The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Apr 2007
Plasma interleukin-8 as a potential predictor of mortality in adult patients with severe traumatic brain injury.
Because of complex pathophysiology and severe consequences, traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are an important medical problem. Pathophysiology of TBI includes local and systemic stress response, in which interleukin-8 (IL-8) is considered as a key mediator of neuroinflammation. However, prognostic relevance of IL-8 measurement in adult patients with severe TBI is not certain. ⋯ While there was no significant difference of IL-8 levels in cerebrospinal fluid between survivors and nonsurvivors, central venous plasma level of IL-8 was significantly lower in survivors (71.00 +/- 14.17 pg/ml), than in nonsurvivors (111.26 +/- 16.9 pg/ml). Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed significant prognostic value for IL-8 in the blood as well as for the age of patients, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Acute Physiologic and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II). These findings suggest that the central venous plasma values of IL-8 at admission might be an early predictive marker in patients with severe TBI, comparative to standard clinical prognostic markers such as APACHE II and GCS.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Feb 2007
ReviewCurrent malaria status and distribution of drug resistance in East and Southeast Asia with special focus to Thailand.
Malaria is the world's most important parasitic infection ranking among the major health and developmental challenges. Despite years of continual efforts, malaria is still one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality affecting third-world countries and still a threat to over 2 billion people, representing approximately 40% of the world's population in about 100 countries (Rollback Malaria 2005). During the "eradication era", half a century ago, malaria was eliminated or effectively suppressed in many parts of the world, particularly subtropical regions. ⋯ Pregnant women in Africa (especially primigravidae) are at high risk, and are the major adult risk group in the continent. An increasing number of imported cases of malaria have been reported particularly as a result of increasing worldwide travel to regions where there is ongoing risk of malaria transmission. Nowadays, cases of malaria acquired by international travelers from developed countries probably number 25,000 cases per year, with 10,000 of them reported annually and approximately 150 deaths per year.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Feb 2007
Comparative StudyThe safe limits of mechanical factors in the apnea testing for the diagnosis of brain death.
Apneic oxygenation is an apnea testing method in the diagnosis of brain death. In this method, oxygen (O2) is delivered into the trachea via an O2 catheter (O2C). However, barotrauma may develop during O2 insufflation into the trachea. ⋯ The pressure was significantly higher at the flow rate of 10 L min(-1) O2 compared with the flow rate of 6 L min(-1) O2 (p < 0.01). Thus, ETT/O2C ratio, O2C tip position in ETT and O2 flow rate are the important factors that determine the airway pressure in the trachea during O2 insufflation. In conclusion, overlooked mechanical factors dangerously increase airway pressure during apnea testing.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Jan 2007
Nursing students' willingness to use complementary and alternative therapies for cancer patients: Istanbul survey.
It is important for student nurses to be knowledgeable of the complementary and alternative therapies and to provide accurate information to both cancer patients and other health care professionals. This study examined the nursing students' willingness to use these therapies, availability of sources of information, use of the therapies for self care, opinions about the integration of these therapies into nursing curriculum, and analyzed the differences among the responses. A self-administered questionnaire was offered to 640 nursing students in Istanbul, descriptive statistics were used, and comparisons among responses were made with chi-square test. ⋯ The statistically significant differences were found among the responses related to use five therapies for care and related to desired three therapies to be included in nursing curriculum. Although students had not previously been exposed to these therapies use with oncology patients, many of students expressed a desire to integrate therapies learning into nursing curriculum. The more student nurses document high risk patients, the more effective strategies will be developed by other health care professionals.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Jan 2007
Increased nitrosative and oxidative stress in platelets of migraine patients.
The molecular mechanisms of migraine have not been fully clarified yet. Increased nitrosative and oxidative stress may be associated with migraine attacks. Platelets may play an important role in migraine patients and they can reflect the lability of tissues to nitrosative/oxidative stress. ⋯ By contrast, during headache-free period, no statistically significant differences were found in the platelet levels of nitrate, nitrite and MDA between migraineurs and controls (p > 0.05), although the marginal increases were detected in migraineurs. These results suggest that increased biomarkers of nitrosative and oxidative stress in platelets may be important in migraine patients, especially during attacks; increase of NO metabolites in platelets during attacks supports the opinion that NO may play a modulatory role in biological processes particularly by vasodilatation in migraine attacks. Therefore, MDA and NO metabolites may serve as useful markers to show the increased vulnerability to nitrosative and oxidative stress in migraine patients.