Exp Ther Med
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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common clinical problem which occurs in critically ill patients. Sepsis is now recognized as the most important contributing factor to AKI in this population. In clinical practice, certain studies have explored the urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) and the urine kidney injury molecule-1 (uKIM-1) as diagnostic and prognostic indices of AKI. ⋯ On the other hand, there was no statistical difference in event-free survival between patients with and without higher serum creatinine, creatinine clearance and uKIM-1 (data not shown). In conclusion, uNGAL may be a promising predictor for septic patients with AKI, resulting in a clear increase in 180-day mortality. Further clinical evaluation of uNGAL is underway.
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The pathogenesis of viral bronchiolitis is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to analyze interleukin (IL)-15, IL-18 and interferon (IFN)-γ concentrations and the activity of NK cells and CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes in 23 children not older than 30 months of age with acute viral bronchiolitis using blood samples drawn within the first 24 h of their hospital admission, in comparison to a healthy group. ⋯ However, the mean z-score of the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ and the NK cell count in children with bronchiolitis did not differ significantly from those of the controls. In conclusion, cytokines such as IL-15, IL-18 and IFN-γ play a role in the pathogenesis of bronchiolitis in children.
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The therapeutic benefit of nitrosoureas or temozolomide for glioblastoma is limited mainly by O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) expression. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of various anticancer drugs for MGMT-positive glioblastoma. Seventy-four glioblastoma patients were administered various anticancer drugs according to drug sensitivity testing. ⋯ For MGMT-positive tumors, the platinum agents and the taxanes were more frequently selected for administration than the other categories of anticancer agents. The patient survival period of MGMT-positive glioblastomas treated with the platinum agents or the taxanes [median survival, 20.1 months (95% CI, 18.0-22.7)] was significantly longer than that of MGMT-positive tumors treated with nitrosoureas (p=0.0026), and was equivalent to that of MGMT-negative glioblastomas (p=0.3047). These results suggest that the platinum agents and the taxanes offer the best probability to be effective against immunohistochemically MGMT-positive glioblastomas.