The difference in some aspects of sexsuality between visually impaired and sighted people

Spolnost je dio svih aspekata ljudskoga života i obuhvaća velik dio osobnosti čovjeka. U vezi je s emocionalnim, socijalnim, kulturalnim i tjelesnim rastom pojedinca. Spolnost je prirodan dio ljudskoga razvoja u svakoj životnoj fazi a oštećenje vida može na različite načine utjecati na spolni život osobe. Ono ne samo da utječe na doživljaj sebe već i na društvene i na spolne odnose. Cilj ovoga diplomskog rada jest ispitivanje nekih razlika u obilježjima spolnosti osoba oštećena vida i videćih osoba. Istraživanje je provedeno na ukupno 24 ispitanika/ce od kojih je dvanaest osoba oštećena vida i dvanaest videćih osoba. U skupini osoba oštećena vida bilo je šest muških i šest ženskih ispitanika/ica, kao i u skupini videćih ispitanika u kojoj je također bilo šest muških i šest ženskih ispitanika/ica. Za potrebe ovog istraživanja izabrani su ispitanici između osamnaeste i trideset i pete godine života. Podaci su se prikupljali pomoću anketnog upitnika Razlika u nekim obilježjima spolnosti između osoba oštećena vida i videćih osoba. Za kvantitativnu obradu podataka korišten je SPSS. Rezultati su pokazali da postoje razlike u nekim specifičnim obilježjima između populacija osoba oštećena vida i videćih osoba u sva tri područja istraživane teme. Također, uočena je razlika u sklapanju novih poznanstava i prijateljstava, partnerskim vezama, stabilnosti veza, seksualnoj orijentaciji, eksperimentiranju s istim spolom i edukacijama o spolnosti.Gender is part of all aspects of human life, and it encompasses a great deal of human personality. It is related to the emotional, social, cultural, and physical growth of an individual. Sexuality is a natural part of human development at every stage of life, and visual impairment can affect the sex life of a person in various ways. It not only has a bearing on one’s personal experiences, but also on one’s social and sexual relationships. The aim of this graduate thesis is to explore some of the characteristics of sexuality in the visually impaired compared to people with normal vision. A total of 24 examinees were surveyed, of whom twelve people had impaired vision, and twelve people had normal vision. In the group of people with impaired vision, there were six male and six female respondents. In the group of people with normal vision, there were also six male, and six female respondents. For the purposes of this study, respondents were selected between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire Differences in some characteristics of sexuality between visually impaired and normal vision persons. SPSS was used for quantitative data processing. The results show that there are some specific differences between the population of visually impaired compared to people with normal vision in all three areas of the research topic. There were also differences in making new acquaintances and friendships, partnerships, relationship stability, sexual orientation, experimentation with the same gender, and sexuality education

Presence of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in Croatia and Evaluation of Its Genotoxicity

The DDT was one of the most commonly used pesticide in mid 20th century and even though its use is banned it is detectible in water, soil, fish, meat and milk products. Using comet assay and micronucleus test we have managed to detect genotoxic properties of this pesticide on human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Results obtained in this research indicate the need for further environmental and food monitoring, and cytogenetic research using sensitive methods in detection of primary genome damage after exposure to DDT to establish the impact of such chemicals on human genome and health

The influence of exposure time on genotoxic properties of a tungsten-based polyanion

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exposure time and concentration on the results of tail DNA values obtained by alkaline comet assay. For this purpose, human peripheral blood samples were incubated at 37 °C in the presence of three different concentrations of tugsten-containing polyanion, α2 -K6 P2 W18O62 for 4 and 24 hours. Blood samples were taken from healthy young donors who gave their consent to participate in the study in accordance with the Institutional Ethics Committee and the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and were not previously exposed to potential genotoxic agents. The alkaline comet assay was performed for genotoxicity evaluation. After 4-hour treatment with the lowest concentration of 1 µmol/L tail DNA value was obtained as 0.80±0.12, whereas after 24 hours the same concentration resulted in the value of 1.22±0.21. Then, the concentration of 10 µmol/L induced tail DNA values of 1.06±0.11 and 1.15±0.23 for 4 and 24 hours of exposure, respectively. Finally, 0.66±0.11 (4 hours) and 0.83±0.11 (24 hours) were obtained for 100 µmol/L of the studied polyanion. The results demonstrated that the obtained tail DNA values for 4 and 24 hours were significantly different for the concentration of 1 µmol/L. On the contrary, there were no significant differences between the values obtained for 4 and 24 hours of exposure, for both 10 and 100 µmol/L. Accordingly, it seems necessary to carry out an alkaline comet assay for both 4 and 24 hours of exposure of peripheral blood samples to potential genotoxic agents to perform an adequate genotoxicity evaluation.Abstracts of the 52nd EEMGS meeting – Posters Arh Hig Rada Toksikol 2024;75(Suppl. 1):22-20952nd European Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EEMGS) & 15th International Comet Assay Workshops (ICAW) meeting : Rovinj, Croatia, 23rd – 27th September 2024

Genotoxicity assessment of a promising contrast agent candidate: dependence on concentration and exposure time

Hafnium(IV)-containing Wells-Dawson polyoxotungstate (Hf-WD) is a polyanion exhibiting significant capabilities to attenuate X-rays. Thus, this tungsten-based nanocluster is considered a promising contrast agent candidate for computed tomography. Since this nanocluster has the potential to be applied as a medicinal agent, the evaluation of its potential toxicity is of key importance. Accordingly, the effect of exposure time and Hf-WD concentration on the values of tail DNA as a genotoxicity marker was studied. Tail DNA was determined using the standard procedure for alkaline comet assay using an epifluorescence microscope (Zeiss, Göttingen, Germany) connected through a camera to an image analysis system (Comet Assay II; Perceptive Instruments Ltd., UK). Human blood samples were taken from young, healthy male and female individuals and treated in vitro with Hf-WD at concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 µM for 4 and 24 hours. The obtained tail DNA values were expressed as the mean value±standard deviation. The concentration of 1 µM resulted in a tail DNA value of 1.30±0.19 after 4 hours, whereas 24-hour exposure induced a significantly lower value of 0.96±0.16. Similarly, significantly different values were also observed for 4 and 24 hours of treatment at Hf-WD concentrations of 100 µM (1.05±0.12 and 2.53±0.35, respectively). On the other hand, the results of tail DNA for 10 µM Hf-WD were not a function of the exposure time. In accordance, it can be concluded that the monitored genotoxicity evaluation was dependent on the concentration of the studied compound and the exposure time of blood samples.Abstracts of the 52nd EEMGS meeting – Posters Arh Hig Rada Toksikol 2024;75(Suppl. 1):22-20952nd European Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EEMGS) & 15th International Comet Assay Workshops (ICAW) meeting : Rovinj, Croatia, 23rd – 27th September 2024

Natural products counteracting cardiotoxicity during cancer chemotherapy: The special case of doxorubicin, a comprehensive review

Cardiotoxicity is a frequent undesirable phenomenon observed during oncological treatment that limits the therapeutic dose of antitumor drugs and thus may decrease the effectiveness of cancer eradication. Almost all antitumor drugs exhibit toxic properties towards cardiac muscle. One of the underlying causes of cardiotoxicity is the stimulation of oxidative stress by chemotherapy. This suggests that an appropriately designed diet or dietary supplements based on edible plants rich in antioxidants could decrease the toxicity of antitumor drugs and diminish the risk of cardiac failure. This comprehensive review compares the cardioprotective efficacy of edible plant extracts and foodborne phytochemicals whose beneficial activity was demonstrated in various models in vivo and in vitro. The studies selected for this review concentrated on a therapy frequently applied in cancer, anthracycline antibiotic—doxorubicin—as the oxidative stress- and cardiotoxicity-inducing agent

The comet assay as a tool in human biomonitoring studies of environmental and occupational exposure to chemicals: a systematic scoping review

This work was supported by the affiliated institutions, European Regional Development Fund project KK.01.1.1.02.0007 (Rec-IMI), the Croatian Science Foundation (HUMNap project #1192), the Horizon Europe (EDIAQI project #101057497), the European Union—Next Generation EU 533-03-23-0006 (BioMolTox), and the International Comet Assay Working Group (ICAWG).Biomonitoring of human populations exposed to chemical substances that can act as potential mutagens or carcinogens may enable the detection of damage and early disease prevention. In recent years, the comet assay has become an important tool for assessing DNA damage, both in environmental and occupational exposure contexts. To evidence the role of the comet assay in human biomonitoring, we have analysed original research studies of environmental or occupational exposure that used the comet assay in their assessments, following the PRISMA-ScR method (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews). Groups of chemicals were designated according to a broad classification, and the results obtained from over 300 original studies (n = 123 on air pollutants, n = 14 on anaesthetics, n = 18 on antineoplastic drugs, n = 57 on heavy metals, n = 59 on pesticides, and n = 49 on solvents) showed overall higher values of DNA strand breaks in the exposed subjects in comparison with the unexposed. In summary, our systematic scoping review strengthens the relevance of the use of the comet assay in assessing DNA damage in human biomonitoring studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

In vitro genotoxicity assessment of a monolacunary Wells-Dawson nanocluster as a promising contrast agent candidate

Tungsten-based nanoparticles possess high density and capability to attenuate X-rays and thus have been studied as interesting candidates for the development of new-generation contrast-enhancing staining agents (CESAs) for computed tomography (CT). Polyoxotungstates, as polyoxoanions containing tungsten in its high oxidation state (W6+) were reported as promising CESA candidates to visualize long bones and kidney tissues. However, some polyoxotungstates induced side effects in toxicity studies in vivo, which could limit their clinical application. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate genotoxic effects in vitro of monolacunary Wells-Dawson polyoxotungstate, α2-K10P2W17O61.20H2O (lacunary WD) that was found as a potential contrast agent for CT in our previous studies in situ and in vitro. Lacunary WD was synthesized by following the reported procedure. The genotoxicity evaluation was performed by using the standard procedure for the alkaline comet assay. Briefly, human whole blood samples were taken from healthy male and female donors and exposed to different lacunary WD concentrations within the range of 10-6-10-4 mol/L, for 4 and 24 h at 37 °C. Then, 5 μL of whole blood was embedded into an agarose matrix and subsequently lysed (2.5 M NaCl, 100 mM EDTANa2, 10 mM Tris, 1% sodium sarcosinate, 1% Triton X-100, 10% DMSO, pH 10) overnight at 4 °C. After the lysis, the slides were placed into an alkaline solution (300 mM NaOH, 1 mM EDTANa2, pH 13) for 20 min at 4 °C to allow DNA unwinding and subsequently electrophoresed for 20 min at 1 V/cm. Finally, the slides were neutralized in 0.4 M Tris buffer (pH 7.5) for 5 min 3 times, stained with ethidium bromide (10 μg/mL), and analyzed at 250× magnification using an epifluorescence microscope (Zeiss, Göttingen, Germany) connected through a camera to an image analysis system (Comet Assay II; Perceptive Instruments Ltd., Haverhill, Suffolk, UK). One hundred randomly captured comets from each slide were examined. Multiple comparisons between groups were done by means of ANOVA on log-transformed data. Post hoc analyses of the differences were done by the Scheffé test. The percentage of tail DNA was determined to evaluate the level of DNA damage and genotoxicity potential. The obtained results showed that lacunary WD did not induce a statistically significant relative increase of tail DNA compared to the corresponding control at all investigated concentrations, after both 4 and 24 h exposure. Accordingly, the investigated promising contrast agent candidate could be regarded in further studies as toxicologically safe for healthy human blood cells from a genotoxicity point of view.RAD 2023 : 11th International Conference on Radiation Natural Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, Technology and Ecology (RAD 2023) 19–23.06.2023; Herceg Novi, Montenegr