Genetic predisposition to breath-hold diving-induced hemoptysis: Preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION: Breath-hold diving-induced hemoptysis (BH-DIH) has been reported in about 25% breath-hold divers (BHD) and is characterized by dyspnea, coughing, hemoptysis and chest pain. We investigated whether eNOS G894T, eNOS T786C and ACE insertion/deletion I/D genetic variants, are possible BH-DIH risk factors. METHODS: 108 experienced healthy instructor BHDs with the same minimum requirements (102 male, six female; mean age 43.90 ± 7.49) were studied. We looked for different eNOS G894T, eNOS T786C and ACE insertion/ deletion genetic variants between BH-DIH-positive and BH-DIH-negative subjects to identify the variants most frequently associated with BH-DIH. RESULTS: At least one BH-DIH episode was reported by 22.2% of subjects, while 77.7% never reported BH-DIH. The majority of BH-DIH-positive subjects showed eNOS G894T (p = 0.001) and eNOS-T786C (p = 0.001) genotype "TT" (high-risk profile). Prevalence of BH-DIH was higher in subjects with eNOS G894T TT genotype (50%) than in subjects with GT (9.5%, p < 0.001) and GG (24%, (p = 0.0002) genotype (low-risk profile). Similar results were observed for eNOS T786C: BH-DIH prevalence was higher in the TT genotype (41.2%) group than in the CT (15.4%, p < 0.001) and CC genotype (9.1%, p < 0.001) groups. BH-DIH prevalence was significantly higher in subjects showing ACE ID genotype (34.5%) than II (0%, p < 0.001) and DD (10.5%, p = 0.0002). Of the ACE "II" genotype group, 100% never developed BH-DIH. DISCUSSION: eNOS-G894T, eNOS-T786C and ACE influence NO availability and regulation of peripheral vascular tone and blood flow. Different genetic variants of eNOS-G894T, eNOS-T786C and ACE appear significantly related to the probability to develop BH-DIH (p < 0.001).

Neuron-specific enolase and lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels in lung cancer have been investigated widely; however, their diagnostic values have not yet been clarified. The authors investigated the diagnostic validity of NSE in BALF and serum in lung cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective case-control study, NSE levels in BALF (B-NSE) and serum (S-NSE) of 3 groups of subjects were analyzed: control subjects (group 1, n = 15), patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; group 2, n = 15), and lung cancer (group 3, n = 35). RESULTS: The differences in S-NSE and B-NSE levels between the groups were not significant (P > 0.05). S-NSE and B-NSE levels did not show any difference between smokers and nonsmokers, small cell lung cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer patients, and stage I-II and stage III-IV patients in group 3 (P > 0.05). B-NSE or B-NSE/urea did not show any significance in comparison with S-NSE in the diagnosis and/or staging of malignancy (P > 0.05). S-NSE and B-NSE were well correlated with each other (r = 0.84, P = 0.000). The sensitivity of the S-NSE was 60% and the specificity was 40%. CONCLUSION: The authors conclude that, although elevation of B-NSE is a well-known parameter in small cell lung cancer, it can also be elevated considerably in nonsmall cell lung cancer and COPD. Because of the significant correlation between S-NSE and B-NSE, it may be sufficient to measure S-NSE activity because it is easier and less invasive. However, NSE has no role in the exact diagnosis of lung cancer; it can only be investigated in a scientific setting.

Serum creatine kinase activities in dogs with dirofilariasis.

Total serum creatine kinase (CK) and its isozyme activities were determined in dogs with dirofilariasis. Before heartworm removal, total CK and isozyme activities in dogs of the mild group were not different from those in dogs of the heartworm-free group. BB activity was higher in dogs of the hemoptysis group. Dogs of the ascites group displayed a mild increase in MM activity. In dogs of the caval syndrome (CS) group, total CK and MM activities were highest among the heartworm-free and heartworm-infected dogs, and MM isozyme accounted for most (75%) of total CK activity. MB and BB activities were also higher. However, there were no significant differences in CK activities between the surviving and non-surviving cases. In dogs with pulmonary heartworm disease (mild and ascites groups), MM activity correlated significantly with the number of heartworms (r = 0.45), hematocrit value (Ht, r = -0.40), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT, r = 0.42) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH, r = 0.46) activities, mean pulmonary arterial pressure (r = 0.64) and total pulmonary resistance (r = 0.50). In dogs with CS, MM activity did not correlate with any parameter, but BB activity correlated with the number of heartworms at the right atrium (r = 0.61), Ht (r = -0.53), ALT (r = 0.80), LDH (r = 0.73) and serum urea nitrogen (r = 0.47). At 1 week after heartworm removal, BB and MM activity decreased in dogs of the hemoptysis and ascites groups, respectively. In dogs of the CS group, total CK and MM isozyme activities decreased markedly (P less than 0.01) regardless of their prognosis.