North American journal of medicine & science最新文献

{"title":"Pulse Wave Velocity in Association with Cognitive Function","authors":"Wenjun Zhong","doi":"10.7156/V4I4P212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/V4I4P212","url":null,"abstract":"Dementia is an important public health issue in the ageing society; however the cause of dementia has not been clear yet except for age and genes. Cardiovascular risk factors have been suggested to contribute to dementia, such as high blood pressure, but the evidence from clinical trials has not been conclusive. The biological mechanism of cardiovascular disorders in association with cognitive function needs further study. Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), a “gold standard” measurement of arterial stiffness, has been established as an independent predictor of CVD events. Understanding the association of PWV and cognitive function can further help to understand the role of vascular risk factors in cognitive decline and dementia. Studies on the association of PWV and cognitive function have emerged recently. This manuscript introduced the measurement of aortic PWV, summarized the studies of its association with cognitive function, and commented on the possible mechanism of the association between arterial stiffness and cognitive function. Because of the link between cardiovascular disorders and dementia, intervention of cardiovascular risk factors may have additional benefits on cognitive function with ageing. [N A J Med Sci. 2011;4(4):212-216.]","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"49 1","pages":"212"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77237610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Rare Case of Mediastinitis Following a Routine Dental Procedure in a Patient with History of Cardiac Surgery","authors":"Do Charles DeMesa, Xixi Amley, P. Lam, Maxine Seales, Joshua Kerstein, J. Shani","doi":"10.7156/V4I4P245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/V4I4P245","url":null,"abstract":"Mediastinitis is a rare, severe condition associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Mediastinitis, a life-threatening infection, may occur during the postoperative period following cardiovascular surgery. We present a unique case of mediastinitis following a dental procedure in a 47 year old healthy male with a past surgical history of acute type 1 aortic dissection repaired with Dacron tube graft and re-suspension of his aortic valve, 16 months earlier. He was noted to have induration on his right pectoralis muscle and underwent chest Computerized Tomography (CT) scan revealing infectious mediastinitis. His condition improved after CT-guided abscess aspiration and a six-week course of intravenous antibiotics. Mediastinitis may result from an infection extending from the oropharynx inferiorly through deep spaces of the neck as a descending necrotizing mediastinitis. This case suggests that disruption of fascial planes following cardiac surgery may predispose individuals to acquire anterior mediastinitis via a descending pathway long after completion of surgery. [N A J Med Sci. 2011;4(4):245-248.]","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"150 1","pages":"245"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75097559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Associations of Daily Eating Episodes, and Eating Away-from-home with Blood Level of Total Cholesterol","authors":"Yunsheng Ma, E. Bertone-Johnson, E. Stanek, N. Cohen, I. Ockene","doi":"10.7156/V4I4P222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/V4I4P222","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this investigation is to describe the associations of number of eating episodes and proportion of meals eaten away from home with total serum cholesterol. Data from 499 participants, recruited from a health maintenance organization in central Massachusetts, aged 20-70, were used for this analysis. Dietary information and total blood cholesterol were obtained at five sampling points (baseline and four consecutive quarters) during the one-year follow-up. A cross-sectional study was conducted. The results from the study do not support the hypothesis that the number of eating episodes per day is associated with total blood cholesterol. However, we noted that the mean concentration of total cholesterol decreased with increasing number of eating episodes among women, although the adjusted mean among three categories of number of eating episodes per day was not statistically significant. On the other hand, the results of our study suggest that increased frequency of meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) eaten away from home is positively associated with mean total blood cholesterol concentration. Furthermore, meals eaten away from home, especially breakfast and dinner, were significantly higher in total calories, and percent calories from total and saturated fat, but lower in percent calories from protein and carbohydrate, and grams of fiber, than corresponding meals eaten at home. We conclude that eating out may have adverse influences on blood lipids. Further research is needed to better understand the impact of eating away from home on blood lipids. [N A J Med Sci. 2011;4(4):222-231.]","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"6 1","pages":"222"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79175258","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Effects of Coffee Consumption on the Risk of Heart Failure","authors":"Yujie Wang, G. Hu","doi":"10.7156/V4I4P238","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/V4I4P238","url":null,"abstract":"Heart Failure (HF) has become a major public health problem in both developed and developing countries of the world. Although medical and surgical management has been improved, morbidity and mortality after onset of HF remain substantial; consequently, increasing attention has been drawn to preventing HF by management of lifestyle factors of HF. Coffee consumption is one of the lifestyle factors which has been linked to HF risk. Five prospective studies investigated the association between coffee consumption and the HF risk. However, the results of these studies were inconsistent. The authors conducted a review on the association between coffee consumption and HF risk in order to explore the possible reasons for the discordance and provide future research direction on this topic.","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"132 1","pages":"238"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79653628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Left Atrial Pseudotumor Caused By Caseous Calcification of the Mitral Annulus, Case Report with Review of Literature","authors":"Simpal Gill, Frank Chen","doi":"10.7156/V4I4P242","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/V4I4P242","url":null,"abstract":"Caseous calcification of the mitral annulus (CCMA) is a rare form of periannular calcification, occurring in 0.06% of all echocardiographic studies and in 0.63% of all patients with mitral annular calcification.  Here, we report a case of CCMA manifesting as a left atrial mass. The patient is a 78-year-old African American female with multiple co-morbidities, who presented with symptomatic coronary artery disease and chest pain. A pre-operative echocardiogram revealed a mass in the posterior wall of the left atrium, which did not appear to affect the mitral valve or protrude into the left atrial chamber. Intra-operatively, white toothpaste-like material was removed from the mass lesion. Gross examination revealed multiple fragments of grey-white friable caseous material, measuring 3 x 2.5 x 1 cm in aggregate. Bacterial and fungal cultures from this material were both negative.  Microscopic examination showed this material to be amorphous, non-viable, basophilic, and acellular, with foci of calcification. These morphological features were diagnostic for CCMA. Review of the literature indicated that CCMA is a very rare benign lesion, presenting as a round, tumor-like mass with central echolucencies on echocardiography. We believe our case report will further raise the awareness of CCMA so that pathologists and radiologists can get familiar with this rare disease to avoid potential misdiagnosis.","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"14 1","pages":"242"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86930502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Molecular and Pathophysiological Features of Angiotensinogen: A Mini Review.","authors":"Congqing Wu,&nbsp;Hong Lu,&nbsp;Lisa A Cassis,&nbsp;Alan Daugherty","doi":"10.7156/v4i4p183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/v4i4p183","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The renin-angiotensin system is an essential regulatory system for blood pressure and fluid homeostasis. Angiotensinogen is the only known precursor of all the peptides generated in this system. While many of the basic understandings of angiotensinogen have come from research efforts to define its role in blood pressure regulation, novel pathophysiological functions of angiotensinogen have been discovered in the last two decades including kidney developmental abnormalities, atherosclerosis, and obesity. Despite the impressive advance in the understanding of angiotensinogen gene structure and protein functions, some fundamental questions remain unanswered. In this short review, we provide contemporary insights into the molecular characteristics of angiotensinogen and its pathophysiological features. In light of the recent progress, we emphasize some newly recognized functional features of angiotensinogen other than its regulation on blood pressure.</p>","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"4 4","pages":"183-190"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3291105/pdf/nihms359108.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30505977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Systematic Review of the Association between Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2 and Atherosclerosis.","authors":"Jing Liu, Yuling Hong, Yue Qi, Fan Zhao, Dong Zhao","doi":"10.7156/v4i4p201","DOIUrl":"10.7156/v4i4p201","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA₂) is a novel inflammatory biomarker. Basic research has shown that Lp-PLA₂ is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In the past decade, an increasing number of epidemiological studies have investigated the association of Lp-PLA₂ with atherosclerosis, but its roles in the different stages of atherosclerosis are not established. By undertaking a systematic review of the epidemiological studies on the relationship between Lp-PLA₂ and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD)/subclinical atherosclerosis, we tried to evaluate the relationship between Lp-PLA₂ and the different stages of atherosclerosis. MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were searched up to September 1st, 2011. The references in all the located articles were manually searched. Epidemiological studies on the association of Lp-PLA₂ with CVD and subclinical atherosclerosis, with total CVD, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and subclinical atherosclerosis as their observation endpoints or outcome variables, were included in this study. Studies which did not assess the hazard ratio (HR), relative risk (RR), or odds ratio (OR) of Lp-PLA₂ or which did not adjust for other known risk factors were excluded. The general information, study design, sample size, outcome variables and their definitions, follow-up duration, Lp-PLA₂ measurements, variables adjusted in the multivariate analysis and main results in the literatures were retrieved. Thirty-nine studies were enrolled in this systematic review. Thirty-three studies (49, 260 subjects) investigated the relationship between Lp-PLA₂ and CVD, among which 31 showed that increased Lp-PLA₂ is associated to high risk for incidence or mortality of CVD: HR/RR per 1 standard deviation (SD) increase = 1.17-1.40; RR for the highest as compared with the lowest quartile was 1.41-3.75 (1.8-2.5 in most studies). Six studies (four cross-sectional studies and two case-control studies, with an overall sample size of 5,537) explored the relationship between Lp-PLA₂ and subclinical atherosclerosis; among them, two studies demonstrated that Lp-PLA₂ was associated with coronary artery calcification in young adults and men. In conclusion, many epidemiological studies have demonstrated that Lp-PLA₂ increases the risk of clinical CVD events. However, whether there is a similar association between Lp-PLA₂ and subclinical atherosclerosis remains unclear. Whether Lp-PLA₂ exerts its effect during the occurrence of clinical events promoted by unstable plaques or at the early stage of atherosclerosis needs to be clarified in further prospective studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"4 4","pages":"201-211"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4555875/pdf/nihms713645.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33978399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effective Treatments for Auditory Sensitivities in Autism","authors":"Karen V. Chenausky, Ccc-Slp","doi":"10.7156/V4I3P151","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/V4I3P151","url":null,"abstract":"Hypersensitivity to sound is a frequent symptom of autism spectrum disorders and can be difficult to manage.  Because an individual with sound hypersensitivity may display disruptive behaviors for significant periods of time in response to the sound, the condition demands treatment.  Behavioral and desensitization therapies, which employ some of the techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy, appear to be promising, efficient, and effective types of treatment for these symptoms.","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"32 1","pages":"151"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74081713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Review of the Neurobiological Basis of Autism","authors":"Michelle Hartley-McAndrew, A. Weinstock","doi":"10.7156/V4I3P107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/V4I3P107","url":null,"abstract":"This manuscript  reviews ongoing developments in autism research that defines it as a behavioral phenotype with many known neurobiological and molecular causes.  Strides in neuroimaging, histopathology, neurophysiology, genetics and metabolic disorders are discussed that support the understanding of autism as a pervasive abnormality of neural systems with particular dysfunction of neuronal connections that impacts the development of socialization, communication and behavior.  The aim of this review is to provide insight into the current knowledge of  the complex pathophysiology of autism. [N A J Med Sci. 2011;4(3):107-111.]","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"59 1","pages":"107"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91253507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Pilot Study on the Diagnostic Performance of DMS-IV and DMS-V for Autism Spectrum Disorder","authors":"Yang-Hee You, Bai-Lin Wu, Yiping Shen","doi":"10.7156/V4I3P116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7156/V4I3P116","url":null,"abstract":"The new diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are due to be released in May 2013. The impact of changes made in the new criteria is yet to be evaluated. Here we performed a retrospective study on a cohort of ASD patients diagnosed by DSM-IV criteria, aimed to compare the diagnostic performances between DSM-IV and DSM-V. We reviewed the medical records of 163 patients with possible clinical diagnosis of ASD. Ninty-three (57%) of them met the DSM-IV criteria for Autistic disorder, the rest 70 cases were either PDD-NOS (n=39) or Asperger’s disorder (n=3) or without sufficient information in medical record to perform a clinical diagnosis (n=28). Upon re-evaluation using the new diagnostic criteria in DSM-V, only 60% of patients with previous diagnosis of autistic disorder met the new criteria. One individual who was previous diagnosed as PDD-NOS met the new diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder. The present study revealed a significant difference in diagnostic yield by new and old criteria. This pilot comparative study reveals that the ASD diagnostic criteria in DSM-V are stricter than that in DSM-IV and autism patients diagnosed using DMS-V criteria tend to be more severely affected. The new criteria will have immediate impact on the clinical diagnosis and management of individuals with neuodevelopmental disorders and it will affect the prevalence estimate of ASD in population as well.","PeriodicalId":19338,"journal":{"name":"North American journal of medicine & science","volume":"45 1","pages":"116-123"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87181219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}