. Chronic foot ulcers are a major cause of morbidity in people with diabetes with a lifetime risk of 25%. Treatment is challenging and the recurrence rates of foot ulcers are >50% after 3 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The diagnosis of bile acid diarrhea is often missed because the availability of the seleno-taurohomocholic acid (SeHCAT) test is limited. We aimed to compare the biomarkers 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one (C4) and fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) with the SeHCAT test.
Methods: Patients with chronic diarrhea without intestinal resection referred for SeHCAT were prospectively recruited for this diagnostic accuracy study.
Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Recent evidence suggests that increases in both serum and intracellular magnesium (Mg) can slow or even prevent the development of vascular calcification seen in CKD. Serum calcification propensity () is a novel functional test, which is associated with all-cause mortality in CKD and measures the ability of serum to delay the formation of crystalline nanoparticles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bile acid diarrhoea is underdiagnosed and better diagnostic tests are needed. Fasting serum fibroblast growth factor-19 (FGF19) has insufficient diagnostic value, but this may be improved by stimulation.
Aim: To explore if an impaired FGF19 response identifies primary bile acid diarrhoea.
Objectives: With the present study we wanted to explore the impact of treatment with a tumor necrosis factor-α -inhibitor (TNFi) on levels of soluble biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to identify predictors of impaired drug levels and development of anti-TNFi antibodies (anti-TNFi Abs).
Methods: Blood samples from 26 patients with established RA were taken at baseline and following 6 months of treatment with adalimumab or infliximab. Samples were analyzed for levels of TNFi, interleukin (IL)-6, and soluble TNF-receptors 1 and -2 (sTNF-R1 and -2) and for presence of anti-TNFi Abs.