Cells staining positive for both CD3 and CD(16+56) were considered NKT Imatinib Mesylate cells. IgG isotypic negative controls at the fluorocolours fluorescein isothiocyanate and phycoerythrin were applied before the start of analysis for every patient. For each cellular subtype, a positive stain for ANNEXIN-V and a negative stain for 7-AAD were considered indicative of apoptosis.In order to investigate if transportation of EDTA-blood samples may alter the expression of the tested surface antigens, 10 ml of blood were sampled from another nine patients, four with sepsis and five with severe sepsis/shock, all hospitalized in the fourth Department of Internal Medicine at ATTIKON General Hospital of Athens. An aliquot of 5 ml was immediately processed as for any sample.

Another 5 ml aliquot was given to the courier service mentioned above for transportation; it was returned to the central laboratory after seven hours. The aliquot was then processed again.Statistical analysisResults were expressed as means �� standard error (SE). As patients with different types of infections differed significantly regarding severity (Table (Table1)1) results were expressed separately for patients with sepsis and for patients with severe sepsis/shock. Comparisons of baseline qualitative characteristics were performed by chi-squared test. Comparisons of quantitative variables were performed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons to avoid random correlations. Whenever significant differences were disclosed, it was also tested whether these differences were related to final outcome.

Results of processing of aliquots immediately after blood sampling and after seven hours of courier transportation were compared by paired t-test. Any value of P below 0.05 was considered significant.Table 1Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients enrolled in the studyResultsDemographic and clinical characteristics of patients enrolled in the study are shown in Table Table1:1: 183 patients presented with acute pyelonephritis; 97 with CAP; 100 with intraabdominal infection; 61 with primary bacteremia; and 64 with VAP/HAP. Streptococcus pneumoniae was isolated either from blood or sputum of seven patients with CAP.

Among 100 patients with intraabdominal infections, 28 were suffering from acute ascending cholangitis, Dacomitinib 22 from secondary peritonitis after bowel perforation, 22 from acute appendicitis, 12 from liver abscesses, 10 from acute cholocystitis, and six from acute diverticulitis. Six patients with acute cholangitis and two with liver abscesses had secondary Gram-negative bacteremia (Table (Table1).1). When acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score and co-morbidities were compared separately for patients with sepsis and separately for those with severe sepsis/shock no differences were found between different types of infection.