No abstract

Background. Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease and the acute clinical manifestations represent acute on chronic inflammation. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is found in the granules of human neutrophils, with many diverse functions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that levels NGAL in blood may reflect the inflammatory process in various stages of coronary artery disease. Methods. We studied 140 patients, with SA 40, UA 35, NSTEMI 40, and STEMI 25, and 20 healthy controls. Serum NGAL was measured upon admission and before coronary angiography. Results. Significant differences were observed in median serum-NGAL(ng/mL) between patients with SA (79.23 (IQR, 37.50–100.32)), when compared with UA (108.00 (68.34–177.59)), NSTEMI (166.49 (109.24–247.20)), and STEMI (178.63 (111.18–305.92)) patients and controls (50.31 (44.30–69.78)) with significant incremental value from SA to STEMI. We observed a positive and significant correlation between serum-NGAL and hs-CRP (spearman coefficient rho = 0.685, P < 0.0001) as well as with neutrophil counts (r = 0.511, P < 0.0001). Conclusions. In patients with coronary artery disease serum levels of NGAL increase and reflect the degree of inflammatory process. In patients with acute coronary syndromes, serum levels of NGAL have high negative predictive value and reflecting the inflammatory status could show the severity of coronary clinical syndrome.

Our results establish for the first time a strong correlation between MBG and HbA(1c) in Type 2 diabetic patients and support the idea of expressing HbA(1c) results as MBG. This will help patients to gain a clearer interpretation of the result, with less confusion. This simplification will allow every person with diabetes using home glucose-monitoring to understand his or her own target level.

The presence of ketonemia was significantly lower than the presence of ketonuria. Weight loss per week was the only independent factor found to be associated with increased levels of 3HB. The clinical significance of this small increase requires further investigation.

This study shows that sAlb levels might change during the first days after an acute IS, but these changes although statistically significant are not clinically significant if we take into account the analytical and biological variation of sAlb.