An Automated System for Leukofiltration of Blood Components

Biomedical Engineering - An automated system for filtering blood transfusion media through special filters, monitoring and logging the filtration parameters, and processing filtration protocols is...     

High carcinoembryonic antigen level following cancer surgery: another way to detect thyroid medullary carcinoma

INTRODUCTION: Thyroid medullary carcinoma is usually detected in the presence of an isolated thyroid nodule or in the context of a family disease: familial thyroid medullary carcinoma or multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A. EXEGESIS: Here we report a third means of detection: an unexplained rise in carcinoembryonic antigen levels after cancer surgery. In each case, the carcinoembryonic antigen increase led to the assessment of the caicitonin plasma level and to a thyroid echography being performed. Thyroid medullary carcinoma was confirmed in every case after surgery. CONCLUSION: Even though the association of thyroid follicular carcinoma with familial adenomatous polyposis is common, the association of thyroid medullary carcinoma with breast or colonic carcinoma remains exceptional and probably accidental. Due to the seriousness of the thyroid medullary carcinoma, it is mandatory to look for it in the event of an unexplained rise in the carcinoembryonic antigen level, by assessing the calcitonin plasma level.     

Prevalence of macular pattern dystrophy in maternally inherited diabetes and deafness. GEDIAM Group.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of macular pattern dystrophy (MPD) in maternally inherited diabetes and deafness (MIDD), a new subtype of diabetes mellitus that cosegregates with a mutation of mitochondrial DNA (i.e., the substitution of guanine for adenine at position 3243 of leucine transfer RNA) and to report the clinical characteristics of MPD. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-six patients from 29 families with an adenine-to-guanine mutation of mitochondrial DNA were recruited from a French collaborative multicenter study. Thirty-five patients had MIDD, 8 were asymptomatic children of MIDD patients, and 3 had MELAS syndrome (mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and strokelike episodes). The 33 MIDD patients with diabetes were matched for diabetes duration and gender with 33 patients with "common" type-2 diabetes to compare the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in both series. METHODS: All patients had a full ophthalmologic examination and fundus photographs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The presence and severity of MPD and DR were assessed in each patient. RESULTS: Thirty MIDD patients (85.7%) of 35 exhibited bilateral MPD characterized by linear pigmentation surrounding the macula and optic disc. In 24 of these 30 patients, visual acuity was 20/25 or more in both eyes. The prevalence of DR was 6% in MIDD patients with diabetes versus 15% for patients with common type-2 diabetes (a difference that was not significant, P = 0.23). The fundus of each of the eight asymptomatic children was normal. MPD was present in one of the three cases of MELAS. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of MPD in MIDD is high. Its detection may be helpful for the diagnosis of this new subtype of diabetes, for which specific treatments may be proposed.     

Increased levels of soluble Fas in serum from diabetic patients with neuropathy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate circulating soluble Fas (sFas) and Fas ligand (sFasL), two transmembrane glycoproteins involved in apoptosis, in the serum of diabetic patients.MATERIAL AND METHODS: We assessed sFas and sFasL serum levels in normal controls (n=15), and in both 42 diabetic patients without complications, or with predominant retinopathy or neuropathy, using sFas and sFasL specific ELISA method.RESULTS: sFasL serum levels were less than 0.1 ng/ml in normal controls and in each group of diabetic patients. In diabetic patients with a predominant neuropathy, sFas serum levels were significantly increased not only when compared with normal controls (13.5 +/- 3.6 ng/ml vs 7.1 +/- 1.1 ng/ml, p<0.001), but also when compared with patients without complications (vs 9.1 +/- 1.8 ng/ml, p<0.001) or with a predominant retinopathy (vs 8.7 +/- 1.9 ng/ml, p<0.001).CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data suggest that a dysregulation of the Fas system in peripheral neuronal cells may be involved in the increase of sFas observed in diabetic patients with neuropathy.