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Accurate Marker (accurate + marker)
Selected AbstractsFIB-4: A simple, inexpensive and accurate marker of fibrosis in HCV-infected patients,HEPATOLOGY, Issue 3 2006Anaïs Vallet-Pichard M.D. No abstract is available for this article. [source] Laser Doppler flowmetry in endodontics: a reviewINTERNATIONAL ENDODONTIC JOURNAL, Issue 6 2009H. Jafarzadeh Abstract Vascular supply is the most accurate marker of pulp vitality. Tests for assessing vascular supply that rely on the passage of light through a tooth have been considered as possible methods for detecting pulp vitality. Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF), which is a noninvasive, objective, painless, semi-quantitative method, has been shown to be reliable for measuring pulpal blood flow. The relevant literature on LDF in the context of endodontics up to March 2008 was reviewed using PubMed and MEDLINE database searches. This search identified papers published between June 1983 and March 2008. Laser light is transmitted to the pulp by means of a fibre optic probe. Scattered light from moving red blood cells will be frequency-shifted whilst that from the static tissue remains unshifted. The reflected light, composed of Doppler-shifted and unshifted light, is returned by afferent fibres and a signal is produced. This technique has been successfully employed for estimating pulpal vitality in adults and children, differential diagnosis of apical radiolucencies (on the basis of pulp vitality), examining the reactions to pharmacological agents or electrical and thermal stimulation, and monitoring of pulpal responses to orthodontic procedures and traumatic injuries. Assessments may be highly susceptible to environmental and technique-related factors. Nonpulpal signals, principally from periodontal blood flow, may contaminate the signal. Because this test produces no noxious stimuli, apprehensive or distressed patients accept it more readily than current methods of pulp vitality assessment. A review of the literature and a discussion of the application of this system in endodontics are presented. [source] Pleural fluid interleukin-8 and C-reactive protein for discriminating complicated non-purulent from uncomplicated parapneumonic effusionsRESPIROLOGY, Issue 1 2008José M. PORCEL Background and objective: This study was designed to test the hypothesis that measurement of IL-8 and CRP in pleural fluid could improve the identification of patients with non-purulent parapneumonic effusions that ultimately require chest tube drainage. Methods: We assessed IL-8, CRP and three classical parameters (pH, glucose and LDH) in the pleural fluid of 100 patients with parapneumonic effusions. Forty-nine of these patients had non-purulent complicated effusions (complicated parapneumonic pleural effusion, CPPE), and 51 had uncomplicated parapneumonic pleural effusions (UPPE). Receiver-operating characteristic curves were used to assess the sensitivity and specificity of pleural fluid biochemical parameters for differentiating among the two patient groups. IL-8 production was determined using a commercially available ELISA kit, and CRP was measured by immunoassay. Results: At a cutoff value of 1000 pg/mL, IL-8 differentiated CPPE from UPPE with a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 82%. Likewise, CRP levels were higher in CPPE than in UPPE, and showed 72% sensitivity and 71% specificity at a cutoff value of 80 mg/L. We found that all five pleural fluid tests showed similar diagnostic accuracies when evaluated by receiver-operating characteristic analysis. However, multivariate analysis indicated that the size of the effusion, as well as pleural fluid pH and IL-8 concentration, were the best discriminatory parameters, with likelihood ratios of 6.4, 4.4 and 3.9, respectively. Conclusions: Pleural fluid IL-8 is an accurate marker for the identification of non-purulent CPPE. [source] Analysis of CD34+ cell subsets in stem cell harvests can more reliably predict rapidity and durability of engraftment than total CD34+ cell dose, but steady state levels do not correlate with bone marrow reserveBRITISH JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY, Issue 4 2001G. Pratt In peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT), the number of CD34+ cells transplanted has been shown to correlate well with both rapidity and durability of engraftment. However, it is clear that engraftment does not necessarily correlate with total CD34+ cell numbers in some patients. Consequently, there is increasing interest in evaluating the role of CD34+ subsets in haemopoietic recovery as a more accurate marker of harvest quality. We analysed the numbers of CD34+ cell subsets, namely Thy-1+, L-Selectin+ and CD38,, and correlated this with engraftment in 86 patients undergoing PBSCT. Adequate engraftment was defined as being a platelet count greater than 50 × 109/l and a neutrophil count greater than 1·0 × 109/l. CD34+L-Selectin+ provided the best prediction of engraftment rapidity, although the improvement over total CD34+ cell dose was minor. Only the dose of CD34+Thy-1+ cells transplanted correlated with durable engraftment. The probability of adequate 3-month engraftment increased with the dose of CD34+ cells transplanted, but 10% of patients receiving >,5 × 106/kg still showed poor engraftment at 3 months. However, all patients receiving >,2·5 × 105/kg CD34+Thy-1+ showed adequate engraftment at this time point. We also demonstrated that CD34+Thy-1+ progenitors were restricted to the bone marrow under normal conditions and, during stem cell mobilization, their kinetics generally paralleled total CD34+ numbers. [source] | ||||||||||