axis also exists in humans.

Patients And Methods: Skin specimens from patients diagnosed with arterial hypertension and from control group were histologically and molecularly examined.

The Effect of a Low-Carbohydrate High-Fat Diet on Laboratory Parameters in Women with Lipedema in Comparison to Overweight/Obese Women.

The aim of this study was to evaluate alterations in blood parameters after a low-carbohydrate high-fat (LCHF) diet in women with lipedema in comparison to overweight or obese women. A total of 115 women were classified into two groups: the lipedema group and the overweight/obesity group. Both study groups followed the caloric-restricted LCHF diet for 7 months.

Lymphoscintigraphic alterations in lower limbs in women with lipedema in comparison to women with overweight/obesity.

Lipedema is a bilateral enlargement of the legs due to abnormal depositions of subcutaneous fat. Recent studies using lymphoscintigraphy documented that lipedema associates with lymphatic alterations. It is still not known, whether non-lipedema obesity also leads to similar lymphoscintigraphic changes within lower legs.

The Lymphatic System In The Brain Clearance Mechanisms - New Therapeutic Perspectives For Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia worldwide. Pathological deposits of neurotoxic proteins within the brain, such as amyloid-ß and hyperphosphorylated tau tangles, are the prominent features in AD. According to recent studies, the newly discovered brain lymphatic system was demonstrated to be crucial in the clearance of metabolic macromolecules from the brain.

Selected clinical parameters and changes in cardiac morphology and function assessed by magnetic resonance imaging in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis without clinically apparent heart disease.

Background: The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and the cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) changes in people without clinically overt heart disease.

Methods: The study group consisted of 74 people (48.81 ± 11.

Metabolomic profiling reveals plasma GlycA and GlycB as a potential biomarkers for treatment efficiency in rheumatoid arthritis.

In this pilot study, we carried out metabolic profiling of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) starting therapy with biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs). The main aim of the study was to assess the occurring metabolic changes associated with therapy success and metabolic pathways involved. In particular, the potential of the metabolomics profiles was evaluated as therapeutically valuable prognostic indicators of the effectiveness of bDMARD treatment to identify responders versus non-responders prior to implementing treatment.

Left ventricular myocardial strain assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess a relationship between the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its selected clinical parameters, and left ventricular myocardial strain.

Material And Methods: Fifty-six subjects were qualified for the study: 30 RA patients and 26 subjects without rheumatoid diseases. The study design included taking medical history, assessment of the disease activity using selected scales of activity, collecting samples of venous blood to assess selected laboratory parameters and the assessment of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).

Metabolomics of Interstitial Fluid, Plasma and Urine in Patients with Arterial Hypertension: New Insights into the Underlying Mechanisms.

There is growing evidence that lymphatic system plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Here, for the first time, the metabolome of interstitial fluid is analyzed in patients with arterial hypertension. Due to ethical issues to obtain human interstitial fluid samples, this study included only oncological patients after axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).

Effects of Long-Term High-Fat Diet and Its Reversal on Lipids and Lipoproteins Composition in Thoracic Duct Lymph in Pigs.

BACKGROUND This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of a long-term high-fat diet on lipids and lipoproteins composition in thoracic duct lymph in pigs. MATERIAL AND METHODS We examined lymph taken from the thoracic duct from 24 female white sharp-ear pigs, divided into 3 experimental groups fed different diets for 12 months: (a) the control group, fed the standard balanced diet; (b) the HFD group, fed an unbalanced, high-fat diet, and (c) the reversal diet group (RD), fed an unbalanced, high-fat diet for 9 months and then a standard balanced diet for 3 months. RESULTS Lymph analysis after 12 months of fixed diets revealed significantly higher concentration of proteins in the HFD group in comparison to the control and RD groups.

Assessment of nutritional status on the basis of the mini nutritional assessment (MNA) questionnaire in patients on the internal medicine ward.

Background: The inadequate nutritional status of hospitalized patients leading to the malnutrition is one of the crucial clinical problems.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess nutritional status of patients on the basis of the mini nutritional assessment (MNA) questionnaire.

Material And Methods: The study group included 120 patients staying on the internal medicine ward.

Serum NMR metabolomics to differentiate haematologic malignancies.

Haematological malignancies are a frequently diagnosed group of neoplasms and a significant cause of cancer deaths. The successful treatment of these diseases relies on early and accurate detection. Specific small molecular compounds released by malignant cells and the simultaneous response by the organism towards the pathological state may serve as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers or as a tool with relevance for cancer therapy management.

Asymmetric and symmetric dimethylarginines and mortality in patients with hematological malignancies-A prospective study.

The study was designed to determine the associations of asymmetric (ADMA) and symmetric (SDMA) dimethylarginines plasma concentrations with all-cause mortality in patients with hematological malignancies. 33 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 31 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (nHL), 32 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 48 patients without malignancy were enrolled into the study. Each patient was followed until death or for at least 14.

Role of the Lymphatic System in the Pathogenesis of Hypertension in Humans.

Background: Recent studies, mainly on animal models, have suggested that negatively charged glycosaminoglycans, macrophages, and lymph vessels in the skin interstitium may serve as extrarenal control of sodium balance and blood pressure. The aim of the study was to prove the hypothesis that skin interstitium has a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension in humans.

Methods And Results: We have examined skin biopsies in 91 patients from the department of surgery who had elective surgery with abdominal skin incision: 43 were hypertensive, 14 had resistant hypertension, and 34 with normal blood pressure as control group (median patients' age in these groups estimated accordingly 64 vs.

Influence of miR-7a and miR-24-3p on the SOX18 transcript in lung adenocarcinoma.

The molecular pathogenesis of the development of non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs) is extremely complex. Understanding the molecular basis of the development of this malignant tumor may enable the use of targeted therapy, which may result in a better treatment outome for these patients. Adenocarcinoma (AC) is the most common NSCLC subtype, equally common among smokers and non-smokers, and its pathogenesis remains unknown.

Two cases of the bronchial carcinoid tumors successfully treated with the parenchymal-sparing bronchoplastic resections.

Carcinoid tumors account for 2% of primary lung tumors. We report two cases of the relatively young patients with typical and atypical carcinoid (AC) tumors that were managed successfully with a parenchymal-sparing bronchoplastic procedure.

A novel mass spectrometry-based method for simultaneous determination of asymmetric and symmetric dimethylarginine, l-arginine and l-citrulline optimized for LC-MS-TOF and LC-MS/MS.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a regulatory molecule involved in many biological processes. NO is produced by nitric oxide synthase by conversion of l-arginine to l-citrulline. l-Arginine methylated derivatives, asymmetric and symmetric dimethylarginines (asymmetric dimethylarginine, ADMA, and symmetric dimethylarginine, SDMA), regulate l-arginine availability and the activity of nitric oxide synthase.

Frequency of the use of biological treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis in Lower Silesia.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are chronic connective tissue diseases. Inadequate treatment of RA and AS results in health failure, disability and premature death. In recent years, development of immunology and genetic engineering techniques has started a new generation of drugs in the treatment of RA and AS, called biologic response modifiers or biologics.

Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine concentration in persons with essential hypertension.

Introduction: The study aimed to evaluate the relationship between plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) concentration and development of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in patients with essential hypertension (EH). Moreover, an attempt was made to define independent risk factors of LVDD in patients with EH.

Material And Methods: A group of 106 individuals with EH was obtained (mean age: 47.

[Lymphatic endothelium].

Compared to the knowledge about the structure and function of endothelial cells of blood vessels, which was heavily developed over the past few decades, advance in the knowledge of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) for many years has been impossible, because of the lack of specific methods that allow histological visualization of lymphatic vessels in the tissues. The last years have brought significant progress in this field. Identification of specific markers of LECs and the development of new experimental animal models have allowed to recognize a number of antigens and growth factors of LECs and to isolate pure LECs populations.

[Factorial structure of the general health questionnaire (GHQ-30)].

Unlabelled: The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was designed by Goldberg in the 1970's as a screening instrument to provide information on the mental wellbeing. Although it is widely used as a unidimensional instrument, factor analyses tend to suggest that it contains more than one dimension.

Aim: The purpose of this paper is to review the factor-analytic research that has been carried out with regard to the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and to present the results of the analysis of our research.

Physical and psychological impairments of women with upper limb lymphedema following breast cancer treatment.

Objective: The aim of the study was to identify factors associated with worse physical and emotional functioning of breast cancer survivors with upper extremity lymphedema.

Methods: 1250 sets of questionnaires consisting of WHO-DAS II, EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQ-BR23 and GHQ-30 were mailed to women who underwent a breast cancer surgery at the Lower Silesian Oncology Center in Poland between January 1998 and December 2005.

Results And Conclusions: The response rate was 33.