Respiratory diseases exhibit diverse patterns in prevalence, clinical presentations, and outcomes between men and women. Historically, certain conditions were more prevalent in men, but trends have shifted, highlighting the need to understand sex disparities in respiratory health. Social, environmental, and healthcare changes have reshaped the landscape of respiratory diseases, complicating diagnosis and treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is associated with hypertension, and OSA treatment can reduce systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), but with a modest mean effect size and vast heterogeneity among studies. The aim of this individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis was to understand which OSA phenotypes could benefit the most in terms of BP reduction.
Methods: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials that compared continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) with either passive or active treatment was conducted.
Curr Sleep Med Rep
September 2024
The glymphatic system is an emerging target in neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we investigated the activity of the glymphatic system in genetic frontotemporal dementia with a diffusion-based technique called diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space. We investigated 291 subjects with symptomatic or presymptomatic frontotemporal dementia (112 with [] expansion, 119 with [] mutations and 60 with [] mutations) and 83 non-carriers (including 50 young and 33 old non-carriers).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuntington disease (HD) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG expansion on the huntingtin () gene and is characterized by progressive motor, cognitive, and neuropsychiatric decline. Recently, new genetic factors besides CAG repeats have been implicated in the disease pathogenesis. Most genetic modifiers are involved in DNA repair pathways and, as the cause of the loss of CAA interruption in the gene, they exert their main influence through somatic expansion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement (Amst)
February 2024
Introduction: The goal of the present work was to assess the incidence of dementia with onset before the age of 65 years (i.e., young-onset dementia [YOD]) and define the frequencies of young-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) in the general population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev
September 2023
The relative contribution of small (sEVs) and large extracellular vesicles (lEVs) to the total plasma procoagulant potential is not yet well defined. Thus, we compared total and TF-sEVs and -lEVs isolated from healthy subjects and COVID-19 patients during the acute phase of the infection and after symptom remission in terms of (1) vesicle enumeration using nanoparticle tracking assay, imaging flow cytometry, and TF immunofluorescence localization in a single-vesicle analysis using microarrays; (2) cellular origin; and (3) TF-dependent Xa generation capacity, as well as assessing the contribution of the TF inhibitor, TFPI. In healthy subjects, the plasma concentration of CD9/CD63/CD81 sEVs was 30 times greater than that of calcein lEVs, and both were mainly released by platelets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Air pollution and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are both linked with cardiovascular co-morbidities and share similar pathophysiological mechanisms. A causal association between the two has been postulated. However, the results of the studies on this topic are conflicting mainly because of the lack of adjustment for important confounders such as seasonality and temperature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HNS) for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a novel way to manage the condition. We hypothesised that in patients with OSA and limited adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, domiciliary transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TESLA) would control sleep apnoea and provide health benefits.
Methods: We undertook a single-centre, open-label, randomised, controlled phase III trial in patients with OSA (apnoea-hypopnoea-index [AHI] 5-35 h), a BMI of 18.
High blood pressure is the leading cause of death and disability globally and an important treatable risk factor for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and chronic kidney diseases. Digital technology, including mobile health solutions and digital therapy, is expanding rapidly in clinical medicine and has the potential to improve the quality of care and effectiveness of drug treatment by making medical interventions timely, tailored to hypertensive patients' needs and by improving treatment adherence. Thus, the systematic application of digital technologies could support diagnosis and awareness of hypertension and its complications, ultimately leading to improved BP control at the population level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Optic pathway is considered an ideal model to study the interaction between inflammation and neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis (MS).
Methods: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were acquired in 92 relapsing remitting (RR) MS at clinical onset.
Introduction: Prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is of key importance in reducing morbidity, disability and mortality worldwide. Observational studies suggest that digital health interventions can be an effective strategy to reduce cardiovascular (CV) risk. However, evidence from large randomised clinical trials is lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Variable D-dimer trends during hospitalization reportedly result in distinct in-hospital mortality. In this multinational case series from the first and second waves, we show the universality of such D-dimer trends.
Methods: We reviewed 405 patients with COVID-19 during the first wave admitted to three institutions in the United States, Italy, and Colombia, and 111 patients admitted to the U.