(C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Objective-Fibrinogen has a role in inflammatory processes and participates in atherosclerotic plaque formation. Despite intensive β-Nicotinamide nmr investigation, there is no clear evidence for a role of variations
in the genes coding for the fibrinogen-alpha, fibrinogen-beta, and fibrinogen-gamma polypeptide chains in myocardial infarction. We examined the association of haplotypes in the 50-kb fibrinogen gene region with myocardial infarction in 2 large case-control samples.\n\nMethods and Results-Study sample 1 consisted of 3657 patients with myocardial infarction and 1211 control individuals and sample 2 comprised 1392 patients and 1392 controls. Haplotypes were inferred from genotype analyses of tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms dispersed among the fibrinogen genes. The frequencies of these haplotypes were not significantly different between the case and control groups in either sample (P >= 0.07). In addition, haplotypes specific for individual fibrinogen genes were analyzed. No substantial differences in the frequencies of these haplotypes were observed between the groups (P >= 0.13). Finally, haplotypes composed of SNPs that exhibited relatively low pairwise
allelic associations among each other were examined. The GDC-0973 chemical structure proportions of the haplotypes were not significantly different between cases and controls (P >= 0.12).\n\nConclusion-A haplotype analysis did not reveal a link between genetic variations in the fibrinogen gene region and myocardial infarction.”
“Background: Patients with fibromyalgia (FM) report widespread pain, fatigue, and other functional limitations. This study aimed
to provide an assessment of the burden of illness associated with FM in France and its association with disease severity and core domains as defined by Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Ion Channel Ligand Library Clinical Trials (OMERACT) for FM.\n\nMethods: This cross-sectional, observational study recruited patients with a prior diagnosis of FM from 18 community-based physician offices in France. Patients completed questions about FM impact (Fibromyalgia-Impact Questionnaire [FIQ]), core symptoms (defined by OMERACT), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D), current overall health status (rated on a scale from 0 to 100), productivity, treatment satisfaction, and out-of-pocket expenses related to FM. Site staff recorded patients’ treatment and health resource use based on medical record review. Costs were extrapolated from 4-week patient-reported data and 3-month clinical case report form data and calculated in 2008 Euros using a societal perspective. Tests of significance used the Kruskal-Wallis test or Fisher’s Exact test where P < 0.05 was considered significant.\n\nResults: Eighty-eight patients (mean 55.2 y; female: male 74: 14) were recruited. The majority of patients (84.