<p><i>Background - </i>This study investigated cause of death, mortality rates and explored if baseline characteristics were associated with risk of death in patients with alcohol use disorder alone or poly-substance use disorders. <p><i>Methods - </i>This was a prospective, longitudinal study of patients followed for 19 years after entering specialized treatment for substance use disorders. At ...

<p><i>Objectives - </i>To investigate whether preoperative echocardiographic evaluation of ventricular function, especially right ventricular systolic and diastolic parameters including speckle-tracking analysis, could aid in the prediction of 30-day mortality after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in patients with aortic stenosis. <p><i>Methods - </i>This is a prospective observational ...

<p><i>Background - </i>Elevated serum uric acid (SUA) is associated with poor prognosis in patients with cardiovascular disease, yet it is still not decided whether the role of SUA is causal or only reflects an underlying disease. The purpose of the study was to investigate if SUA was an independent predictor of 5-year all-cause mortality in a propensity score matched cohort of chronic heart failure ...

<i>Background</i> - Many cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) carry visible acquired chromosomal changes of pathogenetic, diagnostic, and prognostic importance. Nevertheless, from one-fourth to half of newly diagnosed ALL patients have no visible chromosomal changes detectable by G-banding analysis at diagnosis. The introduction of powerful molecular methodologies has shown that many ...

Identification of patients at risk of major bleeding is pivotal for optimal management of anticoagulant therapy in venous thromboembolism (VTE). Studies have suggested that D-dimer may predict major bleeding during anticoagulation; however, this is scarcely investigated in VTE patients. We aimed to investigate the role of D-dimer, measured at VTE diagnosis, as a predictive biomarker of major bleeding. ...

Wnt signaling plays a pivotal role in maintaining bone mass. Secreted pathway modulators such as sclerostin (SOST) and Dickkopfs (DKKs) may influence bone mass inhibiting the canonical Wnt pathway. We evaluated whether bone protein content of secreted Wnt antagonists is related to age, bone mass, and strength in postmenopausal osteoporosis. We measured cortical and trabecular bone contents of SOST ...

<i>Background</i> - Sepsis is a dysregulated host response to infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of complement- and CD14 inhibition on phagocytosis of live and dead Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria in human whole blood.<p> <p><i>Methods</i> - Lepirudin-anticoagulated blood was incubated with live or dead <i>E. coli</i> or <i>S. aureus</i> at 37 °C for 120 min ...

Immunological abnormalities have been demonstrated in several psychiatric disorders. Predominantly, studies have focused on younger adults, and research on elderly psychiatric in-patients is scant. In this naturalistic study, we investigated changes in cytokine levels during the treatment of diagnostically unselected elderly psychiatric in-patients, and whether these changes could be related to ...

Når pasienter ønsker å dø hjemme er det viktig at hjemmesykepleiere har god kompetanse i bruken av symptomlindrende legemidler. Hensikten med studien er å utvikle ny kunnskap om hjemmesykepleieres erfaringer med å bruke medikamentskrin i symptomlindrende omsorg for hjemmeboende pasienter i terminalfase. Vi presenterer faktorer som skaper trygghet og fremmer bruken av medikamentskrinet, i tillegg til ...

<i>Background</i> - The complement system is involved in pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, and might play a role in accelerated atherogenesis in spondylarthropathies (SpA). Hence, we examined complement activation in SpA, and its relationship to antirheumatic treatment, inflammatory and cardiovascular markers. <p> <p><i>Methods</i> - From PSARA, a prospective observational study, we examined ...