The monocyte distribution width (MDW) has emerged as a promising biomarker for accurate and early identification of patients with potentially life-threatening infections. Here we tested the diagnostic performance of MDW in adult patients requiring hospital admission for community-acquired infections and sepsis, evaluated sources of heterogeneity in the estimates of diagnostic accuracy, and assessed the meaning of MDW in a patient population presenting to the emergency department (ED) for acute non-infectious conditions. 1925 consecutive patients were categorized into three groups: non-infection (n = 1507), infection (n = 316), and sepsis/septic shock (n = 102).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to determine the thrombogenicity of lupus anticoagulant (LA) antibodies using a modified thrombin generation assay (TGA) with the addition of activated protein C (APC) in a group of 85 patients with LA-positive samples. Of these, 58 patients had clinical manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) according to the Sydney criteria classification, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Stroke is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in populations of developed countries. Ischemic strokes account for 85 - 90% of all strokes, with the majority of strokes of non-cardioembolic pathogenesis. Platelet aggregation plays a key role in arterial thrombus formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Selective in-circuit blood cooling was recently shown to be an effective anticoagulation strategy during short-term haemofiltration. The aim of this study was to examine the safety of this novel method and circuit life.
Methods: Fourteen pigs were randomly assigned to receive continuous haemofiltration with anticoagulation achieved either by selective cooling of an extracorporeal circuit (ECC) (COOL; n = 8) or through systemic heparinization (HEPARIN; n = 6).
Introduction: Heavy metals can negatively influence the reproduction due to the fact that they are able to impair the immune reactions including autoantibody production in susceptible individuals. In such a way the infertility could be also caused by altered pathologic immune reaction.
Aim Of The Study: To investigate the in vitro lymphocyte reaction after stimulation with metals and production of gamma interferon and antisperm antibodies in supernatants after lymphocyte stimulation in patients with infertility and with proven antisperm antibodies in their serum.