Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a specific mitogen for endothelial cells and an inducer of the angiogenic procedure. Endothelial nitric oxide (NO) is a potent vasodilator. Because both are implicated in vascular function, it is possible that they would be significantly affected in arterial hypertension. The aim of the study was the investigation of the levels of the two substances in blood serum and their potential relation in patients with untreated essential arterial hypertension compared to healthy individuals. VEGF levels were found 129.1 +/- 135.9 pg/mL in a group of 28 untreated hypertensive patients vs. 209.0 +/- 133.3 pg/mL in a group of 28 healthy individuals (p = 0.008). Nitrites and nitrates levels (as an indirect index of calculating NO levels) were also lower in hypertensive patients than in healthy individuals (19.8 +/- 9.7 micromol/L vs. 29.6 +/- 15.9 micromol/L, p = 0.014). A positive correlation between NOx (nitrites and nitrates levels) and VEGF was found in healthy individuals (r = 0.55, p = 0.003), but there was no correlation in hypertensive patients. The significant decrease of serum VEGF and NO in arterial hypertension and the existence of a correlation between the two substances in healthy subjects that did not exist in the hypertensive patients are findings that need evaluation.

Background and Purpose: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised children. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the incidence of IFIs in pediatric patients with underlying hematologic malignancies and determine the patient characteristics, predisposing factors, diagnosis, treatment efficacy, and outcome of IFIs. Materials and Methods: For the purpose of the study, a retrospective analysis was performed on cases with proven and probable fungal infections from January 2001 to December 2016 (16 years). Results: During this period, 297 children with hematologic malignancies were admitted to the 2nd Pediatric Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and 24 cases of IFIs were registered. The most common underlying diseases were acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL; n=19, 79%), followed by acute myeloid leukemia (AML; n=4, 17%) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL; n=1, 4%). The crude incidence rates of IFIs in ALL, AML, and NHL were 10.5%, 18.2%, and 2.8% respectively. Based on the results, 25% (n=6) and 75% (n=18) of the patients were diagnosed as proven and probable IFI cases, respectively. The lung was the most common site of involvement in 16 (66.7%) cases. Furthermore, Aspergillus and Candida species represented 58.3% and 29.1% of the identified species, respectively. Regarding antifungal treatment, liposomal amphotericin B was the most commonly prescribed therapeutic agent (n=21), followed by voriconazole (n=9), caspofungin (n=3), posaconazole (n=3), micafungin (n=1), and fluconazole (n=1). In addition, 12 children received combined antifungal treatment. The crude mortality rate was obtained as 33.3%.  Conclusion: As the findings of the present study indicated, despite the progress in the diagnosis and treatment of IFIs with the use of new antifungal agents, the mortality rate of these infections still remains high.

Angiogenesis seems to be a prominent event of myeloproliferative diseases. There are few reported data on angiogenesis and the significance of its stimulator, the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in polycythaemia vera (PV). We report our observation of elevated serum VEGF levels in patients suffering from PV. Twenty patients with PV and 20 age-matched healthy subjects were enrolled. VEGF levels were measured by a quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay. Serum VEGF levels in PV were found to be very significantly higher than in healthy individuals (569.7 ± 101.2 vs. 164.7 ± 32.8 pg/ml, p = 0.001). We found no correlation between VEGF and haemoglobin, platelet or leucocyte counts in the patient group. Different therapeutic regimens had no influence on VEGF levels. However, in the control group, we observed a positive correlation between VEGF levels and platelet counts (r = 0.52, p = 0.02). Platelet counts did not differ between patients and healthy subjects. We also evaluated platelet-poor plasma VEGF levels in 10 patients and in all healthy individuals. We found very low levels of VEGF, approximately zero in most cases, in both groups and there was obviously no difference between the two groups. Our results indicate that VEGF is overproduced in PV. However, follow-up studies are needed to verify the role of this factor.

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