The Effect of Extreme Alkalemia upon Presentation to the Emergency Department on Patient Outcomes.

The prognostic significance of alkalemia found in an initial emergency department (ED) evaluation has not been described thus far. We retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients aged 18 years or older evaluated in the ED of one large academic referral center during 2000-2023. Included patients were those with at least one measurement of pH ≥ 7.

Lymph Nodes Involvement and Lymphadenectomy in Thymic Tumors: Tentative Answers for Unsolved Questions.

Thymic tumors are the most common primary neoplasms of the anterior mediastinum, although, when compared with the entire thoracic malignancies, they are still rare. Few studies addressed the questions about lymph node involvement pattern in thymic neoplasms, about which subgroup of patients would be appropriate candidates for lymph node dissection or about the extent of lymphadenectomy or which lymph nodes should be harvested. The aim of this review is to collect evidence from the literature to help physicians in designing the best surgical procedure when dealing with thymic malignancies.

Effective elimination of high-dose methotrexate by repeated hemodiafiltration and high-flux hemodialysis in patients with acute kidney injury.

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) after high dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) is associated with delayed MTX-excretion and life-threatening toxicity. Glucapridase, the recommended therapy, is expensive and not always available.

Case Series: We describe 3 cases (69, 67, 73 years) with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who developed AKI and early-onset severely delayed MTX elimination after HD-MTX.

[HEMODIALYSIS: PRESENT INNOVATIONS FOR PATIENTS' FUTURE].

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Survival of ESRD patients depends on renal replacement therapies, such as kidney transplantation and dialysis. Due to the shortage of potential kidney donors and patients' comorbidities, dialysis is the major therapeutic option offered to such patients.

The syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion: Distribution and characterization according to etiologies.

Purpose: To determine the distribution of etiologies for the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) in hospitalized patients and to characterize patients according to the different etiologies.

Methods: A single-center retrospective study including all patients diagnosed with SIADH in a large community hospital and tertiary center between 1.1.

A longitudinal assessment of the natural rate of decline in renal function with age.

Background: Cross-sectional studies have long suggested that renal function declines with age. Longitudinal studies regarding this issue are limited.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a database of subjects attending a screening center in Israel between the years 2000-2012.

Association between the body mass index and chronic kidney disease in men and women. A population-based study from Israel.

Background: Any association between the body mass index (BMI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) has so far proved inconclusive. Most studies have estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation. This has recently been replaced by the more accurate Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation.

The effect of cardiac angiography timing, contrast media dose, and preoperative renal function on acute renal failure after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objective: Our objective was to assess the effect of the timing of cardiac angiography, contrast media dose, and preoperative renal function on the prevalence of acute renal failure after cardiac surgery.

Methods: Data on 395 consecutive patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting were prospectively collected. Creatinine clearance was estimated by the Cockcroft-Gault equation.

Three-day vs longer duration of antibiotic treatment for cystitis in women: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: We performed a meta-analysis to ascertain the efficacy and safety of the currently practiced 3-day antibiotic therapy for cystitis versus prolonged therapy (5 days or longer) to relieve symptoms and to achieve bacteriological cure.

Methods: The Cochrane Library, the Cochrane Renal Group's Register of trials, EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched to identify all randomized controlled trials comparing 3-day oral antibiotic therapy with prolonged therapy (5 days and longer) for uncomplicated cystitis in adult non-pregnant women. Two reviewers independently applied selection criteria, performed quality assessment, and extracted data.

Duration of antibacterial treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infection in women.

Background: Uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common disease, occurring frequently in young sexually active women. In the past, seven day antibiotic therapy was recommended while the current practice is to treat uncomplicated UTI for three days.

Objectives: TO compare the efficacy and safety of three-day antibiotic therapy to multi-day therapy (five days or longer) on relief of symptoms and bacteriuria at short-term and long-term follow-up.

Spontaneous DNA repair in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

DNA molecules are constantly damaged during mitosis and by oxygen-free radicals produced by either cellular metabolism or by external factors. Populations at risk include patients with cancer-prone disease, patients under enhanced oxidative stress, and those treated with immunosuppressive/cytotoxic therapy. The DNA repair process is crucial in maintaining the genomal DNA integrity.

Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies--a novel serologic marker for Behçet's disease.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and clinical correlations of antibodies against Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ASCA) among patients with BD.

Methods: Twenty-seven BD patients were studied. Data from medical files and from patients' interviews was collected, regarding the entire spectrum of disease manifestations, and a severity score was calculated for each patient.

Prevalence of Behçet's disease in an Arab community in Israel.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of Behçet's disease (BD) in an Israeli Arab town (Taibe).

Methods: Questionnaires about the occurrence and prevalence of aphthous ulcers were distributed randomly to the parents of children attending a paediatric centre in Taibe. The parents were asked whether they or any of their children aged between 10 and 20 years had recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

Modulation of Ki67, p53 and RARbeta expression in normal, premalignant and malignant human oral epithelial cells by chemopreventive agents.

Background: Aberrant expression of Ki67, p53 and RARbeta are characteristic of many tumor types including those of the oral cavity. Chemopreventive agents may act by modulating their expression to more normal levels.

Materials And Methods: The effects of 21 chemopreventive agents on the expression of Ki67, p53 and RARbeta were determined using a human in vitro model of normal, premalignant and malignant oral epithelial cell lines.

Departmental consumption of antibiotic drugs and subsequent resistance: a quantitative link.

Objective: To look for a quantitative model linking departmental consumption of antibiotic drugs to the subsequent isolation of resistant hospital-acquired coliform pathogens.

Materials And Methods: Included in the study were all patients with hospital-acquired bloodstream infections caused by a coliform pathogen, detected in six departments of internal medicine of one university hospital during the period 1991-1996, who had not been hospitalized in the month before the infection (n = 394). Departmental consumption of antibiotics in the year before the infection [expressed as defined daily dosages (DDD)/100 patient days], antibiotic treatment given to the individual patient before the infection, the day of hospital stay on which the infection occurred, and the department and the calendar year were all included in a logistic model to predict the isolation of a resistant pathogen.

Differential response of normal, premalignant and malignant human oral epithelial cells to growth inhibition by chemopreventive agents.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oral cavity is a multistep process, progressing through a series of discrete, irreversible and complementary alterations in genes that control cell growth, death, and differentiation. In the premalignant state, the oral mucosa progresses through various grades of epithelial dysplasia, with the potential to convert to SCC. Chemopreventive strategies are designed to suppress, reverse, or prevent the formation of premalignant lesions and their subsequent progression to SCC.

Metastatic conversion of chemically transformed human cells.

A linear model for human cell metastasis has been developed in vitro from chemically transformed normal human cells. The chemically transformed cells are nontumorigenic in nude mice, but can be converted to a tumorigenic phenotype by transfection with a nondirectional cDNA library or antisense cDNA to the ML-1 gene. The primary transfected cell line (TR1T) forms localized, progressively growing tumors in nude mice that do not invade into the surrounding tissue.

Changes in levels of normal ML-1 gene transcripts associated with the conversion of human nontumorigenic to tumorigenic phenotypes.

Evaluation of malignant human tumors in a xenobiotic nude mouse system has demonstrated that not all cells in tumors exhibit the capacity to form progressively growing tumors. However, nontumorigenic cells isolated from human tumors can be converted to a tumorigenic phenotype in nude mice by treatment with chemical carcinogens or by transfection with antisense to tumor suppressor genes. A newly discovered gene, designated ML-1, appears to be associated with tumorigenesis, because an ML-1 antisense cDNA construct, transfected into nontumorigenic, anchorage-independent growth (AIG) cells, was sufficient to convert these cells into a tumorigenic phenotype.

Keratin 19 downregulation by oral squamous cell carcinoma lines increases invasive potential.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck is the sixth most frequent cancer worldwide. The survival rate is among the lowest of the major cancers and has not improved significantly in the past two decades. Extensive local invasion and regional lymph node metastasis are, in large part, responsible for the poor clinical outcome of these tumors.

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis in Behçet's disease: clinical features and correlation with systemic disease expression and severity.

Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem disease, in which recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a universal finding. We studied the expression of RAS in patients with BD, and the correlation between major or minor RAS and systemic expression and severity of the disease. Thirty-five patients with BD were studied, of whom 13 (37%) had major, 21 (60%) had minor and one (3%) had herpetiform RAS.