Negative interference from immunoglobulin M paraproteinaemia on the Roche enzymatic creatinine method.

Although enzymatic creatinine methods are subject to fewer interferences than traditional Jaffe creatinine methods, every method in clinical chemistry has limitations. We report, for the first time in the literature, a case of an immunoglobulin M (IgM) paraproteinaemia causing an undetectably low creatinine result on the Roche enzymatic assay. This interference did not occur with other enzymatic creatinine methods produced by Abbott and Siemens or the Roche Jaffe, VITROS dry slide and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) creatinine methods.

Impact of vitamin D supplementation on arterial vasomotion, stiffness and endothelial biomarkers in chronic kidney disease patients.

Background: Cardiovascular events are frequent and vascular endothelial function is abnormal in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We demonstrated endothelial dysfunction with vitamin D deficiency in CKD patients; however the impact of cholecalciferol supplementation on vascular stiffness and vasomotor function, endothelial and bone biomarkers in CKD patients with low 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] is unknown, which this study investigated.

Methods: We assessed non-diabetic patients with CKD stage 3/4, age 17-80 years and serum 25(OH)D <75 nmol/L.

Influence of population selection on the 99th percentile reference value for cardiac troponin assays.

Objective: We sought to determine the effect of patient selection on the 99th reference percentile of 2 sensitive and 1 high-sensitivity (hs) cardiac troponin assays in a well-defined reference population.

Methods: Individuals>45 years old were randomly selected from 7 representative local community practices. Detailed information regarding the participants was collected via questionnaires.

Assessment of GFR by four methods in adults in Ashanti, Ghana: the need for an eGFR equation for lean African populations.

Background: Equations for estimating glomerular filtration rate (GFR) have not been validated in Sub-Saharan African populations, and data on GFR are few.

Methods: GFR by creatinine clearance (Ccr) using 24-hour urine collections and estimated GFR (eGFR) using the four-variable Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD-4)[creatinine calibrated to isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) standard], Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) and Cockcroft-Gault equations were obtained in Ghanaians aged 40-75. The population comprised 1013 inhabitants in 12 villages; 944 provided a serum creatinine and two 24-hour urines.

[Human African trypanosomiasis in Ivory Coast: biological characteristics after treatment. 812 cases treated in the Daloa focus (Ivory Coast)].

The treatment and post therapeutic follow up of patients diagnosed with HAT are important for HAT control. A longitudinal survey was implemented in the focus of Daloa (Côte d'Ivoire). A total of 812 patients infected with Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in meningoencephalitic stage and treated with melarsoprol were included, this study pointed out the biological characteristics of patients after treatment.

[Geographic distribution of trypanosomiasis treated in Ivory Coast from 1993 to 2000].

Human African Trypanosomosis (HAT, or sleeping sickness) caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense develops chronically in Côte d'Ivoire. From 1993 to 2000, a total of 1616 patients were taken in charge in the three treatment centres of the country, which means an average of 202 patients a year. The patients came from two main areas in the Centre West of the country in the Marahoué region: the districts of Sinfra, South of Bouaflé, and Bonon, West of Bouaflé.

Intraindividual hormonal variability in ultrasonographically timed successive ovulatory menstrual cycles is detected only in the luteal phase in infertility patients.

Objective: To assess intraindividual variation of follicle stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, estradiol, progesterone, inhibin A, and inhibin B in three successive ovulatory cycles correlated with transvaginal ultrasound monitored morphological changes in the ovary.

Methods: Serial transvaginal color and pulsed Doppler ultrasound and serum hormone analysis were performed during midfollicular, periovulatory, and midluteal phase for three consecutive cycles in 19 patients with normal menstrual cycles.

Results: Luteinising hormone and progesterone showed significant differences in the midluteal phase between the 1st and 2nd cycle (luteinising hormone p = 0.

Measurement of cardiac troponins.

The cardiac troponins form part of the regulatory mechanism for muscle contraction. Specific cardiac isoforms of cardiac troponin T and cardiac troponin I exist and commercially available immunoassay systems have been developed for their measurement. A large number of clinical and analytical studies have been performed and the measurement of cardiac troponins is now considered the 'gold standard' biochemical test for diagnosis of myocardial damage.

Plasma arginine levels and the response to inhaled nitric oxide in neonates.

Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) can be an effective vasodilator in pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PHN). The aim of this study was to determine whether differences in arginine levels, from which endogenous NO is produced, explain the variability in response to NO and whether the arginine levels were lower in term and preterm infants with PHN than in infants without PHN (controls). We prospectively studied 30 infants (17 born preterm) with clinically diagnosed PHN and treated with iNO and 22 controls (14 born preterm).

Argininosuccinate lyase: a new autoantigen in liver disease.

Anti-liver cytosol 1 autoantibody (LC1) characterizes a severe form of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), staining the cytoplasm of periportal hepatocytes and targeting an unidentified 60-kD liver cytosolic antigen. To identify its target, we used high-titre anti-LCI+ sera from two patients with AIH to screen 18 cytoplasm enzymes with periportal location by double immunodiffusion (DDI). Both sera gave a broad precipitin line against human liver cytosol, suggesting that they may recognize two distinct antigens, a possibility confirmed by the appearance of two precipitin lines when DDI conditions were optimized (0.

Prevalence of neurological disorders in Haute-Vienne department (Limousin region-France).

The Limousin region had at present one of the largest elderly populations in France and in Europe. To determine the frequency of certain neurological disorders in the elderly, a neuroepidemiological survey was conducted in 1986-1987 on a representative sample of the population in Haute-Vienne (the most population-dense department in the Limousin region). This study used a WHO protocol which was first introduced at the beginning of the 1980s.

Amino acid concentrations in human embryological fluids.

The concentrations of amino acids in samples of coelomic fluid (n = 15), amniotic fluid (n = 9) and maternal serum (n = 15) obtained from normal pregnancies between 7 and 12 weeks of gestation were measured using reversed-phase chromatography with pre-column derivatization. The total molar concentration of the 18 amino acids measured was 2.3 times higher in coelomic fluid than in maternal serum.

Prevalence of headache in a representative sample of the population in a French department (Haute-Vienne-Limousin).

In 1986-1987, a neuroepidemiologic survey was undertaken to study the prevalence of the most frequently encountered neurologic disorders, and in particular headache, in a representative sample of the population in the Haute-Vienne Department (Limousin). A door-to-door survey was made using a protocol developed by the W.H.

[A neuro-epidemiologic survey in a Limousin town].

One characteristic of the Limousin district is the raised average age of its population. Given the growing average age found in France and the ensuing potential problems, it was thought useful to undertake a neuro-epidemiological study of the distribution of neurological diseases in this region. The initial step involved checking the techniques to be used and the form of questionnaire relevant to this type of study.

[EEG and treatment with Arsobal in human African trypanosomiasis].

EEG in patients suffering form HAT at the meningoencephalitis stage displays the characteristic features of the disease. Now since most of the patients are treated at an early stage, the majority of the EEG are normal or with mild abnormalities. Where abnormalities occur, they present a diminished background activity interrupted by bursts of synchronous and generalised polymorphic delta waves at 1.

[Hemiplegic forms of human African trypanosomiasis].

Hemiplegic forms of human African trypanosomiasis are unusual. From 1963 to 1987, 14 cases have been reported in the literature. One may be mistakenly led to look for a space-occupying lesion when clinical features include hemiplegia, vascular shift from median line during arteriography, focal EEG anomalies and intracranial hypertension.

Treatment of human late stage gambiense trypanosomiasis with alpha-difluoromethylornithine (eflornithine): efficacy and tolerance in 14 cases in Côte d'Ivoire.

alpha-Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO; eflornithine), an inhibitor of polyamine biosynthesis, was used to treat 14 patients with late stage gambiense sleeping sickness, 12 cases having been previously treated with and considered refractory to melarsoprol. alpha-Difluoromethylornithine was administered intravenously at a dose of 400 mg/kg/day for 14 days followed by oral treatment, 300 mg/kg/day, for 21-28 days. In all patients treatment was associated with rapid disappearance of trypanosomes from body fluids (in several cases within 24 hr) and decreased cerebrospinal fluid white blood cell counts.

Human African trypanosomiasis (T.b. gambiense): a study of 16 fatal cases of sleeping sickness with some observations on acute reactive arsenical encephalopathy.

The principal clinical and pathological findings in 16 fatal cases of human African trypanosomiasis caused by T.b. Gambiense are described.