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Biomedical subjects

Z M Szczepiorkowski

Publications and source records attributed to Z M Szczepiorkowski.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

The generation of narrative interpretations in laboratory medicine: a description of service-specific sign-out rounds.

The logistical details for organizing effective interpretive rounds in a laboratory medicine subspecialty must be carefully established so that expert opinions are provided in a timely fashion in a patient-specific report, rather than as a collection of fixed comments associated with a particular laboratory result generated by a computer This report describes the test batteries for interpretations, the billing for interpretations, clinical examples of interpretations, and interpretations for which billing is not typically performed in several clinical or laboratory areas in our institution. These include coagulation disorders, hemoglobin and anemia evaluations, autoimmune disorders, serum protein analysis, toxicology, molecular diagnostics, and transfusion medicine. The information in this report should provide sufficient detail to allow development of interpretive services with successful billing for the areas in laboratory medicine described.

Anemia↗
PubMed1998

Collagen-induced whole blood platelet aggregation in patients undergoing surgical procedures associated with minimal to moderate blood loss.

Intraoperative bleeding due to platelet disorders is a persistent problem. Therefore, a screening assay to identify patients who are likely to bleed as a result of platelet dysfunction would be useful in formulating decisions about patient care. A previous study indicated that preoperative collagen-induced whole blood platelet aggregation predicts bleeding in patients undergoing surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass, a procedure associated with substantial blood loss. In the current study, we assessed the ability of the same whole blood platelet aggregation test to predict blood loss in patients undergoing surgical procedures not associated with substantial blood loss. The study included 369 adult patients (165 men and 204 women). Patients were categorized in three groups depending on the invasiveness of the operation and the expected blood loss. The intraoperative estimated blood loss value, obtained from the operative report in the patient record, increased significantly with increasing surgical invasiveness. Patients with excessive blood loss (defined as blood loss at or above the 75th or 90th percentile of the estimated blood loss values of patients undergoing procedures of similar invasiveness) had similar platelet aggregation values as patients who did not experience excessive blood loss. Thus, for patients undergoing operations not associated with substantial blood loss, the results of preoperative collagen-induced whole blood platelet aggregation are not effective in identifying patients likely to experience excessive blood loss.

Blood Coagulation Tests↗
PubMed1995

Fatty acid ethyl esters decrease human hepatoblastoma cell proliferation and protein synthesis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) are nonoxidative products of ethanol metabolism. They have been implicated as mediators of ethanol-induced organ damage because FAEE and FAEE synthase have been found specifically in the organs damaged by ethanol abuse. This study showed toxicity specifically related to FAEE or their metabolites for intact human hepatoblastoma-derived cells (HepG2). METHODS: The lipid core of human low-density lipoprotein (LDL) was extracted and the LDL particle reconstituted with either ethyl oleate or ethyl arachidonate. Cultured HepG2 cells were incubated with LDL containing FAEE. Cell proliferation was measured by [methyl-3H]thymidine incorporation. Protein synthesis was determined using L-[35S]methionine. RESULTS: Incubation of cells with 600 mumol/L ethyl oleate or 800 mumol/L ethyl arachidonate decreased [methyl-3H]thymidine incorporation into HepG2 cells by 31% and 37%, respectively. LDL reconstituted with 400 mumol/L ethyl oleate decreased protein synthesis in intact HepG2 cells by 41%. Electron microscopy revealed significant changes in cell morphology, particularly involving the cell nucleus. FAEE delivered in reconstituted LDL were rapidly hydrolyzed and the fatty acids re-esterified into phospholipids, triglycerides, and cholesterol esters, with preference for triglycerides. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that FAEE are toxic for intact human hepatoblastoma cells and that they or their metabolites may be an important causative agent in ethanol-induced liver damage.

Cell Division↗
PubMed1995

Low-density lipoprotein reconstituted with fatty acid ethyl esters as a physiological vehicle for ethyl ester delivery to intact cells.

Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), esterification products of ethanol and fatty acids, have been found selectively in the organs damaged by ethanol abuse, and on that basis have been implicated as contributors to ethanol-induced organ damage. To directly assess the cytotoxic potential of FAEEs with intact cells in a physiological system, solubility must be achieved for these highly nonpolar lipids in aqueous medium. After ethanol ingestion, FAEEs can be found within low-density lipoproteins (LDLs). Therefore, to achieve solubility with FAEEs bound to a naturally occurring lipid carrier, we developed a method for FAEE solubilization and delivery to cells in culture. We synthesized radiolabeled FAEEs and incorporated them into human LDL particles that bind to LDL receptors and deliver FAEEs to intact cells. Ethyl palmitate and ethyl oleate were incorporated into LDLs yielding molar ratios of FAEEs to LDLs of 2,153 +/- 249 and 4,208 +/- 403, respectively. LDL reconstituted with FAEE had the same electrophoretic mobility on agarose gel electrophoresis as native LDL, indicating that the reconstituted LDL (rLDL) was not oxidatively modified. Quantitative analysis of the solubilization of FAEEs in aqueous medium was investigated by adding FAEEs to tissue culture medium either directly or reconstituted in LDL at a concentration of 27 microM. The percentage of FAEE quantitated was 40.0 +/- 2.5% and 89.3 +/- 0.6% for FAEEs added directly and in rLDLs, respectively. After sterile filtration of these two media, the percentage of FAEE that remained was 11.8 +/- 1.3% (direct addition) and 74.9 +/- 1.3% (addition within rLDL), further demonstrating that the LDL particle did solubilize the FAEE.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular↗
PubMed1995

Mode of transport of fatty acid to endothelial cells influences intracellular fatty acid metabolism.

Fatty acids are transported to cells from a variety of different moieties in the plasma. In this study, using oleate and human umbilical vein endothelial cells, we asked whether the vehicle that delivers fatty acid to cells has an influence on its metabolism upon its incorporation into the cell. For oleate vehicles, we compared free oleate bound to albumin with oleate in low density lipoprotein (LDL) which was delipidated and reconstituted with either radiolabeled triolein or cholesteryl oleate. Using approximately physiologic concentrations of LDL and free oleate, we demonstrated by three lines of evidence unique patterns of cellular oleate metabolism for oleate delivered as triolein within LDL, for oleate delivered as cholesteryl oleate within LDL, and for oleate delivered as free oleate bound to albumin. In fact, the difference was most marked between cholesteryl oleate and triolein, even though the oleate in cholesteryl oleate and triolein was delivered in identically reconstituted LDL particles, which were presumably incorporated into the cells and degraded in lysosomes in a similar fashion. First, we demonstrated that oleate delivered as free oleate or as triolein in reconstituted LDL was desaturated and elongated to fatty acid metabolites, but cholesteryl oleate in reconstituted LDL was not similarly metabolized. The elongated and desaturated metabolites of oleate were preferentially esterified in cellular triglyceride when oleate was delivered as free oleate, but they were preferentially esterified in phospholipids when oleate was delivered as triolein in LDL. Second, we observed that there was a difference in the distribution of oleate among phospholipids when oleate was delivered as cholesteryl oleate in reconstituted LDL versus triolein in reconstituted LDL. When the oleate was delivered as triolein in reconstituted LDL, there was greater esterification in diacyl phosphatidylethanolamine, in phosphatidylserine, and in phosphatidylinositol. When oleate was delivered as cholesteryl oleate in reconstituted LDL, there was greater esterification in diacyl phosphatidylcholine. Third, there was a marked preference for oleate delivered from triolein in LDL over cholesteryl oleate in LDL for esterification into the sn-1 position of plasmalogens as a vinyl ether-linked fatty acid. These data indicate that mode of transport of fatty acid to cells influences fatty acid metabolism upon its incorporation into the cell, even when the fatty acid is delivered from the core of the same lipoprotein.

Binding Sites↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Fatty acid ethyl esters: non-oxidative metabolites of ethanol.

Fatty acid ethyl esters are esterification products of fatty acids and ethanol. These compounds have been detected in the serum and cells of individuals following ethanol ingestion. Fatty acid ethyl esters can be quantitated by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) in the serum following ethanol ingestion and have been found in concentrations up to 42 microM. Fatty acid ethyl esters have also been isolated from adipose tissue of subjects ingesting fatty acid ethyl ester capsules as well as from subjects ingesting ethanol. HepG2 cells, a human hepatoblastoma cell line, have also been shown to generate fatty acid ethyl esters when incubated with 1.25 microM fatty acid and 0.17 M ethanol. Fatty acid ethyl esters were found to be toxic to HepG2 cells when presented to the cells in the core of low density lipoprotein particles.

Cell Division↗