Case Report: Subtherapeutic Vancomycin and Meropenem Concentrations due to Augmented Renal Clearance in a Patient With Intracranial Infection Caused by .

occasionally causes brain abscesses that can be life-threatening, requiring prompt antibiotic and neurosurgical treatment. The source is often dental, and it may spread to the eye or the brain parenchyma. We report the case of a 34-year-old man with signs of apical periodontitis, endophthalmitis, and multiple brain abscesses caused by .

Prevalence of and factors influencing vitamin D deficiency in paediatric patients diagnosed with cancer at northern latitudes.

Aim: To investigate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among children with non-haematological malignancies and to explore possible causes of low vitamin D levels among these patients.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 458 children diagnosed with solid tumours, brain tumours, non-Hodgkin lymphoma or Hodgkin disease at the University Children's Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone levels were measured in samples taken at the time of cancer diagnosis and related to clinical data.

Vitamin D status in children with leukemia, its predictors, and association with outcome.

Background: Children and adolescents with leukemia are potentially at high risk of vitamin D inadequacy, which may have clinical relevance for skeletal morbidity, infections, and cancer outcome. This study aimed to evaluate vitamin D status at the time of diagnosis to investigate its predictors and association with overall survival in children with leukemia.

Procedure: We included all 295 children and adolescents diagnosed with leukemia at our institution between 1990 and 2016 who had available serum sample from the time of diagnosis.

Acute effects of coffee on skin blood flow and microvascular function.

Objective: Studies on the acute effects of coffee on the microcirculation have shown contradicting results. This study aimed to investigate if intake of caffeine-containing coffee changes blood flow and microvascular reactivity in the skin.

Methods: We measured acute changes in cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) in the forearm and the tip of the finger, the microvascular response to transdermal iontophoresis of acetylcholine (ACh) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and post-occlusive reactive hyperemia (PORH) in the skin, after intake of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee.

Phosphatidylethanol Compared with Other Blood Tests as a Biomarker of Moderate Alcohol Consumption in Healthy Volunteers: A Prospective Randomized Study.

Aim: It is generally agreed that traditional alcohol biomarkers lack in sensitivity to detect hazardous alcohol consumption. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the ability of phosphatidylethanol (PEth) and traditional alcohol markers to detect moderate alcohol consumption and to distinguish between moderate alcohol consumption and abstinence.

Methods: Forty-four subjects, 32 females and 12 males, were included in the study.

Pheomelanin-related benzothiazole isomers in the urine of patients with diffuse melanosis of melanoma.

Background: Currently used as structural markers for pheomelanin identification and quantitation, benzothiazole compounds derived from isomers of cysteinyldopa have been indicated by recent in vitro studies as new potential pheomelanogenesis intermediates. The presence of benzothiazole compounds in the urine of patients with melanoma with or without diffuse melanosis was investigated.

Methods: Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography with zwitterionic stationary phase (ZIC-HILIC) and photo-diode array (PDA) detection was used for analysis of 6-(2-amino-2-carboxyethyl)-4-hydroxybenzothiazole-2-carboxylic acid (BTCA-5), and 7-(2-amino-2-carboxyethyl)-4-hydroxybenzothiazole-2-carboxylic acid (BTCA-2), derived from 5-S-cysteinyldopa (5-S-CD) and 2-S-cysteinyldopa (2-S-CD) isomers, respectively.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of pheomelanin degradation products.

Melanoma is most rapidly increasing in the white population and people with pheomelanin skin type are at high risk to develop melanoma. However, little is known about the pheomelanin structure and function, and further elucidation of this melanin is therefore an important task. A GC/MS method was developed based on hydriodic acid hydrolysis of pheomelanin in the urine.