[Potentially inappropriate prescribing: Usefulness of STOPP/START criteria version 2 in Catalonian elderly population].

Objective: To measure the prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) among the elderly population in Catalonia using criteria Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescriptions/Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment (STOPP/START) version 2. In addition, to evaluate the association between PIP and several factors (polypharmacy, gender, age and sociodemographic conditions).

Materials And Methods: Design: Retrospective cross sectional population study.

Risk factors for early-onset basal cell carcinomas and the trend towards their female predominance.

Background: A dramatic rise in the incidence rates of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in young women has been reported.

Objectives: We investigate potential risk factors (RF) for sporadic BCC in young patients and the current distribution of such RF in the general population of Catalonia, comparing the differences among men and women.

Patients And Methods: A case-control study was performed, 69 BCCs diagnosed in patients ≤ 45 years of age vs.

Antiviral treatment does not improve subclinical atheromatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis caused by hepatitis C virus.

Introduction: Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus is a risk factor for developing atheromatous plaques, although the possible effect of virus clearance is unknown. Our aim was to determine whether or not subclinical atheromatosis improved and there was any modification in the composition of the plaques 12 months after eradication of hepatitis C virus by direct-acting antiviral agents.

Materials And Methods: Prospective study that included 85 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection in different stages of fibrosis who were on direct-acting antiviral agents.

Chronic hepatitis C infection: An independent risk factor for subclinical atheromatosis.

Background: The association between subclinical atheromatosis and chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is unknown but is relevant now that antivirals are improving the survival of patients with the infection.

Objectives: To determine whether HCV is an independent risk factor for subclinical atheromatosis and to analyse the changes in lipid profiles according to viral RNA levels and hepatic fibrosis.

Patients And Methods: We conducted an observational, cross-sectional study that included 102 HCV-positive patients and 102 HCV-negative patients with parity in terms of sex and age, with no history of cardiovascular or kidney disease or diabetes.

Epidemiology of Psoriasis. A Population-Based Study.

Background And Objectives: Psoriasis is a chronic immunoinflammatory skin disease very frequent in the western world. Several authors have tried to calculate its prevalence in different regions, although most of them obtained the data from surveys and there are few publications from Mediterranean areas. The objective of our study was to analyze the prevalence and severity of psoriasis in Lleida (a northeastern region in Spain), identify age and sex specific differences and compare our results with other European series.

Psoriasis, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors. A population-based study.

Background: Psoriasis is a very prevalent systemic chronic inflammatory disease. Major cardiovascular events are the main cause of mortality in these patients which suggests an association between psoriasis and traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

Objective: To identify classic cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome (MS) in patients with psoriasis, their possible association with its severity and compare it with the non-psoriatic population.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization of TP53 for the detection of chromosome 17 abnormalities in myelodysplastic syndromes.

Conventional G-banding cytogenetics (CC) detects chromosome 17 (chr17) abnormalities in 2% of patients with de novo myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). We used CC and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) (LSI p53/17p13.1) to assess deletion of 17p in 531 patients with de novo MDS from the Spanish Group of Hematological Cytogenetics.

A non-digestible fraction of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis during early carcinogenesis.

We have previously demonstrated that the non-digestible fraction (NDF) from common cooked beans (P. vulgaris L., cv Negro 8025) inhibits azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colon cancer and influences the expression of genes involved in the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest through the action of butyrate.

Characterization and prognostic implication of 17 chromosome abnormalities in myelodysplastic syndrome.

The prognosis of chromosome 17 (chr17) abnormalities in patients with primary myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) remains unclear. The revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R) includes these abnormalities within the intermediate cytogenetic risk group. This study assessed the impact on overall survival (OS) and risk of acute myeloid leukemia transformation (AMLt) of chr17 abnormalities in 88 patients with primary MDS.

The advantages of therapeutic drug monitoring in patients receiving antiretroviral treatment and experiencing medication-related problems.

Background: Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) is used to improve the efficacy and safety of ARVs, but there is little interest for the systematic or random TDM of ARVs in the medical management of patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. This study aimed to evaluate a different approach and test the potential advantages of TDM as part of medical treatments when clinical problems are identified in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients.

Methods: The authors conducted a prospective, noncontrolled, cohort study on 544 human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients treated either with a protease inhibitor (PI), atazanavir/lopinavir, or with a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), efavirenz/nevirapine.

Open-label, randomized comparison trial of long-term outcomes of levofloxacin versus standard antibiotic therapy in acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background And Objective: This study investigated whether treating acute exacerbations of COPD (AE-COPD) with levofloxacin modifies the long-term outcome of COPD patients in comparison with standard antibiotic regimens.

Methods: A 6-month open-label clinical trial of AE-COPD patients compared the outcomes of treating with levofloxacin versus standard therapy (clarithromycin, cefuroxime, or amoxicillin/clavulanate) at recommended doses for 10 days. Several variables were analysed: pulse oximetry, FEV1, health-related quality of life, infection-free interval, number of exacerbations, hospitalizations due to an exacerbation and mortality.

The effects of successful parathyroidectomy on clinical and biological manifestations of primary hyperparathyroidism.

Purpose: To assess changes of clinical manifestations, laboratory data, and bone mineral density after parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism.

Methods: In 39 patients with symptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism undergoing parathyroidectomy, data of preoperative symptoms and bone densitometry were collected from the medical records. A telephone survey was used to collect information on postoperative symptoms and the patient's degree of satisfaction with the operation.

Caspase 8/10 are not mediating apoptosis in neuroblastoma cells treated with CDK inhibitory drugs.

Olomoucine and Roscovitine are pharmacological inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) displaying a promising profile as anticancer agents. Both compounds are effective inductors of apoptosis in a human neuroblastoma cell line, SH-SY5Y. The characterization of this process had suggested the involvement of an extrinsic pathway [Ribas, J.

A cardiological web as an adjunct to medical teaching: prospective analysis.

The aim of the study was to deliver and evaluate an educational web for medical students. A web of the complete cardiovascular course was prepared as an adjunct educational material for the classes. The use and utility of the web was assessed through a questionnaire (frequency of use, impact on in-class attendance and students' satisfaction).

[Spirometry is a good method for detecting and monitoring chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in high-risk smokers in primary health care].

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common disease, the early diagnosis of which allows effective management and treatment. The aim of the present study is to show the effectiveness of a screening and monitoring plan for COPD in high-risk patients in primary health care.

Patients And Methods: The subjects in this prospective observational longitudinal study comprised 164 high-risk smokers aged between 40 and 76 years.

Quantification of foetomaternal haemorrhage. An analysis of two cytometric techniques and a semiquantitative gel agglutination test.

Traditional tests to screen for foetomaternal haemorrhage are time-consuming and difficult to perform. The Kleihauer test is widely used but difficult to standardize. We evaluated three techniques for quantifying foetomaternal haemorrhage: a semiquantitative gel agglutination test and two flow cytometric techniques.

Combined use of the green and yellow fluorescent proteins and fluorescence-activated cell sorting to select populations of transiently transfected PC12 cells.

One of the more time-consuming procedures in the study of exogenously expressed proteins in cell lines is the selection of individual transfected clones. In recent years, green fluorescent protein variants with excitation/emission spectra matching the typical flow cytometer configurations have been generated and are in common use. We employed PC12 cells transfected with vectors encoding fluorescent proteins and a fluorescence selection procedure using a fluorescence-activated cell-sorter.

Dual CD38 and DNA staining of plasma cells in monoclonal gammopathies attained by a rapid, non-wash and automated method.

Dual antigenic and DNA analysis are a prerequisite in order to study DNA content and cell cycle distribution accurately and identify, while studying them separately, neoplastic cells in the mixture of tumour samples with a high proportion of normal cells or when residual normal cells are highly proliferative. We describe a method for the simultaneous detection of surface CD38 antigen and study, by flow cytometry, of DNA content in the bone marrow of patients with a monoclonal gammopathy. This standardized, easy-to-perform, and automated flow cytometric non-wash technique allows dual antigen and DNA staining in less than 30 min.