Inflammation and oxidative stress have been recently implicated in the pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of this study was to examine the potential benefit of vitamin C on the ...early recurrence rates and on inflammatory indices after successful cardioversion of persistent AF, as well as to investigate the time course of changes in these indices post-cardioversion.
We prospectively studied 44 consecutive patients after successful electrical cardioversion of persistent AF. All patients received standard treatment and were randomised in one to one fashion to either oral vitamin C administration or no additional therapy. We followed-up the patients for 7 days performing successive measurements of white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, and ferritin levels.
One week after successful cardioversion, AF recurred in 4.5% of patients in the vitamin C group and in 36.3% of patients in the control group (
p
=
0.024). Compared to baseline values, inflammatory indices decreased after cardioversion in patients receiving vitamin C but did not change significantly in the control group. A significant variance was found in the serial measurements of WBC counts (
F
=
5.86,
p
=
0.001) and of fibrinogen levels (
F
=
4.10,
p
=
0.0084) in the two groups. In the vitamin C group CRP levels were lower on the seventh day (
p
<
0.05). CRP and fibrinogen levels were higher in patients who relapsed into AF compared to patients who maintained sinus rhythm (
F
=
2.77,
p
=
0.044 and
F
=
3.51,
p
=
0.017, respectively).
These findings suggest that vitamin C reduces the early recurrence rates after cardioversion of persistent AF and attenuates the associated low-level inflammation. These effects indicate that therapeutic approaches targeting at inflammation and oxidative stress may exert favourable effects on atrial electrical remodeling.
Although less skilled learners may improve their abilities through training in strategies used by successful learners, only a few studies have addressed the question of metacognitive strategy ...training in contexts in which foreign language is learned. This study intended to investigate whether strategy instruction on semantic mapping would produce more successful comprehension in English as a Foreign Language if a boost to students' integrative motivation was included. A sample of 119 Greek students, 14 to 15 years old, of both sexes participated. Strategy training was provided to two experimental groups, with one of them having motivation boosting. One group received only integrative motivation boosting and the control group received no strategy training or boosting, but participated in pre- and posttesting. Results imply that only the students who received intervention, either in the form of metacognitive strategy training or a boost to their integrative motivation or as a combination of these, improved their performance in English reading comprehension in the posttest phase.
To study the effects of octreotide, a somatostatin analogue, in patients with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH).
We performed a prospective, open-label study of the effect of Octreotide on ...26 patients with symptoms and signs of IIH, investigated by brain MRI and lumbar puncture. Octreotide was administered subcutaneously, at an initial dose of 0.3 mg/day; and was gradually increased until headache was relieved (upper-dose limit: 1 mg/day). Treatment with octreotide at 1 mg/day was administered for a maximum of six to eight months and afterwards the dose was gradually tapered. Patients were followed prospectively every month for three years. CSF opening pressure was measured before the treatment was started and again in the first follow-up examination, on month one. In all follow-up visits the presence of papilledema was evaluated by fundoscopy; visual fields and visual acuity were also examined.
Overall 24/26 patients improved significantly (92%). Headache was relieved within days (1-10, median 7 days). Papilledema subsided in all 24 patients, in up to two months (35 to 68, median 45 days). Visual disturbances, initially presenting in 20 of our patients, improved in 18 (90%). The mean reduction in CSF pressure after treatment was 20.72A+/-10.7 cmH2O (range 2 to 48). Patients were followed for three years after cessation of treatment. No recurrence of papilledema, or any other symptoms, has been observed.
Octreotide resulted in a significant and sustained improvement of IIH in our patients. These results suggest that it may be an effective alternative to existing treatments for IIH.
The work investigates the cracks propagated in a tee pipe fitting, part of desulphurization units of an oil refinery company. The part was extracted from an assembly that was manufactured and ...installed by the refinery maintenance department. The research covers the typical experimental procedure of failure analysis and focused on the cracks examination. Historical data were recorded. The chemical composition of the material was verified. The component was examined and photographed as received. A superheated inlet steam meets a lower temperature inlet steam, mixes on specific areas and comes out of a common outlet. A network of cracks was detected on the mixing areas. Samples were selected and prepared according to the analysis procedure. Both outer and inner surfaces of the fragmented tee pipe were inspected with penetrant liquid. The crack origin and propagation were detected and fracture mode was identified. Selected specimens were macro etched and inspected visually, revealing numerous welding defects. Tee pipe fitting failed on the mixing area. It cracked by thermal fatigue due to simultaneous effect of stress and temperature. Furthermore, poor welding facilitated the crack process.
We study whether fiscal restrictions affect volatilities and correlations of macrovariables and the probability of excessive debt for a sample of 48 US states. Fiscal constraints are characterized ...with a number of indicators and volatilities and correlations are computed in several ways. The second moments of macroeconomic variables in states with different fiscal constraints are economically and statistically similar. Excessive debt and the mechanism linking budget deficit and excessive debts are independent of whether tight or loose fiscal constraints are in place. Creative budget accounting may account for the results.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) of end‐stage renal disease patients on renal replacement therapy with that of subjects of the same gender ...and similar age from the general population, in an attempt to determine patient subgroup that benefits more from the treatment.
Methods: A cross‐sectional study involving haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and renal transplant patients (n = 874) was conducted with subjects providing socio‐demographic and disease‐related data, and completing the validated Greek Short Form‐36 (SF‐36) Health Survey. Patient‐specific z‐scores were calculated using mean SF‐36 scores and SD of age‐ and gender‐matched subgroups from the Greek norms.
Results: Males and younger patients generally reported better HRQOL. However, z‐scores in these groups generally showed a larger health deficit, i.e. an increased divergence from the HRQOL of their age‐ and gender‐matched counterparts of the general population, compared with the health deficit observed in female and younger patients.
Conclusions: Health‐related quality of life studies involving disease groups may sometimes be inconclusive if results are not compared with population norms, and particularly with subgroups matched for important demographic variables. Otherwise, as this study has shown, it is possible that important information may remain unrevealed.
Testicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is an uncommon disease and its outcome following chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy has been variable. A retrospective analysis was performed on 26 patients with ...primary testicular lymphoma treated predominantly with anthracycline-based chemotherapy between 1984 and 1999. The patients' median age was 60 years (range 19-82 years) with 17 (65.4%) patients being older than 60 years. Four (15.4%) patients had constitutional B symptoms. There were 11 (42.3%) patients with high grade lymphoma, 12 (46.2%) with intermediate grade, 1 (3.8%) with low grade and 2 (7.7%) were not classified. According to the Ann-Anbor staging system, 18 patients (69.2%) had early (stage I/II) and 8 (30.8%) advanced (stage III/IV) disease. Chemotherapy was administered to 24 patients including 22 patients who received anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Two stage IEA patients were treated with orchidectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy to the regional lymph nodes without systemic chemotherapy. Chemotherapy alone resulted in a complete remission (CR) in 14 (58.3%) of 24 patients and partial remission in 1 (4.2%), amounting to an overall response rate (RR) of 62.5%. Of the 5 stage I patients who had chemotherapy on an adjuvant basis, 4 (80%) had CR/no evidence of disease. Of the 11 stage II patients, 8 (72.7%) achieved CR and 1 (9.1%) PR (overall RR of 81.8%). CR was obtained in 2 (25%) of 8 stage III/IV patients. Both patients remain disease free for 26 and 65 months. Excluding the 5 stage I patients, chemotherapy resulted in a CR in 10/19 (52.6%) patients and a PR in 1/19 (5.2%), inducing an overall RR of 57.8%. The mean duration of response was 75 months (range 8-145.5+ months). After a median follow-up of 87 months (range 0.13-145.5+ months) the median survival time was 31 months (range 0.13-145.5+ months) and the median time to progression (TTP) 17 months (range 0.13-145.5+ months). The median TTP was significantly higher in early disease compared to that of advanced disease (52 vs. 3 months, p = 0.02). Of the 3 patients who relapsed following disease-free status, CNS involvement occurred in 2 stage II patients and contralateral testis involvement in 1 stage IEA, respectively. The latter remained disease free for 2 years following orchidectomy alone. The other 2 patients who relapsed did not respond to salvage chemotherapy and died. There was no significant relationship between the values of LDH and beta(2)-microglobulin with the outcome except for ESR which was significantly related with the CR (p = 0.005) or RR (p = 0.005). In conclusion, patients with primary testicular lymphoma have a poor outcome, despite the treatment with anthracycline-containing regimens. Treatment with anthracycline-based chemotherapy is recommended in patients at early stages. In advanced disease, more intensive or investigational regimens should be considered. Because the relapse rate in the CNS and contralateral testis is quite high in most studies, prophylactic CNS treatment and radiotherapy to the other testis should be included in the management of testicular lymphoma.
This study investigated the impact of television violence on memory for advertising, taking into account the possible role of viewer hostility arousal in this context. Experimental participants were ...exposed to advertising placed within a violent or a nonviolent film clip. One advertisement had 2 versions–violent and nonviolent–and was presented with 2 other nonviolent filler advertisements. Participants completed a mood questionnaire before and after being exposed to the television material, tested for memory for the embedded advertising and asked to rate the film clips and the advertisements using a set of evaluative scales. The nonviolent version of the target advertisement was less well remembered when placed in the violent film than in the nonviolent film, supporting Bushman and Bonacci (2002). In contrast, the violent version of the target advertisement was remembered much better than the nonviolent version when placed in the violent film sequence. Participants’ hostility scores were higher only after watching the violent film, and associated with an impairment in the memory of the nonviolent advertisements, while enhancing the memory of the violent advertisement, thus providing some support for Bushman's (1998a) hostile‐thought hypothesis.
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