Chest
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Retraction Of Publication
Retraction. Effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on inflammatory markers in COPD.
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Retraction Of Publication
Retraction. Increased serum vascular endothelial growth factor level in Churg-Strauss syndrome.
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Retracted Publication
Increased serum vascular endothelial growth factor level in Churg-Strauss syndrome.
Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) is a rare form of systemic vasculitis occurring in patients with asthma and hypereosinophilia. For optimal treatment, prompt distinction of CSS from asthma is necessary; however, there are few serologic screening markers for this purpose. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a vascular permeability factor, has been associated with other systemic vasculitis such as Wegener granulomatosis and giant-cell arteritis. ⋯ VEGF is one of the useful screening markers for the distinction of CSS from asthma. We suggest that VEGF might be associated with the pathogenesis of CSS.
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Retracted Publication
Do plasma levels of circulating soluble adhesion molecules differ between surviving and nonsurviving critically ill patients?
Adhesion molecules appear to play a central role in tissue damage secondary to inflammatory response. Besides various neutrophil- and endothelial-bound adhesion molecules, soluble forms of endothelial-derived adhesion molecules have been detected in the circulating blood in recent years. They seem to be good markers of endothelial damage, but their importance in the critically ill has not been definitely elucidated yet. ⋯ None of the other hemodynamic or laboratory variables could be correlated with the time course of adhesion molecules, except for PaO2/Pao2 ratio, which was negatively correlated with plasma levels of soluble adhesion molecules in the nonsurvivors (analysis of covariance). It is concluded that plasma levels of soluble adhesion molecules were markedly higher in nonsurviving than in surviving critically ill patients. They may possibly serve as markers of the extent of inflammatory response, of the endothelial damage in patients at risk of multiple-organ failure or both.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)