Incidence of risk factors in parents with acute myocardial infarction at young age and in their children

INTRODUCTION: The preliminaries of the cardiovascular diseases can be traced back to the childhood. The authors tried to find relationship between parents with early onset myocardial infarction (AMI) and incidence of risk factors for ischemic heart disease in their children as compared to respective data for families with no incidence of myocardial infarction. METHODS: The study population consisted of 38 persons with early onset AMI myocardial infarction (age < 55 y) and their 66 children, and 38 adult control subjects and their 33 children. In each person arterial blood pressure, body weight, body height, waist circumference were recorded and body mass index (BMI: kg/m2) was calculated. Eating habits and life style practices were recorded in a questionnaire in the case of each participant. Laboratory variables were determined in the blood sera as follows, glucose, triglycerides (Tg), total cholesterol (T-C), HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein-A, apolipoprotein-B, and lipoprotein (a). The atherogenic index (LDL-C/HDL-C) (LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol) was also calculated. STATISTICAL EVALUATION: Data were evaluated statistically using the SPSS for Windows 9. RESULTS: According to the mean BMI values all groups of parents belonged to the overweight category. The mean cholesterol levels of all adults were in the borderline high category. In males with early onset myocardial infarction sera concentrations of HDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein-A were significantly lower, whereas triglyceride and atherogenic index were significantly higher than respective data for control parents. In all groups of parents, fasting mean serum glucose concentrations were higher than the reference value, serum total-cholesterol concentrations were in the borderline high category. In the daughter of the parents with early onset myocardial infarction had a higher atherogenic index than that of controls. Eating habits did not essentially differ between case vs. control families. Consumption of milk, dairy products, fruit and vegetables was insufficient in each group. Incidences of smoking for parents and children were 55% and 35% in the myocardial infarction group and 44% and 37% in the control group, respectively. Physical activity was completely insufficient in each group studied. CONCLUSION: Since no considerable differences were seen between the case vs control families in the parameters tested, therefore it is presumed that the offspring born to parents with or without early onset myocardial infarction are at equal risk to develop cardiovascular diseases unless lifestyle practices are profoundly changed.     

Suppressive mechanisms by Heligmosomoides polygyrus-induced Tregs in C57BL/6 mice change over time and differ to that of naïve mice

Disrupting or harnessing immune suppression is leading to new therapeutic avenues in a number of immune-related diseases. Understanding the suppressive functions of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in different environments is therefore key. Parasitic worms are strong inducers of Tregs and previous research has suggested that parasite-induced Tregs are stronger suppressors than naïve Tregs. In strains susceptible to the intestinal worm Heligmosomoides polygyrus, like C57BL/6 mice, it has been hypothesized that increased Treg suppression downregulates both Th1 and Th2 responses, leading to chronic infections and high worm burden. Here, we show that the suppressive capacity of Tregs is no different between cells from infected and/or naive animals. In vitro suppression induced by CD4⁺CD25⁺Tregs (Peyers’ Patches or the mesenteric lymph nodes), isolated early (day 7, tissue dwelling phase) or late (day 21, luminal phase) during infection was similar to that induced by cells from naïve animals. Suppression was CTLA-4 dependent in Tregs from acute but not chronic infection or in Tregs from naïve animals. This highlights the versatility of Tregs and the importance of extensive Treg characterization prior to potential in vivo manipulation of this cell type.     

Rapid CD4+ T‐cell responses to bacterial flagellin require dendritic cell expression of Syk and CARD9

Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) can recognize microbial patterns and utilize adaptor molecules, such as‐MyD88 or (TRIF TIR‐domain‐containing adapter‐inducing interferon‐β), to initiate downstream signaling that ultimately affects the initiation of adaptive immunity. In addition to this inflammatory role, TLR5 expression on dendritic cells can favor antigen presentation of flagellin peptides and thus increase the sensitivity of flagellin‐specific T‐cell responses in vitro and in vivo. Here, we examined the role of alternative signaling pathways that might regulate flagellin antigen presentation in addition to MyD88. These studies suggest a requirement for spleen tyrosine kinase, a noncanonical TLR‐signaling adaptor molecule, and its downstream molecule CARD9 in regulating the sensitivity of flagellin‐specific CD4⁺ T‐cell responses in vitro and in vivo. Thus, a previously unappreciated signaling pathway plays an important role in regulating the dominance of flagellin‐specific T‐cell responses.     

The Seattle heart failure model predicts survival in patients with cardiac resynchronization therapy: a validation study

BackgroundThe Seattle Heart Failure Model (SHFM) predicts mortality in patients with heart failure, but no study has investigated model performance in subjects with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).Methods and ResultsProspectively collected registry data of 427 patients with CRT were used for the evaluation of the discrimination and calibration performance of the SHFM. The primary end point was all-cause mortality. Calibration profile was assessed with the use of Hosmer-Lemeshow tests, and discrimination was assessed by calculating areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) derived from the model. Mean (SD) age of the study population was 61.2 (11.1) years (72.6% male). During a median follow-up of 24.7 months, 16.9% (72/427) of the patients reached the primary end point, with observed outcomes of 34/303, 54/234, and 72/97 at years 1, 2, and 5, respectively. No evidence of insufficient fit was found in any calibration tests. AUC estimates in all subjects were 0.7377 (95% CI 0.6575–0.8179) at year 1, 0.7936 (95% CI 0.7317–0.8556) at year 2, and 0.7572 (95% CI 0.6455–0.8689) at year 5.ConclusionsSHFM offers an accurate prediction of survival in patients with CRT, with good observed calibration and AUC estimates indicating discrimination performance similar to those found by earlier validation studies.     

Analyzing Models of Work Addiction: Single Factor and Bi-Factor Models of the Bergen Work Addiction Scale

Work addiction (‘workaholism’) has become an increasingly studied topic in the behavioral addictions literature and had led to the development of a number of instruments to assess it. One such instrument is the Bergen Work Addiction Scale (BWAS - Andreassen et al. 2012 Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 53, 265-272). However, the BWAS has never been investigated in Eastern-European countries. The goal of the present study was to examine the factor structure, the reliability and cut-off scores of the BWAS in a comprehensive Hungarian sample. This study is a direct extension of the original validation of BWAS by providing results on the basis of representative data and the development of appropriate cut-off scores. The study utilized an online questionnaire with a Hungarian representative sample including 500 respondents (F = 251; M_age = 35.05 years) who completed the BWAS. A series of confirmatory factor analyses were carried out leading to a short, 7-item first-order factor structure and a longer 14-item seven-factor nested structure. Despite the good validity of the longer version, its reliability was not as high as it could have been. One-fifth (20.6 %) of the Hungarians who used the internet at least weekly were categorized as work addicts using the BWAS. It is recommended that researchers use the original seven items from the Norwegian scale in order to facilitate and stimulate cross-national research on addiction to work.     

Long term survivors of childhood cancer: cure and care. The Erice statement

The number of subjects that have successfully completed treatment for a cancer diagnosed during childhood and are entering adulthood is increasing over time. Members of the International Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster (I-BFM) Early and Late Toxicity Educational Committee (ELTEC) invited 45 paediatric cancer experts (representing oncologists, psychologists, nurses, epidemiologists, parents, and survivors) from 13 European countries (with five additional experts from North America) to Erice, Sicily (from October 27 to 29, 2006) to discuss the circumstances in which the word 'cure' should be used when speaking about children with cancer, and when and why continuing follow-up and care may be required. The objective of the gathering was to generate from the personal and professional experience of the participants an overview statement of the group's philosophy of cure and care of survivors of childhood cancer. The ten points reflect what the group considers essential in the survivors' cure and care.     

The role of the metabolite cargo of extracellular vesicles in tumor progression

Cancer and Metastasis Reviews - Metabolomic reprogramming in tumor and stroma cells is a hallmark of cancer but understanding its effects on the metabolite composition and function of tumor-derived...     

Simple autonomic seizures and ictal enuresis

Human micturition is physiologically controlled via a complex and finely tuned network of cortical and subcortical regions, hitherto not fully understood. We report the case of a 42-year-old man with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) and post-traumatic epilepsy. Ictal enuresis was the only manifestation of the de novo post-traumatic simple autonomic seizures. Source analysis of the ictal epileptiform discharges showed activation of the cortical areas surrounding the right inferior frontal sulcus, adjacent to the lesional zone. The case depicted here further endorses recent neuroimaging studies which strongly implicate this cortical region in the regulation and the initiation of the micturition.