Recreational music-making modulates the human stress response: a preliminary individualized gene expression strategy.

Background: A central component of the complex human biological stress response is the modulation of the neuro-endocrine-immune system with its intricate feedback loops that support homeostatic regulation. Well-documented marked gene expression variability among human and animal subjects coupled with sample collection timing and delayed effects, as well as a host of molecular detection challenges renders the quest for deciphering the human biological stress response challenging from many perspectives.

Material/methods: A novel Recreational Music-Making (RMM) program was used in combination with a new strategy for peripheral blood gene expression analysis to assess individualized genomic stress induction signatures.

Nitric oxide in ascitic fluid is an independent predictor of the development of renal impairment in patients with cirrhosis and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

Background/aims: Cirrhotic patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis show a marked activation of the cytokine cascade, and cytokines induce the synthesis of nitric oxide in vitro. Our aim was to assess whether patients with ascitic fluid infection show increased levels of nitric oxide, and whether this is related to the development of renal impairment.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected specimens from 168 patients with cirrhosis and presence of sterile or infected ascitic fluid.