In order to study concentration of nitric oxide (NO) in the saliva of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), we measured the concentration of its stable metabolite nitrite (NO(2)-) in the saliva of these patients and healthy subjects. We analyzed saliva flow rate and salivary NO concentrations in 16 subjects with Parkinson's disease and in 16 healthy subjects. Concentration of nitrite was determined by colorimetric method using Griess reaction. Saliva flow rate was significantly lower in patients with Parkinson's disease (0.2+/-0.03 mL/min; X+/-SEM) than in healthy subjects. Salivary NO(2)-concentration was significantly lower (5.02+/-0.64) than in healthy individuals (22.39+/-1.24, p<0.0001).

We investigated serum concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) and measures of adiposity in 30 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (15 male, 15 female) and 30 age and sex-matched apparently healthy subjects. CRP concentration was determined by laser nephelometry (BN II Analyzer) and CardioPhase high-sensitivity CRP (DADE BEHRING) was used as reagent which consists of polystyrene particles coated with mouse monoclonal antibodies to CRP. Results have shown that serum CRP concentration in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus was statistically significantly higher compared to control group of healthy subjects (p<0,05). Body mass index (BMI) correlated significantly with serum concentration of CRP in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (r=0.614; p<0.001). Statistically significant positive correlation was also found between waist to hip ratio and serum CRP concentration in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (r=0.426; p<0.05). Elevated serum CRP concentration in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus is probably caused by the presence of chronic low-grade inflammation in these patients. It is possible that determined increase of CRP concentration reflects activation of innate immune system components in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Implications of established association between measures of adiposity and serum CRP level in type 2 diabetes mellitus remain unclear.

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Compared to female volunteers or postpartum, ketorolac clearance is higher at delivery. To explore the alterations that explain this higher clearance, urinary ketorolac metabolites collected at delivery (n = 40) were compared to female volunteers (unpaired, n = 8) or postpartum (paired, n = 8) following intravenous administration of 30 mg ketorolac tromethamine. A mean 38 (SD 9) % of the ketorolac dose was retrieved in 8-h urine collections. This was based on mean portions of 56 (20), 10 (14) and 33 (12) % for free ketorolac, ketorolac-glucuronide and p-hydroxy-ketorolac, respectively. The mean ketorolac-glucuronide portion at delivery (5 %) was lower compared to female volunteers (21 %) or postpartum (21 %) (p = 0.003 and p = 0.002, respectively). Similarly, there was a difference in mean portion of free urinary ketorolac at delivery when compared to healthy female volunteers (60-45 %, p = 0.046). Using paired statistics, the mean portion of total urinary ketorolac was lower (62-73 %, p = 0.015) while the portion retrieved as p-hydroxy-ketorolac was significantly higher at delivery compared to postpartum (38-28 %, p = 0.031). The differences in urine metabolites suggest that the increased ketorolac clearance at delivery is in part explained by increased metabolic clearance to p-hydroxy-ketorolac, reflecting increased oxidation activity.