Morphological classification and sexual dimorphism of hyoid bone: new approach

Hyoid bone is a part of viscerocranium placed between the tongue root and thyroid cartilage to which it is connected by thyrohyoid membrane. Widely accepted morphological classification does not exist. Sexual dimorphism was analysed in this study and new guidelines for anatomical classification of hyoid bones based on anthropometric parameters were given. Total number of analysed bones was 70. The bones were classified into three groups: symmetrical U-type, symmetrical V-type and asymmetrical type according to the angle between greater horns and the proportion of greater horns length. In the females incidence of asymmetrical type is considerably higher than in the males, while the incidence of symmetrical V-type is lower The angle value that is on average higher in males may be the parameter indicating that in puberty hyoid bone, still not completely ossified, to some extent follows development of thyroid cartilage because of their close anatomical relation.     

Age-dependent suppression of SERCA2a mRNA in pediatric atrial myocardium

Differential expression of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA2a) and phospholamban (PLB) has been shown in heart failure and atrial arrhythmias. We investigated the influence of volume overload and age on their expression in pediatric atrial myocardium. Right atrial specimens from 18 children with volume overloaded right atrium (VO) and 12 patients without overload were studied. Each group was further divided into patients less than and older than 12 months of age. Only in the younger patients SERCA2a was significantly reduced in the VO group. In younger patients PLB mRNA level tended to be lower in VO. The PLB:SERCA protein ratio was significantly reduced in the VO group. Age itself did not influence the SERCA2a and PLB expression, if the hemodynamic overload was not taken into account. This study is the first to show a combined influence of volume overload and age on atrial SERCA2a expression.     

Cardiopulmonary bypass reduces atrial Na+-K+-ATPase expression in children

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) may induce serious side effects, potentially leading to myocardial failure. The Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase is a key component for myocardial function. Due to its developmental regulation, results from adult studies cannot be adopted to the situation in childhood. Right atrial myocardium from patients with left-to-right shunts at atrial level (VO, n=8) and those without (NO, n=8) was excised during heart surgery before and after CPB. Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase isoforms ATP1A1 (p=0.008) and ATP1A3 (p=0.038) decreased during CPB, which decrease was restricted to the VO group. This study highlights the importance of the underlying heart defect for susceptibility to the effects of CPB, showing a reduced Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase mRNA expression only in patients with left-to-right shunts on the atrial level. This seemed to be an early molecular event, as apart from one, none of the patients showed heart failure before or after surgery.     

UV clothing and skin cancer

Skin cancer incidence in Croatia is steadily increasing in spite of public and governmental permanently measurements. It is clear that will soon become a major public health problem. The primary cause of skin cancer is believed to be a long exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The future designers of UV protective materials should be able to block totally the ultraviolet radiation. The aim of this paper is to present results of measurements concerning UV protecting ability of garments and sun-screening textiles using transmission spectrophotometer Cary 50 Solarscreen (Varian) according to AS/NZS 4399:1996; to show that standard clothing materials are not always adequate to prevent effect of UV radiation to the human skin; and to suggest the possibilities for its improvement for this purpose.     

The unsaturated acyclic nucleoside analogues bearing a sterically constrained (Z)-4′-benzamido-2′-butenyl moiety: Synthesis,X-ray crystal structure study,cytostatic and antiviral activity evaluations

A series of the novel acyclic unsaturated pyrimidine (1–12) and adenine (13) nucleoside analogues bearing conformationally restricted (Z)-2′-butenyl moiety were synthesized and evaluated for their antiviral and cytostatic activity potency against malignant tumor cell lines and normal human fibroblast (WI38). The N-1 and/or N-3 acyclic side chain substitution in pyrimidine ring in N-3 substituted 5-trifluoromethyluracil derivative (11), N-1, N-3 disubstituted 5-fluorouracil derivative (12) and adenine derivative (13) was deduced from their ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra and confirmed by single crystal X-ray structure analysis. The X-ray crystal structure analysis 11–13 revealed also supramolecular self-assemblies, in which infinite chains or dimers built two- and three-dimensional networks. The results of the in vitro cytostatic activity evaluations of 1–13 indicate that the majority of the compounds tested exhibited a non-specific and moderate antiproliferative effect at the highest concentration (100 μM). Of all evaluated compounds on the cell lines tested only the N-1 4″-fluoro-substituted-benzamide uracil derivative (7) showed rather marked and selective inhibitory activity against the growth of MCF-7 cells at a concentration of 2.7 μM and no cytotoxic effect on normal fibroblasts WI38. This compound can be therefore considered as a potential antitumor lead compound for further synthetic structure modification.     

Infanticide in Eastern Croatia

For the layperson no crime is more difficult to comprehend than the killing of a child by his or her own parents. This is a retrospective study of neonaticide and infanticide in Eastern Croatia from 1980 to 2004. Judicial records of infanticide cases stored in Regional and County Courts were analyzed for the circumstances surrounding the offense. Twenty-four babies were discovered in various places during investigating period of time. The victims were almost equally divided between boys (12) and girls (11). The gender of one baby was unknown. The mean weight of babies was 2.7 SD = 0.66 kg. The perpetrators preferred rubbish-heaps (33.4%), burying in soil (16.7%), various premises in or around the house (16.7%) and garbage cans (12.5%) as places for hiding the dead babies. The most dominant cause of death in sixteen cases of live birth was asphyxia (37%) with equal distribution of smothering, stuffing the mouth with rags and strangulation. Other frequent causes of death were placing the child in a plastic bag and abandonment (25%), brain injury (25%) and wounding using a sharp weapon (12.5%). The cause of death for six babies remained unknown due to advanced decomposition. Two babies were stillborn. The age of accused mothers varied from 16 to 33, mean 24 SD=5.2 years. Most of them were unmarried (60%) and had limited formal education. They usually kept the pregnancy a secret (73%) and gave birth (93%) without public welfare assistance. The mother lived in the terror of shame and with the guilt that accompany conception without marriage. Fear seemed to be a pronounced motivating factor for committing infanticide. The data on court proceedings were available in fifteen cases. The mothers were officially indicted in all cases for infanticide under the Croatian Criminal Code. The perpetrator remained unidentified in nine suspicious crimes. The court convicted ten mothers of the crime of infanticide. Often juries were unwilling to punish the mother, citing the mother's lifelong guilt of having killed her child as enough punishment.     

Reduced atrial connexin43 expression after pediatric heart surgery

Myocardial dysfunction and arrhythmias may be induced by congenital heart defects, but also be the result of heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), potentially caused by differential expression of connexin40 (Cx40) and connexin43 (Cx43). In 16 pediatric patients undergoing corrective heart surgery, connexin mRNA expression was studied in volume overloaded (VO group, n=8) and not overloaded (NO group, n=8) right atrial myocardium, excised before and after CPB. Additionally, in eight of these patients ventricular specimens were investigated. The atrial Cx43 expression decreased during CPB, which was restricted to the VO group (p=0.008). In contrast, atrial Cx40 mRNA did not change during CPB. In ventricular myocardium compared to atrial mRNA levels, Cx40 was lower (p=0.006) and Cx43 higher (p=0.017) expressed, without significant change during CPB. This study revealed a significant influence of CPB and the underlying heart defect on Cx43 expression.     

Serum cholesterol concentrations in suicidal and non-suicidal male patients suffering from persistent delusional disorder

Suicidal behavior is a major health risk in psychiatric disorders, especially in affective and psychotic disorders. The neurobiology of suicidal behavior is still unclear. Suicidality has been related to a reduced cholesterol levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum cholesterol concentrations in suicidal and non-suicidal men suffering from persistent delusional disorder and in healthy volunteers. Results showed that serum cholesterol concentrations were significantly lower in suicidal than in non-suicidal patients and healthy controls. Also, level of psychopathology (measured by Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale) is significantly marked in the group of suicidal patients, which indicates the importance of detecting some clinical symptoms in patients with persistent delusional disorder in order to prevent suicidal behavior.