[D-dimer testing in the emergency department: age adjustment, inappropriate use, and ability to predict the extension and severity of pulmonary embolism].

Objectives: To evaluate whether using D-dimer test results adjusted for age according to the formula proposed by Douma et al. improves diagnostic accuracy; to assess the appropriateness of ordering D-dimer tests on clinical suspicion of pulmonary embolism; and to explore the association of test results with the extension and severity of the embolism.

Material And Methods: Retrospective observational study of 1833 cases in which D-dimer testing was ordered for patients in our hospital's emergency department in the course of a year.

Suppressive effects of alloxanthin and diatoxanthin from Halocynthia roretzi on LPS-induced expression of pro-inflammatory genes in RAW264.7 cells.

To investigate anti-inflammatory effects of carotenoids from Halocynthia roretzi, gene expression levels were measured for pro-inflammatory cytokines and enzymes in the murine macrophage-like cell line, RAW264.7, stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). All-trans alloxanthin, all-trans diatoxanthin, and their 9-cis isomers isolated from H.

Halocynthiaxanthin and fucoxanthinol isolated from Halocynthia roretzi induce apoptosis in human leukemia, breast and colon cancer cells.

The sea squirt Halocynthia roretzi metabolizes fucoxanthin, and subsequently accumulates its derived carotenoids with characteristic structures. In the present study, we isolated halocynthiaxanthin and fucoxanthinol as carotenoids having antiproliferative activity from H. roretzi.