Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia. Little is known about the extrapulmonary manifestations of this organism. Numerous central nervous system (CNS) manifestations have been described with M. pneumoniae. CNS involvement is probably the most common site of involvement in addition to the respiratory system. Up to 7% of patients hospitalized with M. pneumoniae may have CNS symptoms. Common CNS presentations include encephalitis, aseptic meningitis, polyradiculitis, cerebellar ataxia, and myelitis...

We sought to evaluate serum concentrations of cathepsin K in peripheral blood and to determine whether they correlated with bone-mineral density (BMD) and the incidence of nontraumatic fractures. We took blood samples from 162 patients (101 with osteoporosis, 48 with osteopenia) and 13 healthy controls, then conducted quantitative measurements of cathepsin K using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Cathepsin K concentrations were correlated with the incidence of nontraumatic fracture, BMD, markers of bone turnover (alkaline phosphatase, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, parathyroid hormone, and C-telopeptide)...

Insulin resistance may be modeled in H-411E liver cells in tissue culture with the use of the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and insulin. This tissue-culture model nicely mimics IR in human type 2 diabetes mellitus. After incubation of liver cells in tissue culture with INS alone, TNF-alpha alone, and TNF-alpha plus insulin, as well as a control sample, liver-cell extracts were separated on 2D polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis on the basis of isoelectric point and molecular weight. We analyzed the gel images with the use of PD Quest software (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, Calif) to identify differentially expressed protein spots (ie, up or down with insulin vs down or up with TNF-alpha plus insulin)...

UNLABELLED: Metabolic liver disorders cause chronic liver disease and liver failure in childhood. Many of these disorders share the histologic features of steatosis and cholestasis, or steatocholestasis. In this study we sought to (1) develop an in vitro model of steatocholestasis, (2) determine the mechanisms of cell death in this model, and (3) determine the role of mitochondrial disturbances in this model. METHODS: Hepatocytes were isolated from 8-week-old obese (fa/fa) and lean Zucker rats...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Anthracyclines are used extensively in the therapy of hematologic malignancies. However, their use has been limited by acute and chronic cardiotoxicity. Cardiac troponins have emerged as sensitive and specific markers of even minor myocardial damage. In this study we prospectively evaluated serial measurements of serum cardiac markers and echocardiography in patients with de novo acute myeloid and lymphoid leukemias (AML and ALL, respectively) treated with anthracyclines. We examined and subdivided 79 patients into 3 groups: group 1 (37 patients with AML, all < 60 years), group 2 (25 with AML, all 260 years), group 3 (17 with ALL)...

Individuals with sickle-cell disease (SCD) and transgenic sickle mice expressing human betaS globin exhibit enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, vascular inflammation, and episodic vasoocclusion. We hypothesize that reduction of ROS will reduce endothelial-cell activation and adhesion-molecule expression, thereby inhibiting vasoocclusion. To test this hypothesis, we measured endothelial-cell activation, adhesion-molecule expression, and vasoocclusion in sickle mice after administering i.v. polynitroxyl albumin (PNA), a superoxide dismutase and catalase mimetic...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent growth factor that is indispensable for the development of blood vessels in the fetus and for wound healing in adults. VEGF likely plays a role in maintaining the blood vessels once they have been formed. It is not clear, however, whether a low tissue VEGF (caused either by disease or by systemic administration of VEGF antagonists) can cause abnormalities in preexisting blood vessels, especially of wound tissue that requires high local levels of VEGF for healing...

Senile seminal vesicle amyloid (SSVA), one of the most common forms of localized amyloidosis, is associated with the male aging process. Although it had been posited that the amyloidogenic component originated from exocrine cells and that, on the basis of immunohistochemistry, that the amyloid was composed of lactoferrin, the nature of SSVA was never established definitively. To address this issue, we have used our microanalytic techniques to characterize the structure of the congophilic green birefringent protein extracted from 5 such amyloid-containing specimens...

To investigate the status and role of glutathione peroxidase (GPX) in diabetic nephropathy, we measured GPX in the plasma and urine of 14 patients with diabetic glomerulosclerosis (DGS) and measured glomerular GPX immunostaining in these patients and in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes of varying duration. Plasma GPX levels were significantly lower in DGS patients than in diabetic patients without nephropathy (P < .05) or normal controls (P < .01). Urinary GPX concentrations were also significantly lower in DGS patients than in diabetic patients without nephropathy or normal controls (both P < ...

Recent medical advances and the easy availability of evidence-based information at the point of care are believed to provide physicians with improved tools for risk communication. However, evidence indicates that physicians still display marked variability in ordering tests. Factors that determine a physician's test-ordering tendencies vary by specialization, practice, geographical location, defensive practice, and tolerance of uncertainty and are also modified by patient requests. Understanding of statistical terms on the part of both physicians and patients remains limited...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

To quantify the risk of nocardiosis in various populations, I systematically reviewed articles published between 1966 and 2004. The incidence of nocardiosis in 3 large, geographically defined populations ranged from 0.35 to 0.4 cases per 10(5) persons year. In contrast, the incidence of nocardiosis among people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in 1 study was 53 nocardiosis cases per 10(5) persons x year, approximately 140 times greater than that in the geographically defined populations...

Although heparin is not generally administered orally, the results of studies involving rats suggest that heparin is absorbed, with low levels in plasma but extensive distribution to the endothelium. To determine whether evidence of absorption after oral administration can also be demonstrated in human subjects, we administered unfractionated porcine heparin in a single dose of 1000 U/kg to 6 healthy human subjects. Plasma anticoagulant activity was monitored between 5 minutes and 72 hours after administration, and chemical heparin concentrations were determined in 24-hour urine samples for as long as 120 hours after administration...

In both type 2 diabetes and insulin-resistance syndromes, hyperglycemia and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) activate the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) through a mechanism that partly involves the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The contribution of hyperinsulinemia in this sequence has not been completely elucidated. In this work we investigated the actions of insulin and PPAR-gamma on the stimulation by AGEs of NF-kappaB protein expression in cultured aortic vascular smooth-muscle cells (VSMCs) from non-insulin-dependent diabetic rats and nondiabetic rats...

Wilson's disease (WD) is an inherited disorder of copper metabolism characterized by a failure of the liver to excrete copper, leading to its accumulation in the liver, brain, cornea, and kidney, with resulting chronic degenerative changes. It is generally accepted that "presymptomatic" patients--in whom WD is diagnosed in childhood and who are defined as those who, although still asymptomatic, do have liver disease, as indicated by increased serum concentrations of transaminases--should be treated prophylactically...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is common worldwide and growing in importance in the West. HCC often occurs against a background of liver disease, tends to present at an advanced stage, and has a poor prognosis, suggesting that it is an ideal target for chemoprevention. We sought to identify in an animal model chemopreventive agents for HCC that might be tested in human subjects. To this end, we induced liver tumors by injecting ethyl-nitrosourea in 6-week-old male B6C3F1 mice. Two chemopreventive agents were administered over a period of 60 weeks: tamoxifen (420 mg/kg feed) and a retinoid, 13-cis-retinoic acid (200 mg/kg feed)...

To confirm the clinical usefulness of the measurement of urinary liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) in chronic kidney disease (CKD), we carried out a multicenter trial. Clinical markers were measured in patients with nondiabetic CKD (n = 48) every 1 to 2 months for a year. We divided patients retrospectively into progression (n = 32) and nonprogression (n = 16) groups on the basis of the rate of disease progression, then assessed several clinical markers. Initially creatinine clearance (Ccr) was similar in the 2 groups; however, the urinary L-FABP level was significantly higher in the former group than in the latter (111...