Comparison of Mortality and Morbidities in Small and Appropriate For Gestational Age Preterm Infants

Aim:To compare morbidity and mortality in very low birth weight premature infants (VLBW) with small (SGA) and appropriate (AGA) for gestational age.Materials and Methods:The records of infants with VLBW who were followed up in our unit between 2013 and 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. SGA was defined as the birth weight being below the 10th percentile compared to the gestational week and the AGA birth weight being between the 10th and 90th percentile. A total of 96 SGA infants were identified as the study group and 204 AGA infants randomly selected and matched with the gestational week of the study group. Infants with major congenital anomalies and lack of data were excluded from the study.Results:The mean gestational age (28.3 ± 1.1–28.3 ± 1.2, p = 0.94) and birth weight (769 ± 144–1132 ± 190 g, <0.001, respectively) were in the SGA and AGA group respectively. Preeclampsia and cesarean delivery were significantly more frequent in the SGA group, whereas APGAR score was lower and CRIB score was significantly higher. The frequency of surfactant requirement, moderate-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia, spontaneous intestinal perforation, periventricular leukomalacia, premature osteopenia, postnatal growth retardation, mortality and feeding intolerance were found to be significantly higher in SGA infants. Similarly, the duration of invasive ventilation and additional oxygen requirement and hospital stay were longer in SGA infants.Conclusion:The birth of premature babies with low birth weight according to gestational age causes premature morbidity and mortality

Photosystem II functionality and antioxidant system changes during leaf rolling in post-stress emerging ctenanthe setosa exposed to drought

PubMed: 20015833We studied the changes in antioxidant system and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in post-stress emerging Ctenanthe setosa (Rosc.) Eichler (Marantaceae) plants (PSE plants) having reduced leaf area under drought stress causing leaf rolling and re-watering. PSE plants were compared to primary stressed plants (PS) in previous studies. The parameters were measured at different visual leaf rolling scores from 1 to 4 (1 is unrolled, 4 is tightly rolled and the others is intermediate form). Water potentials and stomatal conductance of leaves were gradually decreased during leaf rolling. Similarly, maximum quantum efficiency of open PS II center and quantum yield of PS II decreased during the rolling period. Non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence decreased at score 2 then increased while photochemical quenching did not change during leaf rolling. Electron transport rate decreased only at score 4 but approximately reached to score 1 level after re-watering. Superoxide dismutase activity was not constant at all leaf rolling scores. Ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and glutathione reductase activities generally tended to increase during leaf rolling. Lipid peroxidation and H2O2 content increased at score 2 but decreased at the later scores. On the other hand, O2?- production increased during the rolling period. After re-watering of the plants having score 4 of leaf rolling, antioxidant enzyme activities were lower than those of score 1. Other physiological parameters also tended to reach the value of score 1. The results indicated that PSE plants gained drought tolerance by reducing leaf area effectively induced their antioxidant systems and protected the photosynthesis under drought stress similar to PS plants. © 2009 Akadémiai Kaidó Budapest

Antioxidant effects of dexmedetomidine against hydrogen peroxide-induced DNA damage in vitro by alkaline comet assay

Background/aim: Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is an alpha-2 adrenergic agonist that is commonly used as a sedative and anesthetic. The protective effects of DEX against oxidative damage under both in vitro and in vivo conditions have been demonstrated. It was aimed to evaluate and compare the protective effects of DEX and vitamin C (Vit C) on DNA against H2O2-induced DNA damage in human lymphocyte cell cultures in vitro by alkaline Comet assay. Materials and methods: Lymphocyte cell cultures were divided into 5 groups, as the negative control, solvent control, positive control, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2; 150 mu M) + DEX (1 mu M; 2.5 mu M; 5 mu M), and H2O2 (150 mu M) Vit C (1 mu M; 2.5 mu M; 5 mu M), and incubated at 37 degrees C for 1 h. Cell viability was measured using the Trypan blue test. DNA damage was measured using the Alkali Comet Technique and the \% percent tail intensity was evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed using 1-way ANOVA and the Tukey multiple comparison test. Results: It was observed that H2O2 significantly induced DNA damage in the lymphocytes and this damage was decreased significantly with Vit C and DEX. It was observed that Vit C at doses of 1 mu M and 2.5 mu M had a significantly stronger antioxidant effect, but there was no significant difference between the antioxidant effects of Vit C and DEX with a dose of 5 mu M. The dose of 5 mu M DEX was found to be the most effective in reducing oxidative DNA damage. Conclusion: There is limited data on the protective effects of DEX against oxidative DNA damage. The primary effect might be cytoprotection. The results herein showed that DEX was protective against H2O2-induced in vitro oxidative DNA damage in lymphocyte cell cultures in a dose-dependent manner. DEX might have a potential therapeutic value in the prevention of oxidative DNA damage in patients

Exploring the electronic and magnetic properties of new metal halides from bulk to two-dimensional monolayer: RuX3 (X = Br, I)

Theoretical and experimental studies present that metal halogens in MX3 forms can show very interesting electronic and magnetic properties in their bulk and monolayer phases. Many MX3 materials have layered structures in their bulk phases, while RuBr3 and RuI3 have one-dimensional chains in plane. In this paper, we show that these metal halogens can also form two-dimensional layered structures in the bulk phase similar to other metal halogens, and cleavage energy values confirm that the monolayers of RuX3 can be possible to be synthesized. We also find that monolayers of RuX3 prefer ferromagnetic spin orientation in the plane for Ru atoms. Their ferromagnetic ground state, however, changes to antiferromagnetic zigzag state after U is included. Calculations using PBE + U with SOC predict indirect band gap of 0.70 eV and 0.32 eV for the optimized structure of RuBr3 and RuI3, respectively. Calculation based on the Monte Carlo simulations reveal interesting magnetic properties of RuBr3, such as large Curie temperature against RuI3, both in bulk and monolayer cases. Moreover, as a result of varying exchange couplings between neighboring magnetic moments, magnetic properties of RuBr3 and RuI3 can undergo drastic changes from bulk to monolayer. We hope our findings can be useful to attempt to fabricate the bulk and monolayer of RuBr3 and RuI3