Is interleukin-18 correlated with endothelial dysfunction and platelet activation in patients with unstable angina?

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to assess the interaction between interleukin-18 (IL-18, a cytokine with a central role in the inflammatory cascade) and the presence of endothelial dysfunction and prothrombotic profile in patients with unstable angina and proven coronary artery disease.

Material And Methods: The study EDIT-ACS (Endothelial Dysfunction, Inflammation and Thrombosis in Acute Coronary Syndromes) was set in the Cardiology Department of our Institute, and inclusions were performed between June-November 2004. We included 40 consecutive patients with unstable angina hospitalized in our Department (mean age = 60.

Clinical and hematological aspects of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Study on 20 cases from a single center from Romania.

Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) has long been recognized as a disorder with both myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative characteristics, some patients showing clinical and morphological features resembling myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) especially refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) with monocytosis, and others leukocytosis with neutrophilia, monocytosis and splenomegaly resembling myeloproliferative syndrome (MPS). The intrinsec differences determined at first the separation of CMML in two forms, one named "dysplastic", more similar with RAEB, and the other "proliferative", closer to chronic myeloid leukemia and then included by the recent WHO classification into a separate new created group--myelodysplastic diseases (MDD)/chronic myeloproliferative diseases (CMPD). The aim of this study was the analysis of some features of 20 cases of CMML, with emphasis on the differences between the two forms.