Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is a rare autosomal dominant inherited metabolic disease with lowered function of the enzyme hydroxymethylbilan synthase due to mutation in this gene of the heme synthesis. The resulting excess of aminolevulinic acid and porphobilinogen can result in acute abdominal pain, paresis, fatigue, increased risk for kidney failure and hepatocellular carcinoma. Some drugs, ...

Cytokines are potentially useful biomarkers of sepsis and other inflammatory conditions. Many cytokines can be released by leukocytes and platelets after sampling. The sampling and processing techniques are consequently critically important to measure the <i>in vivo</i> levels. We therefore examined the effects of four different anticoagulants, EDTA, citrate, lepirudin, heparin compared to serum, ...