A Positron Emission Tomography Study of Voluntarily and Electrically Contracted Human Quadriceps

peer reviewe

Early

Arthritis Rheum. 2004 Dec;50(12):3934-40. Early response to immunosuppressive therapy predicts good renal outcome in lupus nephritis: lessons from long-term followup of patients in the Euro-Lupus Nephritis Trial. Houssiau FA, Vasconcelos C, D'Cruz D, Sebastiani GD, de Ramon Garrido E, Danieli MG, Abramovicz D, Blockmans D, Mathieu A, Direskeneli H, Galeazzi M, Gül A, Levy Y, Petera P, Popovic R, Petrovic R, Sinico RA, Cattaneo R, Font J, Depresseux G, Cosyns JP, Cervera R. Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. [email protected] Abstract OBJECTIVE: In the Euro-Lupus Nephritis Trial (ELNT), 90 patients with lupus nephritis were randomly assigned to a high-dose intravenous cyclophosphamide (IV CYC) regimen (6 monthly pulses and 2 quarterly pulses with escalating doses) or a low-dose IV CYC regimen (6 pulses of 500 mg given at intervals of 2 weeks), each of which was followed by azathioprine (AZA). After a median followup of 41 months, a difference in efficacy between the 2 regimens was not observed. The present analysis was undertaken to extend the followup and to identify prognostic factors. METHODS: Renal function was prospectively assessed quarterly in all 90 patients except 5 who were lost to followup. Survival curves were derived using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: After a median followup of 73 months, there was no significant difference in the cumulative probability of end-stage renal disease or doubling of the serum creatinine level in patients who received the low-dose IV CYC regimen versus those who received the high-dose regimen. At long-term followup, 18 patients (8 receiving low-dose and 10 receiving high-dose treatment) had developed permanent renal impairment and were classified as having poor long-term renal outcome. We demonstrated by multivariate analysis that early response to therapy at 6 months (defined as a decrease in serum creatinine level and proteinuria <1 g/24 hours) was the best predictor of good long-term renal outcome. CONCLUSION: Long-term followup of patients from the ELNT confirms that, in lupus nephritis, a remission-inducing regimen of low-dose IV CYC followed by AZA achieves clinical results comparable with those obtained with a high-dose regimen. Early response to therapy is predictive of good long-term renal outcome. PMID: 15593207 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Production par cyclotron d'azote-13 gazeaux et de solutions isotoniques de haute activité spécifique

Contrary to the opinion generally admitted we show that it is possible to prepare 13N in a gaseous or soluble form, wth a hight specific activity, using the 12C (d, n)13N reaction and an actived charcoal target

La médecine : Hier, aujourd'hui et demain : Nouveautés en neurologie

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The medical cyclotron : A new instrumentation in medicine

editorial reviewe

Mesure du débit sanguin cérébral régional chez l'homme par le xénon 133

peer reviewe

Preparation of short-lived radioactive gazes and marked organic molecular, with a view to medical applications

editorial reviewe

Determination of regional cerebral glucose transport and utilization rates in man with 11C-glucose: preliminary results

peer reviewedThis paper describes the methodology and the first results of a method of measurement of the cerebral metabolic rate of glucose, using 11C-Glucose and regional detection by probes. The present method has the advantages of being rapidly repeatable and of yielding a determination of the rates of transfer of glucose across the blood-brain barrie