Background: The prevention of preterm delivery (PTD) represents one of the major topics in modern obstetrics. The aim was to design a prospective study and investigate if mid-trimester serum and ...amniotic fluid levels of MCP-1 could predict the occurence of spontaneous PTD. Methods: The study involved 198 women who underwent genetic amniocentesis and blood sampling in the middle of their trimester. After applying the criteria for inclusion in the study, there were 16 respondents in the study group, and 38 respondents in the control group. Level of MCP-1 in amniotic fluid and serum was measured with commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and statistical analysis was conducted. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in serum or amniotic fluid MCP1 levels between PTD and the control groups. Conclusion: The results suggest that MCP-1 is probably not the most relevant marker for predicting PTD. This study provides new normative data for MCP-1 levels in amniotic fluid and maternal sera and is a valuable tool for future diagnostic and comparative studies.
The study aimed to identify differences and compare anatomical and biomechanical features between elective and ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs).
Data (clinical, anatomical, and ...biomechanical) of 98 patients with AAA, 75 (76.53%) asymptomatic (Group aAAA) and 23 (23.46%) ruptured AAA (Group rAAA), were prospectively collected and analyzed. Anatomical, morphological, and biomechanical imaging markers like peak wall stress (PWS) and rupture risk equivalent diameter (RRED), comorbid conditions, and demographics were compared between the groups. Biomechanical features were assessed by analysis of Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine images by A4clinics (Vascops), and anatomical features were assessed by 3Surgery (Trimensio). Binary and multiple logistic regression analysis were used and adjusted for confounders. Accuracy was assessed using receiving operative characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.
In a multivariable model, including gender and age as confounder variables, maximal aneurysm diameter MAD, odds ratio (OR) = 1.063, relative intraluminal thrombus (rILT, OR = 1.039), and total aneurysm volume (TAV, OR = 1.006) continued to be significant predictors of AAA rupture with PWS (OR = 1.010) and RRED (OR = 1.031). Area under the ROC curve values and correct classification (cc) for the same parameters and the model that combines MAD, TAV, and rILT were measured: MAD (0.790, cc = 75%), PWS (0.713, cc = 73%), RRED (0.717, cc = 55%), TAV (0.756, cc = 79%), rILT (0.656, cc = 60%), and MAD + TAV + rILT (0.797, cc = 82%).
Based on our results, in addition to MAD, other important predictors of rupture that might be used during aneurysm surveillance are TAV and rILT. Biomechanical parameters (PWS, RRED) as valuable predictors should be assessed in prospective clinical trials. Similar studies on AAA smaller than 55 mm in diameter, even difficult to organize, would be of even greater clinical value.
Background: Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease which starts early in life and depends on many factors, an important one being dyslipoproteinemia. According to several studies, ...atherosclerotic plaques or their precursors could be seen in children younger than 10 years. During later life, interaction with a sedentary way of life, as well as unhealthy nutrition, smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity and family history of cardiovascular disease cause the burden of atherosclerotic disease.
Methods: Study included 624 children (316 boys, 308 girls), aged from 7-13 years. We analysed socio-demographic data (BMI, blood pressure, cardiovascular family history, smoking status), as well as lipid status with lipoprotein little a-Lp(a), and apolipoproteins: Apo AI, Apo B-100 for all children. This enabled us to calculate new atherogenic indices Tg/HDL-c, lipid tetrad index (LTI) and lipid pentad index (LPI). Cardiovascular risk for later life was estimated by using modified Risk Score for Young Individuals (RS), which divided the subjects according to the score level: low, medium and higher risk.
Results: The older children (13 y) had better lipid status than the younger children, i.e. significantly lower total cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides and non-HDL-C concentration and significantly higher HDL-C concentration than the younger children and this was in accordance with the RS level. Children with a positive family history of CV disease had significantly higher Lp(a) concentration and blood pressure. LPI was significantly higher in children with a higher RS.
Conclusions: The results of our work could be used for cardiovascular risk assessment in apparently healthy children to provide preventive measures which could control the change able risk factors.
Telomerase is RNA directed polymerase which acts as reverse transcriptase based on its own RNA component. It is considered to be involved in the pathology of many diseases and is recognized as a ...potential biomarker. The aims were to determine the sample storage conditions and the time frame for samples analysis, then to prove reliability of enzyme activity measurement with real-time telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) and to evaluate the suitable standard samples for telomerase activity measurements. Samples used for stability and freeze-thaw study were peripheral blood leukocytes, obtained from apparently healthy persons, patients with diagnosed cancer and cell lines. Telomerase activity was measured using TRAP method, while standard evaluation was done using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. Storage at −20 °C preserved telomerase activity in samples from cancer patients for at least 14 days (21.46 ± 0.135 versus 21.84 ± 0.357, p = .756), while samples obtained from healthy persons should be stored at −80 °C. We observed significant decrease of telomerase activity at freeze thaw cycle 5 in cancer patients' samples (21.46 ± 0.135 versus 23.09 ± 0.316, p < .05), and in healthy persons' ones already at cycle 3 (22.74 ± 0.107 versus 24.85 ± 0.151, p < .05). Telomerase activity from cell lines samples showed overall greater stability regarding the storage period and freeze-thaw cycles and it was considered for standard sample, which was confirmed by NMR analysis. Telomerase enzyme had adequate stability while efficacy, linearity, and reproducibility of TRAP method were acceptable for bio-analytical methods. All this indicated that telomerase could be a reliable biomarker.
Parental Involvement in Education and Collaboration with School Milosavljević Đukić, Tatjana; Bogavac, Dragana; Stojadinović, Aleksandar ...
International Journal of cognitive research in science, engineering and education,
04/2022, Letnik:
10, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Odprti dostop
This paper presents the results of the research which was aimed to examine the connection between the collaboration between family and school, and parental involvement in education. The sample ...included 198 parents of senior primary school students in South-Eastern Serbia. For the purposes of the research, a Questionnaire was designed which consisted of 30 items, grouped into two parts: the first part deals with forms of family and school cooperation, and the second focuses on parents’ perception of educational techniques. Chi-square test shows that the most common form of parental cooperation with school is parent meeting, and that mothers are more engaged than fathers when it comes to parent meetings and lectures for parents. Based on parents’ assessments of education techniques, understanding and support is the education technique that dominates parental involvement in children’s education, while high level of control had a lower score. There were differences observed in parents’ assessments of education techniques analysed by t-test, where more withdrawal from children, as well as less control in are shown more by fathers than by mothers. Examination of the predictive properties of independent variables was tested using linear regression. The obtained research results on the impact of certain forms of cooperation with school on parental involvement in education have shown that lectures for parents and conversations at the initiative of the class teacher are predictors in creating desirable patterns of parental behaviour by granting children the right to their opinion. Gaining empirical insight into the mentioned relations benefits future research and practice of education efforts of the family and school.
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