Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry
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Preeclampsia and HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count) syndrome are multifactorial disorders with genetic and environmental components. Given that the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha G-308A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) affects TNF-alpha gene transcription and that preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome are characterized by a shift towards a Th1-type maternal immune response with increased TNF-alpha production, the aim of the current study was to investigate whether this SNP is associated with preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome in a Caucasian population from Hungary. Additionally, we aimed to examine whether TNF-alpha G-308A polymorphism can influence the risk for fetal growth restriction in preeclamptic patients, which issue none of the earlier studies dealt with. ⋯ Although the meta-analysis demonstrated a lack of an overall association between TNF-alpha G-308A polymorphism and preeclampsia, our results suggest a role of this SNP in the risk of severe IUGR-complicated preeclampsia. However, further studies are required with a larger sample size to confirm our findings.
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Acute dyspnea is common in the emergency department (ED) and is associated with mortality. Biomarkers may help stratify risk in this setting. ⋯ Simultaneous assessment of pathophysiologically diverse markers in acute dyspnea provides powerful, independent and incremental prognostic information.
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Although the determination methods of sodium ceftriaxone has been increasingly reported, these methods have their inherent limits preventing them from being broadly applied in common laboratories. In order to circumvent this problem, a rapid and simple method for the indirect spectrophotometric determination of sodium ceftriaxone is reported. ⋯ A simple and efficient method was developed and it has been successfully applied to the determination of sodium ceftriaxone in human serum and urine samples, respectively. It is expected that this method will find broad applications in the detection of cephalosporin derivatives with similar structure.
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WBC counts and differentials are currently performed on complex analyzers in either central or satellite laboratories. Rapid and easy to use point of care (POC) CBC testing can benefit certain outpatient clinical settings, where the greatest clinical need has been demonstrated. ⋯ The Chempaq XBC analyzer provides accurate hematologic results that can facilitate rapid quantitative assessment of CBC parameters and thus is clinically relevant, especially in outreach clinic settings and in critically ill patients.
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Low levels of brain natriuretic peptides on admission identify low-risk patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE) through their high NPV for mortality. However, increased natriuretic peptide values on admission are less helpful for identifying high-risk patients due to their low PPV. The aim of the study was to test whether the PPV for mortality can be improved by performing serial NT-proBNP measurements on admission, at 12 h, and at 24 h. ⋯ Persistent elevation of plasma NT-proBNP levels within 24 h after APE diagnosis indicates ongoing right ventricular dysfunction with a poor prognosis. These critically ill patients may be candidates for rapid aggressive intervention, including thrombolysis, catheter thrombectomy, or surgical embolectomy.