The Working Group Preanalytical Phase of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine advises suppressing haemolysis-sensitive tests when haemolysis is clinically significant, as improper specimen handling can rupture red blood cells, increasing potassium levels. Thus, a correctly repeated blood sample should show lower potassium levels than a haemolysed one. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of haemolysed samples with potassium levels below the reference range and whether this predicts hypokalemia in repeated collections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bariatric surgery (BS) induces significant changes in gastrointestinal anatomy, potentially influencing the pharmacokinetics of orally administered drugs such as rivaroxaban.
Objectives: This phase 1 study aimed to assess the pharmacokinetics and safety of full-dose rivaroxaban in post-BS patients.
Methods: The ABSORB (Rivaroxaban Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics After Bariatric Surgery and in Morbid Obesity) study was a single-center, nonrandomized, multiple-dose, parallel-design bioequivalence trial.
In this study, we introduce a portable low-cost device for in situ gas emission measurement from focused point sources of CO, such as mofettes. We assess the individual sensors' precision with calibration experiments and perform an independent verification of the system's ability to measure gas flow rates in the range of liters per second. The results from one week of continuous CO flow observation from a wet mofette at the Starzach site is presented and correlated with the ambient meteorological dynamics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a well-recognized complication following gastrointestinal cancer surgery, particularly early postoperatively. The incidence and risk factors of VTE within 1-year after esophageal (including esophago-gastric junction) (ECS) and gastric (GCS) cancer surgeries, and especially its impact on 1-year global mortality, are yet under-explored.
Methods: This nationwide observational population-based cohort study used data extracted from all patients undergoing ECS and GCS in France between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2017.
Apixaban and rivaroxaban have first-line use for many patients needing anticoagulation for venous thromboembolism (VTE). The pharmacokinetics of these drugs in non-obese subjects have been extensively studied, and, while changes in pharmacokinetics have been documented in obese patients, data remain scarce for these anticoagulants. The aim of this study was to perform an external validation of published population pharmacokinetic (PPK) models of apixaban and rivaroxaban in a cohort of obese patients with VTE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Proximal hypospadias surgery is impacted by a high complication rate. The goal of this work was to assess the overall composite complication rate, fistula rate and stenosis rate following proximal hypospadias surgery realized according to onlay urethroplasty, Duckett, Koyanagi and Bracka techniques.
Methods: The databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Cochrane Library, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Sciencedirect were searched.
Model-informed precision dosing is being increasingly used to improve therapeutic drug monitoring. To meet this need, several tools have been developed, but open-source software remains uncommon. Posologyr is a free and open-source R package developed to enable Bayesian individual parameter estimation and dose individualization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The orally available kinase inhibitor R-roscovitine has undergone clinical trials against various cancers and is currently under clinical evaluation against Cushing disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Roscovitine displays biological properties suggesting potential benefits in CF: it partially corrects F508del-CFTR trafficking, stimulates the bactericidal properties of CF alveolar macrophages, and displays anti-inflammatory properties and analgesic effects.
Methods: A phase 2 trial study (ROSCO-CF) was launched to evaluate the safety and effects of roscovitine in Pseudomonas aeruginosa infected adult CF patients carrying two CF causing mutations (at least one F508del-CFTR mutation) and harboring a FEV1 ≥40%.
Until recently, itch pathophysiology was poorly understood and treatments were poorly effective in relieving itch. Current progress in our knowledge of the itch processing, the numerous mediators and receptors involved has led to a large variety of possible therapeutic pathways. Currently, inhibitors of IL-31, IL-4/13, NK receptors, opioids and cannabinoids, JAK, PDE4 or TRP are the main compounds involved in clinical trials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFiber-optic (FO) technology is being used increasingly for measurement methods in a variety of environmental applications. However, FO pressure transducers are rarely used in hydrogeological applications. We review the current state of Fabry-Pérot interferometry-based FO pressure transducers, including their advantages and limitations, as another option for high-resolution pressure- or head-change measurements in conventional or advanced aquifer testing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The detection of monoclonal immunoglobulins (MIg) is a key element in the diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathies.
Methods: Here we report two cases of high concentration serum IgM-kappa MIgs (6.4 g/L and 6.
We present a workflow to estimate geostatistical aquifer parameters from pumping test data using the Python package welltestpy. The procedure of pumping test analysis is exemplified for two data sets from the Horkheimer Insel site and from the Lauswiesen site, Germany. The analysis is based on a semi-analytical drawdown solution from the upscaling approach Radial Coarse Graining, which enables to infer log-transmissivity variance and horizontal correlation length, beside mean transmissivity, and storativity, from pumping test data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe detection of monoclonal immunoglobulins is a key element in the diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathy. In clinical practice, screening and measurement of monoclonal proteins are commonly performed using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Some exogenous substances, such as iodinated contrast agents, absorb incident UV light at the same wavelengths as the peptide bonds and may therefore interfere with the detection of proteins in CZE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRoscovitine (Seliciclib), a new protein kinase inhibitor, was administered orally to adult patients with cystic fibrosis for the first time in the ROSCO-CF trial, a dose-escalation, phase IIa, randomized, controlled trial. Extensive pharmacokinetic sampling was performed up to 12 h after the first oral dose. Roscovitine and its main metabolite M3 were quantified by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypophosphataemia affects up to one-third of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is particularly common during sepsis. Experimental data suggest that hypophosphataemia leads to an acquired dysfunction of leukocytes, thus promoting infections and increasing the risk of death during sepsis.
Objectives: The aim of our study was to investigate the association between hypophosphataemia and mortality in critically ill patients with a bloodstream infection (BSI).
Since their approval, the direct oral anticoagulants have been widely used in the management of venous thromboembolism, for stroke and systemic embolism prevention in non valvular atrial fibrillation, and in venous thromboembolism prophylaxis after surgical hip or knee replacement. Because they are easy to use, with oral fixed doses and no biological monitoring need, they are more and more prescribed. New indications are rising in cancer associated thrombosis in France beyond the 6 first months of treatment, and to prevent cardiovascular events after an acute coronary syndrome, or in stable coronary or peripheral arterial disease in Europe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prevalence of obesity has been steadily increasing in recent years worldwide. At the same time bariatric surgery, the best therapeutic strategy to date in terms of sustainable weight loss and improvement of associated comorbidities has been also increasing. However, these surgeries, whether primarily restrictive or malabsorptive, raise questions about the pharmacology of oral drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the high proportion of obese patients this population remains understudied in the field of venous thromboembolic disease (VTE). Obesity is a risk factor for pulmonary embolism and/or deep vein thrombosis, especially when it is associated with other risk factors for VTE. Currently there is no validated diagnostic algorithm for VTE in the population of obese patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Med (Zagreb)
February 2020
This is a case report of a challenging diagnosis of IgE monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, which transformed into myeloma, then transformed into IgE-producing plasma cell leukaemia in a 71-year-old male who was followed in Brest, France, from 2015 to 2019. The IgE-producing variant is the rarest sub-type of multiple myeloma, and plasma cell leukaemia is considered to be the rarest and the most aggressive of human monoclonal gammopathies. In November 2015, hypogammaglobulinemia was detected during a systematic check-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Radioimmunoassays, which are often not automated and time-consuming, are gradually being re-placed in medical laboratories by non-radioactive methods that need to be evaluated. The purpose was to compare the measurement of thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibodies (TRAb) by the new Brahms' kit using Kryptor TRACE technology and the Brahms' radioimmunoassay.
Methods: We prospectively collected all samples from patients who received thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibodies testing in July 2018 at the University Hospital of Brest.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a new class of monoclonal antibodies that amplify T-cell-mediated immune responses against cancer cells. The introduction of these new drugs, first anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (anti-CTLA4) and then anti-programmed death-1 (anti-PD1), was a major improvement in the treatment of advanced or metastatic melanoma, a highly immunogenic tumour. The development strategy for immune checkpoint immunotherapies differed from that traditionally used for cytotoxic therapies in oncology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCeftobiprole is a fifth-generation cephalosporin approved for the treatment of pneumonia, with a broad antibacterial spectrum, including potent activity against methicillin-resistant As for the other cephalosporins, high pharmacokinetic variability and concentration-dependent neurotoxicity are expected. We describe here the first simple and rapid analytical method intended for ceftobiprole serum concentration monitoring. We report the data of 5 patients treated with ceftobiprole, among who 2 developed reversible neurological disorders with high ceftobiprole serum concentration.
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