Ocena poziomu homocysteiny u pacjentek ze stanem przedrzucawkowym

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation between preeclampsia and blood plasma homocysteine levels. Material and methods: The research was conducted in a group of 114 pregnant patients who were subdivided into three groups consisting of: 30 women with severe preeclampsia, 24 with mild preeclampsia, and 60 healthy pregnant controls. Patient data included age, parity, body mass index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, homocysteine, folic acid, vitamin B12, hematocrit, hemoglobin, blood urine nitrogen, uric acid and urine analysis. Results: There were no differences in the demographic characteristics (age, gravidity and BMI) among the groups. Mean serum homocysteine level was significantly higher in the preeclamptic group as compared to controls (pCel: Celem badania była ocena związku pomiędzy stanem przedrzucawkowym a poziomem homocysteiny w osoczu krwi. Materiał i metoda: Badanie przeprowadzono w grupie 114 ciężarnych, które podzielono na trzy podgrupy: 30 kobiet z ciężkim stanem przedrzucawkowym, 24 z lekkim stanem przedrzucawkowym i 60 zdrowych ciężarnych. Analizowano następujące dane pacjentek: wiek, rodność, indeks masy ciała (BMI), ciśnienie skurczowe i rozkurczowe, homocysteinę, kwas foliowy, witaminę B12, hematokryt, hemoglobinę, mocznik, kwas moczowy i badanie ogólne moczu. Wyniki: Nie znaleziono różnic w cechach demograficznych (tj. wiek, ilość ciąż i BMI) pomiędzy grupami. Średni poziom homocysteiny był istotnie wyższy u pacjentek ze stanem przedrzucawkowym niż w grupie kontrolnej (

A NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE STRESS-BALANCED SPUR GEAR PAIRS

Involute spur gears are key machine elements for power transmission in various industrial sectors. During power transmission, the teeth are subjected to high stresses. Many design modifications are used to reduce these stresses, such as increasing the drive side pressure angle and profile shifting factor. These modifications change the contact ratio and center distance of the gear pair. Changing the tooth thickness is another solution to reduce stress. Because there is a difference in the number of teeth between the pinion and the gear, the pinion stress levels are higher than the gear for the same gear parameters. The tooth thickness value in the tooth thickness on the pitch circle is equal to 0.5xπm for both pinion and gear as standard. Stress compensation can be achieved by increasing this thickness at the pinion and decreasing it at the same rate at the gear. In this study, first of all, 3D designs of gears with non-standard thickness were created in CATIA and finite element analyzes were performed to obtain tooth thickness values that create equal root stresses for pinion and gear with various tooth numbers. According to preliminary results, tooth deformation and stress has a linear relationship with tooth thickness value, nearly

Two four-marker haplotypes on 7q36.1 region indicate that the potassium channel gene HERG1 (KCNH2, Kv11.1) is related to schizophrenia: a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The pathobiology of schizophrenia is still unclear. Its current treatment mainly depends on antipsychotic drugs. A leading adverse effect of these medications is the acquired long QT syndrome, which results from the blockade of cardiac HERG1 channels (human ether-a-go-go-related gene potassium channels 1) by antipsychotic agents. The HERG1 channel is encoded by <it>HERG1 </it>(<it>KCNH2</it>, <it>Kv11.1</it>) gene and is most highly expressed in heart and brain. Genetic variations in <it>HERG1 </it>predispose to acquired long QT syndrome. We hypothesized that the blockade of HERG1 channels by antipsychotics might also be significant for their therapeutic mode of action, indicating a novel mechanism in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We genotyped four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 7q36.1 region (two SNPs, rs1805123 and rs3800779, located on <it>HERG1</it>, and two SNPs, rs885684 and rs956642, at the 3'-downstream intergenic region) and then performed single SNP and haplotype association analyses in 84 patients with schizophrenia and 74 healthy controls after the exclusion of individuals having prolonged or shortened QT interval on electrocardiogram.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our analyses revealed that both genotype and allele frequencies of rs3800779 (c.307+585G>T) were significantly different between populations (<it>P </it>= 0.023 and <it>P </it>= 0.018, respectively). We also identified that two previously undescribed four-marker haplotypes which are nearly allelic opposite of each other and located in chr7:150225599-150302147bp position encompassing <it>HERG1 </it>were either overrepresented (A-A-A-T, the at-risk haplotype, <it>P </it>= 0.0007) or underrepresented (C-A-C-G, the protective haplotype, <it>P </it>= 0.005) in patients compared to controls.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate that the potassium channel gene <it>HERG1 </it>is related to schizophrenia. Our findings may also implicate the whole family of HERG channels (HERG1, HERG2 and HERG3) in the pathogenesis of psychosis and its treatment.</p

The Causes of Acute Fever Requiring Hospitalization in Geriatric Patients: Comparison of Infectious and Noninfectious Etiology

Introduction. Infectious diseases may present with atypical presentations in the geriatric patients. While fever is an important finding of infections, it may also be a sign of noninfectious etiology. Methods. Geriatric patients who were hospitalized for acute fever in our infectious diseases unit were included. Acute fever was defined as presentation within the first week of fever above 37.3°C. Results. 185 patients were included (82 males and 103 females). Mean age was 69.7 ± 7.5 years. The cause of fever was an infectious disease in 135 and noninfectious disease in 32 and unknown in 18 of the patients. The most common infectious etiologies were respiratory tract infections (n = 46), urinary tract infections (n = 26), and skin and soft tissue infections (n = 23). Noninfectious causes of fever were rheumatic diseases (n = 8), solid tumors (n = 7), hematological diseases (n = 10), and vasculitis (n = 7). A noninfectious cause of fever was present in one patient with no underlying diseases and in 31 of 130 patients with underlying diseases. Conclusion. Geriatric patients with no underlying diseases generally had infectious causes of fever while noninfectious causes were responsible from fever in an important proportion of patients with underlying diseases