Disease markers
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Review Meta Analysis
Prognostic Significance of Pretreatment Apolipoprotein A-I as a Noninvasive Biomarker in Cancer Survivors: A Meta-Analysis.
Numerous studies have reported the prognostic significance of serum apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) in various cancers, but the results have been inconsistent. The current meta-analysis was performed to investigate the association between ApoA-I level and prognosis in human malignancies. ⋯ A total of 14 studies involving 9295 patients were included. The results indicated that low ApoA-I level was significantly associated with poor overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.44-0.61). Significant relationships between the ApoA-I level and OS were specifically detected in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC, HR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.54-0.73), colorectal cancer (CRC, HR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.19-0.76), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, HR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.27-0.65). The subgroup analyses for OS also further confirmed the prognostic significance of the ApoA-I level in cancers. Moreover, lower Apo A-I was associated with unfavorable cancer-specific survival (CSS, HR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.19-0.76) in cancers, and low ApoA-I level was clearly associated with inferior total time to recurrence (TTR, HR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.29-0.58) in HCC, poorer locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) (HR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.42-0.74 for LRFS; HR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.41-0.89 for DMFS) in NPC, and shorter disease-free survival (DFS, HR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.43-0.84) in cancers. Conclusions. Low ApoA-I level might be an unfavorable prognostic factor in multiple malignancies, and serum ApoA-I could serve as a noninvasive marker to predict cancer prognosis.
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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication, impacting short- and long-term patient outcomes. Although the application of the classification systems for AKI has improved diagnosis, early clinical recognition of AKI is still challenging, as increments in serum creatinine may be late and low urine output is not always present. The role of urinary biochemistry has remained unclear, especially in critically ill patients. ⋯ In this review, we will discuss factors affecting the fractional excretion of sodium (FeNa) and fractional excretion of urea (FeU). We believe that the frequent assessment of urinary biochemistry and microscopy can be useful in evaluating the likelihood of AKI reversibility. The availability of early injury biomarkers could help guide clinical interventions.
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Observational Study
Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 and Tissue Inhibitor of Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 in Sepsis after Major Abdominal Surgery.
The role of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in sepsis after major abdominal surgery and sepsis-associated organ dysfunction is unexplored. ⋯ MMP-9, TIMP-1, and MMP-9/TIMP ratio were good diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers of sepsis after major abdominal surgery and were linked to sepsis-associated organ dysfunction.