A Prospective Study of Lipids in Adult Women With Turner Syndrome.

Context: Turner syndrome (TS) is a rare genetic syndrome with an increased mortality, mainly attributed to cardiovascular disease.

Objective: This work aimed to investigate and correlate the lipid profile in adult women with TS to clinical characteristics.

Methods: A 12-year prospective cohort study, including 4 study visits, was conducted at a specialist hospital.

Upscaling of Denitrification Rates from Point to Catchment Scales for Modeling of Nitrate Transport and Retention.

The spatial and temporal variability of denitrification makes it challenging to integrate conceptual, process-based understandings of nitrate transport and retention into numerical modeling at the catchment scale, although it is critical for the realism and predictive power of the model. In this study, we propose a novel approach where the conceptual understandings of the spatial structure of denitrification zones and the corresponding representative denitrification rates are transformed into a form that can be integrated into a multi-point statistical simulation framework. This is done by constructing a denitrification training image (TI) coupled to a geophysically based TI of the hydrogeological structure.

Natural History of Hypertension in Turner Syndrome During a 12-Year Pragmatic Interventional Study.

Turner syndrome is caused by complete or partial X monosomy in some or all cells. Cardiovascular complications are dominant, including increased blood pressure (BP), leading to early-onset hypertension. The aim is to describe the debut, development, and treatment of hypertension in Turner syndrome during a 12-year pragmatic interventional study to help identify risk factors associated with hypertension.

A placebo-controlled randomized study with testosterone in Klinefelter syndrome: beneficial effects on body composition.

Context And Objective: Males with Klinefelter syndrome (KS) are typically hypogonadal with a high incidence of metabolic disease, increased body fat and mortality. Testosterone treatment of hypogonadal patients decrease fat mass, increase lean body mass and improve insulin sensitivity, but whether this extends to patients with KS is presently unknown.

Research Design And Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, BMI-matched cross-over study, 13 males with KS (age: 34.

Aortic growth rates are not increased in Turner syndrome-a prospective CMR study.

Background: Aortic disease is a key determinant of outcomes in Turner syndrome (TS). The present study characterized aortic growth rates and outcomes over nearly a decade in adult women with TS.

Methods And Results: Prospective observational study assessing aortic diameters twice with cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in women with TS [N = 91; mean follow-up 8.

Crowding in the emergency department in the absence of boarding - a transition regression model to predict departures and waiting time.

Background: Crowding in the emergency department (ED) is associated with increased mortality, increased treatment cost, and reduced quality of care. Crowding arises when demand exceed resources in the ED and a first sign may be increasing waiting time. We aimed to quantify predictors for departure from the ED, and relate this to waiting time in the ED before departure.

Five-Year Randomized Study Demonstrates Blood Pressure Increases in Young Women With Turner Syndrome Regardless of Estradiol Dose.

We evaluated the development in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate in young women with Turner syndrome (TS) and investigated potential influencing cofactors. Twenty TS women (mean±SD, 22.9±2.

Integrated model of insulin and glucose kinetics describing both hepatic glucose and pancreatic insulin regulation.

Background And Objectives: Modeling of glucose kinetics has to a large extent been based on models with plasma insulin as a known forcing function. Furthermore, population-based statistical methods for parameter estimation in these models have mainly addressed random inter-individual variations and not intra-individual variations in the parameters. Here we present an integrated whole-body model of glucose and insulin kinetics which extends the well-known two-compartment glucose minimal model.

Determinants for adherence to continuous positive airway pressure therapy in obstructive sleep apnea.

Background: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is an efficacious treatment for patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, there are only few data on long-term adherence. The aim of this study is to quantify the extent of non-adherence and describe the clinical characteristics.

Evaluation of interarm blood pressure differences using the Microlife WatchBP Office in a clinical setting.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of Microlife WatchBP Office and the effect of increasing the number of measurements in the clinical evaluation of systolic interarm difference (IAD).

Patients And Methods: Office blood pressure was measured simultaneously on both arms in 339 patients (85% diabetic) using the Microlife WatchBP Office, a fully automatic, oscillometric device. The patients included were all scheduled for ambulatory blood pressure measurement at the outpatient clinic of endocrinology at Silkeborg Regional Hospital, Denmark.

The role of retinopathy distribution and other lesion types for the definition of examination intervals during screening for diabetic retinopathy.

Purpose: It has previously been shown that the intervals between screening examinations for diabetic retinopathy can be optimized by including individual risk factors for the development of the disease in the risk assessment. However, in some cases, the risk model calculating the screening interval may recommend a different interval than an experienced clinician. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of factors unrelated to diabetic retinopathy and the distribution of lesions for discrepancies between decisions made by the clinician and the risk model.

A generic method for evaluating crowding in the emergency department.

Background: Crowding in the emergency department (ED) has been studied intensively using complicated non-generic methods that may prove difficult to implement in a clinical setting. This study sought to develop a generic method to describe and analyse crowding from measurements readily available in the ED and to test the developed method empirically in a clinical setting.

Methods: We conceptualised a model with ED patient flow divided into separate queues identified by timestamps for predetermined events.

Evaluation of Endothelial Pump Function in Fuchs Endothelial Dystrophy Before and After Endothelial Keratoplasty.

Purpose: To evaluate the endothelial pump function in vivo after Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK).

Methods: In a prospective controlled trial, a group of 17 patients with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) eligible for DSAEK surgery and a group of 15 patients with cataract but with normal corneas eligible for cataract surgery (controls) were formed. A low oxygen-permeable contact lens was used to induce corneal edema.

Interleukin 20 regulates dendritic cell migration and expression of co-stimulatory molecules.

Background: Psoriasis is an inflammatory disease characterized by leukocyte skin infiltration. Interestingly, recent works suggest that the migration of dendritic cells (DCs) is abnormal in psoriatic skin. DCs have significant role in regulating the function of T lymphocytes, at least in part influenced by the local environment of cytokines.

Comparison of sensitivity and specificity of 4 methods for detection of Giardia duodenalis in feces: immunofluorescence and PCR are superior to microscopy of concentrated iodine-stained samples.

For decades, microscopy of feces after formol-ethylacetate (FEA) concentration and iodine staining has been the routine test for intestinal protozoa. Lately, polymerase chain reaction or fluorescence-labeled parasite-specific antibodies have been introduced, but their place in everyday routine diagnostics has not yet been established. We compared FEA and salt-sugar flotation (SSF) concentration followed by microscopy of iodine-stained concentrate and immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for detection of Giardia duodenalis in human feces.

The magnitude of placebo analgesia effects depends on how they are conceptualized.

Objective: Placebo effects are usually calculated as the difference between placebo treatments and no treatments. Recently, placebo-like effects have been investigated using open and hidden administrations of active treatments. The aim of the study was to directly compare the two types of placebo effects and examine how they are influenced by personality traits.

Clinical findings in a multi-ethnic adult hepatitis B virus patient population in Denmark with emphasis on genotypic characteristics.

Objective: Most knowledge about chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is based upon studies in high-endemic areas with one or two predominant genotype(s). The aim of the study was to describe clinical characteristics of a heterogeneous genotypic HBV patient population in a low-endemic European country.

Methods: Data from HBV patients currently followed in a Danish university hospital and affiliated regional clinics were reviewed in accordance to genotype status.

Exposure-affecting factors of dairy farmers' exposure to inhalable dust and endotoxin.

Introduction: Studies on determinants of dairy farmers' exposure to dust and endotoxin have been sparse and so far none has addressed the combined effect of tasks and farm characteristics.

Objective: To study whether and how work tasks and specific stable characteristics influence the level of dairy farmers' personal exposure to inhalable dust and endotoxin.

Methods: We applied an observational design involving full-shift repeated personal measurements of inhalable dust and endotoxin exposure among 77 subjects (owners and farm workers) from 26 dairy farms.

Prediction of aortic dilation in Turner syndrome--the use of serial cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Background: Identification of the subset females with Turner syndrome who face especially high risk of aortic dissection is difficult, and more optimal risk assessment is pivotal in order to improve outcomes. This study aimed to provide comprehensive, dynamic mathematical models of aortic disease in Turner syndrome by use of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR).

Methods: A prospective framework of long-term aortic follow-up was used, which comprised diameters of the thoracic aorta prospectively assessed at nine positions by CMR at the three points in time (baseline [n = 102, age 38 ± 11 years], follow-up [after 2.

Age is an important determinant in humoral and T cell responses to immunization with hepatitis B surface antigen.

The aging of the immune system, also named immunosenescence, affects vaccine responses. However, the onset of age-related immunosenescence has been uncertain, in particularly with regard to vaccine responses. Here, we show that the formation of antibodies in response to vaccination against hepatitis B virus infection was significantly reduced for donors with a mean age of 61 y compared with a group with a mean age of 33 y.

Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity is associated with cerebral white matter lesions in type 2 diabetes.

Objective: Patients with type 2 diabetes have a high incidence of cardiovascular events including stroke. Increased arterial stiffness (AS) predicts cardiovascular events in the general population. Cerebral white matter lesions (WMLs) are associated with an increased risk of stroke.

The Bandim tuberculosis score: reliability and comparison with the Karnofsky performance score.

Background: This study was carried out in Guinea-Bissau's capital Bissau among inpatients and outpatients attending for tuberculosis (TB) treatment within the study area of the Bandim Health Project, a Health and Demographic Surveillance Site. Our aim was to assess the variability between 2 physicians in performing the Bandim tuberculosis score (TBscore), a clinical severity score for pulmonary TB (PTB), and to compare it to the Karnofsky performance score (KPS).

Method: From December 2008 to July 2009 we assessed the TBscore and the KPS of 100 PTB patients at inclusion in the TB cohort and/or at 1 or more follow-up visits; 61 baseline and 130 follow-up double assessments were obtained.

End-of-life practices in Danish ICUs: development and validation of a questionnaire.

Background: Practices for withholding or withdrawing therapy vary according to professional, cultural and religious differences. No Danish-validated questionnaire examining withholding and withdrawing practices exists, thus the aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire for surveying the views of intensive care nurses, intensivists, and primary physicians regarding collaboration and other aspects of withholding and withdrawing therapy in the ICU.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed on the basis of literature, focus group interviews with intensive care nurses and intensivists, and individual interviews with primary physicians.

Predictors of monoterpene exposure in the Danish furniture industry.

Objectives: Individuals who work with pine in the furniture industry may be exposed to monoterpenes, the most abundant of which are α-pinene, β-pinene, and Δ(3)-carene. Monoterpenes are suspected to cause dermatitis and to harm the respiratory system. An understanding of the predictors of monoterpene exposure is therefore important in preventing these adverse effects.