Elimination of middle-sized uremic solutes with high-flux and high-cut-off membranes: a randomized in vivo study.

The elimination of substances between 10 and 50 kDa by conventional high-flux membranes is not satisfactory. We investigated in vivo the elimination of middle-sized uremic solutes by conventional polyflux (PF) and modified high-cut-off (HCO) membranes. All 12 patients underwent four treatments, two with the HCO dialyzer and two with the PF dialyzer, each in either a haemodialysis (HD) or haemodiafiltration (HDF) mode. The reduction ratio of urea, creatinine, ß2-microglobulin (ß2M), leptin, soluble TNF-RI, complement factor D, IL-6, sIL-6 receptor, advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and albumin was determined. In addition, the amount removed was determined in the dialysate for ß2M, complement factor D, AGEs and albumin. Treatment with HCO removed ß2M, sTNF-RI, factor D, and high molecular AGE significantly better than conventional high-flux membranes. The albumin loss was higher when using HCO membranes. HCO membranes are a promising approach to improve removal of uremic toxins not affected by conventional high-flux membranes.

Validation of NACB and IFCC guidelines for the use of cardiac markers for early diagnosis and risk assessment in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

BACKGROUND: International guidelines have been established for the use of cardiac markers in the early diagnosis and risk assessment of patients with acute coronary syndromes. METHODS: A single center, prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care university hospital on 200 consecutive patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Blood was drawn on admission and after 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 h for the measurement of CK-MB/CK activity, myoglobin, CK-MB mass and troponin I. A 6-week follow-up was undertaken for the combined end point of acute coronary syndrome and death. RESULTS: Myoglobin showed an early diagnostic sensitivity of 0.65 on admission, 0.90 after 2 h and 0.92 after 4 h compared with 0.46, 0.74 and 0.88 for CK-MB/CK activity. The combination of myoglobin and cTnI increased the diagnostic value compared with myoglobin alone on admission, 2 and 4 h later. In multivariate analysis, cTnI and CK-MB/CK mass, but not myoglobin and CK-MB/CK activity, were shown to be independent predictors on the 6-week follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Repetitive myoglobin measurements within 4 h of admission, combined with at least one early troponin test, was shown to be the strategy of choice in early AMI diagnosis and prognosis assessment.

[C-reactive protein as an independent marker of prognosis in acute coronary syndrome: comparison with troponin T]. / C-reaktives Protein als unabhängiger Prognosemarker beim akuten Koronarsyndrom im Vergleich zu Troponin T.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that inflammatory processes play a role in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). C-reactive protein (CRP) is a classic acute phase protein. It is yet unclear whether, in addition to established markers as troponin T (TnT), determination of CRP in patients admitted for ACS contributes significantly to the diagnosis and prognosis of ACS. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We investigated 50 patients with ACS (59.4 SD 13.9 years) in the first hour after admission and 4-24 h later with respect to TnT (Elecsys, Roche Diagnostics) and CRP (biokit, modified Quantex CRP plus, analytical sensitivity 0.02 mg/dL). Fifty percent of the patients were classified as having unstable angina retrospectively. All patients were followed in the 6 weeks post discharge regarding death and recurrent ACS. RESULTS: The cumulative event rate at 6 weeks after discharge was 62.5% for patients being CRP and TnT positive compared to 35.3% in TnT positive and CRP negative patients. In TnT negative patients a positive CRP test predicted 33.3% of events and 28.8% of patients negative for CRP and TnT had events at 42 days post discharge. Logistic regression analysis regarding the primary endpoint including TnT and CRP (4-24 h values), age, gender and diagnosis resulted in independent prediction of ACS or death by TnT (cutoff 0.1 microgram/L, p = 0.048, odds ratio = 7.5) and CRP (cutoff 0.862 mg/dL, p = 0.026, odds ratio = 5.3). Sensitivity/specificity for AMI diagnosis were 69.6%/75% for TnT and 12%/72% for CRP in the first hour and 91.3%/68.2% for TnT and 68%/72% for CRP 4-24 h later. CONCLUSIONS: Besides TnT, high sensitivity CRP determination has no additional value for early AMI diagnosis. The prognosis of these patients during the first 24 hours is significantly and independently predicted by CRP measurements in addition to troponin T.

[Altered functional and biochemical parameters during treatment of patients with bronchial asthma with inhaled gaseous superoxide]. / Izmenenie funktsional'nykh i biokhimicheskikh pokazatelei pri lechenii bol'nykh bronkhial'noi astmoi ingaliatsiiami gazoobraznogo superoksida.

To investigate the impact of adaptive oxidative training with inhaled gaseous superoxide (GS) on endogenous oxidative stress (EOS) and lung function in asthmatics and healthy volunteers, short-term GS inhalation was repeated. The study involved 27 patients (median age 42 (34 to 44) years with atopic bronchial asthma and a median disease duration of 130 (120 to 180) months prior to the investigation and 8 healthy volunteers whose median age was 20.5 (18 to 25 years). The rates of GS generation at a distance of 1 cm from the source was 0.25 mumol/min. The examinees inhaled GS nasally over 15 minutes per session, on an average of 20 times over 2 periods of 4 weeks each. Spirometric studies, a mathacholine challenge test, salbutamol test and blood cell count were performed, and blood antioxidative components were measured. There is evidence that GS inhalations in asthmatics cause an adaptive oxidative training and promote reductions in EOS, as well as activation of antiinflammatory mechanisms and improved spirometric parameters.

The acute coronary syndrome diagnosis and prognostic evaluation by troponin I is influenced by the test system affinity to different troponin complexes.

It was suggested recently that cardiac troponins are released as T-I-C complexes and then further degraded to T and I-C. It is not known whether the various affinity to the T-I-C and I-C complex of different troponin I test systems influence the diagnostic and prognostic value of the test results in clinical practice. We studied 162 patients (61.3 S.D. 11.1 years) with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in a single center study. AMI was confirmed in 109 patients. Blood samples were taken at admission, after 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 h. Troponin I (TnI) was measured using the OPUS plus (TnI-O, cut-off 1.6 microg/l) and the Stratus II (TnI-S, cut-off 1.5 microg/l) analyzers. TnI-O has high affinity to the binary (I-C) and TnI-S to the ternary (T-I-C) troponin complex. A 6-month follow-up with respect to death and recurrent AMI was performed. The sensitivity (SE) and specificity (SP) for AMI diagnosis were 82.6 and 86.8% for TnI-S; 75.2 and 92.5% for TnI-O 0-2 h after admission. The ROC analysis showed a slightly better curve for TnI-S at 4 h (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis shows prediction of 6 months outcome by 0-24 h serial TnI-S measurements (odds ratio 5.21, P=0.0356), and serial TnI-O measurements (odds ratio 4.92, P=0.0186). High affinity to the ternary troponin complex enhances the diagnostic but not the prognostic value of a test system. Indeed, the resulting differences are small but underline the need for standardization of biochemical markers.

Antibacterial efficacy of ciprofloxacin in a case of endocarditis due to Cardiobacterium hominis.

Endocarditis due to Cardiobacterium hominis is rare and may be treated with a variety of antibiotics. We isolated the bacteria from blood cultures of a patient with Cardiobacterium hominis endocarditis who could be successfully treated with ciprofloxacin. The bacterial features of Cardiobacterium hominis are presented, and susceptibility to ciprofloxacin is documented with bacterial killing curves employing peak and trough specimens of patient's serum.