Modern medicine and medical education at the crossroad of the east and the west civilizations

Стаття присвячена проблемі інтеграції знань між східною та західною медициною. Наведено обгрунтування доцільності більш активного використання досвіду традиційної східної та західної медицини в системі медичної освіти України.The article is devoted to the problem of the west and east medicine knowledge integration. Expedience of the active use of accumulated traditional east and west medicine experience in the system of medical education in Ukraine is grounded

Physical properties of thermoelectric zinc antimonide using first-principles calculations

We report first principles calculations of the structural, electronic, elastic and vibrational properties of the semiconducting orthorhombic ZnSb compound. We study also the intrinsic point defects in order to eventually improve the thermoelectric properties of this already very promising thermoelectric material. Concerning the electronic properties, in addition to the band structure, we show that the Zn (Sb) crystallographically equivalent atoms are not exactly equivalent from the electronic point of view. Lattice dynamics, elastic and thermodynamic properties are found to be in good agreement with experiments and they confirm the non equivalency of the zinc and antimony atoms from the vibrational point of view. The calculated elastic properties show a relatively weak anisotropy and the hardest direction is the y direction. We observe the presence of low energy modes involving both Zn and Sb atoms at about 5-6 meV, similarly to what has been found in Zn4Sb3 and we suggest that the interactions of these modes with acoustic phonons could explain the relatively low thermal conductivity of ZnSb. Zinc vacancies are the most stable defects and this explains the intrinsic p-type conductivity of ZnSb.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figure

Результаты лазерной корреляционной спектроскопии ротовой жидкости и мочи у больных с заболеваниями пародонта и мочекаменной болезнью с учетом преобладания в моче разных видов солей

Статья посвящена изучению взаимосвязи между лазерно-корреляционными спектрами ротовой жидкости и мочи у пациентов с заболеваниями пародонта и мочекаменной болезнью с учетом преобладания в моче разных видов солей. Установлено наличие такой взаимосвязи у части больных, особенно с преобладанием оксалурии.The article is devoted to the study of inerconnection between laser-correlation spectrums of oral liquid and urine in patients suffering from periodontal diseases and urolithiasis taking into account predominance in urine of different types of salts. The presence of such interconnection is observed in a part of patients, especially with predominance of oxaluria

Особенности сенсибилизации к мажорным и минорным компонентам сорных трав у больных с поллинозами и прогнозирование эффективности назначения аллерген-специфической иммунотерапии

Определяли сенсибилизацию к мажорным и минорным компонентам аллергенов сорных трав (амборзия, полынь) у 302 человек в возрасте от 18 до 54 лет с жалобами на сезонный аллергический ринит (АР) и конъюнктивит (АК) в период с конца июля до конца сентября (период цветения сорных трав в Одесской области, Украина) с помощью технологии ImmunoCAP (Phadia). Cенсибилизацию к мажорному компоненту амброзии (w230 – nAmb a 1) выявили у 281 пациента (87,1%), к мажорному компоненту полыни (w231 – nArt v 1), у 83 (24,7 %) пациентов. Сочетанная сенсибилизация к мажорным компонентам обоих аллергенов отмечалась у 74 (24,5%) обследуемых

Особенности клинических проявлений у больных поллинозами разных возрастных групп

Изучены особенности клинических проявлений у 902 больных поллинозами разных возрастных групп. В зависимости от возраста всех разделили на шесть групп: 3–7 лет (152 ребенка); 8–12 лет (92 ребенка); 13–18 лет (55 детей); 19–29 лет (210 человек); 30–50 лет (327 человек); старше 50 лет (66 человек). В зависимости от наличия клинических появлений пациенты разделялись на пять групп: сезонный аллергический ринит (АРС); сезонный аллергический конъюнктивит (АКС); сочетание АРС и АКС; сочетание АРС и сезонной бронхиальной астмы (БАС); сочетание АРС, АКС и БАС

Щодо питання диференційної експрес-діагностики сенсибілізації організму дитини до харчових та інгаляційних алергенів

Питання диференційної експрес-діагностики сенсибілізації до харчових та інгаляційних алергенів у дітей досить актуальне у зв'язку з тим, що визначає подальший вибір заходів ідентифікації конкретних причинно-значущих алергенів і препаратів для базисного лікування. Загальноприйняті методи алергологічної діагностики в дітей – проведення шкірних проб і визначення титрів специфічних IgE у крові, – незважаючи на високу інформативність, мають низку недоліків : можливість помилки у виборі адекватних груп або панелі алергенів; не завжди дають змогу визначити, які групи алергенів найбільш причинно-значущі у конкретної дитини (констатують лише ступінь реакції на конкретні алергени); мають деякі протипоказання до проведення (прийом антигістамінних препаратів, високий рівень сенсибілізації організму для проведення шкірних алергопроб та ін.); можливість отримати хибнопозитивні або хибнонегативні результати; високозатратні і виконуються лише в спеціалізованих медичних закладах (потребують спеціального обладнання і додаткового навчання медичного персоналу)

Различия в реакции на пыльцевые аллергены у взрослых пациентов в Южном регионе Украины (степная зона) в аспекте возрастных групп

Среди причинно-значимых аллергенов для страдающих поллинозами в степной зоне лидируют сорные травы (амброзия и полынь). Однако с увеличением возраста возрастает частота реакции на пыльцу деревьев, как в виде моносенсибилизации, так и составной части полисенсибилизации. Почти у трети пациентов молодого возраста отмечается полисенсибилизация к различным группам пыльцевых аллергенов, с возрастом существенно снижаясь. С увеличением возраста у больных отмечается выраженная тенденция к росту бронхиальной обструкции

Independent prognostic value of fascin immunoreactivity in stage III–IV colonic adenocarcinoma

Fascin, an actin-bundling protein involved in cell motility, has been shown to be upregulated in several types of carcinomas. In this study, we investigated the expression of fascin in 228 advanced colonic adenocarcinoma patients with a long follow-up. Fascin expression was compared with several clinicopathologic parameters and survival. Overall, fascin immunoreactivity was detected in 162 (71%) tumours with a prevalence for right-sided tumours (P<0.001). Fascin correlated significantly with sex, tumour grade and stage, mucinous differentiation, number of metastatic lymph nodes, extranodal tumour extension, and the occurrence of distant metastases. Patients with fascin-expressing tumours experienced a shorter disease-free and overall survival in comparison with those with negative tumours, and fascin immunoreactivity emerged as an independent prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis. Moreover, patients with the same tumour stages could be stratified in different risk categories for relapse and progression according to fascin expression. Our findings suggest that fascin is a useful prognostic marker for colonic adenocarcinomas

Expression of Tissue factor in Adenocarcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Uterine Cervix: Implications for immunotherapy with hI-con1, a factor VII-IgGFc chimeric protein targeting tissue factor

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cervical cancer continues to be an important worldwide health problem for women. Up to 35% of patients who are diagnosed with and appropriately treated for cervical cancer will recur and treatment results are poor for recurrent disease. Given these sobering statistics, development of novel therapies for cervical cancer remains a high priority. We evaluated the expression of Tissue Factor (TF) in cervical cancer and the potential of hI-con1, an antibody-like-molecule targeted against TF, as a novel form of immunotherapy against multiple primary cervical carcinoma cell lines with squamous- and adenocarcinoma histology.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Because TF is a transmembrane receptor for coagulation factor VII/VIIa (fVII), in this study we evaluated the <it>in vitro </it>expression of TF in cervical carcinoma cell lines by immunohistochemistry (IHC), real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) and flow cytometry. Sensitivity to hI-con1-dependent cell-mediated-cytotoxicity (IDCC) was evaluated in 5-hrs-⁵¹chromium-release-assays against cervical cancer cell lines <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cytoplasmic and/or membrane TF expression was observed in 8 out of 8 (100%) of the tumor tissues tested by IHC and in 100% (11 out of 11) of the cervical carcinoma cell lines tested by real-time-PCR and flow cytometry but not in normal cervical keratinocytes (<it>p </it>= 0.0023 qRT-PCR; <it>p </it>= 0.0042 flow cytometry). All primary cervical cancer cell lines tested overexpressing TF, regardless of their histology, were highly sensitive to IDCC (mean killing ± SD, 56.2% ± 15.9%, range, 32.4%-76.9%, <it>p </it>< 0.001), while negligible cytotoxicity was seen in the absence of hI-con1 or in the presence of rituximab-control-antibody. Low doses of interleukin-2 further increased the cytotoxic effect induced by hI-con1 (<it>p </it>= 0.025) while human serum did not significantly decrease IDCC against cervical cancer cell lines (<it>p </it>= 0.597).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>TF is highly expressed in squamous and adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix. hI-con1 induces strong cytotoxicity against primary cervical cancer cell lines overexpressing TF and may represent a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of cervical cancer refractory to standard treatment modalities.</p

Reprogramming energy metabolism and inducing angiogenesis : co-expression of monocarboxylate transporters with VEGF family members in cervical adenocarcinomas

Background: Deregulation of cellular energetic metabolism was recently pointed out as a hallmark of cancer cells. This deregulation involves a metabolic reprogramming that leads to a high production of lactate. Lactate efflux, besides contributing for the glycolytic flux, also acts in the extracellular matrix, contributing for cancer malignancy, by, among other effects, induction of angiogenesis. However, studies on the interplay between cancer metabolism and angiogenesis are scarce. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the metabolic and vascular molecular profiles of cervical adenocarcinomas, their co-expression, and their relation to the clinical and pathological behavior. Methods: The immunohistochemical expression of metabolism-related proteins (MCT1, MCT4, CD147, GLUT1 and CAIX) as well as VEGF family members (VEGF-A, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3) was assessed in a series of 232 cervical adenocarcinomas. The co-expression among proteins was assessed and the expression profiles were associated with patients’ clinicopathological parameters. Results: Among the metabolism-related proteins, MCT4 and CAIX were the most frequently expressed in cervical adenocarcinomas while CD147 was the less frequently expressed protein. Overall, VEGF family members showed a strong and extended expression with VEGF-C and VEGFR-2 as the most frequently expressed and VEGFR-1 as the less expressed member. Co-expression of MCT isoforms with VEGF family members was demonstrated. Finally, MCT4 was associated with parametrial invasion and HPV18 infection, CD147 and GLUT1 with distant metastasis, CAIX with tumor size and HPV18 infection, and VEGFR-1 with local and lymphnode metastasis. Conclusions: The results herein presented provide additional evidence for a crosstalk between deregulating cellular energetics and inducing angiogenesis. Also, the metabolic remodeling and angiogenic switch are relevant to cancer progression and aggressiveness in adenocarcinomas.CP received a post-doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/69479/2010) and FM-S received a doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BD/87139/2012) from FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology). This work was supported by the FCT grant ref. PTDC/SAU-FCF/104347/2008, under the scope of "Programa Operacional Tematico Factores de Competitividade" (COMPETE) of "Quadro Comunitario de Apoio III" and co-financed by Fundo Comunitario Europeu FEDER, and also by FAPESP 2008/03232-1