INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in patients with acute scrotum. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty patients with acute scrotum were evaluated and divided into 3 groups: 46 with acute epididymitis (group 1), 23 with spermatic ...

We investigated the prognostic value of group II phospholipase A2 (PLA2-II) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients of the intensive care unit (ICU) who developed severe inflammatory reaction. In addition, the biochemical markers were correlated with the Simplified Acute Physiological Score II (SAPS II). Our study comprised 40 patients with ...

BACKGROUND: The relationship between bacterial etiology and serum cytokine levels in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) without response to initial empiric treatment remains unclear. This study investigated the bacterial etiology, outcomes, and bronchoalveolar and systemic cytokines (interleukin [IL]-1beta, IL-8, IL-10) in these patients. METHODS: This hospital-based study enrolled 47 ...

AIM: To evaluate the association between C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and the periodontal status of hemodialysis (HD) patients. METHODS: 41 HD patients on rHuEPO therapy were enrolled in the study. Hematologic and biochemical parameters and CRP levels were recorded. The plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth and periodontal disease ...

INTRODUCTION: Based on the central role of the triggering of monocytes for the initiation of the septic cascade, it was investigated whether apoptosis of blood monocytes in septic patients is connected to their final outcome. METHODS: Blood monocytes were isolated from 90 patients with septic syndrome due to ventilator-associated pneumonia ...

BACKGROUND: Systemic adiponectin is reduced in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and low adiponectin may contribute to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. However, circulating adiponectin is elevated in type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients, who have also a higher incidence to develop CVD. Because monocytes play an important role in atherosclerosis, we ...

INTRODUCTION: CD40 and its ligand participate in atherosclerosis formation, progression and destabilization. Increased soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) was observed in hypercholesterolemia, unstable angina and conditions with platelet activation. To date, there is no report on the association of sCD40L with angiographic peripheral artery disease (PAD) disease severity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ...

OBJECTIVE: The pathophysiology of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type I (CRPS I) is unclear. An inflammatory reaction may cause the syndrome in which leukocytes may play an important role. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this pilot study of six patients with acute warm CRPS I, we performed radiolabeled autologous leukocyte scans ...

In this study, patients with heart diseases were classified into 2 groups: Warfarin user and Warfarin non-user, and six salivary components were determined to assess intraoral pathologic conditions. Groups of healthy subjects and patients with periodontal disease without receiving any medication were set as control groups, and they were compared ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic kidney disease is associated with enhanced inflammatory response and autonomic dysfunction. Evidence exists of a potential interaction of inflammation and nervous system. We sought to investigate determinants of heart rate variability (HRV) and relations between the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and autonomic ...

OBJECTIVE: To submit serum levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) to statistical analyses to test their exact degrees of clinical usefulness as biomarkers for detecting high disease activity in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), comparing them with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP). METHODS: Serum ...

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the relationship between circulating cytokine levels and clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). BACKGROUND: Persistent inflammation plays a role in the development of HF, and various inflammatory cytokines predict cardiovascular events in acute coronary syndromes. METHODS: We measured ...

BACKGROUND: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a common inherited disorder of lipoprotein metabolism, whose origin involves mutations in the gene coding for the low-density lipoprotein receptor protein. Although FH is monogenic, wide variation occurs in the onset and severity of atherosclerosis in these patients. METHODS: Since data on levels of inflammatory ...

Here, we report the case of fever of unknown origin (FUO) in a 77-year-old white man. The patient presented with a 3-week history of fever (between 38.5 and 39 degrees C) and general malaise. These symptoms had occurred about five to seven times during the past 30 years, and despite ...

OBJECTIVE: To report early experience of switching anti-tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-alpha) therapy from infliximab to etanercept in patients with spondyloarthropathy (SpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). METHODS: Thirteen patients with various SpA (7 with ankylosing spondylitis and 6 with undifferentiated SpA) and 2 patients with PsA were receiving infliximab. Because they ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether it may be successful to try another TNF-alpha antagonist (infliximab or etanercept) when one has failed due to non response or the development of side effects. METHODS: In a cohort of 282 patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with infliximab or etanercept, we observed 38 patients who ...

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Apart from traditional risk factors, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, malnutrition and endothelial dysfunction are important in CVD development in renal patients. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between high sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), ...

OBJECTIVE: Obesity induces a proinflammatory state and is a major cause of morbidity in the general population. However, little is known about the effects of obesity in patients with chronic inflammatory illnesses such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: One hundred consecutive patients with SLE were studied to determine the ...

INTRODUCTION: This study was designed to assess possible alterations in heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV) and circulating serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines in patients with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). METHODS: Forty-five patients, aged 34-68 years, with IGT were compared with 28 age-matched healthy controls. Using a 24-hour ambulatory ...

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the elderly, characterized by aching and morning stiffness in the cervical region, shoulders and pelvic girdles. A steroid treatment course of 6-24 months is often required, but, due to important side effects, it is troublesome if the PMR patient is also ...

In hemodialysis patients, C-reactive protein (CRP), an acute-phase reactant, is a sensitive and independent marker of malnutrition, anemia, and cardiovascular mortality. The aim of the present study was to evaluate CRP levels in plasma samples from long-term hemodialysis patients on different extracorporeal modalities and dialyzed with different membranes, at baseline ...

BACKGROUND: Endothelial dysfunction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Apart from traditional risk factors complement activation and inflammation may trigger and sustain endothelial dysfunction. We sought to assess the association between endothelial function, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and markers of complement activation in ...

AIM: A role of various cytokines has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many carcinomas, and albeit the role of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in sera has been studied in patients with oral carcinomas, data upon salivary IL-6 and bFGF are lacking. The aim of ...

BACKGROUND: Inflammation, a clinical condition observed in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), may be related to increased resting energy expenditure (REE). OBJECTIVES: The main objective was to investigate the relation between inflammation and REE in patients with CKD who are not undergoing dialysis. We also aimed to analyze whether ...

BACKGROUND: Cardiac syndrome X, also known as microvascular angina, is characterized by exercise-induced chest pain occurring despite a normal coronary angiogram. Several causes and mechanisms have been proposed to explain both the chest pain and ST segment depression. In this study, the association, if any, between cardiac syndrome X and ...

AIM: To evaluate the cellular synthetic ability of cytokines involved in pro- and anti-inflammatory reactions in patients with AP. METHODS: Sixty-seven patients with AP (16 severe, 51 mild) and 10 controls were included in the study. Cultures of whole blood were performed in samples obtained within the first 72 h ...

INTRODUCTION: One of the main problems in Behçet's disease is the lack of an original laboratory marker that can reflect clinical activity. In this study, laboratory parameters that could be used as indicators of active disease are investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included a total of 40 patients with ...

The aim of the present study was to examine serum cytokines and nitric oxide (NO) levels in patients with cystic echinococcosis (CE). 28 patients with CE were studied and all underwent surgery. Serum levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin IL-1beta, receptor of soluble IL-2R (sIL-2R), IL-6, IL-8, nitrate/nitrite, and ...

Impaired oxygenation sometimes occurs in patients with acute aortic dissection, however, the mechanism has not been fully investigated. We hypothesized that impaired oxygenation is related to inflammation secondary due to aortic dissection. Patients with acute aortic dissection who had received 14 days of conservative treatment were retrospectively examined. Patients who ...

OBJECTIVE: Treatment with recombinant interferon is associated with high rates of psychiatric comorbidity. We investigated the relation between catabolism of the essential amino acid tryptophan, being rate-limiting of peripheral and cerebral serotonin formation, and psychiatric symptoms in patients undergoing combination treatment with interferon-alpha and ribavirin. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighteen patients ...

We evaluated the interaction between inflammation and survival benefit from statin therapy in patients who had acute myocardial infarction. Although 1-year mortality did not differ between patients who used statin therapy and those who did not, among patients who had C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations in the lower 2 tertiles (<2.9 ...

BACKGROUND: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) are key mediators of inflammation and their increased plasma levels are associated with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Polymorphisms in the promoter region of IL-6 (-174 G>C) and TNF-alpha (-308 G>A) demonstrated to affect gene expression were analyzed to test their predictive power ...

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) causes a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), which can progress to an acute lung inflammation known as postperfusion syndrome. We developed a two-phase hypothesis: first, that SIRS, as indicated by elevated cytokines post-CPB, would be correlated with postoperative pulmonary dysfunction (Phase I), and second, that the cytokine ...

PURPOSE: To investigate the interleukin (IL)-6 levels, IL-8 levels, and cellular composition of the vitreous humor in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), and traumatic PVR. METHODS: Vitreous samples from 14 patients with PDR, 10 patients with PVR, and 10 patients with traumatic PVR were analyzed. Fifteen ...

Several previous studies have shown that circulating levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) are elevated in patients with advanced congestive heart failure. However, the relationship between circulating levels of TNF and severity of peripheral oedema in these patients has not been previously evaluated. To investigate the relationship between circulating levels ...

BACKGROUND: The objective of the current study was to assess the correlations between cognitive function, fatigue, quality of life, and circulating cytokine levels in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). METHODS: Fifty-four patients with AML/MDS were seen for pretreatment evaluation of their cognitive function and symptoms. ...

An elevated white blood cell (WBC) count and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) have been associated with an increased risk of adverse cardiac events. The relation between these 2 parameters of heightened systemic inflammation was characterized in patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Femoral arterial blood samples from a prospective ...

The value of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as a predictor of complications in neutropenic patients needs to be further defined. We sought to identify an association between severe complications and daily CRP levels measured in 104 multiple myeloma patients during the 3 week period following high-dose melphalan and autologous ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of veno-venous continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) on the plasma levels of endotoxin and cytokines in severely burned patients with sepsis. METHODS: Twenty adult severely burned patients with sepsis were studied. For the diagnosis of sepsis, patients were randomly divided into CRRT (n=10) and Control ...

BACKGROUND: C-reactive protein (CRP) plasmatic levels increase in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Correlations between CRP levels, myocardial functional damage and cardiomyocyte lysis remain to be defined. METHODS: 192 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndromes (64.97 +/- 11.08 mean age, 71.35% male gender) were included in the study; 138 ...

Hyperlipidemia is a cardiovascular risk factor. In patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC), prognostic roles of endogenous lipoproteins are not fully clarified. It has been known that there is a direct relationship between the levels of cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-alpha] and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) and deteriorating functional classes of heart ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The clearance of plasma cytokines by means of albumin dialysis (MARS) has been demonstrated in various studies involving patients affected by either acute liver failure (ALF) or acute on chronic liver failure. The aim of the study was to measure the plasma levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and ...

BACKGROUND: Patients with diabetes type 2 receiving dialysis therapy have a poor survival prognosis, mainly due to cardiovascular events. Increased C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, important in atherosclerosis, are associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events. However, to date no study has shown the predictive value of CRP in relation ...

OBJECTIVE: Vascular lesions can involve both arterial and venous systems which are often the major causes complicating the disease course of Behçet's disease (BD). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a stimulant of angiogenesis secondary to ischemia while monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) is induced by shear stresses leading to ...

We tested the hypothesis that the genetic capability to mount an inflammatory response might contribute to the inter-individual variability of limbal stem cell graft (LSCG) outcome. Two functional polymorphisms in the IL-6 and TNF-alpha promoter regions were genotyped in 35 patients. A new score system (clinical assessment score, CAS) was ...

BACKGROUND: Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is sometimes complicated by respiratory failure due to severe lung oxygenation impairment. Systemic activation of inflammatory system after aortic injury may play some roles in the development of this complication. The aim of this study was to determine the significance of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) ...

Elevated cytokine response has been reported in patients with epileptic seizures. The objective of this study was to investigate the possible role of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the pathogenesis of infantile spasms in West syndrome (WS). We measured IL-6 levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) obtained from the newly diagnosed patients with ...

BACKGROUND: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-9 and MMP-2) have been implicated in development of atherosclerosis and plaque rupture in acute coronary syndromes (ACS). AIM: To determine the relationship between circulating MMPs and symptomatic coronary artery disease. METHODS: Plasma levels of MMP-9 and MMP-2 were measured in patients with ACS, stable angina (SA) ...

OBJECTIVES: We tested whether repetitive magnetic stimulation (rMS) induces an afferent input to the spinocerebral tract in patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). METHODS: Cortical and spinal motor evoked potentials (cMEP and sMEP), as well as the contra- and ipsilateral silent period (cCSP and iCSP), were recorded in patients ...

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to establish whether nutritional status and biochemical factors, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA) protein, serum iron (Fe) and fibrinogen at admission were different in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at a young age (<40 years) vs. those with AMI at ...