Insulin sensitivity and resistin levels in gestational diabetes mellitus and after parturition.

Context: Resistin is expressed and secreted by the placenta during pregnancy. Increased serum resistin levels have been found in the second half of normal pregnancy, but its role in the pathogenesis of the insulin resistance of pregnancy is undetermined.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the relationship between circulating resistin levels and insulin sensitivity in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and outcome in patients with non-chemotherapy agranulocytosis.

Purpose: The use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in the treatment of non-chemotherapy drug- induced agranulocytosis is controversial. We aimed at assessing the effect of G-CSF on the duration of agranulocytosis.

Methods: To assess the effect of G-CSF on the duration of agranulocytosis, a Cox proportional hazard model with an estimated propensity score covariate adjusting for several prognostic factors was used.

Does prior training affect acute O₂ supply responses during exercise in Desaturator COPD patients?

Background: This study investigated the effects of a prior individualized training program (TP) on the response to acute oxygen supply during exercise in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients showing exercise-induced desaturation.

Methods: Twenty-two COPD patients (mean [SD] FEV1 = 52.1 [3]% predicted) who desaturated on exercise participated in a TP.

Prevalence of qnr genes among extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing enterobacterial isolates in Barcelona, Spain.

Objectives: To evaluate the presence of qnr genes among enterobacterial isolates carrying extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) in Barcelona, Spain.

Methods: Screening for the qnrA, qnrB and qnrS genes was carried out by PCR amplification with specific primers in 305 non-duplicate, clinically relevant ESBL-producing enterobacterial isolates obtained from February 2003 to August 2004. ESBLs from all qnr-positive isolates were characterized by isoelectric focusing, PCR amplification and DNA sequencing.

Assessment of potential relationship between wall shear stress and arterial wall response after bare metal stent and sirolimus-eluting stent implantation in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Background: Wall shear stress (WSS) has been associated with neointimal hyperplasia (NIH) following bare metal stent (BMS) implantation. Drug-eluting stents (DES) almost abolish NIH. Conversely, diabetes mellitus amplifies NIH response.

Impact of platelet reactivity on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the prognostic implications of high platelet reactivity (HPR) assessed in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients while in their steady-state phase of dual antiplatelet therapy.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients have increased platelet reactivity compared with nondiabetic patients. Whether HPR assessed in T2DM while in their steady-state phase of dual antiplatelet therapy is associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) is unknown.

Revascularization in high risk patients: diabetes mellitus.

Coronary artery disease is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in patients affected by diabetes mellitus. Pathophysiology of atherosclerosis in diabetics exhibit specific characteristics that confer them a high risk. In this regard, revascularization in diabetic patients remains a challenge.

Outcomes associated with drug-eluting and bare-metal stents: a collaborative network meta-analysis.

Background: Whether the two drug-eluting stents approved by the US Food and Drug Administration-a sirolimus-eluting stent and a paclitaxel-eluting stent-are associated with increased risks of death, myocardial infarction, or stent thrombosis compared with bare-metal stents is uncertain. Our aim was to compare the safety and effectiveness of these stents.

Methods: We searched relevant sources from inception to March, 2007, and contacted investigators and manufacturers to identify randomised controlled trials in patients with coronary artery disease that compared drug-eluting with bare-metal stents, or that compared sirolimus-eluting stents head-to-head with paclitaxel-eluting stents.

Long-term clinical benefit of sirolimus-eluting stent implantation in diabetic patients with de novo coronary stenoses: long-term results of the DIABETES trial.

Aims: Sirolimus stent implantation has been demonstrated to be safe and effective in diabetics; however, the long-term outcomes in this high-risk population remain unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term safety and efficacy of the sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) when compared with the bare metal stent (BMS) in patients included in the DIABETES (DIABETes and sirolimus Eluting Stent) trial.

Methods And Results: The prospective multicentre DIABETES trial randomized 160 diabetic patients with one or more significant coronary stenoses in one, two, or three vessels to either SES or BMS implantation.

Nigrostriatal cell firing action on the dopamine transporter.

The influence of nigrostriatal cell firing on the dopamine transporter (DAT) activity of the rat striatum was studied in vivo with amperometric methods. Data were obtained after preventing dopamine (DA) release with alpha-methyl-L-tyrosine and replenishing extracellular DA with local injections. The DA cell stimulation, which under basal conditions increased extracellular DA, decreased DA after this pre-treatment, suggesting that firing activity facilitates the DA cell uptake of DA under these circumstances (drain response).

Angiographic and 3D intravascular ultrasound assessment of overlapping bare metal stent and three different formulations of drug-eluting stents in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of overlapping bare-metal stent (BMS) and three different formulations of drug-eluting stent (DES) on intimal hyperplasia (IH) response of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: Forty-nine DM patients treated with overlapping BMS (19 lesions), sirolimus-eluting stent (SES 12 lesions), paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES 8 lesions) or tacrolimus-eluting stent (TES 10 lesions) were studied. Baseline and 9-month follow-up volumetric intravascular vascular ultrasound (IVUS) and quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) analysis were performed in the entire stented segment and in the overlapped (OL) and non-overlapped (non-OL) subsegments.

Risk of acute liver injury associated with the use of drugs: a multicentre population survey.

Background: Acute liver injury of uncertain aetiology is often drug related and quantitative information about the associated risk is scarce.

Aim: To estimate the risk of acute liver injury associated with the use of drugs.

Methods: In a population survey study, 126 cases of acute liver injury were prospectively assembled from January 1993 to December 1999, in patients over 15 years of age, in 12 hospitals in Barcelona (Spain).

Clinical variables related with in-stent restenosis late regression after bare metal coronary stenting.

Unlabelled: In-stent restenosis (ISR) has an incidence between 20% and 30% using bare metal stents. ISR late regression phenomenon (ISRLR) has been previously described, but clinical variables related with this phenomenon remain unclear. The aim of the study was to identify the variables related with ISRLR.

Cardiogenic shock at admission in patients with multivessel disease and acute myocardial infarction treated with percutaneous coronary intervention: related factors.

Background: Among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), those with multivessel disease have worse prognosis, mainly due to a higher frequency of cardiogenic shock (CS) at admission. The aim of this study was to identify clinical and angiographic characteristics of patients with STEMI, multivessel disease and CS at admission referred to primary PCI.

Methods: We studied 630 patients with STEMI treated with primary PCI within 12 h after symptoms onset.

Analysis of 14 trials comparing sirolimus-eluting stents with bare-metal stents.

Background: The long-term effects of treatment with sirolimus-eluting stents, as compared with bare-metal stents, have not been established.

Methods: We performed an analysis of individual data on 4958 patients enrolled in 14 randomized trials comparing sirolimus-eluting stents with bare-metal stents (mean follow-up interval, 12.1 to 58.

Plastic-embedded semithin cross-sections as a tool for high-resolution immunofluorescence analysis of the neuromuscular junction molecules: Specific cellular location of protease-activated receptor-1.

In the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), three cellular elements (nerve ending, postsynaptic muscle component, and teloglial Schwann cell) are closely juxtaposed and functionally interdependent. It is important to determine the precise location of the relevant molecules involved in structural stability and neurotransmission at the three cellular components of this synapse in order to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying NMJ formation, maintenance, and functionality. In this paper, we show that plastic-embedded 0.

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein gene mutations in familial isolated pituitary adenomas: analysis in 73 families.

Context: An association between germline aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein (AIP) gene mutations and pituitary adenomas was recently shown.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the frequency of AIP gene mutations in a large cohort of patients with familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA).

Design: This was a multicenter, international, collaborative study.

Mutant ubiquitin and p62 immunoreactivity in cases of combined multiple system atrophy and Alzheimer's disease.

Recent studies have shown the co-existence of alpha-synuclein and phosphorylated tau (pTau) in several neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we report two autopsy cases of combined multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). In both cases, abundant alpha-synuclein-positive glial and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions were found in the brainstem, amygdala and hippocampal formation.

Substantia nigra osmoregulation: taurine and ATP involvement.

An extracellular nonsynaptic taurine pool of glial origin was recently reported in the substantia nigra (SN). There is previous evidence showing taurine as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the SN, but the physiological role of this nonsynaptic pool of taurine has not been explored. By using microdialysis methods, we studied the action of local osmolarity on the nonsynaptic taurine pool in the SN of the rat.

Relocation of minimal luminal diameter after bare metal and drug-eluting stent implantation: incidence and impact on angiographic late loss.

Late loss (LL) has been a fundamental angiographic end-point in drug-eluting stents (DES) clinical trials. However, calculation of LL may be affected by a mismatch between post-procedure (PO) and follow-up (FU) sites of the minimal lumen diameter (MLD). Our aims were to investigate the incidence and methodological implications of the relocation of MLD after bare metal (BMS), sirolimus-eluting (SES), and paclitaxel-eluting (PES) stent implantation.

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention of an anomalous right coronary artery originating from the left sinus of valsalva.

The presence of an anomalous origin of a coronary artery as the infarct related vessel during primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute ST elevation myocardial infarction is rare and may present a technical challenge. We reported on a primary coronary percutaneous intervention performed in a right coronary artery originating from the left coronary sinus. The technical tips and tricks of treating congenital coronary anomalies are reviewed.

Intravascular brachytherapy versus drug-eluting stents for the treatment of patients with drug-eluting stent restenosis.

Drug-eluting stents (DESs), although promising technology, still are associated with restenosis; therefore, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of intravascular radiation therapy for the treatment of DES in-stent restenosis (ISR). Treatment of DES ISR has not been established, although intravascular radiation therapy is an effective treatment for patients with ISR of bare metal stents. Other modalities are conventional percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), including restenting with DES.

Lack of association between gene sequence variations of platelet membrane receptors and aspirin responsiveness detected by the PFA-100 system in patients with coronary artery disease.

Platelet membrane receptors play a pivotal role in thrombus formation. Expression of platelet membrane receptors are under genetic control and gene sequence variations of receptors pivotal to thrombotic formation have been hypothesized to contribute to different degrees of individual response to aspirin. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of functional genetic polymorphisms of platelet membrane receptors on aspirin sensitivity assessed by means of the PFA-100 system in patients with coronary artery disease.