RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: Endothelial dysfunction has been implicated as a crucial event in the development of several neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum homocysteine, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and nitric oxide (NO) levels in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to compare the results with data from healthy controls. METHODS: A total of 132 subjects, including 82 idiopathic PD patients who were newly diagnosed and untreated (47 males, 35 females, mean age of 60.8 ± 7.1 years) and 50 healthy controls (28 males, 22 females, mean age of 60.2 ± 6.7 years) were enrolled in this study. The serum ADMA and NO levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), while the homocysteine levels were determined by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. RESULTS: The ADMA and NO levels of the PD patients were significantly higher than those of the healthy controls. The serum ADMA levels were 0.70 ± 0.15 µmol/L in the PD patients and 0.50 ± 0.12 µmol/L in the healthy controls (p < 0.001). The serum NO levels were 78.7 ± 10.3 µmol/L in the PD patients and 59.9 ± 9.5 µmol/L in the healthy controls (p < 0.001). In addition, the ADMA and NO levels were significantly correlated with the serum homocysteine levels in patients with PD (r = 0.874, p < 0.001, r = 0.803, p = 0.005, respectively). CONCLUSION: In our study, the high ADMA and NO levels of patients with PD indicate endothelial dysfunction, and this dysfunction may play a role in PD pathogenesis. Larger studies, including randomised clinical trials in humans and animal studies, are needed to validate our findings and help in developing a better understanding of the pathogenesis of PD.
Asunto(s)
Arginina/análogos & derivados , Homocisteína/sangre , Óxido Nítrico/sangre , Enfermedad de Parkinson/sangre , Anciano , Arginina/sangre , Femenino , Humanos , Hiperhomocisteinemia/sangre , Hiperhomocisteinemia/fisiopatología , Inmunoensayo , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Enfermedad de Parkinson/fisiopatologíaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency and a high mean platelet volume (MPV) are related to cardiovascular disease. We investigated whether vitamin D deficiency is associated with high MPV. METHODS: This study included 434 patients without chronic disease who were not taking vitamin D or calcium supplements. Vitamin D was measured by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay on the Architect-I2000 system (Abbott Diagnostics, USA), and MPV was measured on the Cell-Dyn Ruby analyzer (Abbott Diagnostics). Patients were divided into Groups 1 (138 [men/women, 46/92]), 2 (148 [men/women, 54/94]), and 3 (148 [men/women, 50/98]) according to vitamin D levels of <10 ng/mL, 10-20 ng/mL, and >20 ng/mL, respectively. RESULTS: The vitamin D level in Group 1 (7.7±1.9 ng/mL) was lower than that in Group 2 (15.1±1.6 ng/mL, P<0.001) and Group 3 (25.6±6.3 ng/mL, P<0.001). The MPV in Group 3 (7.5±1.0 fL) was lower than that in Group 1 (8.1±1.1 fL, P<0.001) and Group 2 (7.9±1.0 fL, P=0.009). Linear regression analysis showed that low levels of vitamin D (ß=-0.109, P=0.019) was independently associated with increased MPV. CONCLUSIONS: There was a strong association between a low vitamin D level and a high MPV; therefore, vitamin D deficiency may be associated with increased MPV.
Asunto(s)
Plaquetas/citología , Vitamina D/análisis , Adolescente , Adulto , Factores de Edad , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Glucemia/análisis , Tamaño de la Célula , Femenino , Humanos , Inmunoensayo , Mediciones Luminiscentes , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Deficiencia de Vitamina D/metabolismo , Deficiencia de Vitamina D/patología , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
AIMS: To investigate the incidence of ordering tests for tumor markers which are used in cancer diagnosis, follow-up treatment and detection of recurrence, the rate of elevation in benign diseases and which clinics order them frequently. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Data for the tumor markers carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 125 (CA 125), cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3) and alpha- fetoprotein (AFP) that were ordered by all the clinics in our Hospital between 2010 and 2011 were screened. When excluding repeated orders the results of 3,416 patients were available. It has been determined that in which benign diseases were the tumor markers frequently ordered and which of these conditions had high levels of them. RESULTS: CA 19-9 was ordered for 1,858 patients 191 (10.3%) were malignant while 1667 (89.7%) were ordered in benign diseases. For CEA the total was 1,710, 226 (13.2%) malignant and 1484 (86.8%) benign, and for CA 125 1267, 111 (8.8%) malignant and 1156 (91.2%) benign. AFP was ordered for 1687 cases, 80 (4.7%) malignant but 1607 (95.3%) benign. CA 15-3 was ordered 1449 times, 174 (12%) for malignant and 1275 (88%) for benign diseases. In all cases, considerable proportions were positive. CONCLUSIONS: It was shown that clinicians frequently order tumor markers for benign conditions. The findings of this study has shown that tumor markers are used widely without indications as cancer screening tests.