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- Daelman, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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Frailty and cognitive function in middle-aged and older adults with congenital heart disease
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of the American College of Cardiology. - : Elsevier. - 0735-1097 .- 1558-3597. ; 83:12, s. 1149-1159
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Life expectancy of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) has increased rapidly, resulting in a growing and aging population. Recent studies have shown that older people with CHD have higher morbidity, health care use, and mortality. To maintain longevity and quality of life, understanding their evolving medical and psychosocial challenges is essential.Objectives: The authors describe the frailty and cognitive profile of middle-aged and older adults with CHD to identify predictor variables and to explore the relationship with hospital admissions and outpatient visits.Methods: Using a cross-sectional, multicentric design, we included 814 patients aged ≥40 years from 11 countries. Frailty phenotype was determined using the Fried method. Cognitive function was assessed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.Results: In this sample, 52.3% of patients were assessed as robust, 41.9% as prefrail, and 5.8% as frail; 38.8% had cognitive dysfunction. Multinomial regression showed that frailty was associated with older age, female sex, higher physiologic class, and comorbidities. Counterintuitively, patients with mild heart defects were more likely than those with complex lesions to be prefrail. Patients from middle-income countries displayed more prefrailty than those from higher-income countries. Logistic regression demonstrated that cognitive dysfunction was related to older age, comorbidities, and lower country-level income.Conclusions: Approximately one-half of included patients were (pre-)frail, and more than one-third experienced cognitive impairment. Frailty and cognitive dysfunction were identified in patients with mild CHD, indicating that these concerns extend beyond severe CHD. Assessing frailty and cognition routinely could offer valuable insights into this aging population.
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| 2. |
- Nyblom, My, 1995, et al.
(författare)
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Strain-level bacterial typing directly from patient samples using optical DNA mapping
- 2023
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Ingår i: COMMUNICATIONS MEDICINE. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2730-664X. ; 3:31
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For bacterial infections, it is important to rapidly and accurately identify and characterize the type of bacteria involved so that optimal antibiotic treatment can be given quickly to the patient. However, current diagnostic methods are sometimes slow and cannot be used for mixtures of bacteria. We have, therefore, developed a method to identify bacteria directly from patient samples. The method was tested on two common species of disease-causing bacteria - Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae - and it could correctly identify the bacterial strain or subtype in both urine samples and mixtures. Hence, the method has the potential to provide fast diagnostic information for choosing the most suited antibiotic, thereby reducing the risk of death and suffering. Nyblom, Johnning et al. develop an optical DNA mapping approach for bacterial strain typing of patient samples. They demonstrate rapid identification of clinically relevant E. coli and K. pneumoniae strains, without the need for cultivation. BackgroundIdentification of pathogens is crucial to efficiently treat and prevent bacterial infections. However, existing diagnostic techniques are slow or have a too low resolution for well-informed clinical decisions.MethodsIn this study, we have developed an optical DNA mapping-based method for strain-level bacterial typing and simultaneous plasmid characterisation. For the typing, different taxonomical resolutions were examined and cultivated pure Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae samples were used for parameter optimization. Finally, the method was applied to mixed bacterial samples and uncultured urine samples from patients with urinary tract infections. Results We demonstrate that optical DNA mapping of single DNA molecules can identify Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae at the strain level directly from patient samples. At a taxonomic resolution corresponding to E. coli sequence type 131 and K. pneumoniae clonal complex 258 forming distinct groups, the average true positive prediction rates are 94% and 89%, respectively. The single-molecule aspect of the method enables us to identify multiple E. coli strains in polymicrobial samples. Furthermore, by targeting plasmid-borne antibiotic resistance genes with Cas9 restriction, we simultaneously identify the strain or subtype and characterize the corresponding plasmids. Conclusion The optical DNA mapping method is accurate and directly applicable to polymicrobial and clinical samples without cultivation. Hence, it has the potential to rapidly provide comprehensive diagnostics information, thereby optimizing early antibiotic treatment and opening up for future precision medicine management.
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| 3. |
- Törnhage, Carl-Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Short- and long-term effects of tactile massage on salivary cortisol concentrations in Parkinsons disease : a randomised controlled pilot study
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1472-6882. ; 13:357
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND:Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder with limited knowledge about the normal function and effects of non-pharmacological therapies on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The aim of the study was to analyse the basal diurnal and total secretion of salivary cortisol in short- and long-term aspects of tactile massage (TM).METHODS:Design: Prospective, Controlled and Randomised Multicentre Trial.Setting and interventions: Forty-five women and men, aged 50-79 years, were recruited. Twenty-nine of them were blindly randomised to tactile massage (TM) and 16 of them to the control group, rest to music (RTM). Ten interventions were given during 8 weeks followed by a 26 weeks of follow up. Salivary cortisol was collected at 8 am, 1 pm, 8 pm, and 8 am the next day, on five occasions. With the first and eighth interventions, it was collected immediately before and after intervention.Main outcome measures: The primary aim was to assess and compare cortisol concentrations before and immediately after intervention and also during the follow-up period. The secondary aim was to assess the impact of age, gender, body mass index (BMI), duration and severity of PD, effects of interventional time-point of the day, and levodopa doses on cortisol concentration.RESULTS:The median cortisol concentrations for all participants were 16.0, 5.8, 2.8, and 14.0 nmol/L at baseline, later reproduced four times without significant differences. Cortisol concentrations decreased significantly after TM intervention but no change in diurnal salivary cortisol pattern was found. The findings of reduced salivary cortisol concentrations immediately after the interventions are in agreement with previous studies. However, there was no significant difference between the TM and control groups. There were no significant correlations between cortisol concentrations and age, gender, BMI, time-point for intervention, time interval between anti-parkinson pharmacy intake and sampling, levodopa doses, duration, or severity of PD.CONCLUSIONS:Diurnal salivary cortisol rhythm was normal. Salivary cortisol concentrations were significantly reduced after the TM intervention and after RTM, but there were no significant differences between the groups and no sustained long-term effect. No associations were seen between salivary cortisol concentration and clinical and/or pharmacological characteristics.
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