ST-segment recovery and prognosis in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction reperfused by prehospital combination fibrinolysis, prehospital initiated facilitated percutaneous coronary intervention, or primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Complete ST-segment recovery (STR) is associated with favorable prognosis in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The optimal reperfusion strategy in patients presenting soon after symptom onset is still a matter of debate. STR for patients treated by prehospital combination fibrinolysis or prehospital initiated facilitated percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared with primary PCI has not been assessed.

Comparison of pre-hospital combination-fibrinolysis plus conventional care with pre-hospital combination-fibrinolysis plus facilitated percutaneous coronary intervention in acute myocardial infarction.

Aims: Early and complete reperfusion is the main treatment goal in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The timely optimal reperfusion strategy might be a pre-hospital initiated pharmacological reperfusion with subsequent facilitated percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). This approach has been compared with pre-hospital combination-fibrinolysis only to determine whether either one of these methods offer advantages with respect to final infarct size.

Autoimmune hepatitides--update 2004.

This update reports is primarily made to update papers published in 2002 and 2003. A selection had to be realized since a search of the literature yielded more than 1600 journal articles. The prevailing opinion of an international group is especially emphasized.

So-called "overlap syndromes" in hepatology: combinations or associations of concurrent autoimmune liver and other diseases.

Based on present knowledge, the so-called "overlap syndromes" consisting of autoimmune liver diseases do not constitute entities in their own right. Likewise, no generally accepted marker such as an autoantibody is so far known. It would, therefore, be more correct to speak of combinations or associations of two or more concurrent diseases.

The diagnostic value of anti-mitochondrial antibodies, especially in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA) are present in sera of approximately 90-95% of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and, thus, constitute one of the most important diagnostic criteria for this disease. The major mitochondrial autoantigens have been identified, cloned, and sequenced and the immunological features of AMA, including their antigen specificities and epitopes, have been well characterized. In clinical laboratories, indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) microscopy is routinely employed for the detection of AMA mainly because of technical simplicity and cost effectiveness.