M Christ-Crain

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..We consider whether antibiotic therapy guided by procalcitonin reduces the use of antibiotics without increasing the restrictions experienced by patients by more than 1 day...

..The objective of this study was to assess the diagnostic and prognostic value of proET-1 in a prospective cohort of mainly septic patients with community-acquired pneumonia...

..This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic accuracy of clinical signs and symptoms and laboratory biomarkers for CAP...

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..However, there are few data on FC levels during surgical stress and in response to standard pharmacological tests...

..Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) are a precursor of sepsis. Thus, we investigated circulating levels and the prognostic use of copeptin for the severity and outcome in patients with LRTI...

..A major cause of sepsis is community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The aim of this study was to investigate the value of proADM levels for severity assessment and outcome prediction in CAP...

..Neurotensin is produced mainly in the N cells of the ileum and has a role in appetite regulation; levels are decreased in obese subjects and increase after bariatric surgery. Mature neurotensin is very unstable, with a short half-life...

..In patients with community-acquired pneumonia, guidelines recommend antibiotic treatment for 7 to 21 d. Procalcitonin is elevated in bacterial infections, and its dynamics have prognostic implications...

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..To exclude secondary hypogonadism in PADAM, diagnostic accuracy can be improved by using GnRH testing...

..However, there is an ongoing controversy as to which T assay is most appropriate in defining T deficiency in the aging male...

..We investigate the association between various T measures and clinical and biochemical parameters of the aging male...

..Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the leading infectious cause of death in developed countries. Risk stratification has previously been difficult...

..To analyse the mid region of plasma N-terminal pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) levels in patients with lower respiratory tract infections to evaluate its prognostic use for the severity of disease and outcome...

..In several animal models the modulation and neutralisation of hormokines during infection was shown to improve survival, and thus might open new treatment options for severe infections, especially of the respiratory tract...

..The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of RAI uptake on the outcome after RAI treatment and to estimate uptake-dependent success rates...

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..5 had a significantly higher risk of death and/or ICU admission (log rank p = 0.003) during the hospital stay. In patients with CAP due to Legionella, PCT levels on admission might be an interesting predictor for adverse medical outcomes...

..Future intervention studies must prove the value of copeptin in clinical decision making and in improving the overall medical management of patients with acute illnesses...

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..We therefore evaluated the prognostic value of cortisol, triiodothyronine (T3), free thyroxine (fT4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and growth hormone (GH) in patients with an acute ischaemic stroke...

..This study assessed prognostic reliability of 2 distinct stress hormones, copeptin and cortisol, for the risk stratification of re-events in patients with TIA...

..Further studies should address whether closer monitoring of high-risk CAP patients after hospital discharge favourably impacts long-term mortality...

..Future intervention studies must prove if these biomarkers indeed improve clinical decision making and thus the overall medical management of patients...

..Echocardiography is routinely performed in patients with CIE despite guidelines recommending restriction of echocardiography to patients with clinically suspected cardioembolism...

..The nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS) has been proposed as universal screening method for hospitalized patients. The aim of our study was to compare both tools as they are correlated with protein malnutrition...

..If, however, only a second generation TSH assay is available, additional TRH testing allows a more careful titration of suppressive thyroxine therapy...

..Whether FC concentrations better reflect outcome is uncertain. Objectives: To investigate the predictive value of TC and FC in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)...

..However, the yield of true-positive results is low. We investigated the benefit of procalcitonin (PCT) on hospital admission to predict blood culture positivity in CAP...

..In patients with COPD, prognosis might be determined at least in part by the extent of cardiac stress induced by hypoxia and pulmonary arterial hypertension...

..To determine the changes in adiponectin multimers upon marked weight loss...

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..In adipocytes, metformin seems to induce glucose uptake independent of insulin suggesting an alternative mechanism of action of this drug...

..49 (p < 0.001), as compared to the standard group. Thus, using a sensitive assay, procalcitonin-guidance substantially and safely reduced antibiotic usage in LRTI...

..Using the outcome and microbiology findings as gold standard, we determined sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of common used signs and symptoms of bacterial LRTI requiring antibiotic therapy...

..None should be used on its own; and none is anything more than an aid in the exercise of clinical judgment based upon a synthesis of available clinical, physiologic and laboratory features in each patient...

..We evaluated the efficacy and safety of procalcitonin guidance compared to standard therapy with antibiotic prescriptions in patients experiencing exacerbations of COPD...

..The aim of this trial is to compare a ProCT-guided antibiotic therapy with a standard approach based on evidence-based guidelines for patients with ARTI in primary care...

..In previous smaller trials, a procalcitonin (PCT) algorithm reduced antibiotic use in patients with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs)...

..Whether lipids have prognostic implications or could help to differentiate community-acquired pneumonia from other lower respiratory tract infections remains unknown...

..To assess long-term stability of PCT in deep-frozen samples and assess whether Kryptor procalcitonin cutoff ranges can be transferred on the bioMérieux VIDAS system...

..Accurate clinical predictors to assess the likelihood of Legionella community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in patients presenting to the emergency department are lacking...

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..The purpose of this study was to examine the prognostic value of midregional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) in patients with acute ischemic stroke...

..In contrast to overt disease, only CRP, but not tHcy values, are affected in SCH, yet without significant improvement after L-thyroxine therapy...

..Vasopressin is a stress hormone. Its production rate is mirrored in circulating levels of copeptin, a fragment of provasopressin. We evaluated the prognostic value of copeptin in acute stroke patients...

..Copeptin is a more stable peptide stoichiometrically released from the same precursor molecule. The aim of our study was to compare copeptin and cortisol levels in different stress situations...

..This survey analyzed perceptions of physicians, nurses, patients and relatives about feasibility of outpatient management and required duration of hospital stay...

..We investigated whether plasma pro-endothelin-1 (proET-1) and/or pro-adrenomedullin (proADM) on admission to the hospital for acute exacerbation predict survival in patients with COPD...

..Assessment of E2 increments would render the test procedure more practical, less time-consuming and more cost-effective than assessing peak T levels after 72 hours...

..The ratio of the two counteracting peptides correlates with mortality and shows a prognostic accuracy to predict adverse outcome comparable to the APACHE II score...

..We review the advantages and drawbacks of biomarkers in the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of systemic infections...

..By generating three groups with comparable radioiodine uptake, we also investigated whether the effect of carbimazole depends on the radioiodine uptake...

..Copeptin is the C-terminal part of provasopressin and has been shown to be a useful tool to indicate AVP concentration in critically ill patients...

..Mitotane treatment in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) results in unreliable measurement of serum total cortisol (TC) levels because of an elevation in corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG)...

..In the current study, we demonstrate the effect of high glucocorticoid levels on AMPK activity of human adipose tissue samples from patients with Cushing's syndrome...

..Furthermore, vasopressin is an important hormone in salt and volume regulation. In this context, copeptin is also a diagnostic marker in patients with diabetes insipidus and in patients with disordered water states...

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..We assessed the prognostic implications of GH on admission and during follow-up in critically ill adult patients admitted to a medical intensive care unit...

..However, AVP measurement is cumbersome. Copeptin, the stable C-terminal glycopeptide of the AVP prohormone, is stoichiometrically secreted from the posterior pituitary...

..However, long-term studies are needed to confirm this assumption...

..Identification of patients at risk is of clinical importance. We hypothesized that the dexamethasone suppression test predicts the development of corticosteroid-induced impaired adrenal function...

..In view of the current overuse of antimicrobial therapy in often self-limiting acute respiratory tract infections, treatment based on procalcitonin measurement could have important clinical and financial implications...

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..This review aims to help the clinician to understand the physiopathological basis, to appreciate strengths and weaknesses of this biomarker, and thereby to promote a rational implementation of ProCT in a routine setting...

..Together, Procalcitonin has improved the diagnosis of bacterial infections, however should always be used in context with other laboratory markers, clinical exam and medical history...

..The prognostic value of MR-proADM was independent of the sepsis classification system used. CONCLUSION: MR-proADM may be helpful in individual risk assessment in septic patients...

..To determine the effect of adjunctive antithyroid drugs on the risk of treatment failure, hypothyroidism, and adverse events after radioiodine treatment...

..The availability of a reliable assay for the measurement of AVP release can also prove useful for the assessment of fluid and osmosis status in various diseases...

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