Prognostic factors of hematological recovery in life-threatening nonchemotherapy drug-induced agranulocytosis. A study of 91 patients from a single center.

Objectives: We studied clinical factors that may influence the duration of hematological recovery to reach neutrophil counts and thus, indirectly, the prognosis in patients with life-threatening drug-induced agranulocytosis (DIA).

Methods: Using univariate and multivariate analyses with Cox's proportional hazard models, we determined the prognostic factors for hematological recovery, defined as neutrophil counts>0.5 and>1.

Treatment of tuberculosis with rifabutin in a renal transplant recipient.

Development of tuberculosis infection in a renal transplant patient is infrequent in Spain, although the prevalence is higher than in the general population. These patients usually receive calcineurin inhibitors as the main component of their immunosuppressive treatment. The metabolism of these drugs, whether cyclosporine or tacrolimus, involves cytochrome P-450 3A.

[Cationic anti-microbial peptides: from innate immunity study to drug development].

Objective: Host defense, cationic anti-microbial peptides are recognized as an important component of innate immune response in most multicellular organisms.

New Features: They are cationic amphipathic peptides, comprising 20-50 amino acids. Several hundreds of peptides have been characterized.

Quality circles to improve prescribing patterns in primary medical care: what is their actual impact?

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Quality circles comprise small group sessions of doctors and written feedback on their individual practice patterns. Although 50% of German primary care doctors participate in quality circles, their effectiveness has hardly been evaluated in Germany. This study determined the impact of a large-scale programme of quality circles on quality and costs of prescribing.

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) deficiency in elderly patients.

Vitamin B12 or cobalamin deficiency occurs frequently (> 20%) among elderly people, but it is often unrecognized because the clinical manifestations are subtle; they are also potentially serious, particularly from a neuropsychiatric and hematological perspective. Causes of the deficiency include, most frequently, food-cobalamin malabsorption syndrome (> 60% of all cases), pernicious anemia (15%-20% of all cases), insufficient dietary intake and malabsorption. Food-cobalamin malabsorption, which has only recently been identified as a significant cause of cobalamin deficiency among elderly people, is characterized by the inability to release cobalamin from food or a deficiency of intestinal cobalamin transport proteins or both.

[Update of pernicious anemia. A retrospective study of 49 cases].

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe the present clinical characteristics of the pernicious anemia (PA).

Method: It is a retrospective (1996-2002) multicenter (five departments of internal medicine) study of 49 patients presenting an established cobalamin deficiency related to PA.

Results: The median age of the patients was 74 years (25-93), the female/male ratio 2:9.

[Is there a link between the food-cobalamin malabsorption and the pernicious anemia?].

Background: A relation between food-cobalamin malabsorption and pernicious anemia has been suggested, particularly in the event of food-cobalamin malabsorption related to hypochlorhydric atrophic gastritis.

Study Design: This work describes three cases of well-documented cobalamin deficiency related to food-cobalamin malabsorption in three women aged 56, 82 and 68 Years who had atrophic gastritis (not associated with Helicobacter pylori infection) and later developed authentic pernicious anemia.

Conclusions: This work illustrates the potential relation between these two disorders responsible for cobalamin deficiency.

Life-threatening idiosyncratic drug-induced agranulocytosis in elderly patients.

Agranulocytosis is a life-threatening disorder in any age, but particularly so in elderly patients who are receiving, on average, a larger number of drugs than younger patients. Drug-induced agranulocytosis still remains a rare event, with an annual incidence rate of approximately 3-12 cases per million population. This disorder frequently occurs as an adverse reaction to drugs, particularly antibacterials, antiplatelet agents, antithyroid drugs, antipsychotics or antiepileptic drugs, and NSAIDs.

Glibenclamide-induced acute haemolytic anaemia revealing a G6PD-deficiency.

A 58-year-old woman was admitted at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes without keto-acidosis. Blood glucose was normalized initially with insulin. Whilst taking glibenclamide, she developed acute haemolysis.

Danazol therapy in patients with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura: long-term results.

Background: Adults with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in whom standard-dose corticosteroids and splenectomy have failed or who have contraindications to these therapies often require further treatment for life-threatening thrombocytopenia or bleeding. We studied whether danazol, an attenuated androgen, is useful in this setting.

Methods: To assess both clinical outcome and tolerance issues, 57 patients who had refractory chronic ITP (n = 27) or who had contraindications to splenectomy or corticosteroids or who refused these therapeutic options (n = 30) were studied.

Differential functional expression of human myocardial G protein receptor kinases in left ventricular cardiac diseases.

The relationship between myocardial G protein receptor kinase (GRK) expression and beta-adrenoceptor signalling in human left heart diseases has not been fully elucidated yet. In this study, we characterized and compared the GRK2-7 expression in patients with left ventricular volume overload disorders and dilated cardiomyopathic hearts, and evaluated the relationship of this expression with alterations in myocardial beta-adrenoceptor signalling in volume overload, in order to test the notion that GRK functional expression is influenced in a disease-specific and selective fashion. We established that GRK2, GRK3, and GRK5 are well expressed, while GRK4, GRK6, and GRK7 are only scarcely detectable in the healthy human heart.

[Vitamin B12 in the adult: of metabolism and deficiencies].

Purpose: Update on cobalamin deficiencies in adults.

Current Knowledge And Key Points: More precise definitions establish real cobalamin deficiency and determine epidemiological features. Current data on cobalamin metabolism suggest the concept of non-dissociation of vitamin B12 from its carrier proteins (NDB12), a generalization of the food-cobalamin malabsorption concept.

Current management of adult idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in practice: a cohort study of 201 patients from a single center.

To define usefulness and response to therapy and outcome in adults with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in clinical practice. We retrospectively reviewed a cohort of 201 consecutive patients with ITP, diagnosed between 1985 and 1994. In particular, we analyzed the therapies used, their response rates, prognostic indicators of response and outcome.

[Chronic fever revealing an urachal cyst].

In the adult, the urachus remains as a non-specific fibrous formation extended from the bladder dome to the Retzius space. This urachal remnant is commonly asymptomatic or may be revealed by a cyst. This later may also be asymptomatic or lead to local inflammation or inflammatory pseudo-tumor.