Clinical biochemistry
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Clinical biochemistry · Jan 2015
The diagnostic value of cerebrospinal fluids procalcitonin and lactate for the differential diagnosis of post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis and aseptic meningitis.
Distinguishing between post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis (PNBM) and aseptic meningitis is difficult. This study aims to evaluate the combined diagnostic value of CSF procalcitonin and lactate as novel PNBM markers in hospitalized post-neurosurgery patients. ⋯ Our study shows that the combined use of CSF procalcitonin and lactate can reliably distinguish between PNBM and non-PNBM and can be included in the design of diagnostic approaches to circumvent the shortcomings of conventional methods.
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Clinical biochemistry · Dec 2014
Initial blood lactate correlates with carboxyhemoglobin and clinical severity in carbon monoxide poisoned patients.
The aim of this study was to assess the role of blood lactate levels at admission in carbon monoxide (CO)-poisoned patients for establishing severity of poisoning and short term prognosis. ⋯ Initial blood lactate level may be useful for risk stratification of CO-poisoned patients, especially for predicting hospitalization.
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Clinical biochemistry · Dec 2014
Red blood cell distribution width and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio are positively correlated with disease activity in primary Sjögren's syndrome.
The red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are increased in various inflammation related diseases, but their clinical significance in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) has not been reported. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical significance of RDW and NLR in pSS patients. ⋯ RDW and NLR may prove to be useful indices to estimate pSS disease activity.
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Clinical biochemistry · Oct 2014
Serum adhesion molecules as outcome predictors in adult severe sepsis patients requiring mechanical ventilation in the emergency department.
Serum adhesion molecules play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of sepsis syndrome. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of serum adhesion molecules in patients with severe sepsis and mechanical ventilation (MV) at the emergency department. ⋯ In this study, VCAM-1 level is a more powerful outcome predictor of hospital mortality in severe sepsis patients requiring MV than lactate concentration and other conventional parameters on admission. This suggests that increased plasma VCAM-1 concentration may be useful in identifying who are at risk of hospital mortality among severely septic patients requiring MV.