Demografski podatki in podatki o razpoložljivosti kapacitet domov starejših občanov (DSO) v Sloveniji nakazujejo potrebo po spremembi organiziranosti tega segmenta varstva. V prispevku smo se ...osredotočili na analizo in vrednotenje stanja urejenosti in dostopnosti zelenih površin ter storitev splošnega pomena v majhnih mestih z vidika potreb starejših prebivalcev, ki svojo starost preživljajo v DSO. Hkrati smo ocenili možnosti za dejansko uporabo zelenih površin te skupine prebivalstva. Ugotovili smo, da v Sloveniji potrebujemo temeljite sistemske spremembe na področju institucionalnega varstva starejših občanov, tudi na področju zagotavljanja, urejenosti in uporabe zelenih površin ob DSO.
High‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)‐based analytical assays are used to effectively monitor purity and quantity of plasmid DNA (pDNA) throughout the purification process. However, the ...phenomenon of physical entrapment of open circular (OC) isoforms pDNA inside narrow channels of chromatographic support decreases its accuracy and precision and the effect increases with pDNA size. The purpose of the study was to develop a chromatographic method for accurate analytical separation between isoforms of <16 kbp pDNA using weak anion exchanging monolithic column with large (6 µm) convective channels. Purified samples of 4.7 and 15.4 kbp large pDNA with known isoform composition were prepared and their isoforms separated in ascending salt gradient. Both OC and supercoiled (SC) isoforms were baseline separated at a flow rate below 0.5 mL min−1 in a guanidinium chloride (GdnCl) gradient with a ≥95% OC pDNA elution recovery. However, these chromatographic conditions increased 2 times the peak width for linear (LIN) pDNA isoform compared to the results using monoliths with 1.4 µm channel size. If other chaotropic agents, such as urea or thiocyanate (SCN), were added to Gdn ions, the elution volume for LIN isoform decreased. Optimization of combined GdnCl/GdnSCN gradient for pDNA elution resulted in a simple and robust chromatographic method, where OC–LIN and LIN–SC pDNA (up to 15 kbp size) were separated with resolution above 1.0 and above 2.0, respectively. The accessibility and general acceptance of anion exchange chromatography for pDNA analytics give the newly developed method a great potential for in‐process control monitoring of pDNA production processes.
Objective: The Ljubljana ALS Centre, established in 2002, is the only tertiary center for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in Slovenia. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of ...therapeutic interventions and improvements in the multidisciplinary care on the survival of our patients.
Methods: All patients diagnosed with ALS at our center during years 2003-2005 (early group) and 2011-2012 (late group) were included in this retrospective cohort study (n = 124). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multiple regression analysis with Cox proportional hazards model were performed to compare survival and to evaluate the differences between the two cohorts.
Results: Median survival from the time of diagnosis was 13.0 (95% CI 10.2-15.8) months in the early group and 21.8 (95% CI 17.2-26.4) months in the late group (p = 0.005). In the Cox proportional hazards analysis, the late group of patients was associated with better survival independently of all other prognostic factors (hazard ratio (HR)=0.51, 95% CI = 0.32-0.81, p = 0.004). Survival was also associated with patients' age, use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and gastrostomy. The model fit significantly improved when the interaction between the NIV use and the observed time period was added to the model (HR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.12-0.96, p = 0.041).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that improvements in the multidisciplinary care were beneficial for survival of our patients with ALS. The survival benefit in the late group of our patients could be partially explained by the improvements in the NIV use at our center.
We present a specification and a nationwide pilot implementation of a future public safety communication system. We propose a novel approach to survivable heterogeneous emergency communication ...systems, merging professional and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment, communicating over state-of-the-art mobile and satellite links. We explain the architecture and functional outline of an Advanced Emergency Response Communications System (A-ERCS), which was developed and integrated with professional, commercial, and ad hoc networks to provide survivable communications services and sensor-based applications to support public safety agencies in their day-to-day operation and disaster relief missions. Further, we present the results of a real-world pilot implementation, customized for fire fighter services in Slovenia, and discuss the outcomes of performance tests, showing how the proposed solution can be applied in public safety practice and how COTS technologies can be efficiently and reliably reused in this specific domain.
Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) resulting in a reduced number of nephrons is one of the nonimmune mechanisms that have been recently proposed as contributing to the progression of renal ...diseases. The purpose of our study was to determine whether IUGR has any effect on the clinical course and prognosis of IgA glomerulonephritis (IgA GN) in children. Fifty children with biopsy-proven IgA GN, who were followed for at least 3 years, were included. Six of the 50 children (12%) had signs of IUGR at birth, defined as birth weight below the 10th percentile for gestational age. There were no significant differences in initial clinical presentation between children with IUGR and those without IUGR. However, in kidney biopsy specimens, we found a significantly higher mean percentage of sclerotic glomeruli in children with IUGR than in those without IUGR (33 vs. 13%, p < 0.015). At the end of the follow-up period, we observed a significantly higher incidence of arterial hypertension in children with IUGR than in those without IUGR (50 vs. 11 %, p < 0.05). Other differences between the two groups of children were not statistically significant. In conclusion, our study demonstrated an increased risk of the development of arterial hypertension and glomerulosclerosis in children with IgA GN who had suffered from IUGR with a birth weight below the 10th percentile for gestational age. IUGR may therefore help to identify early in the course of IgA GN those children who are at higher risk of an unfavorable course.
Unfavorable course of minimal change nephrotic syndrome in children with intrauterine growth retardation.
Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is associated with higher morbidity and mortality not ...only in perinatal life but also in later life. The purpose of our study was to determine whether IUGR has any effect on the course of minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) in children.
Forty children who were between 1 and 16years old at the onset of MCNS, who have been followed for at least three years and for whom we were able to obtain birth weights and gestational ages, were included. The diagnosis of MCNS was predicted on the basis of clinical and laboratory features, and in 11 children (27.5%) the diagnosis was confirmed by renal biopsy. IUGR was defined as birth weight below the tenth percentile for gestational age.
Five children (12.5%) had signs of IUGR at birth. In children with IUGR, we observed a higher mean number of relapses (10.4 vs. 3.3, P < 0.001) and a higher incidence of steroid dependency (80% vs. 21%, P < 0.02) than in children without IUGR. Other differences between children with and those without IUGR included more frequent treatment with cytotoxic agents and cyclosporine, and a higher incidence of renal biopsy in children with IUGR.
Our study demonstrated an unfavorable course of MCNS in children with IUGR. IUGR could therefore enable early identification of those children who are at risk of becoming frequent relapsers and of developing steroid dependency. This, however, should be confirmed in a larger number of patients.
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