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- Block, T, et al.
(författare)
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Diagnostic accuracy of plasma biomarkers for intestinal ischaemia
- 2008
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Investigation. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0036-5513 .- 1502-7686. ; 68:3, s. 242-248
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective. Intestinal ischaemia is a life‐threatening condition with high mortality, and the lack of accurate and readily available diagnostic methods often results in delay in diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of different plasma biomarkers in diagnosing intestinal ischaemia. Material and methods. Prospective inclusion of patients older than 50 years with acute abdomen admitted to hospital in Karlskrona, Sweden, between 2001 and 2003. Venous blood was sampled prior to any surgery and within 24h from onset of pain. D‐lactate, alpha glutathione S‐transferase, intestinal fatty acid binding protein, creatine kinase B, isoenzymes of lactate dehydrogenase (LD) and alkaline liver phosphatase (ALP) were analysed. D‐dimer was analysed using four different commercially available test kits. Results. In‐hospital mortalities among patients with (n = 10) and without (n = 61) intestinal ischaemia were 40% and 3%, respectively (p = 0.003). D‐dimer was associated with intestinal ischaemia (p = 0.001) independently of which assay was used. No patient presenting with a normal D‐dimer had intestinal ischaemia. D‐dimer >0.9mg/L had a specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of 82%, 60% and 79%, respectively. Total LD, isoenzymes of LD 1–4 and liver isoenzyme of ALP (ALP liver) were significantly higher in patients with intestinal ischaemia, and accuracies for LD 2 (cut‐off 2.3µkat/L) and ALP liver (cut‐off 0.7µkat/L) were 69% and 66%, respectively. Conclusions. D‐dimer may be used as an exclusion test for intestinal ischaemia, but lacks specificity. The other plasma biomarkers studied had insufficient accuracy for this group of patients. Further studies are needed.
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| 2. |
- Hernandez, Victor Agmo, et al.
(författare)
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The adhesion and spreading of thrombocyte vesicles on electrode surfaces
- 2008
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Ingår i: Bioelectrochemistry. - : Elsevier BV. - 1567-5394 .- 1878-562X. ; 74, s. 210-216
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The interaction of thrombocyte vesicles with the surface of metal electrodes, i.e., mercury, gold and gold electrodes modified with self assembled monolayers (SAM), was studied with the help of chronoamperometry, atomic force microscopy, and quartz crystal microbalance measurements. The experimental results show that the interaction of the thrombocyte vesicles with the surface of the electrodes depends on the hydrophobicity of the latter: whereas on very hydrophobic surfaces (mercury and gold functionalized with SAM) the thrombocyte vesicles disintegrate and form a monolayer of lipids. on the less hydrophobic gold surface a bilayer is formed. The chronoamperometric measurements indicate the possibility of future applications to probe membrane properties of thrombocytes. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 3. |
- Kwak, Y, et al.
(författare)
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Interferon-gamma alters electrical activity and clock gene expression in suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of biological rhythms. - : SAGE Publications. - 0748-7304 .- 1552-4531. ; 23:2, s. 150-159
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The proinflammatory cytokine interferon (IFN-γ) is an immunomodulatory molecule released by immune cells. It was originally described as an antiviral agent but can also affect functions in the nervous system including circadian activity of the principal mammalian circadian pacemaker, the suprachiasmatic nucleus. IFN-γ and the synergistically acting cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α acutely decrease spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic activity and alter spiking activity in tissue preparations of the SCN. Because IFN-γ can be released chronically during infections, the authors studied the long-term effects of IFN-γ on SCN neurons by treating dispersed rat SCN cultures with IFN-γ over a 4-week period. They analyzed the effect of the treatment on the spontaneous spiking pattern and rhythmic expression of the “clock gene,” Period 1. They found that cytokine-treated cells exhibited a lower average spiking frequency and displayed a more irregular firing pattern when compared with controls. Furthermore, long-term treatment with IFN-γ in cultures obtained from a transgenic Per1-luciferase rat significantly reduced the Per1-luc rhythm amplitude in individual SCN neurons. These results show that IFN-γ can alter the electrical properties and circadian clock gene expression in SCN neurons. The authors hypothesize that IFN-γ can modulate circadian output, which may be associated with sleep and rhythm disturbances observed in certain infections and in aging.
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