Background: Co-morbidity is a powerful predictor of health care outcomes and costs, as well as an important cofounder in epidemiologic studies. The effect of co-morbidities is generally related to mortality or complications. This study evaluated the association between co-morbidity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients awaiting total joint replacement. Methods: A total of 893 p...

Ferguson HE, Thatcher TH, Olsen KC, Garcia-Bates TM, Baglole CJ, Kottmann RM, Strong ER, Phipps RP, Sime PJ. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptorligands induce heme oxygenase-1 in lung fibroblasts by a PPAR -independent, glutathione-dependent mechanism. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 297: L912–L919, 2009. First published September 4, 2009; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00148.2009.—Oxidative str...

Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2), the predominant prostanoid produced by activated mast cells, is implicated in a variety of allergic diseases. PGD2 exerts its effects through two G-protein coupled receptors, DP and CRTH2. PGD2 mediates chemotaxis of eosinophils, basophils, and Th2 cells via CRTH2-evoked signaling, suggesting a role for this receptor in allergic disease. To characterize the mouse CRTH2 ...

The biological modifier delta12-prostaglandin J2 and related prostaglandins have been reported to have significant growth-inhibitory activity with induction of heat shock proteins (Hsps). Tumor-derived Hsps have been shown previously to elicit specific immunity to tumors from which they are isolated. In this study, 15-deoxy-delta12,14-prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2)-induced Hsp70 was purified from ...

Arachidonic acid (AA) is known to be increased in HIV infected patients and illicit drug users are linked with severity of viral replication, disease progression, and impaired immune functions. Studies have shown that cocaine accelerates HIV infection and disease progression mediated by immune cells. Dendritic cells (DC) are the first line of antigen presentation and defense against immune dysf...

BACKGROUND The revised version of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR) is one of the most widely used specific questionnaires in FM studies. However, this questionnaire does not allow calculation of QALYs as it is not a preference-based measure. The aim of this study was to develop mapping algorithm which enable FIQR scores to be transformed into utility scores that can be used in the c...

Retroviruses integrated at unique locations in the host genome can be expressed at different levels. We have analyzed the preintegration sites of three transcriptionally competent avian endogenous proviruses (evs) to determine whether the various levels of provirus expression correlate with their location in active or inactive regions of chromatin. Our results show that in three of four cell ty...

OBJECTIVES The paper explores how two well-established, utility-based health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) measures (EQ-5D and 15D) capture the negative effects of various chronic conditions on subjective well-being (SWB). This is important, as both SWB and health utility can be important aims of health policy and instruments in resource allocation. METHODS A general population survey repre...

PurposeMultifocal intraocular lenses (MIOLs) are effective in treating presbyopia before cataracts develop. This study measured health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and vision-related (VRQoL) after clear lens extraction (CLE) MIOL implantation.DesignBefore-and-after studyMethodsPatients were treated Medilaser Coronaria, CorGroup, Oulu, Finland. HRQoL was by a generic 15-dimension (15D) instru...