Role of p16(INK4a) cytology testing as an adjunct to enhance the diagnostic specificity and accuracy in human papillomavirus-positive women within an organized cervical cancer screening program.

Objective: We evaluated the performance of cytologic p16(INK4a) (p16) immunostaining within a cervical cancer screening program for the categories of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LS after triage with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) testing and atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude high-grade intraepithelial squamous lesion (ASC-H) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). We also verified whether the routine introduction of p16 staining might enhance the specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or higher (CIN2+) lesions predicted by a cytological screening test.

Study Design: Performance of the p16 cytology test was estimated in 578 cytological samples, of which 213 were HR-HPV+ ASC-US, 186 were HR-HPV+ LSIL, 74 were ASC-H, 56 were HSIL-CIN2 and 49 were HSIL-CIN3.

Impact of resistance to thyroid hormone on the cardiovascular system in adults.

Background: The clinical manifestations of resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) are highly variable, and the impact of RTH on the cardiovascular system has been poorly investigated.

Aim: The objective of the study was to evaluate the cardiovascular characteristics of 16 untreated and asymptomatic patients with RTH compared with 16 euthyroid healthy controls to define the cardiovascular involvement in RTH syndrome.

Patients And Methods: Sixteen untreated and asymptomatic RTH patients (eight males; aged 33 +/- 12 yr, range 21-45 yr) and 16 controls (nine males; aged 33 +/- 5 yr, range 24-42 yr) were enrolled.

An exaggerated systolic blood pressure response to exercise is associated with cardiovascular remodeling in subjects with prehypertension.

Background: Although many observers consider the cardiovascular risk associated with isolated prehypertension to be low and not worth pharmacological treating, the cardiovascular disease rate is increased among individuals within this blood pressure stratum.

Methods: We performed Doppler echocardiography and submaximal bicycle ergometry in 20 nonsmoking sedentary prehypertensive subjects and 20 age- and sex-matched nonsmoking sedentary normotensive subjects, and investigated the association between the systolic blood pressure response to exercise (SBPRE) and hypertensive target organ damage. An exaggerated SBPRE (E-SBPRE) and a normal SBPRE (N-SBPRE) were diagnosed using the mean +2 standard deviations of systolic blood pressure at 100 W in normotensives.

Association between post-ischemic forearm blood flow and blood pressure response to maximal exercise in well trained healthy young men.

Background: The relationship between peripheral circulation and blood pressure (BP) response to maximal exercise is an intriguing and not yet well defined topic.

Aims: Aims of the present study were to investigate in well trained young healthy males the possible relationships between the endothelial or the smooth muscle component of the peripheral circulation and 1) the BP response to physical exercise on treadmill 2) the body mass composition.

Subjects And Methods: Fifteen subjects (18-36 years), regularly performing physical activity 3 times weekly underwent the following examinations: body composition by bioelectrical impedance analysis; measurement of the forearm blood flow (FBF) at rest and during post-ischemic hyperemia by strain-gauge plethysmography at the upper arm; measurement of brachial artery diameter (BAD) at rest and after 4-min ischemia by echography; BP response to maximal exercise on treadmill with the determination of maximal oxygen consumption and the measurement of lactic acid serum concentration.

Tadalafil improves quality of life and exercise tolerance in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension has a poor prognosis quoad vitam et valitudinem. Herein, we report on a middle-aged woman affected by idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension whose quality of life and exercise tolerance improved remarkably after a six-month course of treatment with the long-acting phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor tadalafil.

Subclinical hyperthyroidism: clinical features and treatment options.

Subclinical hyperthyroidism appears to be a common disorder. It may be caused by exogenous or endogenous factors: excessive TSH suppressive therapy with L-thyroxine (L-T4) for benign thyroid nodular disease, differentiated thyroid cancer, or hormone over-replacement in patients with hypothyroidism are the most frequent causes. Consistent evidence indicates that 'subclinical' hyperthyroidism reduces the quality of life, affecting both the psycho and somatic components of well-being, and produces relevant signs and symptoms of excessive thyroid hormone action, often mimicking adrenergic overactivity.

Aerobic exercise performance correlates with post-ischemic flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery in young healthy men.

In older healthy men, aerobic exercise capacity is related to postischemic flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery (FMD), but corresponding data in a younger population is not available. In addition, whether submaximal aerobic exercise performance also correlates with this kind of vasomotor reactivity is not known. Therefore, in 15 nonsmoking young healthy men [age 27 (5) years; body mass index: 24 (2) kg/m(2); mean (SD)] with different levels of ordinary physical activity, but not performing upper-extremity training, we measured FMD at 1 min after reactive hyperemia, and pulmonary oxygen uptake (VO(2)) at ventilatory anaerobic threshold (VO(2)AT) and at peak effort (peak VO(2)) during an incremental exercise on a treadmill.

Peak exercise oxygen uptake and left ventricular systolic and diastolic function and arterial mechanics in healthy young men.

Echocardiography can be used to estimate myocardial contractility by the assessment of the circumferential end-systolic stress-corrected left ventricular (LV) fractional shortening measured at midwall level (stress-corrected MWS). Whether stress-corrected MWS at rest predicts exercise peak oxygen uptake (peak VO(2)) is unknown. Also, it is not known whether the propagation rate of the early LV filling wave (E wave propagation rate, V(p)), a new pre-load insensitive index of LV diastolic function, and echocardiographically assessed indices of arterial stiffness correlate to peak VO(2).

Patients with subclinical Cushing's syndrome due to adrenal adenoma have increased cardiovascular risk.

Subclinical Cushing's syndrome (SCS) is increasingly being reported in incidentally discovered adrenal adenomas; its hallmark is mild autonomous cortisol hyperproduction without specific clinical signs of cortisol excess. Increased prevalence of hypertension, obesity, and impaired glucose tolerance have been described in SCS, but there is no specific study of the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. In this cross-sectional study we assessed the cardiovascular profile in 28 consecutive SCS patients (19 women and 9 men; aged 56 +/- 10.

PATZ attenuates the RNF4-mediated enhancement of androgen receptor-dependent transcription.

PATZ is a transcriptional repressor affecting the basal activity of different promoters, whereas RNF4 is a transcriptional activator. The association of PATZ with RNF4 switches the activation to repression of selected basal promoters. Because RNF4 interacts also with the androgen receptor (AR) functioning as a coactivator and, in turn, RNF4 associates with PATZ, we investigated whether PATZ functions as an AR coregulator.