Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:Q86TM3 (cage)
 29,987 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

150 males imprisoned for drunken driving were assessed by means of a questionnaire and medical examination. The objectives were to study alcohol consumption and frequency of alcohol-related problems. Half of the assessed persons were less than 30 years of age. 62% had a blood alcohol concentration > 1.50%. 36% had previously been convicted for drunken driving. Average alcohol consumption was 58 gram per day. 40% of the convicted persons reported a consumption of more than 40 gram alcohol per day. Corrected for under-reporting the consumption was even higher. The CAGE questionnaire was positive in 54%, indicating an alcohol-related problem. GGT (gamma-glutamyltransferase) was elevated in 23% and CDT (carbohydrate deficient transferrin) in 35%. This study indicates that 50-60% of convicted drunken drivers were excessive drinkers or/and had alcohol-related problems. Imprisonment and fines seem to have a limited impact on occurrence of drunken driving. Other strategies are discussed.
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PMID:[Alcohol consumption among convicted drivers]. 146 98

Transferrin is an important growth-promoting serum glycoprotein synthesized chiefly in the liver in adults. The transferrin found in the mouse foetus is thought to be wholly a product of the foetus itself and its synthesis starts at lest as early as the 7th day of gestation. The major sites of synthesis in mouse foetuses are the visceral yolk sac (VYS) and liver (Adamson, 1982). We now report that other murine foetal tissues synthesize readily detectable amounts, namely lung, spleen, spinal cord and rib cage. Very low levels are also synthesized by the brain, muscle and pancreas. We can detect no synthesis of transferrin in late foetal thymus, heart or skin although mid-gestation foetal skin may make a very small amount. No synthesis of transferrin can be detected in adult brain, lung and spleen, but approximately equal rates of synthesis are detected in adult liver and adult ear pinna. Transferrin is accumulated by foetal and adult tissues in widely varying amounts and these have been measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays of extracts. In addition to VYS and liver, high levels of transferrin are found in foetal skin, lung and rib cage with lower amounts in spinal cord, spleen and muscle tissues. Tissues of the 15th day foetus accumulate the highest concentrations of transferrin. A role for the mediation of transferrin in the stimulation of growth and differentiation by interaction tissues is discussed.
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PMID:Transferrin in foetal and adult mouse tissues: synthesis, storage and secretion. 403 41

The serum levels of transferrin, haptoglobin, C3 proactivator, plasminogen and alpha 2-macroglobulin have been measured in patients suffering from urogenital cancer. In this randomized study, we found a frequent decrease of transferrin coinciding with the elevation of C3-proactivator and haptoglobin. The serum concentration of plasminogen and alpha 2-macroglobulin were rarely observed in the pathological range excluding cancer-associated changes. Tumor metabolites and/or the circulating immune complex may account for the alteration of transferrin, haptoglobin and C3-proactivator, more than primary cancer-related synthesis of these proteins.
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PMID:Transferrin, C3 complement, haptoglobin, plasminogen and alpha 2-microglobulin in patients with urogenital tumors. 615 74

By using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, sera were tested on cancer-associated globulin from female patients bearing gynaecological cancers: 45 cervical, 21 endometrial and 38 ovarian. As a control, normal sera were taken from 97 healthy women. Sera were also taken from patients with benign neoplasias: 59 cervical dysplasias, 72 endometrial fibromyomas and 47 ovarian cystadenomas. The cancer-associated globulin was evaluated, as an antibody to a cancer antigen that consists of ceramide-lactoside conjugated to a protein integrated in a tumor cell membrane. This serum globulin can be shown densitometrically as the fourth post-transferrin peak (PTP 4). It was found in 69% cervical cancer patients, 52% of the endometrial cancer patients and 89% of the ovarian cancer patients. False positive results were detected in 11% of the normal sera and 25% of the sera from patients with benign neoplasias.
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PMID:Cancer-associated serum globulin determined in patients with cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancer. 769 81

The paper describes a study of 58 consecutive male soldiers under 30 years old admitted to an alcohol treatment unit in London, and 51 age- and gender-matched controls to compare the efficacy of isoelectric focusing, a non-quantitative measure of carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT), with other markers of alcohol misuse. The Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire, the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test and the CAGE questions were all more sensitive in detecting alcohol misusers than the laboratory markers measured. At standard cut-off levels, the laboratory markers yielded low sensitivities even in those subjects who admitted to drinking over 80 g alcohol daily for at least 3 weeks immediately prior to the study. CDT was the most sensitive (31%), followed by mean cell volume (14%) and gamma glutamyl transferase (11%). The questionnaires and laboratory markers had good specificities.
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PMID:A comparison of carbohydrate deficient transferrin with other markers of alcohol misuse in male soldiers under the age of thirty. 794 72

Some recent proposals in management of alcoholic liver disease are discussed focusing on early diagnosis and treatment of alcohol abuse itself, alcoholic hepatitis early mortality, clinical meaning of nutritional therapy, serological approach and treatment of hepatic fibrosis, and problems in liver transplantation for end stage alcoholic liver cirrhosis. CAGE or similar systematized brief questionnaires, and desialylated transferrin/total transferrin ratio as serological marker, seems to be interesting contributions to "hidden" alcohol abuse diagnosis and abstinence control while psycho-social support and voluntary incorporation to self-aid groups are the best weapons to reach persistent abstinence. Corticosteroids seems to improve survival in a selected group of patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis, specially in those presenting encephalopathy but free of GI bleeding, decompensated diabetes, active infections, pancreatitis, and other contraindications or adverse effects of these drugs. Relationship between direct toxicity and nutritional deficiencies in pathogenesis of alcoholic liver injury are not clear enough, but malnutrition is generally present in patients requiring hospitalization, and related to clinical severity; oral, enteral or parenteral nutritional supplementation in this order of preference according to patients condition, associated or not with steroid anabolics, are useful in cases with moderate to severe alcoholic hepatitis or decompensated cirrhosis to eliminate the catabolic state, reaching a better nitrogen balance and liver function tests, without special adverse effects. A special role on liver regeneration is discussed. Antioxidants and supernutrients are special "modern" aspects of nutritional therapy in alcoholic liver disease generally related to the MEOS activation in chronic alcoholism, the excessive production of free radicals, and the depletion of glutathione, membrane phospholipids (specially phosphatidycholine), and vitamin A, E, and C. Natural supplements as soybean polyunsaturated lecithin, with high concentration of phosphatidycholine, or oral supplementation with natural metabolic products depleted from the liver of chronic heavy drinkers, such SAMe, have an interesting rationale based on experimental and clinical findings besides availability and costs. Carotenoids and tocopherols supplementation seems to be an useful tool, but are limited in the case of vitamin A because its special toxicity in chronic alcoholism. Serological markers of metabolism of liver connective tissue are clearly involved in fibrogenesis process and other inflammatory connected events; standardization of laboratory methods surely will result in new possibilities of non-invasive valuation of liver injury, evolution and therapeutic response; special histological damage such as sinusoidal "cappilarization" (type i.v. collagen and laminin), endothelial sinusoidal cell function (seric hyaluronate), or collagenase activity (TIMP-1 or tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1) seems to be valuable by these new technologies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:[New suggestions for the management of alcoholic liver diseases]. 852 63

Naltrexone (NTX) has been shown to be a useful drug for the treatment of alcohol dependence (AD). Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in serum is a new biologic marker of alcohol abuse. To evaluate the efficacy of NTX (50 mg/d) in AD, a group of 20 alcoholics with CDT > 20 U/l was studied using monthly laboratory tests (CDT, ESR, AST, ALT, GGT) and specific psychological testing (CAGE). After the second month statistically significant differences in CDT levels were found. By the end of the study, 13 patients (responders) had normalized their CDT levels. There was no correlation between CDT values and the other laboratory markers. The difference in routine laboratory markers between responders and non responders was not significant. NTX was well tolerated by all the patients and significant alcohol abstinence was achieved. CDT was demonstrated to be a effective marker for the evaluation of alcoholic abstinence during treatment with NTX. Superior results were obtained in comparison with the routine customary markers for AD.
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PMID:[Evaluation of the efficacy of naltrexone in alcoholism by the determination of serum carbohydrate-deficient transferrin]. 867 1

The aim of this study was to measure serum carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in consecutive patients attending a general medical clinic with a range of alcohol intakes to determine its value in assessing such intake. Eighty-one consecutive patients (42 male, 39 female) aged 20-85 years (median = 49.5 years) attending an out-patient clinic were selected for the study. Each patient completed an alcohol diary detailing the units of alcohol consumed in the previous week, a CAGE questionnaire and an alcohol history, and underwent conventional blood tests including mean corpuscular volume (MCV), liver function tests, and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT). CDT was estimated using an enzyme immunoassay (CDTect, Pharmacia). The group comprised of 17 teetotallers, 28 light (<100 g/week), 23 moderate (100-400 g/week), and 13 heavy (>400 g/week) drinkers. Median serum CDT for heavy drinkers (25.5 U/l) was significantly higher than for the rest (median = 17 U/l, Kruskal-Wallis test, P = 0.01). Serum CDT correlated significantly with the CAGE score (Mann-Whitney test, P = 0.01), but poorly with alcohol diary records (r = 0.1, P = 0.4). However the correlations between GGT and diary records (r = 0.43, P = 0.001) and MCV with diary records (r = 0.5, P < 0.001) were significant. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value for elevated serum CDT were 69, 81 and 41% respectively in detecting heavy drinking. The positive predictive values for the various parameters were 43% for elevated serum GGT, 41% for raised erythrocyte MCV, and 75% for a positive score on the CAGE questionnaire. When a combination of the markers CDT, GGT, and MCV was used, elevation in two of the three markers detected heavy drinking with sensitivity of 85%, specificity of 88%, and positive predictive value of 61%. We conclude that, in out-patients with a wide range of alcohol intakes conventional markers such as serum GGT and erythrocyte MCV were more suitable than serum CDT for assessing alcohol intake. Serum CDT when used in combination with serum GGT and erythrocyte MCV was useful in detecting heavy drinking. The importance of careful history-taking including a standardized questionnaire is emphasized.
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PMID:Measurement of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in a general medical clinic: is this test useful in assessing alcohol consumption. 963 56

Many alcoholics deny abuse. To screen greater samples for alcohol dependence, short questionnaires, e.g. the CAGE or MAST are often applied. Frequently laboratory parameters [i.e. 'alcohol markers', such as carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), gamma-glutamyl transferase or mean corpuscular volume of erythrocytes] are used to support the diagnosis of long-standing heavy alcohol consumption. In this study, the self-ratings (CAGE and MAST) were compared with the above laboratory parameters in an unselected sample of 204 patients admitted to a general hospital. The sensitivities, specificities, and positive (PPV) as well as negative predictive values of the CAGE, the MAST, and the alcohol markers were calculated along with the reported alcohol consumption or the ICD-10 diagnosis as standard. According to recent harmful alcohol consumption levels (women >225 g/week: men >350 g/week), the sensitivities and the PPVs were rather low in all tests (sensitivity <60%; PPV <50%). With the ICD-10 diagnosis as standard, the CAGE and MAST showed a rather high specificity (>95%) and PPV (about 90%). CDT revealed the best PPV of all alcohol markers (60%). However, the sensitivity of the CAGE, MAST, and the alcohol markers for the ICD-10 diagnosis was rather poor (<60%). This low sensitivity impedes the usefulness of these questionnaires and alcohol markers as screening tests for alcoholism in general hospitals.
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PMID:Comparison of cage and mast with the alcohol markers CDT, gamma-GT, ALAT, ASAT and MCV. 971 3

It is well-known that early diagnosis in addiction leads to a better outcome and prevents psychosocial and medical illness and disability as well as costs. It would be important to have a gold standard for the diagnosis for alcoholism because of the consequences of this diagnosis for both the patient and the physician. In the last 15 years there were world-wide efforts to find biological markers for alcoholism and alcohol abuse. The results, however, were rather poor. With the exception of the relatively new and expensive CDT TEST (Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin) and some changes in established questionnaires (shortenings) we have used the same screening tests for decades. The relationship between the patient and the physician, a detailed medical history and experience of the physician cannot be replaced by tests. The Plinius Major Society recommends in its Guidelines the CAGE questionnaire. In medical settings and in primary care the MALT or AUDIT are more informative. As laboratory markers the Plinius Major Society still recommends: gamma-GT, MCV, GOT/GPT (ASAT/ALAT) and CDT. These tests are only useful if normal values of the particular laboratory are given.
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PMID:[Markers for excessive alcohol use (screening)]. 1080 74


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