The relationship between prolonged cerebral oxygen desaturation and postoperative outcome in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting

58 patients who underwent on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery were evaluated for changes in regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) measured by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). If rSO2 during the operation fell to more than 20% under the baseline, standardized interventions were undertaken to maintain rSO2. Despite those interventions, in some cases we observed inability to maintain rSO2 above this threshold. Therefore we divided patients in two subgroups: 1. without prolonged rSO2 desaturation; 2. with prolonged rSO2 desaturation (area under the curve >150 min% for rSO2<20% of baseline and >50 min% for rSO2<50% of absolute value). The data were analyzed to determine whether there were major differences in outcome of these two groups. 18 out of 58 patients (31%) had prolonged rSO2 desaturation during operation. There was significantly higher number of diabetic patients in group with prolonged rSO2 desaturation (p=0.02). Intraoperative data revealed significantly more blood consumption during cardiopulmonary bypass (p=0.007) and the need for inotropes (p=0.04) in desaturation group. Three patients in prolonged desaturation group and no one in another group had stroke, coma or stupor (p=0.03). Logistic regression analysis revealed diabetes mellitus and age as predictors for prolonged rSO2 desaturation. We concluded that prolonged intraoperative rSO2 desaturation is significantly associated with worse neurological outcome in patients - nonresponders to standardized interventions for prevention of rSO2 desaturation.     

Rectal cancer treatment and survival--comparison of two 5-year time intervals

In last two decades there was a huge step forward concerning rectal cancer treatment. The aim of our study was comparison of two time intervals regarding the methods of treatment and results of radical rectal cancer surgery. 407 patients operated on for rectal cancer were included in study. Those were patients with elective radical resection of solitary rectal tumor who survived first month after the operation. Patients were divided in two groups regarding the time of operation. In group one were patients operated on between 1996 and 2000 and in group two patients operated on between 2001 and 2005. We compared our results in both intervals with special interest about type of operation considering localization of the tumor, local recurrence and cancer related survival. Significant differences were found between two groups. There were more sphincter saving operations in second group, less local recurrences and better survival than in first group. This study observed significant improvements at recurrence rates and total survival for patients operated on rectal cancer.     

Is salt intake hidden risk for rural population: case study Village of Sjeverovac, County Sisacko-moslavacka?

Nutritional habits between urban and rural population differ as much as life style and socioeconomic standards of these populations. In Croatia, rural populations are mostly live stock producers. Their nutrition frequently depends on their own production, which includes high quantity of cured meat products, eggs and dairy products. Data were obtained from longitudinal the Croatian Adult health Survey and pilot cross-sectional survey in three villages in Sisacko-moslavacka county. Our findings show that there is no great difference between urban and rural population regarding salt intake. The difference is in the type of food and food preparation, as well as life style. We propose combination of more culturally and socially sensitive questionnaires along with analytical methods that include biological matrix, such as 24-hour urine collection.     

Theoretical Analysis of Computer Simulations of Sorption in a Cylindrical Micropore

Abstract

The simulation of krypton in a cylindrical pore with atomically rough walls is reconsidered. Distributions of gas-gas, gas-solid and total energy are presented and discussed in terms of their ability to characterize the adsorbed phase, especially by assigning sorbed atoms to layers within the pore. The calculation of the chemical potential of the sorbed phase from the distributions of the total energy per particle is presented and an approximate method of splitting the chemical potential into contributions due to the gas-gas and gas-solid energies is suggested and tested against the simulation data. It is found that the approximation works reasonably well for coverages up to monolayer, but shows significant deviations from the simulated values at coverages corresponding to the nearly full pore.     

Computational study of the mechanism and the relative free energies of binding of anticholesteremic inhibitors to squalene-hopene cyclase

The prokaryotic monotopic membrane protein squalene-hopene cyclase (SHC) is homologous to a human enzyme responsible for cholesterol formation. Using molecular dynamics in explicit water, a single monomer of SHC was simulated using the GROMOS 45A3 force field, once in complex with an inhibitor and once in an uncomplexed form. The protein exhibits significant stability on the level of secondary and tertiary structure even outside of its native membrane environment. Analysis of the fluctuations of the complexed and the uncomplexed SHC confirms the previously made suggestions for the ligand entrance channel and reveals some of its novel dynamical features that might be of functional importance. To examine the potential of computationally designing SHC ligands and study their thermodynamics of binding, the relative free energies of binding of a series of structurally similar anticholesteremic inhibitors of SHC were calculated using single-step perturbation (SSP) and thermodynamic integration (TI) techniques. While neither technique succeeds in quantitatively matching the relatively small experimental values, TI qualitatively reproduces the relative order of the experimental affinities, but SSP does not. Detailed comparisons and potential reasons for this are given.     

Monitoring of the genetic structure of natural populations: change of the effective population size and inversion polymorphism in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila subobscura</Emphasis>

We analyzed changes in the genetic structure and effective population size of two ecologically distinct populations of Drosophila subobscura over several years. Population sizes of D. subobscura in beech and oak wood habitats for a period of 6 years were estimated by the capture-mark-release-recapture method. Inversion polymorphism parameters were also assessed in the same populations for a period of 3 years. Significant differences in the numbers of individuals were observed between sexes. This affected the effective population sizes between particular years. The ratio of the effective size over the cenzus dropped significantly in beech wood in 2 years. Although overall heterozygosity remained unchanged during the years in both habitats, frequencies of gene arrangements on five chromosomes show variability. After the bottleneck, some complex chromosomal arrangements appeared for the first time in both populations. Standard gene arrangements of chromosome A increased in frequency over the years in each habitat, while the complex arrangements remain rather stable and specific for each population. The results obtained indicate that the population structure may significantly change if the effective size of D. subobscura population is reduced, which is mostly related to microclimatic changes in habitats. Based on the results to date, monitoring of microevolutionary changes by using D. subobscura and its relatives seems a promising way to study the effects of global climate changes.     

Influence of varying degrees of malnutrition on IGF-I expression in the rat diaphragm.

This study evaluated the impact of varying degrees of prolonged malnutrition on the local insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) system in the costal diaphragm muscle. Adult rats were provided with either 60 or 40% of usual food intake over 3 wk. Nutritionally deprived (ND) animals (i.e., ND60 and ND40) were compared with control (Ctl) rats fed ad libitum. Costal diaphragm fiber types and cross-sectional areas were determined histochemically. Costal diaphragm muscle IGF-I mRNA levels were determined by RT-PCR. Serum and muscle IGF-I peptide levels were determined by using a rat-specific radioimmunoassay. The body weights of Ctl rats increased by 5%, whereas those of ND60 and ND40 animals decreased by 16 and 26%, respectively. Diaphragm weights were reduced by 17 and 27% in ND60 and ND40 animals, respectively, compared with Ctl. Diaphragm fiber proportions were unaffected by either ND regimen. Significant atrophy of both type IIa and IIx fibers was noted in the ND60 group, whereas atrophy of all three fiber types was observed in the diaphragm of ND40 rats. Serum IGF-I levels were reduced by 62 and 79% in ND60 and ND40 rats, respectively, compared with Ctl. Diaphragm muscle IGF-I mRNA levels in both ND groups were similar to those noted in Ctl. In contrast, IGF-I concentrations were reduced by 36 and 42% in the diaphragm muscle of ND60 and ND40 groups, respectively, compared with Ctl. We conclude that the local (autocrine/paracrine) muscle IGF-I system is affected in our models of prolonged ND. We propose that this contributes to disordered muscle protein turnover and muscle cachexia with atrophy of muscle fibers. This is particularly so in view of recent data demonstrating the importance of the autocrine/paracrine system in muscle growth and maintenance of fiber size.     

Chemical Composition of Volatiles; Antimicrobial,Antioxidant and Cholinesterase Inhibitory Activity of Chaerophyllum aromaticum L. (Apiaceae) Essential Oils and Extracts

The present study reports the chemical composition of the headspace volatiles (HS) and essential oils obtained from fresh Chaerophyllum aromaticum root and aerial parts in full vegetative phase, as well as biological activities of their essential oils and MeOH extracts. In HS samples, the most dominant components were monoterpene hydrocarbons. On the other hand, the essential oils consisted mainly of sesquiterpenoids, representing 73.4% of the root and 63.4% of the aerial parts essential oil. The results of antibacterial assay showed that the aerial parts essential oil and MeOH extract have no antibacterial activity, while the root essential oil and extract showed some activity. Both of the tested essential oils exhibited anticholinesterase activity (47.65% and 50.88%, respectively); MeOH extract of the root showed only 8.40% inhibition, while aerial part extract acted as an activator of cholinesterase. Regarding the antioxidant activity, extracts were found to be more effective than the essential oils.