Bratislava Medical Journal-Bratislavske Lekarske Listy最新文献

Purpose: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the development of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI). In this study, we aimed to explore the regulatory effect and mechanism of lncRNA SOX2-OT in MIRI.

Methods: The expression levels of SOX2-OT and miR-146a-5p in OGD/R-treated H9C2 cells and in myocardial tissues of MIRI rats were measured by qRT-PCR. Cell viability was detected by MTT assay. The levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, MDA, and SOD were measured by ELISA. The target relationship between SOX2-OT and miR-146a-5p was predicted by LncBase, and subsequently confirmed by DLR assay. The effects of SOX2-OT silencing on myocardial apoptosis and function were further validated in MIRI rats.

Results: The expression of SOX2-OT was increased in OGD/R-treated H9C2 cells and myocardial tissues of MIRI rats. Silencing of SOX2-OT increased the viability and inhibited the inflammation and oxidative stress of OGD/R-treated H9C2 cells. SOX2-OT negatively regulated its target miR-146a-5p. Inhibition of miR-146a-5p reversed the effects of sh-SOX2-OT on increasing the viability, and on inhibiting the inflammation and oxidative stress of OGD/R-treated H9C2 cells. In addition, silencing of SOX2-OT alleviated myocardial apoptosis and improved myocardial function in MIRI rats.

Conclusions: Silencing of SOX2-OT relieved the apoptosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress of myocardial cells via up-regulating miR-146a-5p, contributing to the remission of MIRI (Fig. 28, Ref. 33).

Background: Malate, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediary, upregulates renal nitric oxide (NO) signaling, and NO is renoprotective in nephropathy.

Objectives: This study explored the hypothesis that malate could increase renal NO and decrease renal injury and fibrotic markers in obstructive nephropathy.

Methods: Kidney injury was induced in rats via unilateral surgical ligation of the ureter, there after, rats were treated with malate (600 mg/kg, p.o.) for ten days. Urine was collected on days 0, 4, 7 and 10. Urinary sodium excretion was also determined. Western blot and biochemical analyses were carried on the nephropathic kidneys.

Results: Malate reduced kidney injury molecule (KIM-1) expression in the renal cortex and medulla of nephropathic rats (p < 0.05). NO production was selectively increased in the medulla of nephropathic rats treated with malate (58.3 ± 1.3 vs 77.8 ± 4.4 µM/ng, p < 0.05). Superoxide dismutase and catalase activity increased in the kidney of malate-treated nephropathic rats (p < 0.05). Transforming growth factor (TGF-β), an index of fibrosis, increased in the cortex but not medulla of the malate-treated UUO group. There was a consistent increase in collagenase activity in the cortex, and a reduction in the medulla.

Conclusion: Malate ameliorated the injury and inflammation but selectively reduced fibrosis in obstructive nephropathy (Fig. 6, Ref. 32). Text in PDF www.elis.sk Keywords: Malate, tricarboxylic acid cycle, nitric oxide, kidney injury molecule (KIM-1), obstructive nephropathy.

Background: Despite long-term use of infliximab (IFX) in IBD treatment, its optimized use is unclear due to its complicated pharmacokinetics/dynamics. Hence, the predictive value of IFX trough levels (TL) is important in treatment management.

Methods: We performed a prospective, cross-sectional, observational study with 74 IBD patients treated with IFX (mean 9.1 years, SD ± 3). TL was measured during maintenance therapy, in which maintenance of remission was followed for 5 years.

Results:  TL > 3 µg/ml during maintenance therapy was a significant predictor of clinical remission in 5 years in UC patients (82 % vs 62 %, p 3 µg/ml during maintenance therapy in a cohort of IBD patients (p = 0.05). Deviations in percentage of remission and fraction of relapses in TL categories were insignificant in a cohort of CD patients (85 % vs 74 %, p > 0.05).

Conclusions:  TL > 3 µg/ml during maintenance therapy is a strong predictor of sustained clinical remission for 5 years in UC patients. The use of combination therapy with AZA, due to its significant association with high TL, may have a practical benefit in achieving better clinical outcomes in UC patients (Tab. 2, Fig. 10, Ref. 20).

Background: Abdominal obesity, usually measured by waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, is more closely related to metabolic dysfunctions that are associated with cardiovascular diseases than general obesity, which is usually assessed by body mass index. The purpose of our study was to study the distribution of alleles and genotypes AGTR1, AGТ, LPL and ADRB2 among adolescents of the Kazakh population and to identify the relationship of these genes with predictors of obesity.

Methods: The study involved 184 adolescents aged 15-18 years of the Kazakh population.

Results: As a result of the study, it was revealed that the G allele of the rs328 polymorphism of the LPL gene reduces the risk of developing abdominal obesity compared to the C allele.The C/G genotype reduces the risk of developing abdominal obesity. We have identified among the studied adolescents of the Kazakh population an increase in the ratio of waist volume (WV) to hip volume (HV) among boys, which may in the future lead to obesity and cardiovascular diseases in general.

Conclusion: It was also found that the G allele of the rs328 polymorphism of the LPL gene reduces the risk of abdominal obesity. Therefore, in addition to determining BMI, we recommend determining the ratio WV to HP. It was found that an increase in the ratio of WV/HV by 1 cm increases the chance of developing hypoapolipoproteinemia A1 (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 23). Text in PDF www.elis.sk Keywords: obesity, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, AGTR1, AGТ, LPL, ADRB2.

Electroencephalography (EEG) signals are considered one of the oldest techniques for detecting disorders in medical signal processing. However, brain complexity and the non-stationary nature of EEG signals represent a challenge when applying this technique. The current paper proposes new geometrical features for classification of seizure (S) and seizure-free (SF) EEG signals with respect to the Poincaré pattern of discrete wavelet transform (DWT) coefficients. DWT decomposes EEG signal to four levels, and thus Poincaré plot is shown for coefficients. Due to patterns of the Poincaré plot, novel geometrical features are computed from EEG signals. The computed features are involved in standard descriptors of 2‑D projection (STD), summation of triangle area using consecutive points (STA), as well as summation of shortest distance from each point relative to the 45-degree line (SSHD), and summation of distance from each point relative to the coordinate center (SDTC). The proposed procedure leads to discriminate features between S and SF EEG signals. Thereafter, a binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) is developed as an appropriate technique for feature selection. Finally, k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers are used for classifying features in S and SF groups. By developing the proposed method, we have archived classification accuracy of 99.3 % with respect to the proposed geometrical features. Accordingly, S and SF EEG signals have been classified. Also, Poincaré plot of SF EEG signals has more regular geometrical shapes as compared to S group. As a final remark, we notice that the Poincaré plot of coefficients in S EEG signals has occupied more space as compared to SF EEG signals (Tab. 3, Fig. 11, Ref. 57). Text in PDF www.elis.sk Keywords: EEG signal, DWT, Poincaré plot, geometrical feature, BPSO, SVM, KNN.

It has been exactly 180 years since the pioneering work of Dr. Carlo Matteucci, professor of physics at the University of Pisa (1842), laid the basis of the method for the registration of biopotentials generated by muscles. In particular, these studies have found practical application in the principal non-invasive method of functional diagnosis of the cardiac muscle - electrocardiography (ECG). Almost a century has passed since this method became recognized and widely used in the clinic. However, to date, it has not only retained its importance in practical medicine but also remains a valuable diagnostic tool. This method allows understanding and effectively prevents errors in the present and future repetition. There are observed favorable trends of ECG-based diagnostics systems implementation and improvement in functional assessment of myocardium electrophysiological characteristics, which reflect cardiovascular pathological vital markers. The essential aim of this article is to demonstrate modern approaches of implementing ECG technology to various fields of medicine and health informatics. This research demonstrated a large number of modern innovations devoted to the automation and modification of implementation of this electrophysiological method and the possible ways to implement it in matters of home and individual monitoring of patients. Furthermore, the review examines the socio-economic issues of deploying and administering tele-ECG technologies to follow up on the global principles of digitization of healthcare and on-site diagnostics by emergency medical services (Tab. 2, Fig. 4, Ref. 87). Keywords: electrocardiography, tele-ECG, user bioauthentification.

Objectives: The aim was to investigate the prognostic accuracy of admission ECG and its usefulness in determining the population at the highest risk of worse outcomes.

Background: Fast and accurate assessment of chest pain patients remains a challenge for clinicians. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is performed in each case of suspicion of the cardiac origin of chest pain.

Methods: Consecutive adult chest pain patients with suspicion of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were enrolled in the study. The prognostic value of admission ECG changes alone and in combination with other clinical variables (cardiac troponin, diagnosis of AMI) were analyzed for the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in a one‑year observation.

Results: The ischemic pattern on admission ECG was a single risk factor of MACE (HR 2.996 95% CI 1.31-6.86, p = 0.009), contrary to the single admission high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T assay (hs-cTnT) (HR 1.79 95% CI 0.695-4.61). The highest risk of MACE was identified in case of the presence of both ischemic-ECG and positive hs-cTnT (HR 3.19 95% CI 1.496-6.81, p = 0.003).

Conclusions: The presence of ischemic changes in ECG in chest pain population with AMI suspicion increases the risk of MACE. The group at highest risk of MACE can by identified by the additional stratification with the admission single hs-TnT measurement (Tab. 2, Fig. 4, Ref. 40). Text in PDF www.elis.sk Keywords: acute coronary syndromes, cardiac troponin, electrocardiogram, emergency department, chest pain.

Branchiogenic cysts are benign lesions caused by anomalous development of the branchial cleft. They are typically detected in individuals aged between their twenties and forties. Ultrasonography is the first-line imaging method of choice. Surgical excision is the sole treatment modality (Tab. 1, Fig. 6, Ref. 25). Keywords: branchiogenic cyst, extirpation, ultrasonography, computed tomography.

Background: The aim of this study is to identify the influence of factors that determine the refusal of influenza vaccine among three subjects groups.

Methods: A survey was conducted amongst three high‑risk groups in years 2018-2019 (Moscow, Russia). The survey involved 1,620 parents and pregnant women (group 1), 324 doctors (group 2) and 433 students (group 3). The analysis revealed a poor vaccine uptake among respondents of all three groups.

Results: According to the survey results, only 22.2 % of children and 13.8 % of adults were vaccinated against influenza. The group 2 showed higher rates for vaccinated adults and children, namely 36.7 % and 58.7 % , respectively. The lowest adherence to annual vaccinations was recorded in group 3 (only 17.3 %). There is also a negative correlation between adherence to vaccination and smoking -0.66), unhealthy diet -0.73), poor oral hygiene -0.61) as well as insufficient awareness of the need of influenza vaccine -0.81).

Conclusion: The general lack of vaccination awareness has a fundamental role in forming a negative attitude toward influenza vaccine. It is necessary to conduct research to promote vaccination against influenza to improve vaccine uptake among high‑risk groups, particularly in students (Tab. 1, Fig. 1, Ref. 32).

Objectives:  Repair of congenital heart defects involving right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) may require pulmonary valve replacement at time of primary repair or reoperation. This study compares the outcomes of cryopreserved homografts with bovine jugular vein conduits (BJVC) in children < 2 years of age with RVOT reconstruction.

Methods:  Retrospective, single-center review of 70 conduits implanted in 63 patients undergoing right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery reconstruction with valved conduit from 2002 to 2022.

Results: A total of 70 conduits were implanted in 63 patients, with mean age of 4.5 ± 6.9 months (range 1 day ‒ 23.5 months). The following conduits were used; homografts 38 (54.2 %), BJVC 32 (45.8 %). During mean follow-up of 6.2 ± 5.6 years, there were 12 deaths, 24 conduit reoperations, and 25 catheter reinterventions. Overall survival, reoperation-free, and catheter reintervention-free survival at 15 years was 82.7 %, 31.2 %, and 25.7 %, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that low patient weight, age < 30 days at repair, ventilation time, and ICU length of stay were associated with increased risk of death.

Conclusion: The performance of homografts and BJVC is comparable in patients ent between the two groups (Tab. 3, Fig. 3, Ref. 16).