Affiliations: Center for Research, Prevention and Treatment of Respiratory Infections, University Hospital of Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico. Latin American Thoracic Association (ALAT). Dept of Pulmonology, Hospital Jose Ignacio Baldo, Caracas, Venezuela. Tuberculosis Dept, ALAT. Dept of Research, Fundacion Neumologica Colombiana, Bogota, Colombia. World Health Organization Regional Office for th...

Serum levels of alpha1-antitrypsin (alAT) were measured by radial immunodiffusion and phenotypes were determined by electrofocusing in acrylamide gel in 39 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) positive for serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), 41 patients with HCC negative for serum HBsAg, and 160 ageand sex-matched hospital controls. There was no difference between the control ser...

Increased circulating levels of liver enzymes emerging during treatment with psychotropic drugs are frequently encountered and, in general, attributed to drug metabolism or toxic effects. Because obesity was shown to be associated with elevated liver enzyme levels in different non-psychiatric study samples, we hypothesized that drug-induced weight gain might be an additional causative factor. W...

BACKGROUND Coffee oil potently raises serum cholesterol levels in humans. The diterpenes cafestol and kahweol are responsible for this elevation. Coffee oil also causes elevation of liver enzyme levels in serum. It has been suggested that cafestol is mainly responsible for the effect on serum cholesterol levels and that kahweol is mainly responsible for the effect on liver enzyme levels. The ob...

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of a new phosphorothionate, the methyl ester of 2-butenoic acid-3-diethoxy phosphinothioyl (RPR-II) on membrane bound target enzymes aspartate amino transferase (ASAT), alanine amino transferase (ALAT) and RBC acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in different tissues of male and female albino wistar rats when treated orally with 0.014 (low), 0.028 (medi...

Freshwater fish, Cyprinus carpio were exposed to acute dose of cypermethrin at 7.5 μg/L for 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 days and sub-lethal concentrations (1.5 μg/L) for 1,7, 14, 21 and 28 days to determine the change in enzyme activity in three functionally different tissues viz., gill, liver and muscle. Cypermethrin induced alterations that are both time dependent and tissue-specific, with glutamate deh...

In August 2009, a 28-year-old Spanish woman was referred in reduced general condition after at least four medical consultations with a 2 week history of remittent fever, night sweats, exanthema and intermittent arthralgias. Noticeable in the clinical examination was only an urticarial rash on the trunk and extremities and body temperature of 39.6°C. Laboratory tests: WBC with a slight left shif...

The potent serine protease, neutrophil elastase (NE), is stored in neutrophil azurophilic granules, where it is available to degrade phagocytosed material and can be released by the cell to assist in tissue migration and help clear tissue debris. While neutrophils carry NE, they cannot produce it; the NE gene is expressed only in bone marrow granulocyte precursor cells. Protection of normal tis...

Purpose: The aim was to study discontinuation of statin treatment, especially with respect to clinical characteristics and adverse effect measured by clinical laboratory tests indicating muscle damage (plasma creatine kinase, CK) and liver AEs (plasma alanine aminotransferase, ALAT). Methods: The initial study population included 60,488 individuals who had purchased first time statin prescripti...

BACKGROUND Infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) contributes to morbidity and mortality in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIMS The aim of the present study is to assess the influence of HBV co-infection in clinical characteristics and disease evolution among nosocomial HIV infected youth in Romania. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study. METHODS We assessed HBsAg in 17...