Background: Biochemical tests have been recommended as endpoints for clinical trials in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) because the use of liver transplantation and death as endpoints in ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) therapeutic trials is unfeasible. The best inclusion criteria cut-off values and cut-off for demonstrating treatment success have not been defined.
Aim: Our aim was to determine the optimal biochemical values for patient inclusion and to define values for treatment success in therapeutic trials.
Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 73 patients with PBC treated with UDCA followed over 36 months. Following one year of UDCA therapy, the likelihood of developing clinical endpoints of varices, ascites, encephalopathy, death or transplantation over the ensuing two years, based on degrees of elevation of biochemical markers, was analyzed using chi-square or Fisher's exact test.
Results: Patients with ALP≥2 X upper limit of normal (ULN) had a 2-fold greater likelihood of developing endpoints compared to patients with lower values (23% versus 11%), (p < 0.05). Patients with bilirubin > 1 mg/dL were 4 times more likely to develop endpoints compared to those with lower values (33% versus 8%), (p = 0.02). These values help identify the patient population for adjunctive therapy trials. Patients with ALP ≤1.67 X ULN and bilirubin ≤1mg/dL demonstrated the least likelihood of reaching adverse clinical endpoints and can be used to define treatment success.
Conclusion: Optimal ALP and Bilirubin levels can be used as appropriate biochemical criteria for patient selection and defining treatment success in future clinical trials in patients with PBC.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-3231.2011.02678.x | DOI Listing |
Trials
January 2025
Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, LP2M, Nice, France.
Background: /aims. Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum (PXE, OMIM 264800) is an autosomal, recessive, metabolic disorder characterized by progressive ectopic calcification in the skin, the vasculature and Bruch's membrane. Variants in the ABCC6 gene are associated with low plasma pyrophosphate (PPi) concentration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChild Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health
January 2025
Black Dog Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Background: Primary school students struggling with mental health are less likely than high school students to access mental health care, due to barriers such as mental health stigma and low mental health literacy among children and parents. The near universal reach of schools offers a potential avenue to increase access to mental health care through early identification. The potential risks of this approach also need to be understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Epigenetics
January 2025
Center of Oncocytogenomics, Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics, General University Hospital and 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague, U Nemocnice 499/2, 128 00, Prague, Czech Republic.
Background: Glioblastoma is the commonest malignant brain tumor and has a very poor prognosis. Reduced expression of the MGMT gene (10q26.3), influenced primarily by the methylation of two differentially methylated regions (DMR1 and DMR2), is associated with a good response to temozolomide treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Nurs
January 2025
Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences in Alnamas, University of Bisha, 255, Al Nakhil, Al-Namas, 67714, Saudi Arabia.
Background: One of the best ways to impart important skills to trainees is through simulation-based training, which is more reliable than the conventional clinical examination method. It is used in pediatric nursing training to allow nurses to practice and improve their clinical and conversational skills during an actual child encounter. A heel-prick is a complex psychomotor task that requires skill and knowledge from the pediatric nurse performing the procedure while applying for the National Newborn Screening Program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrials
January 2025
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, NJ, USA.
Background: Phase-3 clinical trials provide the highest level of evidence on drug safety and effectiveness needed for market approval by implementing large randomized controlled trials (RCTs). However, 30-40% of these trials fail mainly because such studies have inadequate sample sizes, stemming from the inability to obtain accurate initial estimates of average treatment effect parameters.
Methods: To remove this obstacle from the drug development cycle, we present a new algorithm called Trend-Adaptive Design with a Synthetic-Intervention-Based Estimator (TAD-SIE) that powers a parallel-group trial, a standard RCT design, by leveraging a state-of-the-art hypothesis testing strategy and a novel trend-adaptive design (TAD).
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