Use of the sequential organ failure assessment score as a severity score.

Objective: To evaluate whether the SOFA score can be used to develop a model to predict intensive care unit (ICU) mortality in different countries.

Design And Setting: Analysis of a prospectively collected database. Patients with ICU stay longer than 2 days were studied to develop a mortality prediction model based on measurements of organ dysfunction.

Use of capillary zone electrophoresis for differentiating excessive from moderate alcohol consumption.

Background: The poorly sialylated transferrin isoforms in serum were analyzed by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) to differentiate moderate from heavy alcohol consumption.

Methods: We enrolled 614 volunteers, classified after interviews, self-reported drinking habits, and AUDIT scores as alcohol abusers (consuming >50 g/day ethanol for the previous 3 months or longer; n = 413) or moderate drinkers (<30 g/day ethanol; n = 201). Serum transferrin isoforms were separated at 28 kV and monitored at 214 nm on a P/ACE 5500 CZE with use of fused-silica capillaries and the related CEofix CDT reagent set.