The Use of Brain Natriuretic Peptide as a Decision-supporting Tool in Hospitalized Patients.

Background: Most dyspneic patients in internal medicine departments have co-morbidities that interfere with the clinical diagnosis. The role of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels is well-established in the acute setting but not in hospitalized patients.

Objectives: To evaluate the additive value of BNP tests in patients with dyspnea admitted to medical wards who did not respond to initial treatment.

Equivalence of cell survival data for radiation dose and thermal dose in ablative treatments: analysis applied to essential tremor thalamotomy by focused ultrasound and gamma knife.

Thermal dose and absorbed radiation dose have historically been difficult to compare because different biological mechanisms are at work. Thermal dose denatures proteins and the radiation dose causes DNA damage in order to achieve ablation. The purpose of this paper is to use the proportion of cell survival as a potential common unit by which to measure the biological effect of each procedure.

Cardiovascular health among two ethnic groups living in the same region: A population-based study.

Background: Poor cardiovascular health (CVH) among ethnic/racial minorities, studied primarily in the USA, may reflect lower access to healthcare. We examined factors associated with minority CVH in a setting of universal access to healthcare.

Methods And Results: CVH behaviors and factors were evaluated in a random population sample (551 Arabs, 553 Jews) stratified by sex, ethnicity and age.

Low ALT Levels Independently Associated with 22-Year All-Cause Mortality Among Coronary Heart Disease Patients.

Background: Low alanine aminotransferase (ALT) blood levels are known to be associated with frailty and increased risk of long-term mortality in certain populations. However, the contribution of this marker to long-term outcome has not been assessed in patients with chronic coronary heart disease.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to assess the association between low ALT values and long-term, 22.

[Low ALT activity amongst patients hospitalized in internal medicine wards is a widespread phenomenon associated with low vitamin B6 levels in their blood].

Background: Monitoring the activity of ALT (SGPT) in the blood is part of the routine, clinical-laboratory follow-up in hospitalized patients. In most cases, activity levels which are above the normal range are considered pathology, mostly related to lysis of hepatocytes, as in cases of hepatitis. Little has been investigated and published in regard to cases in which the ALT activity level is lower than normal.