Mass Spectrometry for Identification, Monitoring, and Minimal Residual Disease Detection of M-Proteins

BACKGROUND: Monoclonal gammopathies (MGs) are plasma cell disorders defined by the clonal expansion of plasma cells, resulting in the characteristic excretion of a monoclonal immunoglobulin (M-protein). M-protein detection and quantification are integral parts of the diagnosi

Lipoprotein(a) plasma levels are not associated with incident microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Aims/hypothesis: Microvascular disease in type 2 diabetes is a significant cause of end-stage renal disease, blindness and peripheral neuropathy. The strict control of known risk factors, e.g. lifestyle, hyperglycaemia, hypertension and dyslipidaemia, reduces the incidence of microvascular complications, but a residual risk remains. Lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] is a strong risk factor for macrovascular disease in the general population. We hypothesised that plasma Lp(a) levels and the LPA gene SNPs rs10455872 and rs3798220 are associated with the incident development of microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes. Methods: Analyses were performed of data from the DiaGene study, a prospective study for complications of type 2 diabetes, collected in the city of Eindhoven, the Netherlands (n = 1886 individuals with type 2 diabetes, mean follow-up time = 6.97 years). To assess the relationship between plasma Lp(a) levels and the LPA SNPs with each newly developed microvascular complication (retinopathy n = 223, nephropathy n = 246, neuropathy n = 236), Cox proportional hazards models were applied and adjusted for risk factors for microvascular complications (age, sex, mean arterial pressure, non-HDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, BMI, duration of type 2 diabetes, HbA1c and smoking). Results: No significant associations of Lp(a) plasma levels and the LPA SNPs rs10455872 and rs3798220 with prevalent or incident microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes were found. In line with previous observations the LPA SNPs rs10455872 and rs3798220 did influence the plasma Lp(a) levels. Conclusions/interpretation: Our data show no association between Lp(a) plasma levels and the LPA SNPs with known effect on Lp(a) plasma levels with the development of microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes. This indicates that Lp(a) does not play a major role in the development of microvascular complications. However, larger studies are needed to exclude minimal effects of Lp(a) on the development of microvascular complications

Strange particle production in 158 and 40 AA GeV/cc Pb-Pb and p-Be collisions

Results on strange particle production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 and 40 $A$ GeV/$c$ beam momentum from the NA57 experiment at CERN SPS are presented. Particle yields and ratios are compared with those measured at RHIC. Strangeness enhancements with respect to p-Be reactions at the same beam momenta have been also measured: results about their dependence on centrality and collision energy are reported and discussed.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the "Hot Quarks 2004" Conference, July 18-24 2004, New Mexico, USA, submitted to Journal of Physics G 7 pages, 5 figure

Study of the transverse mass spectra of strange particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c

The NA57 experiment has collected high statistics, high purity samples of \PKzS and \PgL, $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ hyperons produced in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 $A$ GeV/$c$. In this paper we present a study of the transverse mass spectra of these particles for a sample of events corresponding to the most central 53% of the inelastic Pb-Pb cross-section. We analyse the transverse mass distributions in the framework of the blast-wave model for the full sample and, for the first time at the SPS, as a function of the event centrality.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, submitted to J. Phys. G: Nucl. Phy