Identification of Asthma Phenotypes in the Spanish MEGA Cohort Study Using Cluster Analysis.

Introduction: The definition of asthma phenotypes has not been fully established, neither there are cluster studies showing homogeneous results to solidly establish clear phenotypes. The purpose of this study was to develop a classification algorithm based on unsupervised cluster analysis, identifying clusters that represent clinically relevant asthma phenotypes that may share asthma-related outcomes.

Methods: We performed a multicentre prospective cohort study, including adult patients with asthma (N=512) from the MEGA study (Mechanisms underlying the Genesis and evolution of Asthma).

Antibodies against 4 Atypical Post-Translational Protein Modifications in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) show autoantibodies against post-translational protein modifications (PTMs), such as anti-citrullinated protein antibodies. However, the range of recognized PTMs is unknown. Here, we addressed four PTMs: chlorination, non-enzymatic glycation, nitration, and homocysteinylation, identified as targets of atypical RA autoantibodies in studies whose protocols we have followed.

Serum levels of inflammatory mediators as prognostic biomarker in silica exposed workers.

Silicosis is a diffuse interstitial lung disease caused by sustained inhalation of silica and silicates. Several cytokines are activated by their inhalation and can mediate the process of pulmonary fibrosis. The identification of biomarkers could allow an early diagnosis before the development of radiological alterations and help monitor the evolution of patients.

Increased Serum Levels of sCD14 and sCD163 Indicate a Preponderant Role for Monocytes in COVID-19 Immunopathology.

Background: Emerging evidence indicates a potential role for monocytes in COVID-19 immunopathology. We investigated two soluble markers of monocyte activation, sCD14 and sCD163, in COVID-19 patients, with the aim of characterizing their potential role in monocyte-macrophage disease immunopathology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind.

Postprandial glycemic response in a non-diabetic adult population: the effect of nutrients is different between men and women.

Background: There is a growing interest in the pathopysiological consequences of postprandial hyperglycemia. It is well known that in diabetic patients 2 h plasma glucose is a better risk predictor for coronary heart disease than fasting plasma glucose. Data on the glycemic response in healthy people are scarce.

Unmasking a new prognostic marker and therapeutic target from the GDNF-RET/PIT1/p14ARF/p53 pathway in acromegaly.

Background: Acromegaly is produced by excess growth hormone secreted by a pituitary adenoma of somatotroph cells (ACRO). First-line therapy, surgery and adjuvant therapy with somatostatin analogs, fails in 25% of patients. There is no predictive factor of resistance to therapy.

Impact of Mean Cell Hemoglobin on Hb A1c-Defined Glycemia Status.

Background: Several hematological alterations are associated with altered hemoglobin A (Hb A). However, there have been no reports of their influence on the rates of exceeding standard Hb A thresholds by patients for whom Hb A determination is requested in clinical practice.

Methods: The initial data set included the first profiles (complete blood counts, Hb A, fasting glucose, and renal and hepatic parameters) of all adult patients for whom such a profile was requested between 2008 and 2013 inclusive.

Neuroprotective effects of dexmedetomidine conditioning strategies: Evidences from an in vitro model of cerebral ischemia.

Aims: Dexmedetomidine is a selective agonist of α2-adrenergic receptors with clinical anesthetic and analgesic properties that has also shown neuroprotective effects on several models of brain injury. Because perioperative stroke and brain damage are frequent causes of death in critical care units, we aimed to investigate neuroprotective properties of dexmedetomidine using an in vitro model of cerebral ischemia.

Main Methods: Primary mixed rat brain cortical cultures were subjected to oxygen and glucose deprivation and treated with different doses of dexmedetomidine in order to analyze three conditioning strategies: preconditioning, intraconditioning and postconditioning.

Mindfulness in the Maintenance of Cognitive Capacities in Alzheimer's Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: The Canary Islands longitudinal study on non-pharmacological treatments showed the overall effectiveness of mindfulness in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, no specific data on the maintenance of cognitive capacities were presented.

Objective: To determine whether the practice of mindfulness modifies the course of cognitive impairment in AD.

High incidence of hypoglycemia in stable insulin-treated type 2 diabetes mellitus: continuous glucose monitoring vs. self-monitored blood glucose. Observational prospective study.

Objectives: Hypoglycemia is a limiting factor in the achievement of strict glycemic control. The primary objective of this 9-week study was to determine the frequency of hypoglycemia in patients with stable insulin-treated type 2 diabetes mellitus by comparing self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG) measurement with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).

Methods: This was an observational prospective study.

[Mindfulness-based stimulation in advanced Alzheimer's disease: A comparative, non-inferiority, clinical pilot study].

Introduction: A longitudinal study was conducted in order to analyze the feasibility, safety, and effects of the practice of mindfulness, relaxation and cognitive stimulation on the evolution of Alzheimer's disease, with the aim of testing the equivalence of these interventions.

Material And Methods: There were a total of 168 participants with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) treated with donepezil. In the present article, the 21 participants with advanced AD who completed a follow-up period of 24 months are presented.

[Utility of bone turnover markers in metabolic bone disease detection in patients with phenylketonuria].

Background And Objective: Mineral bone disease is more common in phenylketonuric patients. The objectives of this study were to determine the usefulness of biochemical bone markers to identify phenylketonuric patients with mineral bone disease (MBD) and know the underlying bone remodeling alterations.

Patients And Method: Cross-sectional study of 43 phenylketonuric patients>7 years (range: 7.

Humanized medium (h7H) allows long-term primary follicular thyroid cultures from human normal thyroid, benign neoplasm, and cancer.

Context: Mechanisms of thyroid physiology and cancer are principally studied in follicular cell lines. However, human thyroid cancer lines were found to be heavily contaminated by other sources, and only one supposedly normal-thyroid cell line, immortalized with SV40 antigen, is available. In primary culture, human follicular cultures lose their phenotype after passage.

Evolution of subclinical hypothyroidism in children treated with antiepileptic drugs.

The concentration levels of serum free thyroxine, serum free triiodothyronine, and thyroid-stimulating hormone were measured in 20 children receiving carbamazepine, 32 children receiving valproic acid, and 5 children receiving phenobarbital at the following times: (1) during chronic treatment, and (2) 3 months after the end of treatment with antiepileptic drugs. Patients during chronic treatment revealed significant changes in serum thyroid hormones, especially the children treated with carbamazepine and valproic acid. A number of children receiving long-term therapy with the two last antiepileptic drugs had varying grades of subclinical hypothyroidism.

Evolution of serum lipids and lipoprotein (a) levels in epileptic children treated with carbamazepine, valproic acid, and phenobarbital.

The concentration levels of serum lipids and lipoprotein (a) were measured in 20 children receiving carbamazepine, 25 children receiving valproic acid, and 5 children receiving phenobarbital at the following times: (1) during chronic treatment while eating a normal diet, (2) during chronic treatment while eating a low-fat diet (children treated with carbamazepine and phenobarbital with high levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and (3) 3 months after the end of treatment with antiepileptic drugs. Patients during chronic treatment and eating a normal diet revealed significant changes in lipids, but when we reevaluated the groups of children treated with carbamazepine and phenobarbital when they were eating a low-fat diet and reevaluated the three groups of children 3 months after the end of treatment, a complete return to normal of all parameters was observed. These data demonstrate that the changes induced by these drugs are transient, reversible, and influenced by a low-fat diet.

Probing PrPSc structure using chemical cross-linking and mass spectrometry: evidence of the proximity of Gly90 amino termini in the PrP 27-30 aggregate.

Elucidation of the structure of PrP(Sc) continues to be one of the most important and difficult challenges in prion research. This task, essential for gaining an understanding of the basis of prion infectivity, has been hampered by the insoluble, aggregated nature of this molecule. We used a combination of chemical cross-linking, proteolytic digestion, and mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF and nanoLC-ESI-QqTOF), in an attempt to gain structural information about PrP 27-30 purified from the brains of Syrian hamsters infected with scrapie.

Levels of pentosidine in the vitreous of eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy, proliferative vitreoretinopathy and retinal detachment.

Background: Advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) are thought to play an important role in the pathophysiology of diabetes. Particularly, these products have been implicated in the pathogenesis of proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The majority of these products are formed from a vast range of precursor molecules, the variable chemical nature of which contributes to AGE heterogeneity.

Neuron-specific enolase, nucleotides, nucleosides, purine bases, oxypurines and uric acid concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid of children with meningitis.

To determine the effects of meningitis on cerebral energy metabolism, cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of adenosine monophosphate, inosine monophosphate, inosine, adenosine, guanosine, adenine, guanine, hypoxanthine, xanthine and urate were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography, and neuron-specific enolase by an enzyme immunoassay method, in 100 children with meningitis (45 bacterial, 46 viral and nine tuberculous), aged between 1 month and 13 years, and in 160 age-matched controls. Compared with controls, patients with bacterial meningitis showed high concentrations of hypoxanthine, xanthine and urate; patients with viral meningitis showed high concentrations of inosine, guanosine, xanthine, urate and neuron-specific enolase; and patients with tuberculous meningitis showed very high concentrations of inosine, xanthine and urate. Xanthine and urate concentrations were significantly higher in patients with tuberculous meningitis than in patients with viral or bacterial meningitis.