Salt butyrate relieves ldl cholesterol gallstones through managing bile acid solution metabolic process.
 BACKGROUND Emerging evidence has manifested that many microRNAs (miRNAs) exert crucial roles in the responses and remission process of traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI). The present study aimed to investigate clinical significance of miR-34a concerning the assessment of neurological remission and prognosis after TSCI. METHODS We examined the serum levels of miR-34a in patients with TSCI and healthy controls through real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay. Then, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the diagnostic value of miR-34a in TSCI. Finally, we detected the expression levels of miR-34a from serum samples over a 12-week period. RESULTS The results of our study demonstrated that miR-34a was significantly down-regulated in TSCI patients compared with healthy controls. miR-34a may function a potential biomarker for TSCI diagnosis with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.8020. The expression of miR-34a was increased in the remission group compared to the non-remission group after 12 weeks post-injury. The expression of miR-34a was negatively related to TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-8. CONCLUSIONS Measuring serum expression level of miR-34a over time may be used in tracking the process and neurological remission of TSCI.BACKGROUND Infections account for considerable morbidity and mortality in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Serum procalcitonin (PCT) is used in the early diagnosis of bacterial infection and has higher sensitivity and specificity. However, the level of PCT might be affected. METHODS AND RESULTS We reported an ESRD patient with abnormal liver function manifesting a high level of serum PCT. The evidence of infection was not found, and with the constant adjustment of antibiotic therapy, the level of PCT remained high. However, the PCT level gradually recovered after discontinuing all antibiotic therapy. The correlative analysis suggested a strong positive correlation between PCT and TBIL and DBIL. CONCLUSIONS Without the evidence of infection, PCT could be affected by liver function. When an ESRD patient with abnormal liver function manifested a high level of PCT, the influence of liver function especially bilirubin on PCT should be considered.BACKGROUND Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 are the most commonly used tumor markers in gastric cancer (GC). The purpose of this study was to dynamically monitor the preoperative and postoperative CEA and/or CA19-9 levels in GC patients to determine their value in efficacy monitoring and prognosis. METHODS The preoperative and postoperative CEA and/or CA19-9 were measured in 397 GC patients and correlated to pathology and the overall survival (OS). RESULTS We found the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and pTNM stage were the most important factors affecting the elevated levels of CEA and CA19-9 in GC patients (all p less then 0.001). There were significant differences between preoperative CEA or CA19-9 and postoperative values (p less then 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed that postoperative CEA and the presence of lymph node metastasis were independently associated with shorter OS (p = 0.041; p = 0.030). CONCLUSIONS Dynamic monitoring of CEA and CA19-9 before and after surgery can be used to determine tumor burden. Postoperative rather than preoperative tumor markers, especially postoperative CEA, are good indicators for judging the prognosis of GC patients.BACKGROUND The aim was to produce quality results that clinical laboratories need to implement and maintain continuous quality improvement systems. In recent years, health organizations have increasingly prioritized the quality of laboratory services by implementing quality management systems (QMSs) and building quality improvement activities. Efforts to strengthen laboratory systems in the African region have received increased attention in recent years.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/gdc-0068.html  Assessing the implementation levels of laboratory quality management system components is important to identify the gaps that need further improvements. METHODS A cross-sectional study design was used between March and May 2017 in selected government hospitals of Ethiopia, and sample size was determined using a finite population formula, and a proportional sampling technique was employed; a sample size of 184 (62%) was calculated from 295 laboratory professionals. RESULTS All respondents were informed about the laboratory's experience in the quality managemeoor implementation status (1) Performance of internal quality controls for all tests, (2) Development and communication of quality manuals for all tests, (3) Adequacy of storage space for the supplies. Of the quality indicators studied, control of documents was perceived to have poor performance outcome by 136 (77.7%) of study participants.BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile is an important cause of nosocomial diarrhea and the best standard laboratory method for the diagnosis of C. difficile infection is controversial. In this study, we aimed to investigate the performance of Toxin A + B (Clostridium difficile) DUO kit which detects C. difficile toxin A and B by the immunochromatographic method and C. Diff Quik Chek Complete (QCC) rapid membrane immunoassay kit which determines the presence of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and C. difficile toxin A and B in stool samples, compared with toxigenic culture in the diagnosis of C. difficile infection. METHODS One hundred ninety-three stool samples from patients suspected of having C.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/gdc-0068.html  difficile infection were included in the study. The performances of two commercial tests were compared with toxigenic culture which was accepted as the reference method. RESULTS The sensitivity and specificity of the GDH component of QCC were 94.4% and 97.7%, the sensitivity and specificity of the toxin component were 92.3% and 100%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of Toxin A + B (Clostridium difficile) DUO test were found as 53.8% and 87.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS C. Diff Quik Chek Complete test, which is a rapid test with high sensitivity and specificity, can be used alone for the diagnosis of C. difficile infection while Toxin A + B (Clostridium difficile) DUO test cannot be used for the same purpose due to the low sensitivity and specificity of the test.