Scandinavian journal of clinical and laboratory investigation
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Scand. J. Clin. Lab. Invest. · Jan 2009
Adiponectin as a biomarker of systemic inflammatory response in smoker patients with stable and exacerbation phases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Adiponectin is an adipose tissue-derived specific protein that has a role in energy homeostasis, that has a protective role against the development of insulin resistance and atherosclerosis and that exhibits anti-inflammatory properties. We investigated serum adiponectin as a biomarker of systemic inflammatory response and its relation with leptin, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and nitric oxide (NO) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. ⋯ Adiponectin may be a marker of low-grade systemic inflammatory response in COPD. A further rise in serum adiponectin in the exacerbation period denotes that this may also be a biomarker of the exacerbation phase as well as CRP and ESR.
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Scand. J. Clin. Lab. Invest. · Jan 2009
Variability in aggregometry response before and after initiation of clopidogrel therapy.
Evaluation of clopidogrel therapy by in vitro methods has limitations which may be of clinical importance. We wanted to explore the variability in aggregometry response in aspirin sensitive patients before and after initiation of clopidogrel therapy. ⋯ Inter-individual differences in ADP aggregation were significant both before and during clopidogrel therapy, and there were significant intra-individual variations over time. Therefore, prediction of aggregometry response before or during clopidogrel therapy based on single tests may be unreliable. Inter-individual differences in healthy controls are smaller at high concentrations of ADP, and comparisons of aggregometry response should be performed with caution unless ADP concentrations are standardized.
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Scand. J. Clin. Lab. Invest. · Jan 2009
Prognostic impact of hs-CRP and IL-6 in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation treated with electrical cardioversion.
The aim of this study was to assess the role of inflammatory processes in the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) and the prognostic impact of inflammatory markers in predicting long-term risk of AF recurrence after electrical cardioversion (CV). ⋯ Patients with AF had elevated levels of inflammatory markers. Low hs-CRP and IL-6 prior to CV are associated with a lower risk of AF recurrence after CV.
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Scand. J. Clin. Lab. Invest. · Jan 2009
Determination of salivary cortisol by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
Late evening salivary cortisol concentrations are increasingly used as a screening test in suspected Cushing's syndrome partly because of easy sample collection. The cortisol immunoassays are prone to interference by cross-reacting steroids and therefore there is a need for improvement. The high specificity of an LC-MS assay provides a solution to the problem. ⋯ Our method is rapid, sensitive and simple to perform with a routine LC-MS/MS spectrometer.
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Scand. J. Clin. Lab. Invest. · Jan 2009
Editorial Historical ArticleSixty years in the service of clinical chemistry.