Serum concentration of taurochenodeoxycholic acid predicts clinically significant portal hypertension.

Background & Aims: Severity of portal hypertension is usually quantified by measuring the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG). However, due to its invasiveness, alternative markers are being sought. Bile acids (BA), being synthesized, metabolized, and transported by the liver, seem to have the potential to serve as endogenous markers.

Corrigendum to: Assessment of the degree of adherence of medical laboratories to KDIGO 2012 guideline for evaluation and management of CKD in Czechia and Slovakia.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.11613/BM.2019.

Assessment of the degree of adherence of medical laboratories to KDIGO 2012 guideline for evaluation and management of CKD in Czechia and Slovakia.

Introduction: The aim of the study is to assess the degree of adherence of medical laboratories to Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) 2012 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in laboratory practice in Czechia and Slovakia.

Materials And Methods: An electronic questionnaire on adherence to KDIGO 2012 guideline was designed by an external quality assessment (EQA) provider SEKK spol. s.

Diagnostic and prognostic value of presepsin vs. established biomarkers in critically ill patients with sepsis or systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

Background: Inflammatory biomarkers may aid to distinguish between systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) vs. sepsis. We tested the hypotheses that (1) presepsin, a novel biomarker, can distinguish between SIRS and sepsis, and (2) higher presepsin levels will be associated with increased severity of illness and (3) with 28-day mortality, outperforming traditional biomarkers.

Diagnostic and prognostic value of presepsin in preterm deliveries.

Problem: To evaluate the association between serum presepsin (soluble CD14 antigen subtype, sCD14-ST) levels soon after the appearance of signs of preterm delivery and preterm delivery within 48 h, before the 34th and 37th gestational weeks and the possible additional value of concurrently evaluated ultrasound vaginal cervicometry with serum presepsin measurement.

Methodology: A total of 60 females were included. Serum presepsin was measured by a chemiluminescent immunoassay.

Performance characteristics of seven neuron-specific enolase assays.

Background/aims: The determination of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) is relatively frequently requested in the differential diagnosis of small-cell lung carcinoma and non-small-cell lung carcinoma. The individual results of different immunoassays are often not comparable, which has been confirmed by long-term external quality assessments. In this study, we assessed the possible sources of these differences.

Dynamic genetic architecture of metabolic syndrome attributes in the rat.

The polydactylous rat strain (PD/Cub) is a highly inbred (F > 90) genetic model of metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study was to analyze the genetic architecture of the metabolic derangements found in the PD/Cub strain and to assess its dynamics in time and in response to diet and medication. We derived a PD/Cub x BN/Cub (Brown Norway) F2 intercross population of 149 male rats and performed metabolic profiling and genotyping and multiple levels of genetic linkage and statistical analyses at five different stages of ontogenesis and after high-sucrose diet feeding and dexamethasone administration challenges.

Advanced glycation end-products in patients with chronic alcohol misuse.

Aims: The aim of our study was to determine serum levels of advanced glycation end-products (AGE) in patients with chronic alcohol misuse and to examine their relationship to markers of nutrition and inflammation.

Methods: The study group consisted of 23 heavy alcohol drinkers treated for chronic alcohol misuse and 22 healthy controls. Studied parameters included AGE (fluorescence, CML - carboxymethyllysine and pentosidine), lipids, glucose, albumin, leptin, prealbumin, C-reactive protein (CRP) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A).