Bács: A Balkan-Turkish Town in Hungary

Bács, an Ottoman nahiye centre defended by a small garrison, was situated in the southernmost region of Hungary, the place of massive Serbian immigration. The town was left by its original Hungarian residents; its Muslim population, living in the two discrits of the fortress and the four civil mahalles, is known from the years around 1570 and 1578. About one quarter of the inhabitants were peasants, one sixth of them were men of religion, mainly cami personnel and sufis. 58 persons in 12 crefts around 1570, and 110 individuals in 33 crafts in 1578 testify to the relative importance of industrial activities. 25 tradesmen were engaged in transporting grain to Buda from the south. The town was preferred to Szeged by many sipahis of the same sancak as their abode. Unlike several Hungarian urban settlements and Ottoman centres in the northern parts of the country, Bács resembled a typical Ottoman kasaba

Polyunsaturated fatty acids synergize with lipid droplet binding thalidomide analogs to induce oxidative stress in cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cytoplasmic lipid-droplets are common inclusions of eukaryotic cells. Lipid-droplet binding thalidomide analogs (2,6-dialkylphenyl-4/5-amino-substituted-5,6,7-trifluorophthalimides) with potent anticancer activities were synthesized.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cytotoxicity was detected in different cell lines including melanoma, leukemia, hepatocellular carcinoma, glioblastoma at micromolar concentrations. The synthesized analogs are non-toxic to adult animals up to 1 g/kg but are teratogenic to zebrafish embryos at micromolar concentrations with defects in the developing muscle. Treatment of tumor cells resulted in calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), ER stress and cell death. Antioxidants could partially, while an intracellular calcium chelator almost completely diminish ROS production. Exogenous docosahexaenoic acid or eicosapentaenoic acid induced calcium release and ROS generation, and synergized with the analogs <it>in vitro</it>, while oleic acid had no such an effect. Gene expression analysis confirmed the induction of ER stress-mediated apoptosis pathway components, such as GADD153, ATF3, Luman/CREB3 and the ER-associated degradation-related HERPUD1 genes. Tumor suppressors, P53, LATS2 and ING3 were also up-regulated in various cell lines after drug treatment. Amino-phthalimides down-regulated the expression of CCL2, which is implicated in tumor metastasis and angiogenesis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Because of the anticancer, anti-angiogenic action and the wide range of applicability of the immunomodulatory drugs, including thalidomide analogs, lipid droplet-binding members of this family could represent a new class of agents by affecting ER-membrane integrity and perturbations of ER homeostasis.</p

Aging and Comorbidities in Acute Pancreatitis II.: A Cohort-Analysis of 1203 Prospectively Collected Cases

Introduction: Our meta-analysis indicated that aging influences the outcomes of acute pancreatitis (AP), however, a potential role for comorbidities was implicated, as well. Here, we aimed to determine how age and comorbidities modify the outcomes in AP in a cohort-analysis of Hungarian AP cases.Materials and Methods: Data of patients diagnosed with AP by the revised Atlanta criteria were extracted from the Hungarian Registry for Pancreatic Patients. Outcomes of interest were mortality, severity, length of hospitalization, local, and systemic complications of AP. Comorbidities were measured by means of Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) covering pre-existing chronic conditions. Non-parametric univariate and multivariate statistics were used in statistical analysis. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.Results: A total of 1203 patients from 18 centers were included. Median age at admission was 58 years (range: 18–95 years), median CCI was 2 (range: 0–10). Only severe comorbidities (CCI ≥ 3) predicted mortality (OR = 4.48; CI: 1.57–12.80). Although severe comorbidities predicted AP severity (OR = 2.10, CI: 1.08–4.09), middle (35–64 years) and old age (≥65 years) were strong predictors with borderline significance, as well (OR = 7.40, CI: 0.99–55.31 and OR = 6.92, CI: 0.91–52.70, respectively). Similarly, middle and old age predicted a length of hospitalization ≥9 days. Interestingly, the middle-aged patients (35–64 years) were three times more likely to develop pancreatic necrosis than young adults (OR = 3.21, CI: 1.26–8.19), whereas the old-aged (≥65 years) were almost nine times more likely to develop systemic complications than young adults (OR = 8.93, CI: 1.20–66.80), though having severe comorbidities (CCI ≥ 3) was a predisposing factor, as well.Conclusion: Our results proved that both aging and comorbidities modify the outcomes of AP. Comorbidities determine mortality whereas both comorbidities and aging predict severity of AP. Regarding complications, middle-aged patients are the most likely to develop local complications; in contrast, those having severe comorbidities are prone to develop systemic complications. Studies validating the implementation of CCI-based predictive scores are awaited

Hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis: A prospective, multicenter, international cohort analysis of 716 acute pancreatitis cases

Background Hypertriglyceridemia is the third most common cause of acute pancreatitis (AP). It has been shown that hypertriglyceridemia aggravates the severity and related complications of AP; however, detailed analyses of large cohorts are inadequate and contradictory. Our aim was to investigate the dose-dependent effect of hypertriglyceridemia on AP. Methods AP patients over 18 years old who underwent triglyceride measurement within the initial three days were included into our cohort analysis from a prospective international, multicenter AP registry operated by the Hungarian Pancreatic Study Group. Data on 716 AP cases were analyzed. Six groups were created based on the highest triglyceride level (Peer reviewe

A Multicenter, International Cohort Analysis of 1435 Cases to Support Clinical Trial Design in Acute Pancreatitis

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The financial position of the Vilayets in Hungary in the 16th–17th centuries

In the 16th century, there were two vilayets in Hungary; their number increased to four at the turn of the 17th century and to six after 1660. The largest of them, the vilayet of Buda, was loss-making throughout the period, with the exception of a few years. The Buda vilayet received financial support from the central treasury during the 16th century and from the campaign treasury during the Long War at the turn of the 17th century. Subsequently, in the 17th century, roughly 70 per cent of its military expenditure was covered by state revenues from the Balkan Peninsula. In the latter decades of the 16th century, the Temeşvar vilayet produced a financial surplus. It suffered financial woes during the war at the turn of the century but recovered thereafter. In the early 17th century, the Eger vilayet used its own revenue to pay for more than half of its costs, but the losses of the Kanija vilayet resembled those of Buda. The Varad vilayet in the east of the country was financially self-sufficient, while the Uyvar vilayet , established in the approaches to Vienna, was funded entirely by the central treasury. To sum up: in the stricken western vilayets , which were devastated by the military campaigns, local revenues met no more than one third of military costs; meanwhile, the three eastern vilayets , which were less affected by conflict, were for the most part self-sufficient