Failure of renal biomarkers to predict worsening renal function in high-risk patients presenting with oliguria.

Purpose: Oliguria is a common symptom in critically ill patients and puts patients in a high risk category for further worsening renal function (WRF). We performed this study to explore the predictive value of biomarkers to predict WRF in oliguric intensive care unit (ICU) patients.

Patients And Methods: Single-center prospective observational study.

Switching fibrate to statin in type 2 diabetic patients: consequences on lipid profile.

Unlabelled: Interest of statins in terms of morbid-mortality reduction in primary and secondary prevention in type 2 diabetic patients has broadly been proven in recent studies, while evidence for fibrates preventive effect is considerably weaker. HMGCoA reductase inhibitors are known to decrease low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL C) in a greater extension than triglycerides (TG). In type 2 diabetic patients, the dyslipidemic profile is commonly associated with reduced high-density lipoproteins (HDL C), increased TG and normal or mildly elevated LDL C.

Apolipoprotein(a) size polymorphism in young adults with ischemic stroke.

High serum lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) concentration which is largely determined by genetic factors, mainly the apolipoprotein(a) (apo(a)) polymorphism, is associated with ischemic cerebrovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether apo(a) size was associated with acute ischemic stroke in young adults for which causal factors often remain undetermined. Lipid parameters, Lp(a) concentration and apo(a) isoform size distribution were determined in 90 young patients (37.

Value of C-reactive protein in the detection of bacterial contamination at the time of presentation in drug-induced aspiration pneumonia.

Study Objectives: To compare the plasma concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) with traditional markers for diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia in patients with suspected aspiration.

Design: Prospective, nonrandomized, controlled study of consecutive hospital admissions.

Setting: Toxicology ICU in a university hospital.

Secretion of parathyroid hormone-related peptide in patients with multiple myeloma.

Stimulation of bone resorption by local factors, the cytokines, is key to the development of hypercalcemia in multiple myeloma patients. Parathyroid hormone-related peptide, the systemic factor found in humoral hypercalcemia, has rarely been incriminated in myeloma. We report a case of myeloma with hypercalcemia and elevated serum level of parathyroid hormone-related peptide.

Gastric emptying and gastrointestinal absorption of alcohol ingested with a meal.

We have measured, by an intubation method, gastric evacuation and gastrointestinal absorption of alcohol ingested with a meal in seven healthy nonalcoholic subjects. A homogenized meal containing [14C]PEG and ethanol (1 g/kg body wt) was given intragastrically while saline containing [57CO]vitamin B12 was perfused into the duodenum. Of the ingested alcohol, 39.

[Effect of pentagastrin and cimetidine on gastric protein loss in exudative gastropathies].

The effectiveness of cimetidine in decreasing protein loss in protein-losing gastropathies has recently been questioned. The present investigation was designed to test the effects of pentagastrin and cimetidine on gastric protein loss in 6 patients with this type gastropathy: 4 with Ménétrier's disease and 2 with Stempien's disease. Fecal and gastric loss of 51Cr-labelled proteins were measured and expressed as ml of plasma per unit of time +/- SEM.

[Intestinal clearance of alpha 1 anti-trypsin: a simple technique for diagnosis of protein losing enteropathy (author's transl)].

Until recently, to diagnose exsudative enteropathy required the use of radio-isotopes and a stay of several days in hospital. Alpha-1-antitrypsin can now be used as endogenous plasma marker and assayed in the serum and faeces by a simple immunochemical method, thus measuring its intestinal clearance. Fifteen healthy subjects and 13 patients with organic digestive diseases were investigated by this method.