Biomedical subjects

Luís E C Andrade

Publications and source records attributed to Luís E C Andrade.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Cold stimulus-fingertip lacticemy: standardization of the test in normal volunteers and diagnostic application for systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVES: To standardize the cold stimulus-fingertip lacticemy test (CS-FTL) in normal individuals and to establish reference levels for discrimination of normal individuals and patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: FTL was determined before (pre-CS) and 3, 8, and 13 min after cold stimulus (post-CS) in 94 normal controls according to gender and age. Diagnostic performance of DeltaCS-FTL (percentage difference between post- and pre-CS-FTL) was tested comparing 25 SSc patients and the 94 normal individuals by ROC curve analysis. RESULTS: Successive FTL determinations in the same fingertip yielded consistent results and the whole CS-FTL test proved to be reproducible. Pre-CS-FTL in SSc patients was higher than in normal controls (P<0.001). FTL decreased after cold stimulus (negative DeltaCS-FTL) in normal controls while SSc patients presented positive DeltaCS-FTL. Gender did not influence pre-CS-FTL and post-CS-FTL in normal controls. The decrease in FTL after cold stimulus was more prominent for normal individuals between 25 and 34 years old in comparison to other age subgroups, with statistical significance for females at 3 min post-CS (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed better diagnostic performance with post-CS-FTL at 8 and 13 min. CONCLUSION: CS-FTL test provides a reproducible quantitative biochemical parameter that reflects fingertip microcirculation status and was able to discriminate patients with SSc and normal controls, with optimal performance with post-CS-FTL at 8 to 13 min.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

The clinical spectrum of antinuclear antibodies associated with the nuclear dense fine speckled immunofluorescence pattern.

OBJECTIVE: Autoantibodies to lens epithelium-derived growth factor (LEDGF) depict a distinctive nuclear dense fine speckled (DFS) pattern in the indirect immunofluorescence antinuclear antibody assay (IIF-ANA). Definition of the clinical spectrum associated with anti-LEDGF antibodies has been evolving over the last decade. We investigated the frequency, clinical spectrum, and immunologic specificity of the DFS pattern in a general clinical laboratory routine. METHODS. All serum samples entered for IIF-ANA determination within a 2 year period were examined for the DFS pattern. Positive samples with consistent clinical information were studied further by IIF with isotype-specific conjugate and immunoblot analysis. RESULTS: Among 13,641 ANA-positive samples, 5081 (37%) presented the DFS pattern. Within a 6 month nested period, there were 650 samples with DFS pattern, and consistent clinical data were available for 81 of these. DFS reactivity was mainly due to IgG. Most samples (86%) presented titer > or = 1/640. Eighty of the 81 DFS samples reacted with a 75 kDa band that comigrated with the band elicited by the standard anti-LEDGF serum. Antibodies that were affinity-purified from the 75 kDa band reproduced the DFS pattern on IIF-ANA. The clinical spectrum associated with DFS reactivity included autoimmune diseases (39%) and an array of nonautoimmune conditions (61%). Among the autoimmune patients, over half presented evidence of autoimmune thyroiditis. CONCLUSION: Anti-LEDGF/p75 antibodies are a common finding among ANA-positive individuals with no evidence of rheumatic autoimmune disease, and should be regarded as a low specificity finding even when in moderate or high titer.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

PubMed2004

A transcript finishing initiative for closing gaps in the human transcriptome.

We report the results of a transcript finishing initiative, undertaken for the purpose of identifying and characterizing novel human transcripts, in which RT-PCR was used to bridge gaps between paired EST clusters, mapped against the genomic sequence. Each pair of EST clusters selected for experimental validation was designated a transcript finishing unit (TFU). A total of 489 TFUs were selected for validation, and an overall efficiency of 43.1% was achieved. We generated a total of 59,975 bp of transcribed sequences organized into 432 exons, contributing to the definition of the structure of 211 human transcripts. The structure of several transcripts reported here was confirmed during the course of this project, through the generation of their corresponding full-length cDNA sequences. Nevertheless, for 21% of the validated TFUs, a full-length cDNA sequence is not yet available in public databases, and the structure of 69.2% of these TFUs was not correctly predicted by computer programs. The TF strategy provides a significant contribution to the definition of the complete catalog of human genes and transcripts, because it appears to be particularly useful for identification of low abundance transcripts expressed in a restricted set of tissues as well as for the delineation of gene boundaries and alternatively spliced isoforms.

Alternative Splicing↗

PubMed2002

Determination of fingertip lacticemy before and after cold stimulus in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon and systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: Establishing a cold stimulus test based on the measurement of finger tip lacticemy (FTL) in Raynaud's phenomenon (RP). METHODS: Twenty-seven controls and 79 patients with RP [30 systemic sclerosis (SSc) and 49 isolated RP] were studied. The latter were further classified into probable primary RP (PPRP) and probable secondary RP (PSRP). FTL was determined before (pre-CS) and after (post-CS) a cold stimulus and the percentage difference was designated ACS-FTL. RESULTS: Pre-CS-FTL was marginally higher in SSc patients than in isolated RP and controls. Post-CS-FFL was significantly higher in SSc and PSRP than in PPRP and controls. SSc and PSRP patients had higher post-CS-FTL than pre-CS-FTL (positive ACS-FTL) while controls presented a negative ACS-FTL. Post-CS-FTL had a heterogeneous behavior in patients with PPRP. CONCLUSION: CS-FTL test was shown to be an easy method for evaluation of fingertip effective perfusion before and after a cold stimulus. Further studies are warranted to test its possible clinical application in discriminating between patients with SSc and controls, as well as between patients with PPRP and PSRP.

Adult↗