Ankylosing spondylarthritis (AS) is associated falsely increased lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD). New tool for discrimination of subjects at fracture risk is needed. Vertebral fracture (VF) prediction of routine methods for osteoporosis assessment, BMD and trabecular bone score (TBS), in patients with AS. Cross-sectional study of all AS patients regularly followed at the rheumatology outpatient clinics of two centers. All subjects undergone BMD measurement at lumbar spine (LS), total hip (TH) and femoral neck (FN) using Hologic® Horizon device. TBS at L1-4 in all subjects by TBS InSight® software were assessed. Vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) was performed using the lateral spine imaging IVA™ and graded using Genant semi-quantitative approach. 119 AS subjects (90 males/29 females), mean age 47.6 years were included in the study. In 20 patients 34 VFs were detected, from whom 7 patients had multiple fractures. Subjects with VF were older and had lower FN BMD, TBS in comparison to non-VF subjects. No differences in LS BMD, FN BMD or BASDAI between groups were observed. Among patients with VF only 3 had T-score less than -2.5 but 7 has TBS less than 1.23 which means highly degraded microarchitecture. AS patients with VF have lower TBS and FN BMD in comparison to non-VF subjects. In addition, TBS was able to detect 20 % more VFs than BMD. Therefore, TBS seems promising in VF discrimination among patients with AS., Zdenko Killinger, Martin Kužma, Soňa Tomková, Kristína Brázdilová, Peter Jackuliak, Juraj Payer., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Increasing hemodynamic load during early postnatal development leads to rapid growth of the left ventricular (LV) myocardium, which is associated with membrane phospholipid (PL) remodeling characterized by n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) accumulation. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of additional workload imposed early after birth when ventricular myocytes are still able to proliferate. Male Wistar rats were subjected to abdominal aortic constriction (AC) at postnatal day 2. Concentrations of PL and their fatty acid (FA) profiles in the LV were analyzed in AC, sham-operated (SO) and intact animals on postnatal days 2 (intact only), 5 and 10. AC resulted in LV enlargement by 22 % and 67 % at days 5 and 10, respectively, compared with age-matched SO littermates. Concentrations of phosphatidylcholine, cardiolipin, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and sphingomyelin decreased in AC myocardium, albeit with different time course and extent. The main effect of AC on FA remodeling consisted in the accumulation of n-3 PUFA in PL. The most striking effect of AC on FA composition was observed in phosphatidylinositol and cardiolipin. We conclude that excess workload imposed by AC inhibited the normal postnatal increase of PL concentration while further potentiating the accumulation of n-3 PUFA as an adaptive response of the developing myocardium to accelerated growth., F. Novák, ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Reactive oxygen species can be generated by daily exposure of the skin to ultraviolet light and may cause some subchronic and chronic skin disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible preventive role of a-tocopherol acetate (ATA) on ultraviolet B (UVB) induced peroxidation by assessing lipid peroxide (LPO) levels and activity of reactive oxygen scavenging enzymes including glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in guinea pigs. ATA was topically applied to the skin for three weeks before a single dose of 0.9 J/cm2 UVB irradiation on the skin and lipid peroxide levels and antioxidants in plasma, skin and liver and erythrocytes were determined after decapitation. Topical application of ATA prevented the UVB irradiation-induced reduction of scavenging enzyme activities in skin and erythrocytes. In conclusion, we suggest that topical applications of ATA before UVB irradiation is effective in protecting the skin from unwanted effects of UVB irradiation., Y. Saral, B. Uyar, A. Ayar, M. Naziroglu, S. Yilmaz., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Ornithine carbamoyltransferase has been purified from the liver of the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta by a single-step procedure using chromatography on an affinity column to which the transition-state analogue, d-N-(phosphonoacetyl)- L-ornithine (d-PALO), was covalently bound. The procedure employed yielded an enzyme which was purified 373-fold and was judged to be homogeneous by nondenaturing and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The enzyme showed a specific activity of 224. The molar mass of the C. caretta enzyme was approximately 112 kDa, the single band obtained by SDS-PAGE indicated a subunit molar mass of 39.5 kDa; hence, the enzyme is a trimer of identical subunits. It catalyzes an ordered sequential mechanism in which carbamoyl phosphate binds first, followed by L-ornithine. The Michaelis constants were 0.858 mM for L-ornithine and 0.22 mM for carbamoyl phosphate, the dissociation constant of the enzyme-carbamoyl phosphate complex was 0.50 mM., E. Bellocco, C. Di Salvo, G. Lagan, U. Leuzzi, E. Tellone, A. Kotyk, A. Galtieri., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Acetaminophen overdose is the most often cause of acute liver injury. The toxic mechanism is linked to formation of an active metabolite that reacts with glutathione generating acetaminophen-glutathione conjugate (APAP-SG). This compound has been recognized to be non-toxic generally. Our preliminary results showed, however, that APAP-SG could possess a toxic effect too. Therefore, the aim of our study was to prepare, purify and to test possible toxicity of APAP-SG. We prepared APAP-SG using organic synthesis. The conjugate was purified by preparative HPLC and its structure was confirmed using mass spectrometry. Final purity of APAP-SG was >98 %. We estimated a toxic effect of APAP-SG in isolated rat liver mitochondria using a fluorescent ROS probe. We assessed ROS production in presence of complex I or complex II substrates. The increase of ROS-dependent fluorescence in presence of glutamate/malate was 104±13 % and 130±10 % in 1 mM and 5 mM APAP-SG, respectively, in comparison with controls. ROS production related to presence of complex II substrate was enhanced 4-times in APAP-SG (5 mM) treated mitochondria (compared to controls). We conclude, we proved our hypothesis that APAP-SG conjugate is able to induce a mitochondrial impairment leading to enhanced ROS production., T. Roušar, ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) represents additional risks to both mother and infant. Moreover it increases a woman's risk of cardiovascular disease in the postpartum. The aim of our study was therefore to detect changes of both the QT dispersion and the electrical heart field that could be typical for GDM. Body surface potential maps were obtained using the Cardiac 112.2 device from 26 young women with GDM and 54 young healthy pregnant women in the 36th week of pregnancy. The same recordings were obtained from 18 healthy women in the same age (19-36 years). The average QT dispersion (±SD) in women suffering from GDM was significantly higher (107±25 ms) both than in those with physiological pregnancy (73±18 ms) and than in the normal subjects (34±12 ms) (P<0.001). Moreover we have found in GDM patients shorter QRS complex 82.0±6.8 ms vs. 89.5±8.2 ms in healthy pregnant women and 90.8±7.9 ms in the control group (p=0.011), more horizontal electrical heart axis [16.4±20.1° vs. 42.4±28.7° and 74.6±39.2° respectively (P<0.05)] and lower some depolarization and repolarization amplitudes on isopotential and isointegral maps. According to these results we suppose that described electrocardiographic changes reflect a deterioration of the complete process of ventricular depolarization and repolarization in GDM., E. Medová, ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury