The effects of whey and pumpkin seed oil on blood biochemical parameters of liver function and lipid profile in rats chronically drinking low concentrations of ethanol

We studied the effects of whey and pumpkin seed oil supplementation on the biochemical parameters in blood serum of male rats after chronic ad libitum alcohol consumption. The levels of AST, ALT, total bilirubin, ALP, LDH, triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL, triglyceride/HDL ratio, total cholesterol/HDL ratio (cholesterol ratio) and LDL/HDL ratio (index of atherosclerosis) were determined in rats after six weeks of treatment with: (i) ethanol (12% ethanol, ad libitum), (ii) whey (2 g/kg per day), (iii) pumpkin seed oil (2 mL/kg per day), (iv) both ethanol and whey, and (v) both ethanol and pumpkin seed oil. The results showed no changes in the levels of AST, ALT, total bilirubin, ALP, total cholesterol, HDL and VLDL in alcoholic rats when compared to the controls (fed with a standard laboratory diet ad libitum) and rats supplemented with whey and pumpkin seed oil. Our results suggest that alcohol consumption in small doses for 6 weeks changes lipid metabolism and significantly elevates the LDL/HDL ratio (index of atherosclerosis) but does not induce extensive liver damage. Ethanol consumption in our experimental conditions lowered the triglyceride level as well as the triglyceride/HDL ratio, suggesting lipid redistribution and the induction of some cardio-protective effect. However, ethanol induced a higher index of atherosclerosis. Pumpkin seed oil showed some protective potential in alcoholic rats by lowering the total cholesterol/HDL ratio, but it elevated the LDH. Whey consumption prevented elevation of the atherosclerosis index, pointing to its protective role, probably through the redistribution of lipids. However, whey in combination with ethanol elevated LDH

Ultraviolet A irradiation and photoaging of the mouse skin

Introduction: Solar or artificial UVA radiation play a major role in photoaging of the skin. Objective: The aim of our study was to determine the presence of morphological changes in the dermis of mouse skin exposed to UVA radiation, with or without the usage of photoprotective cream. Methods: This experiment involved the exposure of female BALBc mice, to solarium UVA lamps. The animals were divided into 2 experimental and 2 control groups. Before the radiation exposure, the hair on the backs of the experimental animals and one control group was removed by shaving 3 times a week, and a half an hour before the exposure a broad spectrum photoprotective cream (UVA filter and SPF 50) was applied on half of the experimental animals. The animals were exposed to radiation 5 times a week, 2 hours a day (the dosage of 156 J/ cm2), for 16 weeks, up to a total radiation of 12500 J/cm2. Results: The presence of impaired collagen fibril network was the most pronounced in the experimental group of animals exposed to radiation without the usage of photoprotective cream (p<0.001). The presence of normal collagen fibril network was observed in the both control groups (p<0.001). The presence of incipient solar elastosis was observed in the experimental group of animals exposed to radiation without the usage of photoprotective cream. Conclusions: The results showed that the usage of a photoprotective cream provided an efficient protection against the effects of UVA radiation and dermal photoaging

Correlation of number of tumor buds and tumor stage in large bowel carcinomas

Standardized staging of tumors takes into account the depth of invasion of the intestinal wall and the presence of local or distant metastases, specifically focusing to precisely estimate length of patient survival. This assessment system does not fully reflect the biological behaviour of cancer individually, ie. tumor aggressiveness and ability of recurrence tumor after medical treatment. Furthermore, cancer at some patients have more aggressive growth than other carcinomas in the same clinical stage, because there are other parameters that determine the biological behaviors of colon cancer, which are not included in the standard classification of determining tumor stage. One of the recent arguments which are due in the spotlight is 'tumor budding', which represents one cell or group of up to five non-differentiated tumor cells, which are found in the stroma out of the invasive front line of cancer. There are 92 colon cancer and upper rectum processed, which are collected at General Hospital in Trebinje and Medical Center in Kosovska Mitrovica. The aim is to determine whether there is a correlation between the number of tumor budding and stage of tumors in colorectal cancer. The tumor stage is determined by Astler Coller classification. Investigation, based on x2-test, leads to the conclusion that there is not a statistical significance in tumor budding distribution in relation to tumor stage according to the Astler Coller classification (p = 0.383; p> 0.05)

Specificity and sensitivity of preoperative total serum prostate specific antigen in diagnosis most common histopathological change of prostate

Determination of preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value is primary procedure in diagnosis of different pathological prostate changes (prostate cancer-PC, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia-PIN and benign prostatic hyperplasia-BPH), followed by digital rectal examination and prostate biopsy as gold standard. Disadvantage of high sensitivity and low specificity of PSA testing in diagnosis of PC is a problem in clinical practice. Aim was to determine the diagnostic performance of PSA in diagnosis of PC, PIN and BPH. The study included 100 patients divided into three groups: 70 with PC, 20 with a PIN and 10 with BPH. Patients with PIN and BPH were control group. Preoperative PSA values were determined by Tandem-R, The patients were divided into subgroups by baseline PSA level as follows: 4-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and> 40. The definitive histopathological diagnosis was made on routine hematoxylineosin slides. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), sensitivity-SE and specificity-SP of each PSA level were evaluated for PC. Preoperative serum PSA levels in patients with PC (median-35.82 ng/ml, min-6 ng/ml, max-960.40 ng/ml) were significantly higher than with PIN (median-9.15 ng/ml, min-3.16 ng/ml, max-27.61 ng/ml) and BPH (median-8.68 ng/ml, min-0.80 ng/ml, max-31.20 ng/ml). The best diagnostic characteristics of the PSA are on limit value 10 ng/ml (AUC=0.781, SE=92.9%; SP=63.3%; p<0,0001). PSA is of great help in diagnosis of advanced and initial form of PC. The chance of PC diagnosis was greater than that for other pathological changes when PSA level was higher than 10 ng/ml