Childhood wheezing phenotypes and their association to perinatal factors: a longitudinal study.

Introduction: Multiple gestational and early life factors have been described as the variables that increase the risk for each phenotype of infantile wheezing. Our objective was to study the evolution of wheezing in a cohort of children followed up to 9-10 years of age and its relationship with different perinatal risk factors.

Methods: A longitudinal study was made on the evolution of wheezing, over time, in 1164 children from Salamanca (Spain) included in the International Study of Wheezing in Infants, when the children were 12 months old.

Comparison of two color-difference formulas using the Bland-Altman approach based on natural tooth color space.

Statement Of Problem: Several formulas to measure color differences have been proposed to improve the correlation between color measurements and visual perception. Despite the progress obtained, equating between formulas is complex, rendering the exchange of information in scientific papers difficult.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the results provided by classic CIELab (ΔEab∗) and the CIEDE2000 (ΔE00) formulas in the natural tooth color space using the Bland and Altman limits of agreement, to use this relationship to establish the equivalences between the tooth color thresholds of acceptability and perceptibility of both formulas, and to evaluate whether the relationship between ΔEab∗ and ΔE00 is modified depending on the axis on which the changes occur.

[Trends in semen quality in a non-industrialized population from the Salamanca area, Spain, during the last 30 years].

Background And Objective: The objective was to analyze the secular trend in semen quality over the past 30 years (1978-2007) in a population-based study in Salamanca, Western Spain. Information about this issue in non-industrialized areas of Southern Europe is lacking.

Subjects And Methods: We analyzed semen quality in 612 consecutive healthy normospermic subjects derived to our unit for andrologic evaluation.

Analysis of thyroglobulin gene polymorphisms in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis.

The autoimmune thyroid disease is a complex disorder caused by a combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors, which are believed to initiate the autoimmune response to thyroid antigens. Identification of the susceptibility genes has found that unique and diverse genetic factors are in association with Graves' disease and autoimmune thyroiditis. The thyroglobulin gene is an identified thyroid-specific gene associated to autoimmune thyroid disease and, principally, with autoimmune thyroiditis.