Criteria and Non-Criteria Antiphospholipid Antibodies and Cancer in Patients with Involuntary Weight Loss.

Cancer patients have higher prevalences of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs), occasionally associated with thrombotic events. A cross-sectional study regarding the presence of criteria (IgG/IgM anti-cardiolipin-aCL, anti-β2 glycoprotein I-aβ2GPI) and non-criteria (IgG/IgM anti-phosphatidylserine-aPS, anti-phosphatidylethanolamine-aPE, anti-prothrombin-aPT) aPLs in 146 patients with involuntary weight loss was performed. None of the patients had thrombotic events during the study.

Criteria and Non-Criteria Antiphospholipid Antibodies in Antiphospholipid Syndrome: How Strong Are They Correlated?

The place of non-criteria antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) in the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is still debatable. The aim of this research was to evaluate the correlations between the titres of non-criteria aPLs (anti-phosphatidylethanolamine (aPE), anti-phosphatidylserine (aPS), and anti-prothrombin (aPT) antibodies), and the ones of the already studied criteria aPLs (anti-cardiolipin (aCL) and anti-β2 glycoprotein I-aβ2GPI antibodies). Altogether, 72 APS (30 primary and 42 secondary) patients were included in our study.

Chronic Complete Distal Aortic Occlusion and Pulmonary Embolism-Atypical Antiphospholipid Syndrome?

Complete aortic occlusion is a rare pathology with various possible etiologies. According to current data, it is most frequently caused by atherosclerosis. However, thrombosis or vasculitis could also be involved.

Quality of life in parents of autistic children: A transcultural perspective.

Introduction: The concepts of health, illness, and disability as well as the perceptions of autism and quality of life (QoL) vary greatly across cultures and across time. This study sought to explore the interplay of culture on QoL and impact on parents caring for autistic children.

Methods: We used a transcultural dataset from seven countries (Australia, Hungary, Malaysia, Romania, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom) with participating parents/carers reporting on the Quality of Life in Autism (QoLA) questionnaire.

New strategies for the management of ocular surface disease in glaucoma patients.

Purpose Of Review: Glaucoma patients commonly suffer from ocular surface disease (OSD). As treatment strategies, medications and devices for the treatment of OSD as well as glaucoma surgical approaches evolve rapidly, it is important to consider their application to these patients.

Recent Findings: OSD in glaucoma patients may lead to reduced reliability of diagnostic tests, decreased medication compliance, poor surgical outcomes, and overall decreased quality of life.

The risk of traumatic lumbar punctures in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Background: Traumatic lumbar punctures with blasts (TLP+) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) obscure central nervous system status and are associated with a poorer event-free survival (EFS).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all lumbar punctures (LPs) for children with ALL diagnosed at our institution from 2005 to 2009. We utilised random-effects and fixed-effects repeated-measures logistic regression analyses to identify risk factors for TLPs.

Response of the renal inner medulla to hypoxia: possible defense mechanisms.

Background/aims: Owing to the precarious blood supply to the renal medulla and the high metabolic requirement of the medullary thick ascending limb of Henle's loop, this nephron segment should be especially vulnerable when its supply of O(2) declines.

Methods: Rats were exposed to 8 or 21% O(2) at different time points up to 5 h, and samples were collected for urine flow rate, urine (U(osm)) and renal papillary (RP(osm)) osmolality, urinary excretion of Na(+), Cl(-), K(+) and Mg(2+), blood gases, erythropoietin and vasopressinase activity in plasma. Other groups of rats were pretreated with desmopressin acetate (dDAVP) or underwent bilateral nephrectomy (BNX) 1 h prior to the exposure.

Asymptomatic urinary anomalies, hematuria and proteinuria, in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Preliminary study.

The study assesses the presence of asymptomatic urinary anomalies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Asymptomatic urinary anomalies are mainly due to glomerular nephritis, they being one of the forms of its manifestation, together with chronic nephrotic and nephritic syndromes. We identified urinary anomalies in 18 patients (20%) with bowel inflammatory disease that consisted of haematuria in 8 (9%) patients, isolated proteinuria in 5 (6%) patients and haematuria associated with proteinuria in 5 (6%) patients.

[In vivo study of effects of some alkyl-phenyl-pyridinium compounds after their exposure to optical UV beams].

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of some alkyl-phenyl-pyridinium compounds (which are in fact cytostatics) on the pseudotumoral tissues after their exposure to optical UV- vis beams.

5-fluorouracil as a phosensitiser.

5-FU exhibits a high fluorescence after irradiation with UV-vis light. An enhancement of the cytostatic activity of 5-FU under UV-vis irradiation was observed on an in vivo experimental model.

Methotrexate as a photosensitiser.

The absorption, excitation and emission spectra of methotrexate (MTX) solutions in natural saline water and sodium hydroxide at 10(-4)-10(-5) MpH=8.4 were measured, while they were exposed to coherent and uncoherent visible and near ultraviolet (UV) light. Xe and Hg lamp and also a nitrogen pulsed laser radiation were used.

Spectroscopic characteristics of metalloporphyrins used in photodynamic therapy.

The photodynamic therapy (PDT) became more and more widely used in the treatment of different malignant tumors. For present studies, porphyrins and haematoporphyrin derivatives, in the conditions of N2 laser radiation, were chosen because their strong absorption along a large spectral range; this makes possible the excitation of their fluorescence at 337.1 nm, which is the wavelength of the N2 pulsed laser radiation.

Magnesium and gastric acid secretion.

This study examined the modifications of acid gastric secretion caused by magnesium oxide, peroxide, silicate and sulphate in 805 patients with duodenal ulcers; The calcium-magnesium antagonism on the one hand and the acetazolamide - magnesium synergia on the other, were also investigated. Our results show that administration of magnesium, either oral or parenteral, does not significantly modify gastric acid secretion, either basal or stimulated by maximal histamine. Administration of un infusion of calcium gluconate 15 mg/kg body weight, significantly increases gastric acid secretion as compared to basal secretion.

[Radioclinical and morphological comparisons in non-lithiasic gallbladder diseases].

Confrontation of the clinical, radiologic and morphologic data in a lot of 274 patients operated for non-lithiasic cholecystopathies during the 1966-1972 period, led to the following conclusions: - the painful choleic syndrome whose duration and frequency increase progressively, refractory to the conservative treatment, is a basic criterion in establishing the surgical treatment; - any change in the radiologic image of the gallbladder, especially those evoking a partial or totally inefficient contractile effort are of diagnostic value, suggesting the necessity of the operation, when confirmed by a similar clinical context; - the morphologic substrate consists in inflammatory lesions (infiltrations, atrophy of the mucosa, sclerosis), or degenerative lesions (cholecystoses) due to the reaction of the gallbladder walls to the irritative-chemical action of the bile hyperconcentrated by intermittent stasis caused by an incomplete cystic obstacle; - both types of lesions may determine with time obstruction of the cystic duct (acute cholecystitis), changes in the choledochoduodenal confluence (odditis), co-affection of the pancreas and liver (cholecystopancreatitis, chronic reactive hepatitis); - the late results lend support to the surgical treatment in such circumstances.