scholarly journals Calculation of Bioavailable and Free Testosterone in Men: A Comparison of 5 Published Algorithms

2006 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 1777-1784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem de Ronde ◽  
Yvonne T van der Schouw ◽  
Huibert AP Pols ◽  
Louis JG Gooren ◽  
Majon Muller ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Estimation of serum concentrations of free testosterone (FT) and bioavailable testosterone (bioT) by calculation is an inexpensive and uncomplicated method. We compared results obtained with 5 different algorithms. Methods: We used 5 different published algorithms [described by Sodergard et al. (bioTS and FTS), Vermeulen et al. (bioTV and FTV), Emadi-Konjin et al. (bioTE), Morris et al. (bioTM), and Ly et al. (FTL)] to estimate bioT and FT concentrations in samples obtained from 399 independently living men (ages 40–80 years) participating in a cross-sectional, single-center study. Results: Mean bioT was highest for bioTS (10.4 nmol/L) and lowest for bioTE (3.87 nmol/L). Mean FT was highest for FTS (0.41 nmol/L), followed by FTV (0.35 nmol/L), and FTL (0.29 nmol/L). For bioT concentrations, the Pearson correlation coefficient was highest for the association between bioTS and bioTV (r = 0.98) and lowest between bioTM and bioTE (r = 0.66). FTL was significantly associated with both FTS (r = 0.96) and FTV (r = 0.88). The Pearson correlation coefficient for the association between FTL and bioTM almost reached 1.0. Bland-Altman analysis showed large differences between the results of different algorithms. BioTM, bioTE, bioTV, and FTL were all significantly associated with sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations. Conclusion: Algorithms to calculate FT and bioT must be revalidated in the local setting, otherwise over- or underestimation of FT and bioT concentrations can occur. Additionally, confounding of the results by SHBG concentrations may be introduced.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fereidoun Jahangir ◽  
Esmaeil Kavi ◽  
Behnam Masmouei ◽  
Mohammad-Rafi Bazrafshan ◽  
Hamed Delam ◽  
...  

Background: Diabetes is a global epidemic with serious complication and there is a clear need for paying special attention to self-management as the cornerstone to optimal control of the disease. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the self-management status and its correlation to disease control indicators in people with diabetes. Methods: In a descriptive cross-sectional study, 220 patients were selected from the list of the referred patients available in Lamerd public health network from December 2014 to June 2015. In the first step, data about demographic information and disease control were collected from the patients’ records. In the second step, the self-management status of each patient was assessed by the Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire developed by Schmitt et al. To analyze the data, independent sample t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used. Results: The mean age of the male and female participants was 56.43 ± 13.50 and 56.46 ± 10.49 years old, respectively. The mean duration of the disease was 6.67 ± 4.72 years for men and 7.07 ± 5.30 years for women. Twenty-one (25.9%) men and 60 (43.7%) women had a history of smoking. The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was an inverse and statistically significant relationship between diabetes self-management status and weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, glucose tolerance test (GTT), LDL, and cholesterol. The results of the t-test did not show significant differences between the level of HbA1C (HbA1C7) and self-management scores of the patients (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Patients with better self-management status were in a better disease control condition with respect to weight, BMI, waist circumference, GTT, LDL, and cholesterol levels. Special attention to the control and management of LDL, cholesterol, HbA1C, BMI, and blood pressure levels is recommended in planning for these patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Nur Ramadhanti Cindy Levissa ◽  
Eka Yudha Rahman ◽  
Dewi Indah Noviana Pratiwi ◽  
Heru Prasetya ◽  
Siti Kaidah

Abstract: This study aims to determine the association between prostate volume and PSA levels in BPH patients at Ulin Hospital Banjarmasin. This study used a cross-sectional retrospective approach and analytic method. A total of 52 samples were obtained by purposive sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criterias. The highest prostate volume of  20.00-39.99 cc was obtained from 16 patients (30.7%) and the lowest volume of  60.00-79.99 cc was obtained from 10 patients (19.2%). Examination of PSA levels were highest at 2.6-9.9 ng/mL from 24 patients (46.2%) and the lowest at >20.0 ng/mL (5.8%) from 3 patients. Data analysis using Pearson correlation coefficient showed a positive correlation between prostate volume and PSA levels in BPH patients at Ulin Hospital Banjarmasin with a p value = 0,000 and r = 0.616 (positive and strong correlation). Keywords: BPH, Prostate volume, PSA


Author(s):  
Yousof Khairy ◽  
Hosein Hoseiniefard ◽  
Farideh Nasiri

Introduction: Today, issues related to meaning and spirituality are accepted as essential parts of chronic diseases’ experience as they may seriously affect people's attitude towards their ego, illness and future. The present study was conducted to investigate the spiritual health of the patients with gastrointestinal cancers and its association with general health. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 128 patients with gastrointestinal cancer ≤54 years with knowledge of their disease type at Imam Reza Hospital and Shahid Madani Hospital in Tabriz, Iran. Samples were selected using the simple sampling method. The spiritual status of the patients was evaluated using the Paloutzian & Ellison (1982) questionnaire & General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and the checklist designed by the researchers, containing demographic characteristics. Data analysis, including the descriptive analytic statistics, independent t-test, correlation coefficient and Pearson correlation coefficient and regression model were done using SPSS V16 software. Results: Regarding Pearson correlation coefficient, there was a significant association between general health and spiritual well-being (p=0.003, r=0.71). Also, there was a direct and significant association between spiritual health in the religious section (p=0.01, r=0.51) and spiritual well-being in the existential (p=0.001, r=0.68) with general health. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it could be concluded that most cancer patients have high spiritual health, this makes the patient more adaptable to their illness.  


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2787
Author(s):  
Thomas Geyer ◽  
Johannes Rübenthaler ◽  
Marianna Alunni-Fabbroni ◽  
Regina Schinner ◽  
Sabine Weber ◽  
...  

Background: This exploratory study aimed to evaluate lipidomic and metabolomic profiles in patients with early and advanced HCCs and to investigate whether certain metabolic parameters may predict the overall survival in these patients. Methods: A total of 60 patients from the prospective, randomized-controlled, multicenter phase II SORAMIC trial were included in this substudy; among them were 30 patients with an early HCC who underwent radiofrequency ablation combined with sorafenib or a placebo and 30 patients with an advanced HCC who were treated with a selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) plus sorafenib vs. sorafenib alone. The blood serum of these patients was analyzed using a standardized nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) platform. All tested metabolites were correlated with the overall survival. Results: The overall survival (OS) was significantly higher in patients with an early HCC (median OS: 34.0 months) compared with patients with an advanced HCC (median OS: 12.0 months) (p < 0.0001). Patients with high serum concentrations of myo-inositol (MI) had a higher overall survival compared with patients with low concentrations (21.6 vs. 13.8 months) with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.331 (p = 0.011). Patients with high serum concentrations of dimethylamine had a higher overall survival compared with patients with low concentrations (25.1 vs. 19.7 months) with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.279 (p = 0.034). High concentrations of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and LDL particles (LDL-P) were associated with a decreased overall survival. Conclusions: NMR-based lipidomic and metabolomic profiling has the potential to identify individual metabolite biomarkers that predict the outcome of patients with an HCC exposed to non-invasive therapeutic management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
Vicente Benavides-Córdoba ◽  
Mauricio Palacios Gómez

Introduction: Animal models have been used to understand the pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension, to describe the mechanisms of action and to evaluate promising active ingredients. The monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension model is the most used animal model. In this model, invasive and non-invasive hemodynamic variables that resemble human measurements have been used. Aim: To define if non-invasive variables can predict hemodynamic measures in the monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension model. Materials and Methods: Twenty 6-week old male Wistar rats weighing between 250-300g from the bioterium of the Universidad del Valle (Cali - Colombia) were used in order to establish that the relationships between invasive and non-invasive variables are sustained in different conditions (healthy, hypertrophy and treated). The animals were organized into three groups, a control group who was given 0.9% saline solution subcutaneously (sc), a group with pulmonary hypertension induced with a single subcutaneous dose of Monocrotaline 30 mg/kg, and a group with pulmonary hypertension with 30 mg/kg of monocrotaline treated with Sildenafil. Right ventricle ejection fraction, heart rate, right ventricle systolic pressure and the extent of hypertrophy were measured. The functional relation between any two variables was evaluated by the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: It was found that all correlations were statistically significant (p <0.01). The strongest correlation was the inverse one between the RVEF and the Fulton index (r = -0.82). The Fulton index also had a strong correlation with the RVSP (r = 0.79). The Pearson correlation coefficient between the RVEF and the RVSP was -0.81, meaning that the higher the systolic pressure in the right ventricle, the lower the ejection fraction value. Heart rate was significantly correlated to the other three variables studied, although with relatively low correlation. Conclusion: The correlations obtained in this study indicate that the parameters evaluated in the research related to experimental pulmonary hypertension correlate adequately and that the measurements that are currently made are adequate and consistent with each other, that is, they have good predictive capacity.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
Charles Carlson ◽  
Vanessa-Rose Turpin ◽  
Ahmad Suliman ◽  
Carl Ade ◽  
Steve Warren ◽  
...  

Background: The goal of this work was to create a sharable dataset of heart-driven signals, including ballistocardiograms (BCGs) and time-aligned electrocardiograms (ECGs), photoplethysmograms (PPGs), and blood pressure waveforms. Methods: A custom, bed-based ballistocardiographic system is described in detail. Affiliated cardiopulmonary signals are acquired using a GE Datex CardioCap 5 patient monitor (which collects ECG and PPG data) and a Finapres Medical Systems Finometer PRO (which provides continuous reconstructed brachial artery pressure waveforms and derived cardiovascular parameters). Results: Data were collected from 40 participants, 4 of whom had been or were currently diagnosed with a heart condition at the time they enrolled in the study. An investigation revealed that features extracted from a BCG could be used to track changes in systolic blood pressure (Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.54 +/− 0.15), dP/dtmax (Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.51 +/− 0.18), and stroke volume (Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.54 +/− 0.17). Conclusion: A collection of synchronized, heart-driven signals, including BCGs, ECGs, PPGs, and blood pressure waveforms, was acquired and made publicly available. An initial study indicated that bed-based ballistocardiography can be used to track beat-to-beat changes in systolic blood pressure and stroke volume. Significance: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other database that includes time-aligned ECG, PPG, BCG, and continuous blood pressure data is available to the public. This dataset could be used by other researchers for algorithm testing and development in this fast-growing field of health assessment, without requiring these individuals to invest considerable time and resources into hardware development and data collection.


Author(s):  
E. Quiros-Roldan ◽  
T. Porcelli ◽  
L. C. Pezzaioli ◽  
M. Degli Antoni ◽  
S. Paghera ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose Hypogonadism is frequent in HIV-infected men and might impact on metabolic and sexual health. Low testosterone results from either primary testicular damage, secondary hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction, or from liver-derived sex-hormone-binding-globulin (SHBG) elevation, with consequent reduction of free testosterone. The relationship between liver fibrosis and hypogonadism in HIV-infected men is unknown. Aim of our study was to determine the prevalence and type of hypogonadism in a cohort of HIV-infected men and its relationship with liver fibrosis. Methods We performed a cross-sectional retrospective study including 107 HIV-infected men (median age 54 years) with hypogonadal symptoms. Based on total testosterone (TT), calculated free testosterone, and luteinizing hormone, five categories were identified: eugonadism, primary, secondary, normogonadotropic and compensated hypogonadism. Estimates of liver fibrosis were performed by aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) scores. Results Hypogonadism was found in 32/107 patients (30.8%), with normogonadotropic (10/107, 9.3%) and compensated (17/107, 15.8%) being the most frequent forms. Patients with secondary/normogonadotropic hypogonadism had higher body mass index (BMI) (p < 0001). Patients with compensated hypogonadism had longer HIV infection duration (p = 0.031), higher APRI (p = 0.035) and FIB-4 scores (p = 0.008), and higher HCV co-infection. Univariate analysis showed a direct significant correlation between APRI and TT (p = 0.006) and SHBG (p = 0.002), and between FIB-4 and SHBG (p = 0.045). Multivariate analysis showed that SHBG was independently associated with both liver fibrosis scores. Conclusion Overt and compensated hypogonadism are frequently observed among HIV-infected men. Whereas obesity is related to secondary hypogonadism, high SHBG levels, related to liver fibrosis degree and HCV co-infection, are responsible for compensated forms.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Omolola M. Adisa ◽  
Muthoni Masinde ◽  
Joel O. Botai

This study examines the (dis)similarity of two commonly used indices Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) computed over accumulation periods 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month (hereafter SPI-1, SPI-3, SPI-6, and SPI-12, respectively) and Effective Drought Index (EDI). The analysis is based on two drought monitoring indicators (derived from SPI and EDI), namely, the Drought Duration (DD) and Drought Severity (DS) across the 93 South African Weather Service’s delineated rainfall districts over South Africa from 1980 to 2019. In the study, the Pearson correlation coefficient dissimilarity and periodogram dissimilarity estimates were used. The results indicate a positive correlation for the Pearson correlation coefficient dissimilarity and a positive value for periodogram of dissimilarity in both the DD and DS. With the Pearson correlation coefficient dissimilarity, the study demonstrates that the values of the SPI-1/EDI pair and the SPI-3/EDI pair exhibit the highest similar values for DD, while the SPI-6/EDI pair shows the highest similar values for DS. Moreover, dissimilarities are more obvious in SPI-12/EDI pair for DD and DS. When a periodogram of dissimilarity is used, the values of the SPI-1/EDI pair and SPI-6/EDI pair exhibit the highest similar values for DD, while SPI-1/EDI displayed the highest similar values for DS. Overall, the two measures show that the highest similarity is obtained in the SPI-1/EDI pair for DS. The results obtainable in this study contribute towards an in-depth knowledge of deviation between the EDI and SPI values for South Africa, depicting that these two drought indices values are replaceable in some rainfall districts of South Africa for drought monitoring and prediction, and this is a step towards the selection of the appropriate drought indices.


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