Methods: Forty-eight adult patients scheduled for intravenous CECT, regardless of indication or body region for CECT, were included in this prospective study. Venous blood samples were obtained 12-24 hours before and after contrast media (CM) administration. Ischemia-modified albumin and PON-1 were estimated using methods described by Bar-Or et al. and Dantoine et.al., respectively. Creatinine was estimated on an automated analyzer.
Results: Significant differences in IMA (P < 0.001) and PON-1 (P < 0.001) levels were found between pre- and post-CECT samples, while the difference for creatinine was not significant (p = 0.073). No correlation was found between IMA and PON-1 or IMA and creatinine in either the pre- or post-CECT samples.
Conclusion: After CM administration patients are subjected to oxidative stress and/or ischemia, as revealed by elevated IMA and decreased PON-1 levels; however, creatinine levels, most commonly estimated to assess reduced renal function, did not reflect the condition accurately. IMA may be a sensitive marker for CIN but further studies are required to confirm its usefulness.
METHODS: Retrospective review of all neonates with clinical and radiological evidence of non-perforated NEC that were treated in a tertiary-level referral hospital between 2009 and 2018. General patient demographics, laboratory parameters and outcomes were recorded. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was performed to evaluated optimal cut-offs and area under the curve (AUC) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
RESULTS: A total of 191 neonates were identified. Of these, 103 (53.9%) were born at ≤ 28 weeks of gestation and 101 (52.9%) had a birth weight of ≤ 1000 g. Eighty-four (44.0%) patients underwent surgical intervention for NEC. The overall survival rate was 161/191 (84.3%). A CRP/ALB ratio of ≥ 3 on day 2 of NEC diagnosis was associated with a statistically significant higher likelihood for surgery [AUC 0.71 (95% CI 0.63-0.79); p
METHODS: The feed solution was prepared using a PEO dissolved in water or a water-ethanol mixture. The PEO solution is blended with Bovine Serum Albumin protein (BSA) as a model drug to study the effect of the electrospinning process on the stability of the loaded protein. The polymer solution properties such as viscosity, surface tension, and conductivity were controlled by adjusting the solvent and salt content. The morphology and fiber size distribution of the nanofiber was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy.
RESULTS: The results show that the issue of a beaded nanofiber can be eliminated either by increasing the solution viscosity or by the addition of salt and ethanol to the PEO-water system. The addition of salt and solvent produced a high frequency of smaller fiber diameter ranging from 100 to 150 nm. The encapsulation of BSA in PEO nanofiber was characterized by three different spectroscopy techniques (i.e. circular dichroism, Fourier transform infrared, and fluorescence) and the results showed the BSA is well encapsulated in the PEO matrix with no changes in the protein structure.
CONCLUSION: This work may serve as a useful guide for a drug delivery industry to process a nanofiber at a large and continuous scale with a blend of drugs in nanofiber using a wire electrode electrospinning.