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- Manousek, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity to Metals of Environmental Burden in Patients with Takotsubo Syndrome - Is There a Clinical Relevance?
- 2016
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 11:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective Takotsubo syndrome (TS) is a heart condition characterised by a sudden transient left ventricular dysfunction; its pathophysiology is probably associated with elevated levels of catecholamines but the exact mechanism is not known as yet. Literature and clinical experience suggest that TS affects persons with various comorbidities. This pilot work aims to evaluate the frequency of comorbidities with potential pathological immune reactivity, and to evaluate the potential association between TS and hypersensitivity to metals assessed by LTT-MELISA (R). Methodology, Results A total of 24 patients (23 women, 1 man) with a history of TS attack and 27 healthy controls were evaluated. Hypersensitivity was evaluated by a lymphocyte transformation test (LTT-MELISA (R)); a questionnaire of environmental burden was used to select evaluated metals. A total of 19 patients (79%) had at least one condition that might potentially be associated with pathological immune reactivity (autoimmune thyroid disease, drug allergy, bronchial asthma, cancer, contact dermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis). Hypersensitivity to metals was identified significantly more frequently in TS patients than in healthy controls (positive reaction to at least one metal was identified in 95.8% of TS patients and in 59.3% of controls; p = 0.003); the difference was statistically significant for mercury (45.8% and 14.8%, respectively; p = 0.029). Conclusion Our work shows that conditions with pathological immune reactivity occur frequently in TS patients, and our data suggest a possible association between TS and hypersensitivity tometals (mercury in particular) evaluated by LTT-MELISA (R). We also suggest that apart from the triggering stress factor, potential existence of other serious conditions should be considered when taking medical history of TS patients.
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| 2. |
- Boeddinghaus, Jasper, et al.
(författare)
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Impact of age on the performance of the ESC 0/1h-algorithms for early diagnosis of myocardial infarction
- 2018
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Ingår i: European Heart Journal. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS. - 0195-668X .- 1522-9645. ; 39:42, s. 3780-3794
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims We aimed to evaluate the impact of age on the performance of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 0/1h-algorithms and to derive and externally validate alternative cut-offs specific to older patients. Methods and results We prospectively enrolled patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with symptoms suggestive of and results acute myocardial infarction in three large diagnostic studies. Final diagnoses were adjudicated by two independent cardiologists. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) T and I concentrations were measured at presentation and after 1 h. Patients were stratified according to age [<55 years (young), >= 55 to <70 years (middle-age), >= 70 years (old)]. Rule-out safety of the ESC hs-cTnT 0/1h-algorithm was very high in all age-strata: sensitivity 100% [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 94.9-100] in young, 99.3% (95% CI 96.0-99.9) in middle-age, and 99.3% (95% CI 97.599.8) in old patients. Accuracy of rule-in decreased with age: specificity 97.0% (95% CI 95.8-97.9) in young, 96.1% (95% CI 94.5-97.2) in middle-age, and 92.7% (95% CI 90.7-94.3) in older patients. Triage efficacy decreased with increasing age (young 93%, middle-age 80%, old 55%, P <0.001). Similar results were found for the ESC hs-cTnT 0/1h-algorithm. Alternative, slightly higher cut-off concentrations optimized for older patients maintained very high safety of rule-out, increased specificity of rule-in (P< 0.01), reduced overall efficacy for hs-cTnT (P <0.01), while maintaining efficacy for hs-cTnl. Findings were confirmed in two validation cohorts (n = 2767). Conclusion While safety of the ESC 0/1h-algorithms remained very high, increasing age significantly reduced overall efficacy and the accuracy of rule-in. Alternative slightly higher cut-off concentrations may be considered for older patients, particularly if using hs-cTnl.
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