Extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis is highly affected in active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of the study was to investigate serological biomarkers of type III, IV, and V collagen ...degradation and formation, and their association with disease activity in IBD. ECM remodeling serum biomarkers were measured in 162 IBD patients, 110 with Crohn’s disease (CD) and 52 with ulcerative colitis (UC), and in 29 healthy donors. Biomarkers of type III collagen degradation (C3M) and formation (PRO-C3), type IV collagen degradation (C4M) and formation (PRO-C4), and type V collagen formation (PRO-C5) were measured using ELISA. Inflammatory activity was assessed using endoscopic, clinical, and biochemical activity indices. The highest diagnostic value was identified in discriminating endoscopically moderate to severe disease in CD (PRO-C3, C3M/PRO-C3, and C4M with AUC of 0.70, 0.73, and 0.69, respectively) and UC (C3M, C3M/PRO-C3, and C4M with AUC of 0.86, 0.80, and 0.76, respectively). C4M and C3M/PRO-C3 in combination yielded AUC of 0.93 (0.66–0.90) in CD and 0.94 (0.65–0.99) in UC. This study confirmed that ECM remodeling reflected disease activity in CD and UC. A combination of C4M, C3M, and PRO-C3 biomarkers may potentially be considered as a biomarker differentiating moderate to severe endoscopic disease.
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a multifactorial disease of unknown precise etiology and immunopathogenesis. Peripheral blood granulocytes and monocytes/macrophages are the major sources of cytokines, ...which regulate inflammation. Leukocytapheresis (LCAP) is a method where blood is processed by apheresis system that removes lymphocytes and plasma before being returned to the body. We report the first case in Croatia where we used LCAP in the treatment of a patient with severe steroid-dependent UC. After 12 LCAP procedures, good clinical response was obtained and there were no significant adverse side effects noticed. The patient remained in clinical remission over two years in which he underwent regular follow ups at outpatient clinic. Over a 10-year follow-up period after LCAP, the patient had only occasional clinical symptoms of disease activity. The clinical course was complicated with the development of metastatic colorectal carcinoma, which points to the importance of regular disease monitoring rather than the increased risk of malignant disease after LCAP. Patients with UC are a demanding group of patients that warrant the search for novel treatment strategies other than conventional pharmacological therapies. Although LCAP is still not a common treatment modality in our daily practice, data from recent studies suggest it to be an effective and safe procedure in the management of active UC patients.
Mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy (MNGIE) is a rare disorder commonly diagnosed in later disease stages when it prominently manifests as malnutrition. We report on a female ...patient diagnosed with MNGIE at the age of 36. She was severely malnourished due to loss of resorptive surface after several surgical procedures, gastrointestinal dysmotility, and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Therefore, early and aggressive total parenteral nutrition was introduced. Although no reports have shown that nutritional support can modify the clinical outcome, this case suggests that adequate nutritional support, particularly parenteral nutrition, supervised by an experienced nutritional team, may prolong the lifespan of patients with MNGIE.
Chronic inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) triggers significant extracellular matrix remodeling, including elastin remodeling, leading to severe clinical complications. Novel methods to ...assess intestinal tissue destruction may act as surrogate markers of endoscopic disease activity, relieving patients of invasive endoscopy. We explored the noninvasive blood-based biomarkers ELP-3 and ELM-12, measuring elastin degradation in IBD. In a study involving 104 Crohn's disease (CD), 39 ulcerative colitis (UC), and 29 healthy donors, we assessed these biomarkers' association with endoscopic and clinical disease activity using ELISA. Patients were evaluated based on the SES-CD and CDAI for CD patients and modified MES and partial Mayo for UC patients. ELP-3 and ELM-12 were elevated in patients with IBD. Discerning CD patients in endoscopic remission and mild from moderate to severe, ELP-3 provided an AUC of 0.69 and ELM-12 an AUC of 0.73. The ELP-3 biomarker was associated with UC patients and provided the highest diagnostic power of 0.87 for remission vs. active clinical disease. The data suggest an association of ELP-3 with active CD and ELM-12 with endoscopic remission in CD patients. Additionally, ELP-3 could identify UC patients with active clinical disease from patients in remission. The noninvasive biomarkers ELP-3 and ELM-12 could be potential surrogate biomarkers of elastin degradation and endoscopic and clinical disease markers.
Wilson disease (WD) is an autosomal recessive disorder of copper metabolism, characterized by its accumulation in tissues which results in hepatic, neurological, and/or psychiatric symptoms. The aim ...of this study was to investigate the genetics of WD in Croatian patients.
Correlation of the clinical presentation subtype and the age at onset of the diagnosis of WD with the ATP7B genotype was investigated in a group of Croatian WD patients. DNA from peripheral blood samples was tested for the p.His1069Gln by direct mutational analysis and other polymorphisms were identified by sequence analysis of coding and flanking intronic regions of ATP7B gene.
In the group of 75 WD patients of Croatian origin, 18 different mutations in ATP7B gene were detected, three of which were novel. The p.His1069Gln mutation was most frequent, being detected in 44 Croatian WD patients (58.7%). Most ATP7B mutations (90.4%) were located in exons 5, 8, 13, 14, and 15.
Clinical diagnosis of WD was confirmed in 59 patients by detecting mutations on both ATP7B alleles. The age at onset of WD and the type of WD clinical presentation showed no significant correlation with the ATP7B genotype.
Eksfolijativna citologija stidnice kao neinvazivna metoda koristi se u dijagnostici i praćenju promjena na stidnici, osobito onih kod kojih nije indicirana biopsija. Dosad se tradicionalno obrisak ...uzimao špatulom te su citološki uzorci često bili slabo celularni. Kako bi se poboljšala celularnost uveden je postupak uzimanja endocervikalnom četkicom.
U retrospektivnoj studiji obuhvaćeno je 1866 uzoraka sa stidnice uzetih u razdoblju od 1. srpnja 2011. do 31. prosinca 2013. Analizirana je primjerenost uzoraka kao i omjer nalaza atipičnih pločastih stanica (ASC) prema nalazu pločaste intraepitelne lezije ili karcinoma (SIL+), ovisno o ambulanti u kojoj je uzorak uzet, te citohistološka korelacija.
U onkološkoj ambulanti specijaliziranoj za bolesti stidnice u kojoj je većina uzoraka uzimana četkicom bilo je najmanje neprimjerenih uzoraka zbog oskudnosti (3,4%), kao i zadovoljavajućih, ali oskudnih uzoraka (5,6%), a najviše ovakvih uzoraka bilo je u ginekološkim ambulantama primarne zdravstvene zaštite (13,7% odnosno 25,3%) u kojima su obrisci uglavnom uzimani na tradicionalan način – špatulom. Usporedili smo omjer ASC:SIL+ nalaza kod potpuno zadovoljavajućih nalaza ovisno o ambulanti u kojoj su uzeti uzorci: u ambulanti specijaliziranoj za bolesti stidnice bio je 2,6:1, u ostalim onkološkim ambulantama 1,9:1, u ostalim ambulantama klinike 3,5:1, dok je u ambulantama primarne ginekologije bio 2,3:1. Kod zadovoljavajućih, ali oskudnih nalaza ovaj omjer ASC:SIL+ varirao je od 5:1 do 11:0 ovisno o ambulanti u kojoj su uzorci uzeti. Citohistološka korelacija 159 slučajeva pokazala je visoku osjetljivost u otkrivanju preinvazivnih (94,1%) i invazivnih (100,0%) promjena, ali nisku specifičnost (35,4%).
Uzorci sa stidnice uzeti endocervikalnom četkicom značajno su celularniji od uzoraka uzetih špatulom i time bolji za citološku analizu te je manji omjer ASC:SIL+ nalaza. Citološka analiza uzoraka sa stidnice ne može zamijeniti biopsiju, ali kod klinički nejasnih lezija može pomoći u postavljanju indikacije za daljnji postupak, kao i u praćenju bolesnica s potvrđenom bolesti.
Bećarac is a sung record of a personal tragedy, or an authentic artefact of historical events at a particular territory. Since many such verses have been written in Slavonia, the author has found it ...important to analyse the discourse of war. The aim of this paper is to show, by using comparative and interpretative methods of reading verses and historical facts, how local people apprehended war events, which consequences it had on their lives and the way of thinking about the horrors of the war, how this topic was present in the everyday coexistence of conflict and tolerance, and whether it is possible to give a credible account of the first World War though these verses. Is it possible to come to objective information based on these texts which were made out of pure subjectivity? The corpus consists of the songs from the first half of the twentieth century.
Dijetoterapija i klinička prehrana zauzimaju važno mjesto u liječenju bolesnika s upalnim bolestima crijeva (UBC). Nutritivna potpora važna je komponenta liječenja pacijenata s UBC-om, a uključuje ...prevenciju i liječe-nje svih oblika malnutricije. Potvrđenu malnutriciju u bolesnika s upalnim bolestima crijeva treba adekvatno zbrinjavati jer pogoršava prognozu, stupanj komplikacija, mortalitet i kvalitetu života bolesnika. Enteralna je prehrana izuzetno važan dio nutritivnog liječenja u upalnim bolestima crijeva, a u pojedinim situacijama ima značenje primarne terapije. Parenteralna prehrana ima mjesto u liječenju upalnih bolesti crijeva, i u akutnim situacijama i u kroničnom liječenju bolesnika sa sindromom kratkog crijeva. U izradi ovih smjernica sudjelo-vali su predstavnici Hrvatskog društva za kliničku prehranu Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatskog društva za imunologiju sluznice Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatskoga gastroenterološkog društva i Hrvatskog društva nutricionista i dijetetičara. Utemeljene su na dokazima, prema sustavu GRADE (engl. Grading of Re-commendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation), koji uz snagu dokaza opisuje i razinu preporuke. Temeljni zaključci ovih smjernica odnose se na prepoznavanje malnutricije u ovoj skupini bolesnika, određi-vanje nutritivnih potreba, nadoknadu ključnih nutrijenata i farmakonutrijenata, primjenu različitih modaliteta artificijalne prehrane te specifičnosti perioperativne prehrane.
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