Predictive testing for Huntington's disease.
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PURPOSE: We establish the relationship among symptom duration, cystometric and cystoscopic findings and potassium stimulation test in patients with interstitial cystitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed of 189 patients treated at an ambulatory clinic between 1992 and 1998. Urodynamic parameters, potassium stimulation test results and subjective response to treatment were evaluated. Fisher's exact test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 189 patients diagnosed with interstitial cystitis 173 (92%) were female and 16 (8%) were male. The potassium stimulation test was positive in 105 (83%) patients, negative in 16 (13%) and equivocal in 6 (4%). A cystometrogram and potassium stimulation test were done in 118 patients. Bladder capacity averaged 259 ml. in patients with tests potassium positive and negative, while average bladder volume at first sensation to void was 85 ml. and 148 ml. in those with negative and positive tests, respectively. Among the 102 patients with a positive potassium stimulation test 52 had normal cystoscopic findings. CONCLUSIONS: The potassium stimulation test is not correlated with either bladder capacity or cystoscopic findings.
The sperm motile efficiency (SME) of fresh spermatozoa in a hypotonic medium was investigated concerning the prediction of post thaw motility and the differentiation between fertile men and infertility patients. A total of 95 semen samples were collected for this study. Twenty of these samples were obtained from semen donors of proven fertility and 75 samples were collected from male partners of infertile couples. There were no significant differences between the SME after mixture of the fresh semen with a 140 mOsm saline in equivalent volumes and after cryopreservation (Wilcoxon-matched pairs signed ranks-test) but a significant positive correlation between the SME after both treatments of semen samples was notable. Significant differences between the fertile control group and group of infertility patients could be determined concerning the SME after mixing of fresh semen with 140 mOsm saline as well as after cryopreservation (Mann-Whitney-U-test). The discriminant analysis revealed a most discriminating effectiveness for SME immediately after the addition of hypoosmotic saline.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) detection and viral load prior to treatment and status of cone margins can predict residual/recurrent disease as well as the ability of current diagnostic tools to identify residual/recurrent disease during follow-up of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) treated by conization using loop electrosurgical procedure (LEEP). METHODS: Two hundred and three women (mean age 38.6 +/- 9.7; range 22-83) with CIN2-3 treated by LEEP conization and confirmed in the surgical specimen, attending follow-up visits were included. Age, HR-HPV detection and viral load determined by HybridCapture 2, and cone margins were evaluated as possible predictors of residual/recurrent disease. Value of single and repeated cytology as well as HR-HPV detection and viral load during follow-up were analyzed as screening tools of recurrence. RESULTS: Residual/recurrent disease was demonstrated by colposcopy guided biopsy in 36 patients (17.7%). High HR-HPV load (>1000 RLU) prior to LEEP and positive cone margins were significantly associated with higher risk of recurrence (31.8% vs. 9.4%, P = 0.005; and 36.4% vs. 11.9%, P < 0.001 respectively). HR-HPV detection at 6-12 m after LEEP showed higher sensitivity than a single or repeated cytology (97.2% vs. 83.3% and 94.4% respectively) although it showed less specificity (81.4% vs. 92.2% and 82.6%). The combination of HR-HPV detection and the first cytology during follow-up detected all patients with residual/recurrent disease (sensitivity 100%, negative predictive value 100%) with an acceptable specificity (76.6%). CONCLUSION: The inclusion of HR-HPV testing with cytology in follow-up of patients treated for CIN2-3 would allow for fewer post-treatment visits and avoid unnecessary cytologies. High HR-HPV load prior to LEEP or positive margins should be considered as risk factors for developing residual/recurrent disease.
Advocates of conditional combination have argued that testing for incongruence between data partitions is an important step in data exploration. Unless the partitions have had distinct histories, as in horizontal gene transfer, incongruence means that one or more data support the wrong phylogeny. This study examines the relationship between incongruence and phylogenetic accuracy using three tests of incongruence. These tests were applied to pairs of mitochondrial DNA data partitions from two well-corroborated vertebrate phylogenies. Of the three tests, the most useful was the incongruence length difference test (ILD, also called the partition homogeneity test). This test distinguished between cases in which combining the data generally improved phylogenetic accuracy (P > 0.01) and cases in which accuracy of the combined data suffered relative to the individual partitions (P < 0.001). In contrast, in several cases, the Templeton and Rodrigo tests detected highly significant incongruence (P < 0.001) even though combining the incongruent partitions actually increased phylogenetic accuracy. All three tests identified cases in which improving the reconstruction model would improve the phylogenetic accuracy of the individual partitions.
OBJECTIVE: In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), patient age and initial value of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) have been considered the most accurate predictors of mortality among the parameters obtained from pulmonary exercise tests. However, few studies have examined the predictive variables of prognosis among exercise parameters in COPD. We therefore attempted to identify the best index for predicting long-term survival in patients with COPD among the cardiopulmonary variables obtained during exercise testing. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-eight patients with COPD (50 men and 8 women) without hypoxemia at rest or other serious complications performed resting pulmonary function tests followed by a symptom-limited ramp exercise test on a cycle ergometer with breath-by-breath gas analysis and arterial blood gas sampling. RESULTS: After 3,570+/-1,373 days follow-up (mean+/-SD), 21 died because of deaths by respiratory failure. The overall survival rates calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method were 92.9% and 75.8% at 5 years and 10 years, respectively. In univariate Cox hazards analysis, age, FEV1, VC, RV/TLC, VEmax, VO2max, VCO2max, PaO2max, PacO2max, and PaO2 at rest were found to be significant prognostic indices of survival. However, multivariate analysis revealed only FEV1, PaO2max, and age as independent predictors of mortality. In severe COPD patients (FEV1 <50% predicted, n=35), PaO2max and age also correlated with prognosis, whereas FEV1 did not. CONCLUSION: Pulmonary exercise testing is useful in predicting prognosis in patients with COPD.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The importance of hemodynamic parameters for predicting outcome in patients with occlusive carotid disease remains controversial. The present study was aimed at testing the hypothesis that regional cerebrovascular reactivity (rCVR) to acetazolamide can be a reliable predictor of subsequent ischemic stroke in medically treated patients with internal carotid artery or middle cerebral artery occlusion. METHODS: Seventy-seven symptomatic patients were enrolled in this prospective, longitudinal cohort study. All patients met inclusion criteria of cerebral angiography, no or localized cerebral infarction on MRI or CT, and no or minimal neurological deficit. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and rCVR to acetazolamide were quantitatively determined by (133)Xe SEPCT. All patients were categorized into 4 types on the basis of SPECT studies. RESULTS: During an average follow-up period of 42.7 months, 16 total and 7 ipsilateral ischemic strokes occurred. The annual risks of total and ipsilateral stroke in patients with decreased rCBF and rCVR were 35.6% and 23.7%, respectively, risks that are higher than those in other types of patients. When strokes were categorized into patients with and without decreased rCBF and rCVR, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that the risks of total and ipsilateral stroke in patients with decreased rCBF and rCVR were significantly higher than in those without (P<0.0001 and P=0.0001, respectively, log-rank test). Relative risk conferred by decreased rCBF and rCVR was 8.0 (95% CI, 1.9 to 34.4) for ipsilateral stroke and 3.6 (95% CI, 1.4 to 9.3) for total stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Decreased rCBF and rCVR to acetazolamide may identify a subgroup of patients who have a higher risk of subsequent ischemic stroke when treated medically.
The age-related decline of the success in IVF is largely attributable to a progressive decline of ovarian oocyte quality and quantity. Over the past two decades, a number of so-called ovarian reserve tests (ORTs) have been designed to determine oocyte reserve and quality and have been evaluated for their ability to predict the outcome of IVF in terms of oocyte yield and occurrence of pregnancy. Many of these tests have become part of the routine diagnostic procedure for infertility patients who undergo assisted reproductive techniques. The unifying goals are traditionally to find out how a patient will respond to stimulation and what are their chances of pregnancy. Evidence-based medicine has progressively developed as the standard approach for many diagnostic procedures and treatment options in the field of reproductive medicine. We here provide the first comprehensive systematic literature review, including an a priori protocolized information retrieval on all currently available and applied tests, namely early-follicular-phase blood values of FSH, estradiol, inhibin B and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), the antral follicle count (AFC), the ovarian volume (OVVOL) and the ovarian blood flow, and furthermore the Clomiphene Citrate Challenge Test (CCCT), the exogenous FSH ORT (EFORT) and the gonadotrophin agonist stimulation test (GAST), all as measures to predict ovarian response and chance of pregnancy. We provide, where possible, an integrated receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and curve of all individual evaluated published papers of each test, as well as a formal judgement upon the clinical value. Our analysis shows that the ORTs known to date have only modest-to-poor predictive properties and are therefore far from suitable for relevant clinical use. Accuracy of testing for the occurrence of poor ovarian response to hyperstimulation appears to be modest. Whether the a priori identification of actual poor responders in the first IVF cycle has any prognostic value for their chances of conception in the course of a series of IVF cycles remains to be established. The accuracy of predicting the occurrence of pregnancy is very limited. If a high threshold is used, to prevent couples from wrongly being refused IVF, a very small minority of IVF-indicated cases (approximately 3%) are identified as having unfavourable prospects in an IVF treatment cycle. Although mostly inexpensive and not very demanding, the use of any ORT for outcome prediction cannot be supported. As poor ovarian response will provide some information on OR status, especially if the stimulation is maximal, entering the first cycle of IVF without any prior testing seems to be the preferable strategy.
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Preformed recipient HLA-specific antibodies can cause hyperacute rejection of a transplanted kidney if they are directed against mismatched donor HLA antigens. To avoid hyperacute rejection it is essential that recipient antibodies be identified during patient workup for transplantation and HLA antigens to which a patient is sensitized then be avoided when selecting a kidney donor for them. Absence of donor-specific reactivity is then confirmed by a pretransplantation crossmatch test.
Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) is a psycho-physiological test used to identify dysfunction of individual nerve fiber types. In the present study, we investigated whether selective nerve fiber dysfunction, as assessed by QST, correlates with the effectiveness of epidural steroid injections (ESI) in patients with lumbar radiculopathy. Twenty patients with unilateral painful sciatica caused by disc herniation participated in this open study. Before ESI, quantitative thermal and mechanical sensory testing was conducted at the most painful dermatome and the contralateral dermatome. The primary outcome measure used was the self-recording of pain intensity twice daily with a 0-10 numerical pain scale (NPS). Secondary efficacy measures included the Short Form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, the straight leg raising test, and the lumbar range of motion. A significant difference in all types of sensory thresholds between the affected and the contralateral dermatomes was detected at baseline. All outcome measures improved subsequent to the ESI. A significant positive correlation was found between the increase in cold sensation thresholds of the affected dermatome (Adelta-fiber dysfunction) and the improvement in NPS. The increase in touch and vibration thresholds (Abeta-fiber dysfunction) was found to be inversely correlated with the improvement in NPS. No correlation was found between heat sensation thresholds (C fibers) and any of the outcome measures. These results suggest that QST has the potential to be an important tool in the selection of the appropriate treatment (e.g., ESI versus surgery) for patients with sciatica and may assist in identifying the mechanisms of pain generation in these patients.
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Neoglycoproteins with N-acetylglucosamine residues (BSA-GlcNAc) induced specifically the acrosome reaction (AR) in human spermatozoa. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between this phenomenon and the invitro fertilization (IVF) rate. Sperm suspensions from IVF protocols were incubated with BSA-GlcNAc (t), using calcium ionophore (i) or medium alone (c) as positive or negative controls. When the normalized AR percentage ratio (STIM) (% ARt-%ARc):(%ARi-%ARc) was compared with fertilization rate in 31 couples from our IVF programme, a positive correlation was found (r = 0.46, P < 0.01). The fertilization rate in patients with STIM > or = 0.2 was higher than in non-responders (STIM < 0.2); 72 +/- 7% compared with 5 +/- 3%. The overall predictive value of this test for adequate fertilization rate (> 30%) was 87%, sensitivity 91% and specificity 78%. False positives were 9% and false negatives 22%. For successful fertilization rates (> 60%), the results were: overall predictive value, 84%; sensitivity 100%; specificity 64%. False positives were 23% and no false negatives were found. The results indicated that the induction of AR in human spermatozoa by GlcNAc-neoglycoproteins could be used to predict their fertilizing ability in vitro.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prognostic significance of cutaneous delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin testing in persons infected with HIV. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: United States Air Force (USAF) Medical Center. PATIENTS: Consecutive sample of 889 HIV-infected USAF personnel or dependents undergoing their first staging evaluation from 1985 through August 1990 in the USAF HIV Natural History Study. MEASUREMENTS: All patients were evaluated with DTH skin testing including purified protein derivative and four control skin test antigens: mumps, candida, tetanus toxoid, and trichophyton. In addition, all patients underwent CD4+ T-cell surface marker determinations. The relation between DTH skin test response at first evaluation and progression to Walter Reed stage 6 (presence of an AIDS-defining opportunistic infection) was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. RESULTS: Patients with more than 400 CD4+ T cells/mm3 are more likely than those having fewer than 400 CD4+ T cells per mm3 to respond to at least one (94% compared with 67%, P < 0.001) or at least two (86% compared with 45%, P < 0.001) DTH skin tests. Mean CD4 counts are lower for anergic compared with nonanergic patients and for patients responding to a single control skin test compared with those responding to two or more skin tests (P < 0.05). The DTH skin test response at first evaluation was also found to predict progression to AIDS; the relative risk at 5 years of follow-up was 2.5 (95% CI, 1.2 to 5.2) for anergy compared with a single positive skin test and 3.0 (CI, 1.4 to 6.2) for a single compared with two or more skin test responses. The DTH skin test response at first evaluation was a predictor of progression (P < 0.001) when controlling for initial CD4 count and Walter Reed stage in a Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The DTH skin test response, a functional measure of cellular immunity, is an independent predictor of progression to AIDS in persons with HIV.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the importance of the number of active drugs, as determined by phenotypic resistance testing, in achieving virological response in successive salvage regimens. DESIGN: Phenotypic study of 57 plasma samples corresponding to 24 patients who had sequentially received three protease inhibitor-containing regimens. Phenotypic susceptibility to a drug (active drug) was defined as less than a four-fold-increase in the IC50 in comparison with the wild type. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Virological response according to the number of active drugs (three versus two or fewer), HIV load, length of antiretroviral exposure, and line of protease inhibitor-based therapy (first, second and third regimen). RESULTS: Before the first protease inhibitor-based therapy, the median time on antiretroviral treatment was 42 months, and before the second and third protease inhibitor-salvage regimens it was 10 and 8 months, respectively. The number of patients receiving three active drugs simultaneously was 24, 35 and 31% in each line of therapy. At week 12, a close correlation was found between the presence of three active drugs in the antiretroviral regimen and the rate of virological response, in comparison with those patients receiving two or fewer active drugs [76 versus 45%, relative risk (RR), 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-2.6; P = 0.028]. In a multivariate analysis, the use of two or fewer active drugs was an independent predictor of lack of response, regardless of HIV load, length of previous antiretroviral exposure and line of salvage therapy (RR, 4.5; 95%CI, 1.1-18.3; P = 0.03). Of note, a higher rate of response was observed in patients receiving the first protease inhibitor-containing regimen in comparison with those in subsequent protease inhibitor-based salvage regimens (83 versus 50 versus 28%, P < 0.01), even when only those patients receiving three active drugs were included (100 versus 71 versus 60%). CONCLUSIONS: This data confirm the usefulness of phenotypic testing in guiding antiretroviral therapy in heavily pretreated patients. The number of active drugs and the line of salvage therapy are independent predictors of virological response, regardless of HIV load and the length of antiretroviral exposure.
BACKGROUND: Cholestasis, roughly divided into intrahepatic and extrahepatic forms, is a clinical challenge. Extrahepatic cholestasis, characterized by dilated bile ducts, is caused by either a bile duct stone or stricture, with stricture most often related to a malignancy. The aim of the present study was to analyze the value of common liver function tests in separating patients with malignant bile duct strictures from those with stones. METHODS: All consecutive patients admitted for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) were included in the study population if a bile duct stricture related to a malignancy was found by ERCP (n=103) or if a bile duct stone was successfully extracted during ERCP, thus confirming the diagnosis of a stone (n=109). Plasma alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, alanine aminotransferase and bilirubin values were determined in the morning before ERCP. RESULTS: Plasma bilirubin (p<0.001), alkaline phosphatase (p<0.001) and alanine aminotransferase (p=0.040) levels were significantly higher in patients with malignant bile duct strictures than in those with bile duct stones. In addition, gamma-glutamyltransferase levels seemed to be higher in patients with malignant strictures than in those with stones, although the difference did not reach statistical significance (p=0.053). In receiver operating characteristic analyses, bilirubin proved to be the best laboratory test in differentiating patients (p=0.001 vs. alkaline phosphatase, p<0.001 vs. alanine aminotransferase and p<0.001 vs. gamma-glutamyltransferase). With a plasma bilirubin cutoff value of 145 micromol/L, four out of five patients were categorized correctly. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma bilirubin seems to be the best liver function test in distinguishing patients with malignant bile duct strictures from those with bile duct stones. This routine test should receive more attention in clinical decision-making than has previously been given.
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