Diagnosis and prognosis of overt disseminated intravascular coagulation in a general hospital -- meaning of the ISTH score system, fibrin monomers, and lipoprotein-C-reactive protein complex formation.

The meaning, the utility, and the prognostic significance of the International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis overt disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) score and other parameters of coagulation activation including soluble fibrin monomer complexes (SFMC), antithrombin and protein C consumption, and formation of lipoprotein-C-reactive protein (LP-CRP) complexes (MDA slope 1 and flag A2) were evaluated in 165 inpatients from a general hospital for whom DIC testing was required by the attending physicians. Of these 165 patients, 148 had an underlying disease that clearly justified the laboratory request from our systematic post hoc review of the clinical charts. Of these 148 patients, 28 had a positive overt DIC score, 19 had an A2 flag, and 4 had both.

Transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder: evaluation of the role of human papillomaviruses.

Objectives: The study evaluated the conflicting results of the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the development of bladder carcinoma.

Methods: We analyzed the frequency of HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, and 33 by using polymerase chain reaction on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens, from 75 cases of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder. Fifteen samples of normal urothelium adjacent to TCC (10) or from normal bladder obtained at autopsy (5) served as negative controls.