Thrombin generation test in children and adolescents with chronic liver disease.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate if real-time thrombin generation assay provides additional information to assess the hemostatic balance in children with liver disease as compared to routine coagulation tests.

Patients And Methods: Sixty-three children with chronic liver disease were enrolled at our tertiary referral center for pediatric hepatology, eight whose routine coagulation tests gave abnormal results (Group A) and 55 whose test results were normal (Group B). Abnormal routine coagulation test was defined as at least one of the following: international normalized ratio≥1.

The international normalized ratio according to Owren in liver disease: interlaboratory assessment and determination of international sensitivity index.

Introduction: The international normalized ratio (INR) is used to prioritize liver disease patients for transplantation. Previous studies have shown high interlaboratory variability in Quick-based INR determinations in samples of patients with liver disease. We assessed Owren-based INR reagents for analyzing INR in patients with liver disease.

Mild primary hyperparathyroidism: vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular risk markers.

Context: The extent and clinical significance of cardiovascular (CV) abnormalities associated with mild primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) are still matters for discussion.

Objective: The main objective of the present study was to evaluate biochemical CV risk markers in PHPT patients before and after parathyroidectomy (PTX) in comparison with controls.

Design And Subjects: In a prospective case-control design, 49 patients with PHPT and 49 healthy matched controls were included.

Effects of the oral, direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran on five common coagulation assays.

Dabigatran is an oral, reversible thrombin inhibitor that has shown promising results in large clinical trials. Laboratory monitoring is not needed but the effects on common coagulation assays are incompletely known. Dabigatran was added to plasma from healthy subjects in the concentration range 0-1,000 μg/l and analysed using several reagents for activated thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), fibrinogen, antithrombin, and activated protein C resistance.

Identifying hypocoagulable states with a modified global assay of overall haemostasis potential in plasma.

To test the sensitivity of the global assay of overall haemostasis potential (OHP) in detecting hypocoagulation, the OHP was assayed in plasma containing exogenous thrombin (0.04 IU/ml), tissue-plasminogen activator (330 ng/ml), Ca and a platelet reagent. Commercial plasmas with factor II, V, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII or VII deficiency were mixed with normal plasma in different proportions to imitate different severities.

The complex between tPA and PAI-1: risk factor for myocardial infarction as studied in the SHEEP project.

Introduction: The tPA/PAI-1 complex seems to be an important biochemical marker for myocardial reinfarction. Therefore we explored the distribution, correlation and interaction of plasma concentrations of tPA/PAI-1 complex in all available patients and matched controls in the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program (SHEEP).

Methods And Patients: The SHEEP study is a case control study of 2246 patients with a first myocardial infarction (MI), of which 1267 surviving patients were subjected to blood sampling about 3 months after MI and compared with a control group, matched for age, sex and living area within the Stockholm County.

PAI-1 level and the PAI-1 4G/5G polymorphism in relation to risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction: results from the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program (SHEEP).

This study examines the relationship between plasma Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) activity and the PAI-1 4G/5G polymorphism, and their association with the risk of myocardial infarction (MI). Furthermore, this study explores whether a high level of PAI-1 or whether the PAI-1 4G/5G polymorphism synergistically interacts with any established environmental risk factor for MI. This case-referent study of subjects aged 45-70 and living in Stockholm includes 851 men and 361 women with first-time MI and 1051 men and 505 women who were randomly chosen as referents from a population register.