Geographical Distribution of Elderly People in Croatia

The authors outlined the geographical distribution of individuals displaying longevity in the Republic of Croatia. Elderly people, aged 80 years and older, have been the subject of this study and were viewed in several aspects including the number of elderly people and age-specific mortality rate by districts. Data for the years 1981 and 1991 were reviewed. In 1981 there were 73,052 (1.6%) persons aged 80 or older. Ten years later in 1991 their number had increased to 107,256, which was 2.2% of the whole population. Most of the elderly people live on the islands, in the district of Dubrovnik and in Lika, which is in the continental part of Croatia. There are more women than men among those aged 80 years and older. Age-specific mortality rate in 1981 in Croatia was 170 and in 1991 151 per 1,000 elderly people. In women the rate was 162 in 1981 and 141 in 1991, per 1,000 elderly people. The death rate was higher in men; in 1981 it was 201 and in 1991, 172 per 1,000 elderly people. We can see that the specific mortality rate had fallen in 1991 compared to 1981. The age specific mortality rate varies from district to district. In 1991 the lowest, 110 per 1,000, was in Lika, and the highest in the districts of Vara`din (182 per 1,000), Bjelovar (178 per 1,000) and Zagorje (175 per 1,000). The death rate was higher amongst elderly men (172.31 per 1,000) than elderly women (141.65 per 1,000). The smallest number of those aged 80 years and older with a high death rate is found in Slavonia. The opposite – a high number of elderly people and a low specific mortality rate – can be seen in the district of Lika. On the islands the number of elderly people is high, especially women, and surprisingly, the specific mortality rate is relatively high as well

Cataract and optic disk drusen in a patient with glycogenosis and di George syndrome: clinical and molecular report

Background We report the ophthalmic findings of a patient with type Ia glycogen storage disease (GSD Ia), DiGeorge syndrome (DGS), cataract and optic nerve head drusen (ONHD). Case presentation A 26-year-old white woman, born at term by natural delivery presented with a post-natal diagnosis of GSD Ia. Genetic testing by array-comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) for DGS was required because of her low levels of serum calcium. The patient has been followed from birth, attending the day-hospital every six months at the San Paolo Hospital, Milan, outpatient clinic for metabolic diseases and previously at another eye center. During the last day-hospital visit, a complete eye examination showed ONHD and cataract in both eyes. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was subsequently done to check for any association between the eye problems and metabolic aspects. Conclusions This is the first description of ocular changes in a patient with GSD Ia and DGS. Mutations explaining GSD Ia and DGS were found but no specific causative mutation for cataract and ONHD. The metabolic etiology of her lens changes is known, whereas the pathogenesis of ONHD is not clear. Although the presence of cataract and ONHD could be a coincidence; the case reported could suggest that hypocalcemia due to DGS could be the common biochemical pathway

Energy expenditure in workers mounting plastic and metallic water and sewage tubes

Energetska potrošnja montera plastičnih i metalnih cijevi vanjskog vodovoda i kanalizacije iznosi za osmosatno radno vrijeme više od 9500 kJ, a za čitav dan i više od 17 000 kJ. Za pojedine radnje utroši se i više od 45 kJ/min. Ako se uzme u obzir težak položaj pri radu te izloženost promjenjljivim klimatskim prilikama kao i opterećenje srčanožilnog sustava, taj se rad može uvrstiti u težak fizički rad.The mounting of plastic and metallic water and sewage tubes is the type of work that requires a very high energy expenditure: 45 kJ/min, 9631 kJ for eight working hours and about 17 000 kJ for a working day. Working conditions involve a very demanding working posture, carrying of heavy loads\u27 and poor weather conditions. The work is considered to be very heavy physical work

The Effect of Low Level Laser Therapy on Candida Albicans in Patients with Denture Stomatitis - Case Report

Protetski stomatitis jedna je od vrlo čestih upala sluznice nepca koja se javlja u nositelja stomatoloških proteza, a povezano s infekcijom gljivicama Candidom albicans. Predloženi su različiti terapijski postupci u liječenju protetskoga stomatitisa od kojih ni jedan nije pokazao potpuni ni trajniji terapijski učinak. Svrha rada bila je ispitati i prikazati učinak terapijskoga lasera na rast gljivice Candide albicans i upalu sluznice nepca u dva bolesnika s protetskim stomatitisom. Dva ispitanika s protetskim stomatitisom kod kojih je dijagnosticirana upala sluznice nepca stupnja II po Newtonu liječeni su niskoenergetskim (terapijskim) poluvodičkim laserom (BTL 2000, Prag, Češka) različitim valnim duljinama (685 nm i 830 nm) tijekom 5 dana uzastopce. Palatalna sluznica i akrilatna baza proteze u oba je bolesnika obasjana terapijskom sondom na udaljenosti od 0,5 cm od površine s različitim vremenom trajanja terapije ovisno o valnoj duljini: tijekom 5 minuta s valnom duljinom 830 nm, (3,0 J/cm2, W = 30 mW) i 10 minuta s valnom duljinom 685 nm (3,0 J/cm2, W = 30 mW). Prije terapije laserom sa sluznice nepca i proteze uzet je ubrisak za kulturu na Candidu albicans. Učinak terapijskog lasera na rast gljivica in vivo procijenjen je semikvantitativno po završetku terapije laserom brojem kolonija na agar ploči po Olsenu. Intenzitet upale procijenjen je kliničkim kriterijima. Nakon terapije laserom zapaženo je da je smanjen broj kolonija na agar pločama, a upale sluznice nije bilo. Terapijski laser pokazao je dobar klinički učinak u tretmanu protetskoga stomatitisa.The purpose of this study was to present the effect of low level laser therapy on Candida albicans growth and palatal inflammation in two patients with denture stomatitis. The most common oral mucosal disorder in denture wearers in denture stomatitis, a condition which is usually associated with the presence of the yeast Candida albicans. Different treatment methods have been suggested to treat this symptom, none of which is proven to be absolutely effective. Two denture wearing patients, both with platal infammation diagnosed as Newton type II denture stomatitis were treated with low power semiconductor diode laser (BTL-2000, Prague, Czech Republic) with different wavelengths (685 nm and 830 nm) for five days consecutively. In both patients, palatal mucosa an acrylic denture base were irradiated in non-contact mode (probe distance 0.5 cm from irradiated area) with different exposure times, 5 minutes (830 nm, 3.0 J/cm2, W = 60 mW) and 10 minutes (685 nm, 3.0 J/cm2, W = 30 mW). The effect of laser light on fungal growth in vivo was evaluated after the final treatment using the swab method and semiquntitative estimation of Candida albicans colonies growth on agar plates. The severity of inflammation was evaluated usin clinical criteria. After low level laser treatment reduction of yeast colonies in the agar plates occured and palatal inflammation diminished. LLLT is efective in treatment of denture stomatitis. Further placebo-controlled studies are in progress

Towards Minimal Barcodes

In the setting of persistent homology computation, a useful tool is the persistence barcode representation in which pairs of birth and death times of homology classes are encoded in the form of intervals. Starting from a polyhedral complex K (an object subdivided into cells which are polytopes) and an initial order of the set of vertices, we are concerned with the general problem of searching for filters (an order of the rest of the cells) that provide a minimal barcode representation in the sense of having minimal number of “k-significant” intervals, which correspond to homology classes with life-times longer than a fixed number k. As a first step, in this paper we provide an algorithm for computing such a filter for k = 1 on the Hasse diagram of the poset of faces of K

Nutraceutical Profiles of Two Hydroponically Grown Sweet Basil Cultivars as Affected by the Composition of the Nutrient Solution and the Inoculation With Azospirillum brasilense

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is one of the most produced aromatic herbs in the world, exploiting hydroponic systems. It has been widely assessed that macronutrients, like nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S), can strongly affect the organoleptic qualities of agricultural products, thus influencing their nutraceutical value. In addition, plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have been shown to affect plant growth and quality. Azospirillum brasilense is a PGPR able to colonize the root system of different crops, promoting their growth and development and influencing the acquisition of mineral nutrients. On the bases of these observations, we aimed at investigating the impact of both mineral nutrients supply and rhizobacteria inoculation on the nutraceutical value on two different sweet basil varieties, i.e., Genovese and Red Rubin. To these objectives, basil plants have been grown in hydroponics, with nutrient solutions fortified for the concentration of either S or N, supplied as SO42\u2013 or NO3\u2013, respectively. In addition, plants were either non-inoculated or inoculated with A. brasilense. At harvest, basil plants were assessed for the yield and the nutraceutical properties of the edible parts. The cultivation of basil plants in the fortified nutrient solutions showed a general increasing trend in the accumulation of the fresh biomass, albeit the inoculation with A. brasilense did not further promote the growth. The metabolomic analyses disclosed a strong effect of treatments on the differential accumulation of metabolites in basil leaves, producing the modulation of more than 400 compounds belonging to the secondary metabolism, as phenylpropanoids, isoprenoids, alkaloids, several flavonoids, and terpenoids. The primary metabolism that resulted was also influenced by the treatments showing changes in the fatty acid, carbohydrates, and amino acids metabolism. The amino acid analysis revealed that the treatments induced an increase in arginine (Arg) content in the leaves, which has been shown to have beneficial effects on human health. In conclusion, between the two cultivars studied, Red Rubin displayed the most positive effect in terms of nutritional value, which was further enhanced following A. brasilense inoculation

Integrative transcriptomic analysis in human and mouse model of anaphylaxis identifies gene signatures associated with cell movement, migration and neuroinflammatory signalling

Background: Anaphylaxis is an acute life-threatening allergic reaction and a concern at a global level; therefore, further progress in understanding the underlying mechanisms and more effective strategies for diagnosis, prevention and management are needed. Objective: We sought to identify the global architecture of blood transcriptomic features of anaphylaxis by integrating expression data from human patients and mouse model of anaphylaxis. Methods: Bulk RNA-sequencings of peripheral whole blood were performed in: i) 14 emergency department (ED) patients with acute anaphylaxis, predominantly to Hymenoptera venom, ii) 11 patients with peanut allergy undergoing double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge (DBPCFC) to peanut, iii) murine model of IgE-mediated anaphylaxis. Integrative characterisation of differential gene expression, immune cell-type-specific gene expression profiles, and functional and pathway analysis was undertaken. Results: 1023 genes were commonly and significantly dysregulated during anaphylaxis in ED and DBPCFC patients; of those genes, 29 were also dysregulated in the mouse model. Cell-type-specific gene expression profiles showed a rapid downregulation of blood basophil and upregulation of neutrophil signature in ED and DBPCFC patients and the mouse model, but no consistent and/or significant differences were found for other blood cells. Functional and pathway analysis demonstrated that human and mouse blood transcriptomic signatures of anaphylaxis follow trajectories of upregulation of cell movement, migration and neuroinflammatory signalling, and downregulation of lipid activating nuclear receptors signalling. Conclusion: Our study highlights the matched and extensive blood transcriptomic changes and suggests the involvement of discrete cellular components and upregulation of migration and neuroinflammatory pathways during anaphylaxis

Just a wind-up? Ethnicity, religion and prejudice in Scottish football-related comedy

This article probes how media representations of football in Scotland sustain the hegemonic ideologies associated with ethnicity and religion. The paper probes the football-related comedy output of one radio programme; radio output and football comedy are both neglected cultural material in studies of sport in Scotland. It argues that ambiguity and allusive language in comedy construct multiple interpretative possibilities that can demean the social and cultural identity of particular groups in society. The discussion analyses specific sketches from the Scottish radio comedy show Watson's Wind Up. It is concluded that although humorous, these sketches reveal how ideas, myths and stereotypes that coalesce round Celtic FC and the Irish-descended and Catholic communities in Scotland reinforce and sustain anti-Irish and anti-Catholic bigotry

Inherited variants in CHD3 show variable expressivity in Snijders Blok-Campeau syndrome

Purpose Common diagnostic next-generation sequencing strategies are not optimized to identify inherited variants in genes associated with dominant neurodevelopmental disorders as causal when the transmitting parent is clinically unaffected, leaving a significant number of cases with neurodevelopmental disorders undiagnosed. Methods We characterized 21 families with inherited heterozygous missense or protein-truncating variants in CHD3, a gene in which de novo variants cause Snijders Blok-Campeau syndrome. Results Computational facial and Human Phenotype Ontology–based comparisons showed that the phenotype of probands with inherited CHD3 variants overlaps with the phenotype previously associated with de novo CHD3 variants, whereas heterozygote parents are mildly or not affected, suggesting variable expressivity. In addition, similarly reduced expression levels of CHD3 protein in cells of an affected proband and of healthy family members with a CHD3 protein-truncating variant suggested that compensation of expression from the wild-type allele is unlikely to be an underlying mechanism. Notably, most inherited CHD3 variants were maternally transmitted. Conclusion Our results point to a significant role of inherited variation in Snijders Blok-Campeau syndrome, a finding that is critical for correct variant interpretation and genetic counseling and warrants further investigation toward understanding the broader contributions of such variation to the landscape of human disease