The aim of this study is to analyze how the length of time a patient spends in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) affects close relatives, with regard to specific clinical variables of personality, family relationships and fear of death. The study group consisted of 57 relatives of seriously ill patients admitted to the ICU of "Virgen del Rocío" Rehabilitation and Trauma Hospital (Seville, Spain). Th...

57% of sera from 124 relatives of 28 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were found to have antibody directed against lymphocytes. The incidence in 60 members of 16 control families was 3%. Both consanguineous and nonconsanguineous relatives had the antibody in their sera. 68% of close household contacts of the SLE patients showed lymphocytotoxic antibody whereas only 23% of consan...

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer (PC) relative risks (RRs) are typically estimated based on status of close relatives or presence of any affected relatives. This study provides RR estimates using extensive and specific PC family history. METHODS A retrospective population-based study was undertaken to estimate RRs for PC based on complete family history of PC. A total of 635,443 males, all with anc...

The urinary excretion of catecholamines in 13 close relatives of two distantly related patients with congenital neuroblastoma was investigated. One of these relatives was a child with already known ganglioneuroblastoma. The catecholamines noradrenaline and dopamine were determined. Vanilmandelic acid and homovanillic acid also were determined and numerous other catecholamine metabolites were me...