Involuntary hospitalizations in the psychiatric hospital Jankomir before and following the alterations and amendments made to ZZODS

Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders as well as the delirium caused by abstinence from alcohol and accute state of drunkenness appear at the very top of the list of factors, which are positively correlated with involuntary hospitalization of patients. This is at the same time a confirmation of the data found in literature considering psychosis an essential factor of involuntary hospitalization; the same referring to the male sex was not, however, confirmed by the results obtained in the first and second research period. Regarding the positive correlation between schizophrenia and other psychotic disturbances, dementia, delirium and other cognitive impairments including the delirium caused by abstinence from alcohol and an accute state of drunkenness on the one side and the high rate of involuntary hospitalization on the other, there is no statistically significant difference between the period preceding and the period following the alterations and amendments to the Law on the protection of patients with mental disorders.     

Introgression of chromosome 13 in Dahl salt-sensitive genetic background restores cerebral vascular relaxation

To evaluate the potential role of impaired renin-angiotensin system (RAS) function in contributing to reduced vascular relaxation in Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rats, responses to ACh (10(-6) mol/l) and hypoxia (Po(2) reduction to 40-45 mmHg) were determined in isolated middle cerebral arteries of Dahl S rats, Brown Norway (BN) rats, and consomic rats having chromosome 13 (containing the renin gene) or chromosome 16 of the BN rat substituted into the Dahl S genetic background (SS-13(BN) and SS-16(BN), respectively). Arteries of BN rats on a low-salt (LS) diet (0.4% NaCl) dilated in response to ACh and hypoxia, whereas dilation in response to these stimuli was absent in Dahl S rats on LS diet. Vasodilation to ACh and hypoxia was restored in SS-13(BN) rats on an LS diet but not in SS-16(BN) rats. High-salt diet (4% NaCl), to suppress ANG II, eliminated vasodilation to hypoxia and ACh in BN and in SS-13(BN) rats. Treatment of SS-13(BN) rats with the AT(1) receptor antagonist losartan also eliminated the restored vasodilation in response to ACh and hypoxia. These studies suggest that restoration of normal RAS regulation in SS-13(BN) consomic rats restores vascular relaxation mechanisms that are impaired in Dahl S rats.     

Influence of the temperature regime on the composition of the macrozoobenthos community in a thermal brook in Serbia

In contrast to cold and eurythermal waters, benthic communities of warm brooks in temperate regions have been inadequately studied. In order to investigate the effects of water thermal regime on the benthic communities of warm waters and their relationships with those of cold and eurythermic ones, the macrozoobenthos was studied at eight sites in the Toplica River, and at four sites in its tributary, the Termalni brook. Investigations were carried out seasonally from April 2000 to January 2001. Warm waters of the Termalni brook were characterized by specific macrozoobenthos assemblages that exhibited significant differences to the populations of eurythermal and cold waters of the Toplica River. The dominant taxa in the macrozoobenthos community of warm waters were mainly Gastropoda species. Moreover, benthic communities of warm waters were characterized by lower diversity and greater biomass in comparison with those of cold and eurythermal waters. The gradient of average annual temperatures represented the main ecological factor influencing changes of diversity and biomass along the course of the investigated Termalni brook. Inflow of warm waters at site T₆ lead to a decrease in macrozoobenthos abundance and changes in qualitative and quantitative composition of the benthocoenosis of a highland stream, but did not significantly alter diversity.     

Etiology of chronic prostatitis syndrome in patients treated at the university hospital for infectious diseases "Dr. Fran Mihaljević" from 2003 to 2005

A total of 835 patients with symptoms of chronic prostatitis syndrome and no evidence of structural or functional lower genitourinary tract abnormalities were examined in a three year period at the Outpatient Department for Urogenital Infections, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases "Dr. Fran Mihaljevi?" Zagreb, Croatia. Disease etiology was determined in 482 (57.72%) patients. Chlamydia trachomatis was proved to be the causative pathogen in 161 patients, Trichomonas vaginalis in 85, Escherichia coli in 68, Enterococcus in 51, Proteus mirabilis in 20, Klebsiella pneumoniae in 9, Streptococcus agalactiae in 15, Ureaplasma urealyticum in 49 patients with chronic prostatitis. Other patients had mixed infection. In 257 (53.32%) of 482 patients, the inflammatory finding (>10 WBCs/hpf) was found in EPS or VB3. Normal WBCs/hpf (<10) was found in 103 (63.98%) of 161 patients with symptoms of chronic prostatitis in whom C. trachomatis was detected in EPS or VB3, in 50 (58.82%) of 85 patients in whom Trichomonas vaginalis was isolated, and in 23 (46.94%) of 49 patients in whom Ureaplasma urealyticum was isolated.     

Quality of life in children after cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease

The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life children after cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD) and to compare these results with healthy children. To assess the quality of life children after surgery for CHD we performed a cross-sectional study of 114 patients who were patients at the Department of Paediatrics in Tuzla, between the ages of 2 and 18 years, of both sexes, and with one of their parents. We used the "PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales", with both child self-report and parent proxy-reports. By self assessment, the PedsQL total scores for quality of life were statistically significantly different between children after cardiac surgery for ages 13 to 18 years and healthy children, while by parent report PedsQL total scores were statistically significantly different between children after cardiac surgery for ages 5 to 7 years and healthy children. By self assessment, children after cardiac surgery for ages from 5 to 7 and 13 to 18 years reported that they have a statistically significantly lower quality of life in the segment school functioning compared to the healthy children. By parental assessment, children after cardiac surgery for ages 2 to 4, 5 to 7 and 8 to 12 years have a statistically significantly lower quality of life in the segments of physical and psychosocial health, emotional, social and school functioning. The results of our study indicate that children after cardiac surgery for CHD by self and parent assessment have a lower quality of life than healthy children.     

Isolation of glucocardiolipins from Geobacillus stearothermophilus NRS 2004/3a

Glucose-substituted cardiolipins account for about 4 mol% of total phospholipid extracted from exponentially grown cells of Geobacillus stearothermophilus NRS 2004/3a. Individual glucocardiolipin species exhibited differences in fatty acid substitution, with iso-C(15:0) and anteiso-C(17:0) prevailing. The compounds were purified to homogeneity by a novel protocol and precharacterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.     

The influence of coumestrol,zearalenone, and genistein administration on insulin receptors and insulin secretion in ovariectomized rats

The influence of phytoestrogens (genistein and coumestrol) and mycoestrogen (zearalenone) on insulin secretion, liver insulin receptors and some aspects of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism were investigated in this study. Ovariectomized rats were injected s.c. with the above mentioned compounds in the amount of 1 mg for three days. Coumestrol and zearalenone caused a significant increase in uterus weight, similar to the effects observed after estrone action, while this effect was not observed after the genistein injection. Blood insulin level was not changed after phyto- or mycoestrogen treatment. However, coumestrol and genistein significantly decreased the binding capacity of liver insulin receptors. These changes corresponded with alterations in glucose and free fatty acids profiles in blood, as well as with glycogen content in liver. The effects observed after genistein and coumestrol injections differed from those noticed in rats treated with zearalenone or estrone. On the basis of these results we conclude that metabolic effects of high doses of coumestrol and genistein in ovariectomized rats are partly mediated by changes in insulin sensitivity of the liver and that the action of plant estrogens on metabolism is, at least to the some degree, independent of their estrogen activity.     

Double tooth

The form of primary and permanent teeth can differ morphologically from that which is considered normal, completely or in some parts. The changes in tooth form can be hereditary or caused by some disease or trauma. Fusion is a union of one or more teeth during development. Gemination means that two separate morphological units were created by division of the tooth germ. The intention of this study was to state the prevalence of double teeth (fusion and gemination) among the persons tested, as to gender, distribution in the maxilla or mandible, and whether the anomaly occurred bilaterally or unilaterally. The results of this investigation have shown that in a total of examined 3,517 plaster models, a prevalence of double teeth was 0.2%. 57.2% of them were fusioned and 42.9% geminated.     

A Bayesian framework for combining gene predictions

MOTIVATION: Gene identification and gene discovery in new genomic sequences is one of the most timely computational questions addressed by bioinformatics scientists. This computational research has resulted in several systems that have been used successfully in many whole-genome analysis projects. As the number of such systems grows the need for a rigorous way to combine the predictions becomes more essential. RESULTS: In this paper we provide a Bayesian network framework for combining gene predictions from multiple systems. The framework allows us to treat the problem as combining the advice of multiple experts. Previous work in the area used relatively simple ideas such as majority voting. We introduce, for the first time, the use of hidden input/output Markov models for combining gene predictions. We apply the framework to the analysis of the Adh region in Drosophila that has been carefully studied in the context of gene finding and used as a basis for the GASP competition. The main challenge in combination of gene prediction programs is the fact that the systems are relying on similar features such as cod on usage and as a result the predictions are often correlated. We show that our approach is promising to improve the prediction accuracy and provides a systematic and flexible framework for incorporating multiple sources of evidence into gene prediction systems.