The Relationship between the SUVmax Value Obtained in Ga-68 PSMA PET/CT and Lactate Dehydrogenase and Alkaline Phosphatase in Prostate Cancer

Objectives: ALP and LDH are serum markers of prognostic importance in prostate cancer patients. PET/CT imaging with Ga-68 PSMA has played an important role in prostate cancer imaging in recent years. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the relationship and prognostic significance between SUVmax values obtained with Ga-68 PSMA PET/CT and LDH and ALP levels in prostate cancer patients. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 61 prostate cancer patients who had Ga-68 PSMA PET/CT imaging and who did not have a prostatectomy between 2019 and 2020. PSA, ALP and LDH levels were measured in all patients before or after imaging within a maximum of 28 days. Results: The median age of the patients included in this study was 73 (range: 57–89) and all 61 patients were prostatic adenocarcinoma. 50 (82%) of the patients had distant metastasis in Ga-68 PSMA PET/CT. There was a significant positive correlation between serum LDH and PSA levels. There was a positive correlation between serum ALP and PSA levels. A negative correlation was found between ALP levels and prostate SUVmax. Conclusions: While negative correlation was found between SUVmax and ALP levels, no correlation was found between LDH levels and SUVmax. High ALP levels were found to be related to metastasis rates and severity and high serum PSA levels (AU)

Objetivos: ALP y LDH son marcadores séricos deimportancia pronóstica en pacientes con cáncer de próstata.Las imágenes de PET/CT con Ga-68 PSMA han jugado unpapel importante en las imágenes de cáncer de próstata enlos últimos años. Nuestro objetivo en este estudio fue evaluar la relación y la importancia pronóstica entre los valores de SUVmax obtenidos con Ga-68 PSMA PET/CT ylos niveles de LDH y ALP en pacientes con cáncer de próstata.Métodos: Evaluamos retrospectivamente a 61 pacientes con cáncer de próstata que se sometieron a imágenes de PET/CT con Ga-68 PSMA y que no se sometierona prostatectomía entre 2019 y 2020. Los niveles de PSA,ALP y LDH se midieron en todos los pacientes antes o después de la obtención de imágenes en un plazo máximo de28 días.Resultados: La mediana de edad de los pacientes incluidos en este estudio fue de 73 (rango: 57–89) y los 61pacientes eran adenocarcinoma de próstata. 50 (82%) delos pacientes tenían metástasis a distancia en Ga-68 PSMAPET/CT. Hubo una correlación positiva significativa entrelos niveles séricos de LDH y PSA. Hubo una correlaciónpositiva entre los niveles séricos de ALP y PSA. Se encontró una correlación negativa entre los niveles de ALP y elSUVmáx prostático.Conclusiones: Si bien se encontró una correlaciónnegativa entre los niveles de SUVmáx y ALP, no se encontró correlación entre los niveles de LDH y el SUVmáx. Seencontró que los niveles altos de ALP estaban relacionadoscon las tasas de metástasis y la gravedad y los niveles altosde PSA en suero. (AU)

Factors affecting the species of Campylobacter colonizing chickens reared for meat.

AIM: To investigate factors influencing Campylobacter spp. colonization of broiler chickens. METHODS AND RESULTS: Campylobacters were isolated from caeca from 319 flocks of two different breeds (199 Cobb and 120 Hubbard), reared as standard (199), Freedom Food/corn fed (57), free-range (47) or organic (16). The standard category exclusively used Cobb birds slaughtered at 38-41 days. The Freedom Food/corn-fed and free-range Hubbard birds were slaughtered at 49-56 days and the organic flocks at 70 days. Campylobacters were picked at random from direct plates. Both breed of chicken (Hubbard) and age at slaughter were independently associated with increased likelihood of colonization by Campylobacter coli rather than Campylobacter jejuni, but breed could not be separated from other aspects of husbandry with the data available. CONCLUSIONS: Chickens are frequently colonized by C. jejuni and C. coli and most human infections originate from poultry. In most developed countries approximately 90% of human infections are caused by C. jejuni, but fewer than 10% by C. coli. This might be due to C. coli being less pathogenic than C. jejuni to humans, and/or to chicken meat carrying fewer C. coli than C. jejuni. More investigations are needed into these aspects before it can be concluded that slaughtering older birds from slower-growing breeds would reduce the risk of human Campylobacter disease. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Meat from certain breeds of poultry are predominantly colonized by C. coli rather than C. jejuni. More research is needed to understand the impact this may have on the number and severity of human campylobacter infections.

Serum chitotriosidase levels in cancer patients undergoing high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation.

OBJECTIVE: Human chitotriosidase (ChT) is an active chitinase expressed by activated phagocytes. Increased ChT activity has been reported in systemic Candida albicans infections and in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial infections, indicating that an increase in ChT activity reflects phagocyte activation. The aim of this study was to determine the changes in serum ChT activity in patients who underwent high dose chemotherapy (HDC) and stem cell transplantation (SCT), who are at an increased risk for fungal and bacterial infections due to depression of the immune system during the neutropenic period. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 55 SCT patients were included in the study. Serum ChT activity was determined before the initiation of HDC and during the neutropenic period after hematopoietic stem cell reinfusion on post-transplant first, fifth and tenth days. RESULTS: Chitotriosidase levels before transplantation were significantly lower than the results at first, fifth and tenth days post-hematopoietic stem cell reinfusion. CONCLUSIONS: Although the number of neutrophils was low, ChT enzyme activity was high in newly produced granules of neutrophils. Chitotriosidase may be supplemented as a drug for preventing and treating infections in the near future.

May long term oxcarbazepine treatment be lead to secondary hyperparathyroidism?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The adverse effects of newer antiepileptic drugs are not well-known. This study assessed the impact of oxcarbazepine (OXC) treatment on bone turnover. METHODS: Forty-four children with idiopathic focal (and/or secondarily generalized) epilepsy who had been treated with OXC for more than 1 year were compared with 33 healthy, age- and sex-matched children. Serum calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid hormone, osteocalcin, calcitonin, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and bone mineral density were measured to evaluate and compare bone mineralization between the two groups. RESULTS: The serum levels of calcium, osteocalcin, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and bone mineral density did not differ significantly between the study and control groups. However, serum levels of parathyroid hormone, alkaline phosphatase, phosphorus, and calcitonin differed significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that OXC treatment leads to secondary hyperparathyroidism with high-turnover bone disease and/or impaired intestinal calcium absorption.

Familial Mediterranean fever and IgA nephropathy: case report and review of the literature.

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is the most common form of autoinflammatory syndromes and is characterized by recurrent inflammatory attacks of fever and serositis. Amyloidosis is the most common renal complication of FMF. In addition to amyloidosis, many renal lesions have been anecdotally reported in patients with FMF and other hereditary periodic fevers. We report a Turkish child with FMF presenting with hematuria during attacks, in whom kidney biopsy documented the presence of mesangial IgA deposits and the absence of amyloidosis. Kidney biopsy should be performed in patients showing microscopic or gross hematuria during attacks of familial Mediterranean fever in order to gain additional epidemiological data about specific features of renal involvement and to allow adequate treatment.