The role of disordered angiogenesis tissue markers (sflt-1, Plgf) in present day diagnosis of preeclampsia

Preeclampsia and conditions associated with impaired placental perfusion develop in almost 10% of all pregnancies. Patho- logic angiogenesis is one of the processes observed in preeclampsia. sFlt-1, PlGF and the sFlt-1/PlGF ratio are new and promising angiogenesis-related biomarkers. Our paper describes the present status of, and clinical practice opportunities for, these factors.  According to present data, sFlt-1, PlGF and the sFlt-1/PlGF ratio are very useful tools in assessing placental angiogenesis abnormalities associated with preeclampsia and can be use in clinical practice.

Evaluation of neutrophile elastase and isoprostane 8epiPGF2α concentrations in maternal and umbilical cord blood serum and in amniotic fluid in pregnancies complicated by premature rupture of membranes

Abstract Objectives: To evaluate the total isoprostane 8-epi-PGF2α and neutrophil elastase (NE) concentrations in pregnancies complicated by premature rupture of membranes (PROM). Material and methods: 128 pregnant women were divided into four groups: pregnancies complicated by PROM between 24.-36.(PPBP-N) and between 38 a 41 weeks of gestation (PPBP-D), uncomplicated pregnancies between 24-36 gestation weeks (K1) and pregnancies delivered by cesarean section (before uterine contractions had started) after 38 weeks (K2). The concentrations of NE and isoprostane 8-epi-PGF2α were measured in maternal serum, cord blood serum and in the amniotic fluid. Results: The following study revealed higher concentrations of NE in maternal serum and in the amniotic fluid than in the umbilical cord blood in PROM cases, and lower amniotic fluid than maternal serum concentrations in the control groups. Also, the levels of isoprostane differentiated between compartments in particular groups. In both groups complicated with PROM, higher maternal serum and amniotic fluid NE concentrations than in controls were found. There were no differences in isoprostane levels between the groups. Conclusions: 1. Higher concentrations of NE in maternal blood serum and in the amniotic fluid than in the umbilical cord blood in PROM cases, as well as lower amniotic fluid than maternal serum concentrations in the controls, may be connected with pathogenesis of PROM. 2. Differentiated maternal serum, cord serum and amniotic fluid isoprostane concentrations may suggest various intensity of oxidative stress in particular compartments. 3. Lack of differences in maternal serum, cord serum and amniotic fluid isoprostane concentrations may suggest similar intensity of oxidative stress in cases with PROM and intact membranes

Evaluating and Modeling Attribution for Cross-Lingual Question Answering

Trustworthy answer content is abundant in many high-resource languages and is instantly accessible through question answering systems, yet this content can be hard to access for those that do not speak these languages. The leap forward in cross-lingual modeling quality offered by generative language models offers much promise, yet their raw generations often fall short in factuality. To improve trustworthiness in these systems, a promising direction is to attribute the answer to a retrieved source, possibly in a content-rich language different from the query. Our work is the first to study attribution for cross-lingual question answering. First, we collect data in 5 languages to assess the attribution level of a state-of-the-art cross-lingual QA system. To our surprise, we find that a substantial portion of the answers is not attributable to any retrieved passages (up to 50% of answers exactly matching a gold reference) despite the system being able to attend directly to the retrieved text. Second, to address this poor attribution level, we experiment with a wide range of attribution detection techniques. We find that Natural Language Inference models and PaLM 2 fine-tuned on a very small amount of attribution data can accurately detect attribution. Based on these models, we improve the attribution level of a cross-lingual question-answering system. Overall, we show that current academic generative cross-lingual QA systems have substantial shortcomings in attribution and we build tooling to mitigate these issues.Comment: Published as a long paper at EMNLP 202

Pacjenci wysokoimmunizowani jako problem dzisiejszej transplantologii — opis przypadku i przegląd literatury

Udowodniono, że przeszczepienie nerki jest najlepszą metodą leczenia nerkozastępczego. W grupie oczekujących na przeszczepienie nerki coraz większy odsetek stanowią biorcy wysokoimmunizowani, czyli tacy, u których przeciwciała limfocytotoksyczne (PRA) liczą 80% i więcej. Czas oczekiwania na dawcę w tej grupie jest najdłuższy. By uniknąć nadmiernego oczekiwania, podejmowane są działania mające usunąć krążące przeciwciała przeciw dawcy (DSA) i ograniczyć ich produkcję. Postępowanie to jest zwane desensytyzacją (odczulaniem). W artykule omówiono dostępne metody desensytyzacji, ich skuteczność i działania niepożądane. Opisano również przypadek czwartej transplantacji nerki u pacjentki wysokoimmunizowanej — jako problem, z którym medycyna ma coraz częściej do czynienia

The crown-rump length measurement — ISUOG criteria and clinical practice

Objectives: Significance of the crown-rump length (CRL) measurement criteria in the assessments of gestational age andactual precision in daily clinical practice.Material and methods: We recruited 806 pregnant women with singleton pregnancy and history of regular menstrualperiods.We analysed retrospectively CRL measurements obtained during routine first trimester scan performed between11 + 0 and 13 + 6 weeks gestation. Gestational age was calculated using both the last menstrual period (LMP) and the CRL.The images of the CRL measurements were assessed by the expert. The visual analysis of the images in terms of meeting thefive criteria recommended by the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) was performed.Statistical analysis were used to assess how the above-mentioned criteria influenced calculation of the gestational age.Results: The study showed 323 out of 806 of the CRL measurements (40.1%) were qualified by a specialist as accurate,279 (34.6%) as inaccurate, and 204 (25.3%) as inaccurate, but not changing the duration of a pregnancy. With the applicationin the assessment of the five criteria of the ISOUG 217 (26.9%), the following results of qualification were obtained: accurate— fulfilled ≥ 4, inaccurate 341 (42.3%) — fulfilled ≤ 2, whereas inaccurate, but not changing the duration of a pregnancy248 (30.8%) — 3 criteria fulfilled. We found that only the neutralof the fetus demonstrated a significant corellation withthe assessment of the duration of a gestation.Conclusions: a) the accurate audit of the CRL measurements is recommended; b) neutral position of the fetus is the mostimportant criterion out of 5

Rapid assessment of the IL-6 cervico-vaginal fluid level in threatening preterm labor

Summary Objectives: The aim of the study was to check the cervico-vaginal fluid IL-6 levels using rapid, quantitive test in patients with threatening preterm labor, before and after tocolytic treatment. Material and methods: Sixty seven singular pregnant women, between 24 and 36 weeks of gestation, were included into the clinical trial. 35 women who were admitted to the Department due to clinical symptoms of threatened preterm labor formed the study group. 32 women between 24 and 36 gestational week, with uncomplicated pregnancy, formed the control group. Levels of IL-6 were measured just after material collection, using fast, quantitative spectrofotometric test. Results: The cervico-vaginal IL-6 level was higher in the study group (458pg/mL vs 123pg/mL;

Fußballspielende humanoide Roboter

Das Ziel der Projektgruppe ist die (semi-)automatisierte Lösung von mindestens zwei Problemstellungen sowie deren Optimierung. Für diese Aufgabe kommen Black-Box-Verfahren in Frage, wie etwa evo- lutionäre Algorithmen. Die zu optimierenden Problemstellungen sind aus dem Bereich der Wahrnehmung und der Bewegungsplanung zu wählen. Neben den vorgeschlagenen Zielen ist es des Weiteren auch möglich, weitere Aufgaben mit den Betreuern abzusprechen. Im Bereich der Wahrnehmung dient die automatische Kalibrierung der Kamera dazu, eventuelle Fehlstellungen und Fehljustierungen, die über die Zeit entstehen, zu beheben. Dies hat zum Ziel, die Loka- lisierung, welche zu einem großen Teil auf der Bildanalyse beruht, zu verbessern. Zudem ist die Optimierung der Farbräume für die zur Bilderken- nung genutzte Farbtafel zu automatisieren, um die an unterschied- lichen Orten vorhandenen Farbschwankungen und Lichtverhältnisse zeitnah zu kompensieren. Im Bereich der Bewegung erlaubt es die automatische Gelenkwin- kelkalibrierung die Gelenkwinkel zu justieren, was in besonderem Maße die Korrektheit der auf den Winkeln beruhenden Berechnun- gen des Laufs verbessern kann. Darüber hinaus wurden weitere Auf- gaben und Interessengebiete bearbeitet

Higher perfusion pressure and pump flow during cardiopulmonary bypass are beneficial for kidney function–a single-centre prospective study

Background: Kidneys play an essential role in the circulatory system, regulating blood pressure and intravascular volume. They are also set on maintaining an adequate filtration pressure in the glomerulus. During the CPB, a decrease in systemic blood pressure and hemoglobin concentration may lead to renal ischemia and subsequent acute kidney injury.Methods: One hundred nine adult patients were prospectively enrolled in this study. The intervention in this study was increasing the flow of the CPB pump to reach the target MAP of > 90 mmHg during the procedure. The control group had a standard pump flow of 2.4 L/min/m2.Results: Standard pump flow of 2.4 L/min/m2 resulted in mean MAP < 90 mmHg during the CPB in most patients in the control group. Maintaining a higher MAP during CPB in this study population did not affect CSA-AKI incidence. However, it increased the intraoperative and postoperative diuresis and decreased renin release associated with CPB. Higher MAP during the CPB did not increase the incidence of cerebrovascular complications after the operation; patients in the highest MAP group had the lowest incidence of postoperative delirium, but the result did not obtain statistical significance.Conclusion: Maintaining MAP > 90 mmHg during the CPB positively impacts intraoperative and postoperative kidney function. It significantly reduces renal hypoperfusion during the procedure compared to MAP < 70 mmHg. MAP > 90 mmHg is safe for the central nervous system, and preliminary results suggest that it may have a beneficial impact on the incidence of postoperative delirium