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Procalcitonin (PCT) is a peptide precursor of the hormone calcitonin, the latter being involved with calcium homeostasis. It arises once preprocalcitonin is cleaved by endopeptidase . [ 1 ] It was first identified by Leonard J. Deftos and Bernard A. Roos in the 1970s. [ 2 ]
Units do not necessarily imply anything about molarity or mass. A few substances are below this main interval, e.g. thyroid stimulating hormone, being measured in mU/L, or above, like rheumatoid factor and CA19-9, being measured in U/mL.
Prolactin has a wide variety of effects. It stimulates the mammary glands to produce milk (): increased serum concentrations of prolactin during pregnancy cause enlargement of the mammary glands and prepare for milk production, which normally starts when levels of progesterone fall by the end of pregnancy and a suckling stimulus is present.
The authors suggested that procalcitonin may serve as a helpful diagnostic marker for sepsis, but cautioned that its level alone does not definitively make the diagnosis. [45] More current literature recommends utilizing the PCT to direct antibiotic therapy for improved antibiotic stewardship and better patient outcomes. [55]
Positive acute-phase proteins serve (as part of the innate immune system) different physiological functions within the immune system.Some act to destroy or inhibit growth of microbes, e.g., C-reactive protein, mannose-binding protein, [3] complement factors, ferritin, ceruloplasmin, serum amyloid A and haptoglobin.
Biological age is a measure of how healthy a person's cells and organs are, but scientists don't agree on the definition.
Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy also reduced the antibiotic use duration by 2.4 days, and there were fewer antibiotic side effects. This means that procalcitonin is useful for guiding whether to use antibiotics for acute respiratory infections and the duration of the antibiotic. [ 23 ]
A venipuncture performed using a vacutainer. A venipuncture is useful as it is a minimally invasive way to obtain cells and extracellular fluid from the body for analysis.. Blood flows throughout the body, acting as a medium that provides oxygen and nutrients to tissues and carries waste products back to the excretory systems for disp