Inflammatory response in 85 patients with loosened hip prostheses: a prospective study comparing inflammatory markers in patients with aseptic and septic prosthetic loosening.

Background: The most common complications of prosthetic hip joints are aseptic mechanical failure and infection. Delayed low-grade infections are seen most often, and they are also most difficult to distinguish from aseptic mechanical failures.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study to compare inflammatory markers in patients diagnosed with aseptic or septic prosthetic loosening.

IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor alpha in heart valves from patients with infective endocarditis.

The embedding of bacteria in the vegetation of infective endocarditis impedes the penetration of phagocytic cells. IL-8 has a stimulating effect on the immune system, particularly with respect to chemotaxis and activation of granulocytes. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is 1 of the major proinflammatory cytokines.

Prognostic implications of declining plasma gelsolin levels after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

The idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS) represents a common and often fatal complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Gelsolin is a highly conserved actin-binding protein normally present in plasma that may serve a basic physiological role in limiting acute lung injury of diverse etiologies. We hypothesized that depletion of circulating gelsolin following HSCT might play a permissive role in the pathogenesis of IPS.