The Korean journal of internal medicine
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Korean J. Intern. Med. · Jun 2011
Multicenter StudyOutcome of pandemic H1N1 pneumonia: clinical and radiological findings for severity assessment.
Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus infection presents with variable severity. However, little is known about clinical predictors of disease severity. We studied the clinical predictors of severe pandemic H1N1 pneumonia and their correlation with radiological findings. ⋯ We demonstrated a positive correlation between clinical findings, such as serum AST, ALT, and LDH levels, and radiological findings. A combination of clinical and HRCT indicators would be useful in predicting the clinical outcome of pandemic H1N1 pneumonia.
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Korean J. Intern. Med. · Jun 2011
Comparative StudyRetrospective comparison of levofloxacin and moxifloxacin on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment outcomes.
To compare the effect of levofloxacin and moxifloxacin on treatment outcomes among patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). ⋯ Both levofloxacin and moxifloxacin showed equivalent efficacy for treating MDR-TB.
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Korean J. Intern. Med. · Jun 2011
Multicenter StudyDetection of clopidogrel hyporesponsiveness using a point-of-care assay and the impact of additional cilostazol administration after coronary stent implantation in diabetic patients.
Impaired responsiveness to clopidogrel is common in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical application of a point-of-care assay to detect impaired responsiveness to clopidogrel after coronary stent implantation in patients with type 2 DM. ⋯ A point-of-care assay can detect elevated platelet reactivity and impaired responsiveness to clopidogrel in patients with type 2 DM. The addition of cilostazol to dual anti-platelet therapy may decrease post-treatment PRU values in patients with type 2 DM.
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Korean J. Intern. Med. · Jun 2011
Usefulness of C-reactive protein for evaluating clinical outcomes in cirrhotic patients with bacteremia.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of initial C-reactive protein (CRP) as a predictor of clinical outcome and to investigate whether follow-up CRP measurement is useful for the prediction of the clinical outcome of bloodstream infections in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC), whose CRP production in response to infection may be attenuated. ⋯ Initial CRP level did not predict mortality of sepsis in LC patients. However, serial CRP measurements during the first week of antimicrobial therapy may be useful as a prognostic factor for mortality in LC patients.
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For unknown reasons, caspase-1 -/- mice, protected against cisplatin-induced acute renal failure (ARF), are deficient in interleukin (IL)-1α. We thus asked whether IL-1α deficiency underlies the mechanism of protection against cisplatin-induced ARF in these mice. ⋯ Mice deficient in IL-1α are protected against cisplatin-induced ARF. The lack of IL-1α may explain, at least in part, the protection against cisplatin-induced ARF observed in caspase-1 -/- mice. Investigation of the protective mechanism (s) in IL-1α -/- mice in cisplatin-induced ARF merits further study.