In November 2020, the National Competition for Master's Theses of Pharmaceutical Faculties was resolved. It was attended by graduates of pharmaceutical faculties of medical universities from all over ...Poland, who defended their theses in 2018. The competition was held for the twenty-second time and for the first time in an online formula. Nine best master's theses from medical universities in Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Lublin, Poznań, Warsaw, and Wrocław were submitted to the competition. The competition committee chaired by Prof. Dr. Krystyna Olczyk distinguished in a secret ballot the three best works. The first place went to mgr Paulina Wiśniewska from the Medical University of Gdańsk for the thesis "Application of the aza-Michael relationship to the synthesis of new isoxazolone derivatives with potential antibacterial effect", the second place – to mgr Olga Świerzbińska for the thesis "The influence of vitamin K on the regenerative processes of human skin fibroblasts" and third place - mgr Daniel Ziental for the thesis "Phthalocyanines and their potential use in photoinactivation of bacteria".
Pediatric mastocytosis is a heterogeneous disease characterized by accumulation of mast cells in the skin and less frequently in other organs. Somatic or germline mutations in the
proto-oncogene are ...detected in most patients. Cutaneous mastocytosis is the most common form of the disease in children. In the majority of cases, skin lesions regress spontaneously around puberty. However, in few patients, mastocytosis is not a self-limiting disease, but persists into adulthood and can show signs of systemic involvement, especially when skin lesions are small-sized and monomorphic. Children with mastocytosis often suffer from mast cell mediator-related symptoms. Severe hypersensitivity reactions can also occur, mostly in patients with extensive skin lesions and blistering. In a substantial number of these cases, the triggering factor of anaphylaxis remains unidentified. Management of pediatric mastocytosis is mainly based on strict avoidance of triggers, treatment with H1 and H2 histamine receptor blockers, and equipment of patients and their families with epinephrine auto-injectors for use in severe anaphylactic reactions. Advanced systemic mastocytosis occurs occasionally. All children with mastocytosis require follow-up examinations. A bone marrow investigation is performed when advanced systemic mastocytosis is suspected and has an impact on therapy or when cutaneous disease persists into adulthood.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have numerous exciting potential applications and some that have reached commercialization. As such, quantitative measurements of CNTs in key environmental matrices (water, ...soil, sediment, and biological tissues) are needed to address concerns about their potential environmental and human health risks and to inform application development. However, standard methods for CNT quantification are not yet available. We systematically and critically review each component of the current methods for CNT quantification including CNT extraction approaches, potential biases, limits of detection, and potential for standardization. This review reveals that many of the techniques with the lowest detection limits require uncommon equipment or expertise, and thus, they are not frequently accessible. Additionally, changes to the CNTs (e.g., agglomeration) after environmental release and matrix effects can cause biases for many of the techniques, and biasing factors vary among the techniques. Five case studies are provided to illustrate how to use this information to inform responses to real-world scenarios such as monitoring potential CNT discharge into a river or ecotoxicity testing by a testing laboratory. Overall, substantial progress has been made in improving CNT quantification during the past ten years, but additional work is needed for standardization, development of extraction techniques from complex matrices, and multimethod comparisons of standard samples to reveal the comparability of techniques.
Background: Serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) are increased in patients with COPD and correlate modestly with variables predictive
of outcomes. In epidemiologic studies, CRP level is ...associated with all-cause mortality in patients with mild-to-moderate
disease.
Objective: To determine if CRP levels are associated with survival in patients with moderate to very severe COPD in comparison with
other well-known prognostic parameters of the disease.
Methods: In 218 stable patients with COPD, we measured baseline serum CRP level, BODE (body mass index, obstruction, dyspnea, and
exercise capacity) index and its components, arterial oxygenation (Pa o 2 ), inspiratory capacity (IC) to total lung capacity (TLC) ratio, and Charlson comorbidity score. We followed up the patients
over time and evaluated the strength of the association between the variables and all-cause mortality.
Results: During the follow-up time (median, 36 months; 25th to 75th percentiles, 24 to 50 months), 54 patients (25%) died. CRP levels
were similar between survivors and the deceased (median, 3.8 mg/L; 95% confidence interval, 1.9 to 8.1; vs median, 4.5 mg/L;
95% confidence interval, 2.1 to 11.5; p = 0.22) and was not significantly associated with survival.
Conclusions: In this population of patients with clinically moderate to very severe COPD, the level of CRP level was not associated with
survival compared with other prognostic clinical tools such as the BODE index, modified Medical Research Council scale, 6-min
walk distance, percentage of predicted FEV 1 , IC/TLC ratio < 0.25, and Pa o 2 . Other long-term studies of well-characterized patients with COPD could help determine the exact role of CRP levels as a
biomarker in patients with clinical COPD.
COPD
C-reactive protein
survival
Mastocytosis comprises a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by clonal, neoplastic proliferation of mast cells accumulating in one or multiple organs. In the majority of cases skin ...involvement is the first clinical manifestation of the disease. Clinical work-up consists of a combination of morphological, immunohistochemical, flow cytometric immunophenotyping and molecular examination. Cutaneous mastocytosis predominates in children, whereas systemic mastocytosis is the most common form of the disease in adults. Therefore, different diagnostic algorithms have to be applied in adult patients and children with suspected mastocytosis. This comprehensive review presents currently defined variants of the disease and recommendations to facilitate diagnostic work-up in children and adults with suspected mastocytosis in daily clinical practice.
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