What is the most appropriate intraoperative baseline parathormone? A prospective cohort study.

Introduction: The time of drawing pre-incision intraoperative parathyroid hormone (ioPTH) is crucial to provide the right baseline for post-excision PTH measurement. The objective of this study was to identify the optimal time and the numbers of baseline PTH samples that best predict excision of all hypercellular parathyroid tissue when compared with 10-min post-excision PTH level.

Materials And Methods: In this prospective study, two pre-incision (pre-induction and 10-min post-induction) baseline ioPTH samples along with pre- and post-excision ioPTH were collected and analyzed for 352 parathyroidectomies in 341 patients for sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism at a University hospital.

Transient early increase in thyroglobulin levels post-radioiodine ablation in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

Objectives: Treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) includes surgical thyroidectomy and, in most cases, radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation. Measurement of serum thyroglobulin (Tg) levels is used for assessing disease burden and identifying persistent-recurrent DTC. This prospective study determined the Tg profile before and after RAI-ablation in patients with DTC.

Thyroglobulin and anti-thyroglobulin assays in thyroid cancer monitoring.

Objectives: To compare four methods for thyroglobulin (Tg) quantitation and three methods for detection and quantitation of thyroglobulin antibodies (Tg-Ab). We also wanted to explore the premise that thyroglobulin antibodies, as determined by commercially available assays, interfere with thyroglobulin assays in a predictable way.

Methods: Split sample method comparisons were run on all the methods for both the thyroglobulin and anti-thyroglobulin assays.

Cyclooxygenase expression is elevated in retinoic acid-differentiated U937 cells.

Cyclooxygenase (COX) is the rate-limiting enzyme for the biosynthesis of prostaglandins in monocytes/macrophages. The COX-1 is constitutively expressed in most tissues and may be involved in cellular homeostasis, whereas the COX-2 is an inducible enzyme that may play an important role in inflammation and mitogenesis. When U937 monocytic cells were incubated with retinoic acid (RA) for 48 h, cell differentiation took place with concomitant increases in prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production and COX activity.