The role of postmortem cardiac markers in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

Sudden cardiac deaths because of acute myocardial infarction (MI) constitute a significant percentage of the caseload for death investigators, coroners, and forensic pathologists. Clinicians use cardiac markers, highly sensitive and specific for myocardial damage, to screen living patients for acute MI; however, to this point, the utility of these markers in the autopsy setting has not been fully established. The current study included 10 decedents, five who died of acute MI, and five subjects who died of noncardiac disease.

Monitoring of mycophenolate acid in serum or plasma using LC tandem mass spectrometry.

Therapeutic drug management of patients receiving mycophenolic mofetil or mycophenolate sodium using mycophenolic acid (MPA) concentrations is controversial. Considered to be less toxic compared to many of the other drugs used in immunosuppression regimens, MPA is not tolerated by all patients. For these patients, monitoring is useful in achieving desired therapeutic targets, reducing adverse effects, and individualizing dosing.

An unusual cause of elevated serum total beta hCG.

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a heterodimeric hormone consisting of an alpha (alpha) and a beta (beta) subunit, is used as a marker for the diagnosis of pregnancy, congenital defects, and choriocarcinoma. After excluding the common causes of elevated serum hCG, laboratory identification of false-positive or true results assists in guiding clinical management. Options include testing urine for hCG, serum for heterophile antibodies, and serum hCG by different immunoassays.

Rapid method for beta2-transferrin in cerebrospinal fluid leakage using an automated immunofixation electrophoresis system.

Background: Beta(2)-transferrin (beta-2 trf) is a desialated isoform of transferrin found only in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), ocular fluids, and perilymph. In aural, nasal, and wound drainages, this protein is an important marker of CSF leakage. Immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE) on agarose gels is a widely accepted qualitative technique for detection of small amounts of beta-2 trf, but disadvantages include lengthy transfer immunoblotting techniques or the requirement of at least 2 mL of sample.