Tissue Clearing and Deep Imaging of the Kidney Using Confocal and Two-Photon Microscopy

Microscopic and macroscopic evaluation of biological tissues in three dimensions is becoming increasingly popular. This trend is coincident with the emergence of numerous tissue clearing strategies, and advancements in confocal and two-photon microscopy, enabling the study of intact organs and systems down to cellular and sub-cellular resolution. In this chapter, we describe a wholemount immunofluorescence technique for labeling structures in renal tissue. This technique combined with solvent-based tissue clearing and confocal imaging, with or without two-photon excitation, provides greater structural information than traditional sectioning and staining alone. Given the addition of paraffin embedding to our method, this hybrid protocol offers a powerful approach to combine confocal or two-photon findings with histological and further immunofluorescent analysis within the same tissue

Još o toksičnosti kadmija - s posebnim osvrtom na nastanak oksidacijskoga stresa i na interakcije s cinkom i magnezijem

Discovered in late 1817, cadmium is currently one of the most important occupational and environmental pollutants. It is associated with renal, neurological, skeletal and other toxic effects, including reproductive toxicity, genotoxicity, and carcinogenicity. There is still much to find out about its mechanisms of action, biomarkers of critical effects, and ways to reduce health risks. At present, there is no clinically efficient agent to treat cadmium poisoning due to predominantly intracellular location of cadmium ions. This article gives a brief review of cadmium-induced oxidative stress and its interactions with essential elements zinc and magnesium as relevant mechanisms of cadmium toxicity. It draws on available literature data and our own results, which indicate that dietary supplementation of either essential element has beneficial effect under condition of cadmium exposure. We have also tackled the reasons why magnesium addition prevails over zinc and discussed the protective role of magnesium during cadmium exposure. These findings could help to solve the problem of prophylaxis and therapy of increased cadmium body burden.Iako je otkriven tek 1817. godine, kadmij je trenutačno jedan od najvažnijih onečišćivača životne i radne sredine. Štetno djeluje na bubrege, živčani sustav, kosti, reproduktivni sistem, a ima i genotoksične i karcinogene efekte. Nužna su dalja istraživanja vezana za mehanizme njegove toksičnosti, biomarkere efekata, kao i načine smanjenja rizika za zdravlje. Osim toga, do danas nije otkriven agens efikasan u terapiji trovanja kadmijem s obzirom na to da je kadmij intracelularni kation. U ovom radu dan je sažet pregled važnih mehanizama toksičnosti kadmija, kao što su nastanak oksidativnog stresa i interakcije s esencijalnim elementima, cinkom i magnezijem, na osnovi dostupnih literaturnih podataka, kao i naših ispitivanja koja upućuju na to da povećani unos navedenih esencijalnih elemenata pokazuje pozitivne efekte pri ekspoziciji kadmiju. Obrazložena je prednost suplementacije magnezijem pred suplementacijom cinkom i razmatrana preventivna uloga magnezija pri intoksikaciji kadmijem. Ovi su rezultati doprinos rješavanju problema profi lakse i terapije trovanja kadmijem

Consumption of milk and milk products in the population of the Upper Silesian agglomeration inhabitants

Background: Providing the appropriate amount of nutrients at every stage of life is a key element determining the proper development and functioning of the body. Objective: Because of the nutritional value and resulting position of milk and milk products in the daily diet, this study was undertaken to assess the consumption of milk and milk products among the inhabitants of the Upper Silesian agglomeration. Design: The survey covered 600 people, including 339 women (56.5%) and 261 men (43.5%) aged 18–78 years. To assess the consumption of milk and milk products, as a research tool an original survey with the closed-ended and open-ended questions was used. The questions concerned the characteristics of the surveyed group and various aspects of the consumption of milk and milk products. The results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using the Statistica 10.0 program with a chi-square test for quality features. Results: The level of consumption of milk and milk products among the Upper Silesian agglomeration inhabitants is insufficient in relation to nutrition recommendations. However, despite many controversies surrounding milk, the respondents also claimed that it played an important role in their daily diet. Conclusions: The most frequently consumed type of milk in the surveyed group is ultra heat treated (UHT) milk with average fat content