Background: After introducing splenic artery embolisation (SAE) in the institutional treatment protocol for splenic injury, we wanted to evaluate the effects of SAE on splenic function and assess the need for immunisation in SAE treated patients.
Methods: 15 SAE patients and 14 splenectomised (SPL) patients were included and 29 healthy blood donors volunteered as controls. Clinical examination, medical history, general blood counts, immunoglobulin quantifications and flowcytometric analysis of lymphocyte phenotypes were performed.
Ann Rheum Dis
May 2010
Objective: To examine associations between a panel of soluble biomarkers and progressive joint destruction assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and conventional radiographs as well as longitudinal associations with disease activity assessed clinically and by MRI in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
Methods: 84 early RA patients were evaluated at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months with clinical examination, serum and urine sampling, MRI scans of the dominant wrist and conventional radiographs of the hands. A panel of biomarkers (sCTX-I, uCTX-II, sOPG, sYKL-40, sCOMP and sMMP-3) was assessed by ELISA.
Objective: As current predictors of joint destruction have low specificity, serological biomarkers reflecting bone and cartilage destruction have been proposed as tools in assessing prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We examined whether serum concentrations of a panel of biomarkers could predict radiographic progression in patients with RA.
Methods: A cohort of 238 patients with RA was followed longitudinally for 10 years with collection of clinical data and serum samples.
Different variants of the popliteal lymph node (PLN) assay have been published. Here we describe the adjuvant popliteal lymph node assay, an immune response assay to study the adjuvant activity of soluble substances as well as particulate matter. The substance to be studied for adjuvant activity is injected into the hind footpad of mice or rats together with an antigen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the effects of BCR ABL on cell proliferation, no study has compared the proliferative rate of different haematopoietic cell compartments from chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) with those of normal bone marrow (NBM). We comparatively analysed the cell cycle distribution and BCR/ABL expression in different compartments of BM cells from 15 CML and 11 NBM. Overall, our results showed similar proliferative indices in CML patients and NBM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of changes in CD4 counts and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA following 6 months of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in chronic HIV-1 infection. 148 treatment-naive patients treated with 2 nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) + at least 1 protease inhibitor or non-NRTI for at least 180 d were included. Mean follow-up time after 6 months on HAART was 758 d.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe study objective was to identify optimal starting criteria regarding levels of CD4 cells and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA at initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in chronically HIV-infected people. All 162 treatment-naive patients in the centre who were treated for at least 180 d with 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors plus at least 1 protease inhibitor or 1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor were included. The patients were stratified according to their levels of CD4 cells and HIV RNA at initiation of therapy.
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