Patients with pancreatic diseases are at increased risk of cardiovascular events. Investigating various apolipoprotein forms as important atherogenesis components may improve cardiovascular risk ...(CVR) prediction. This study aimed to investigate CVR factors in patients with chronic pancreatitis.
The study enrolled 70 patients (40 males and 30 females, mean age 55.2 years) with chronic pancreatitis and treated pancreatic exocrine insufficiency. We assessed CVR by apolipoproteins A-I, A-II, B, and C-III, lipid profile; score systems SCORE risk chart and Framingham Risk Score (FRS), diabetes mellitus; chronic pancreatitis by M-ANNHEIM classification. Statistics were performed via SPSS v. 22.
Low apolipoprotein A-I and high apolipoprotein B levels with increased atherogenic potential were observed in 37 and 26 patients. 45.71% demonstrated a high risk of myocardial infarction with high apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I ratio. Men are at higher CVR risk. Apolipoproteins A-I and A-II correlated with the cardioprotective high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in contrast to apolipoproteins B and C-III, which correlated strongly with low-density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol (TC), and triglycerides (TG). Increased CVR assessed by FRS correlated with significantly lower apolipoprotein A-I and higher apolipoprotein B and apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I ratio. With the increase in chronic pancreatitis severity, we observed decreased apolipoproteins and increased apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I ratio.
Apolipoproteins are valuable CVR indicators. Further studies are required to establish a CVR screening panel in this population.
The accelerated and successful oil bearing rose breeding requires routine application of efficient procedure for analysis of flower volatiles, with capacity to extrapolate the obtained flower data to ...the volatile composition of the distilled rose oil. In the current study a procedure for solvent extraction and GC/MS analysis of rose flower and rose oil volatiles from oil bearing roses including Rosa damascena is presented. The procedure allows reliable identification of 68 volatiles in the rose flowers which are also detected in the distilled rose oil. The described procedure was further applied for comparative analysis of the flower and distilled rose oil volatiles from eight different genotypes of oil bearing roses. A data set consisting of ratios of the relative abundance of given volatile in the flower spectra to the relative abundance of the same volatile in the distilled rose oil spectra was generated. ANOVA test for a data subset of 27 volatiles detected in the flowers and rose oils of all analyzed oil bearing rose genotypes showed no significant influence of the genotype on the ratio of relative abundances of flower to rose oil volatiles. The average and relative standard deviation values of the obtained ratios between relative abundances of flower and rose oil volatiles for the analyzed genotypes were calculated for each identified flower compound. The results demonstrate that the described flower solvent extraction and GC/MS analysis procedure could be reliably applied for prediction of the volatile composition of distilled rose oils from wide range of oil bearing rose genotypes based on the extrapolation of GC/MS analysis data from single or few flowers from each studied plant. The possibilities for incorporation of the described procedure into oil bearing rose breeding and genetic resources characterization are discussed.
•The revised and extended Bulgarian archaeomagnetic database is presented.•28 newly studied features are included as reference points.•Magnetic characteristics of unpublished reference points are ...summarized.•Reference geomagnetic curves for Bulgaria are presented.•The specified data are important contribution to the global archaeomagnetic database.
The efforts of geophysicists to describe geomagnetic field behaviour in the past lead to creation of different geomagnetic field models. On the other hand, the established regional palaeosecular variations of geomagnetic elements are increasingly used for dating purposes in archaeology. Both of these goals can be achieved if sufficient amounts of long archaeomagnetic data sets exist for different geographical regions. The accumulation of archaeomagnetic determinations began at the middle of the last century, parallel with the progressive development of experimental methodology and acceptance criteria. The presence of great number of old determinations requires their critical assessment. The important question about the reliability of the associated dating intervals should be also re-assessed. All this requires the continuous refinement and extension of the accumulated databases. This paper presents the last synthesis of Bulgarian archaeomagnetic database and the local palaeosecular variation curves obtained using a statistical treatment based on Bayesian approach (RenCurve software). The rock-magnetic characteristics of the newly included, non-published results are summarized.
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is spread worldwide and affects at least half of the world's population. Infected people are at increased risk of several diseases' development, including ...gastric adenocarcinoma. The aim of this study was to screen patients with dyspeptic symptoms for H. pylori infection and assess Clarithromycin resistance prevalence among the infected patients.
Screening for H. pylori infection was performed in all patients using molecular test based on Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) in feces after RNA-DNA extraction. Stool samples from all participants were collected 1 to 3 days after patients' hospitalization. The positive results were furthermore assessed for confirmation by breath test and stool antigen test. By point mutations detection in 23S rRNA gene was possible to detect Clarithromycin resistance. Statistical analysis was performed via SPSS 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).
This study enrolled 50 patients (18 males) at mean age 46.46±15.10 years. Using molecular test based on RT-PCR in feces we identified H. pylori infection in 24 patients (48.00%). Clarithromycin resistance was observed in 7 of them (29.17%). None of those patients was eradicated before. There was no significant difference by age and gender between infected and non-infected patients. Gastrointestinal symptoms were more often reported in infected patients (p<0.05). The molecular test showed 85.71% sensitivity and 100% specificity, with a diagnostic accuracy of 92.00%.
H. pylori screening by molecular test based on RT-PCR in feces might be beneficial as the test's accuracy is high and include Clarithromycin resistance assessment, which could improve the outcome of eradication therapy.
Extensive rock-magnetic investigations have been carried out on baked clays from four kilns (two from Bulgaria and two from Switzerland) found in archaeological sites of different age. Knowledge of ...the magnetic characteristics of the grains responsible for the archaeomagnetic signal enables us to determine which baked clays have the stablest magnetization and why this is so. This is important in directional studies, but even more so in painstaking palaeointensity studies that require a very careful evaluation of the suitability of the burnt clay material. The proposed rock-magnetic experiments enable the identification of the carriers responsible for the remanence and an adequate interpretation of the experimental results connected with the palaeointensity evaluation. The experimental methods employed are illustrated with the particular results obtained from each of the four kilns studied. The preliminary elucidation of the magnetic mineralogy of the archaeological samples helps first by obtaining a more reliable palaeointensity result, and secondly by explaining some of the discrepancies in the palaeodirectional results. Examples of successful and failed palaeointensity experiments are given in relation to the magnetic properties previously established for each oven. The burnt-clay materials in this present study satisfy the essential condition of carrying a thermoremanence. In spite of that, it is shown that there are many factors that can produce undesirable magnetic properties and thus restrict the suitability of these materials for archaeomagnetic analysis. The most important factors influencing the magnetic behaviour during magneto-diagnostic experiments are: the degree of heating in antiquity, the initial composition of the unbaked material and the burial conditions. The large difference in heating temperatures within a particular archaeological feature is a major cause of variation in magnetic behaviour amongst individual specimens, and so preventing a successful pre-selection of specimens for palaeointensity experiments. Nevertheless, the study has shown a very good coincidence between the determined rock-magnetic characteristics and the success rate in palaeointensity evaluation.
Esophageal carcinoma is an extremely aggressive cancer with an early distant spread, high rate of local recurrence, and low overall survival. Herewith we present 3 patients with advanced moderately ...and low differentiated adenocarcinomas, who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCT) (two patients) and combined nCT with neoadjuvant radiation therapy (nRT) (one patient), followed by radical surgery. Subtotal esophageal resection, proximal gastric resection, and intrathoracic right gastroesophagoplasty a modo Ivor-Lewis were performed in the first two patients, while total gastrectomy, distal third esophageal resection, splenectomy and left intrathoracic esophagojejunoplasty a modo Roux were performed in the third one. A literature review of the role of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) as part of a trimodality therapy for advanced esophageal carcinoma is presented.
The magnetic susceptibility of a collection of 212 archaeological samples of burnt clay of different origin (burnt soil, ovens and bricks) taken from 60 archaeological sites from Bulgaria, were ...studied in order to determine factors which may have affected their magnetic enhancement. The highest magentic susceptibility values were obtained for bricks, and the lowest for burnt soils, suggesting that the firing temperature and the duration of burning are important conditions for determining magnetic enhancement. Specific spatial pattern of the low-field magnetic susceptibility was also observed, characterized by separation of sites situated in northern and southern parts of the country, divided by the west-east trending mountain chain Stara Planina. Maximum susceptibility values are obtained for burnt soils in southern Bulgaria and minima in northern Bulgaria. In contrast, burnt clay plasters and bricks show the opposite picture. It is supposed that the observed pattern is due to differences in the outcropped geological formations and variable climate conditions between the two regions which determine different iron-supply during burning of initial clay material. Results from the thermomagnetic analyses show that the dominant ferrimagnetic mineral in all burnt clay materials studied, is magnetite/titanomagnetite with low Ti content and different grain-sizes. High values of frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility indicate the presence of significant amount of fine-grained (d<0·015μm) superparamagnetic magnetite.
Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a common but underdiagnosed systemic skeletal disease. It is characterized by calcifications affecting mainly the spinal anterior longitudinal ...ligament. In the majority of cases, the patients are asymptomatic, but cervical osteophytes can sometimes cause hoarseness, dysphagia (DISHphagia) and even dyspnea.
A 61-year-old man was admitted to our department with complaints of difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Dysphagia had been increasing gradually for nine months. Barium swallow esophagram revealed asymmetric swallowing with expansion above the upper esophageal sphincter without other abnormalities. The extension was confirmed by esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (EGD). Furthermore, CT scan of the thorax clearly demonstrated degenerative changes of the cervical and thoracic region, extensive ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament, and osteophytes from C2-C7 with a forward displacement of the esophagus by 14 mm. The so-called “wax dripping down the candle” phenomenon was as well observed.
DISH is a systematic, musculo-skeletal disease of older adults with unknown etiology. Dysphagia is the most common symptom of the disease and might be caused by osteophytes of the cervical region. We presented a case of DISH with a rare localization of the osteophytes in the cervical region C2-C7. Due to the increasing incidence of the Forestier’s syndrome and its associated “DISHphagia”, the gastroenterologist should increase the awareness of this underestimated disease and improve the diagnostic approach.
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