16 research outputs found
High resolution stereo imaging of sea waves for validation and optimization of nearshore dynamics modelling
No full text
Osteopontin and Clinical Outcomes in Hemodialysis Patients
No full textBackground/Objectives: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) are significant public health issues, with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality being the leading causes of death in hemodialysis patients. Osteopontin (OPN), a multifunctional glycoprotein, has emerged as a potential biomarker for vascular disease in CKD due to its role in inflammation, tissue remodeling, and calcification. Methods: This cohort study included 1124 hemodialysis patients from the PROGREDIRE study, a registry involving 35 dialysis units in Southern Italy. Serum osteopontin levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The primary endpoints were all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to assess the association between osteopontin levels and mortality, adjusting for traditional risk factors, biomarkers of inflammation, nutritional status, and ESKD-related factors. Results: During a mean follow-up of 2.8 years, 478 patients died, 271 from cardiovascular causes. Independent correlates of osteopontin included alkaline phosphatase and parathyroid hormone. Elevated osteopontin levels were significantly associated with increased all-cause mortality (HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.09–1.31, p < 0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.08–1.38, p = 0.001) after adjusting for confounders. Conclusions: Elevated osteopontin levels are associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in hemodialysis patients. These findings implicate osteopontin in the high risk for death and cardiovascular disease in the hemodialysis population. Intervention studies are needed to definitively test this hypothesis
A brincadeira animal, uma política da imaginação
No full textIn this review we present the book "What animals teach us about politics", written by Canadian philosopher Brian Massumi. The author focuses specifically on animal play to weave a rigorous reflection on ethics and esthetics. Showing us the gaps in wolf fighting play and when it ends and becomes real combat. To this end, Massumi weaves a careful web of concepts which we now intend to present their nodal points that lie in the disjunction between performing an act or dramatizing it. A disjunction that in animal or human play is a source of learning and anchoring when it makes a circuit between instinct and politics. A presentation of concepts that mark the interlacing, with a vital playful difference, between instinct and politics, a difference in which lies a potential, a margin of maneuver we call creation.Nesta resenha apresentamos o livro do filósofo canadense Brian Massumi, "O que os animais nos ensinam sobre política". O autor centra-se especificamente na brincadeira animal para tecer uma rigorosa reflexão sobre ética e estética. Nos mostrando as lacunas na brincadeira de luta entre lobos e quando ela termina e vira combate real. Para tanto, Massumi tece uma cuidadosa teia de conceitos os quais pretendemos apresentar seus pontos nodais que residem na disjunção entre realizar um ato ou de dramatizá-lo. Disjunção que na brincadeira animal ou humana é fonte de aprendizagem e de ancoragem ao realizar um circuito entre instinto e política. O autor apresenta conceitos que balizam o interlaçamento, com uma diferença lúdica vital, entre instinto e política, diferença onde reside um potencial, uma margem de manobra, chamada criação.En esta revisión presentamos el libro del filósofo canadiense Brian Massumi, "Lo que los animales nos enseñan sobre política". El autor se centra específicamente en el juego de animales para tejer una reflexión rigurosa sobre la ética y la estética. Mostrándonos las brechas de lo que hace el juego de lucha de lobos y cuándo termina y se convierte en un verdadero combate. Con este fin, Massumi teje una cuidadosa red de conceptos que ahora tenemos la intención de presentar sus puntos nodales que se encuentran en la disyunción entre realizar un acto o dramatizarlo. Disyunción que en el juego animal o humano es una fuente de aprendizaje y anclaje al hacer un circuito entre el instinto y la política. Presentación de conceptos que marcan el entrelazado, con una diferencia lúdica vital, entre instinto y política, diferencia donde hay un potencial, un margen de maniobra, llamado creación
Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) and clinical outcomes in dialysis patients
No full textBackground: Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a factor accelerating the degradation of LDL receptors, was associated with a gender-dependent risk for cardiovascular (CV) events in the general population and with all-cause and CV mortality in two relatively small studies in black Africans and South Korean haemodialysis patients. The effect modification by gender was untested in these studies. Methods: The study enrolled 1188 dialysis patients from the Prospective Registry of The Working Group of Epidemiology of Dialysis Region Calabria (PROGREDIRE) cohort. PCSK9 was measured by colorimetric enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The primary outcomes were all-cause and CV mortality. Statistical analysis included Cox regression analysis and effect modification analysis. Results: During a median 2.9-year follow-up, out of 494 deaths, 278 were CV-related. In unadjusted analyses, PCSK9 levels correlated with increased all-cause (HRfor1ln unit increase: 1.23, 95% CI 1.06-1.43, p =.008) and CV mortality (HRfor1ln unit increase: 1.26, 95% CI 1.03-1.54, p =.03). After multivariate adjustment, these associations were no longer significant (all-cause mortality, HRfor 1 ln unit increase: 1.16, 95% CI .99-1.36, p =.07; CV mortality, HRfor1ln unit increase: 1.18, 95% CI .95-1.46, p =.14). However, in fully adjusted interaction analyses, a doubling in the risk of this outcome in women was registered (Women, HRfor1ln unit increase: 1.88, 95% CI 1.27-2.78, p =.002; Men, HRfor1ln unit increase: 1.07, 95% CI .83-1.38, p =.61; p for effect modification: .02). Conclusions: PCSK9 levels are unrelated to all-cause mortality in haemodialysis patients but, like in studies of the general population, independently of other risk factors, entail a doubling in the risk of CV events in women in this population
Biomarker-enhanced cardiovascular risk prediction in patients with cancer: a prospective cohort study
No full textBackground: Continuously improving cancer-specific survival puts a growing proportion of cancer patients at risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), but tailored tools for cardiovascular risk prediction remain unavailable. Objectives: To assess a broad panel of cardiovascular biomarkers and risk factors for the prediction of MACE and cardiovascular death in cancer patients. Methods: In total, 2192 patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent cancer were followed prospectively for the occurrence of 2-year MACE and 5-year cardiovascular death. Univariable and multivariable risk models were fit to assess independent associations of cardiovascular risk factors and biomarkers with adverse outcomes, and a risk score was developed. Results: Traditional cardiovascular risk factors and selected cancer types were linked to higher MACE risk. While levels of Lp(a), CRP, and GDF-15 did not associate with MACE, levels of ICAM-1, P-/E-/L-selectins, and NT-proBNP were independently linked to 2-year MACE risk. A clinical risk score was derived, assigning +1 point for male sex, smoking, and age of ≥60 years and +2 points for atherosclerotic disease, yielding a bootstrapped C-statistic of 0.76 (95% CI: 0.71-0.81) for the prediction of 2-year MACE. Implementation of biomarker data conferred improved performance (0.83, 95% CI: 0.78-0.88), with a simplified model showing similar performance (0.80, 95% CI: 0.74-0.86). The biomarker-enhanced and simplified prediction models achieved a C-statistic of 0.82 (95% CI: 0.71-0.93) and 0.74 (95% CI: 0.64-0.83) for the prediction of 5-year cardiovascular death. Conclusion: Biomarker-enhanced risk prediction strategies allow the identification of cancer patients at high risk of MACE and cardiovascular death. While external validation studies are ongoing, this first-of-its-kind risk score may provide the basis for personalized cardiovascular risk assessment across cancer entities
High resolution stereo imaging of sea waves for validation and optimization of wave modelling
No full text
Nanoencapsulation Improves the <I>In Vitro</I> Antioxidant Activity of Lipoic Acid
No full text
