Quantification of hepatitis B e antigen between Elecsys HBeAg and Architect HBeAg assays among patients infected with hepatitis B virus.

Background: Among patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), quantification of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) is accruing substantial clinical relevance as a marker for HBeAg-loss during treatment. No direct comparison has been made between assays that quantify HBeAg.

Objectives: To compare the performance of HBeAg quantification (qHBeAg) between Architect and Elecsys HBeAg assays among 183 patients with chronic HBV infection (94 treatment-naïve HBV-monoinfected and 89 antiretroviral-experienced HIV-HBV co-infected).

Differences in circulating insulin levels following glargine administration.

Objectives: To evaluate two-site non competitive insulin immunoassays [BI-INSULIN assay (IRMA) and an electro-chemiluminescent immunoassay (ECLIA)] in routine practice.

Design And Methods: We studied 145 consecutive patients attending our Endocrine Department for general endocrine explorations and metabolic status investigations.

Results: The ECLIA yielded higher results than IRMA in all but six patients treated by glargine.

Prevalence, risk factors and outcome of hyperlactataemia in HIV-infected patients.

Objective: We describe the prevalence, risk factors and outcome of hyperlactataemia (HL) in a cohort of 140 HIV-infected patients.

Patients And Methods: Patients were enrolled consecutively within a 3-month period (July to September 1999) and followed until 31 October 2000. One hundred and forty HIV-infected patients had venous plasma lactate levels measured.

Multicenter evaluation of the Elecsys CA 125 II assay.

The technical performance and clinical usefulness of the newly developed Elecsys CA 125 II assay (Boehringer Mannheim) was evaluated in a multicenter study. Imprecision studies were carried out using control sera and human pool sera with CA 125 concentrations from 11 to 1026 U/ml. Within-run CVs between 0.

Imbalances in serum proinflammatory cytokines and their soluble receptors: a putative role in the progression of idiopathic IgA nephropathy (IgAN) and Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis, and a potential target of immunoglobulin therapy?

Following recent experimental data suggesting an aggravating effect of circulating proinflammatory cytokines on the histological lesions of IgAN, we studied changes in serum proinflammatory cytokines and their soluble receptors and antagonists in patients treated with polyvalent immunoglobulins (15 with severe nephropathy who had indicators of poor prognosis: heavy proteinuria, hypertension, altered renal function and Lee's histological grade III or IV; and 14 with moderate forms of IgAN who had permanent albuminuria > 300 mg/day and < 2000 mg/day, Lee's histological grade II and a glomerular filtration rate > 70 ml/min) in comparison with healthy controls (n = 20) and patients with non-IgA nephritides (n = 50). These were measured by means of specific immunometric assays before and after 9 months of immunoglobulin therapy. Total tumour necrosis factor (TNF) serum and IL-6 levels were elevated in IgAN patients before therapy, relative to controls, and normalized after immunoglobulin therapy.