Morfometric changes of caudate nucleus in patients with shizophrenia

Ovo istraživanje sprovedeno je s namerom da ispitamo postojanej razlika morfometrijskih karakteristika nu. caudatusa između populacije obolelih od šizofrenije i zdrave populacije i utvrđivanja njihovog značaja u patogenezi šizofrenije. Postavljena je radna hipoteza u prilog postojanja morfološki značajnih razlika ove strukture u toj meri da se može pretpostaviti njena uloga u nastanku ovog oboljenja. Studijom je obuhvaćeno 77 hospitalno lečenih pacijenata sa postavljenom dijagnozom različitih poznatih varijeteta u okviru šizofrenog poremećaja ličnosti. Kao reprezentativna kontrolna grupa zdravih ispitanika obuhvaćeno je 110 osoba. Za analizu parametar korišćeno je 77 snimaka načinjenih metodom magnetne rezonance, 34 osoba muškog i 43 ženskog pola, starosti od 21 do 86 godina, prosečne starosti 50.27 godina, kao i 110 snimaka magnetne rezonance mozga pripadnika zdrave kontrolne grupe. Prosečna dužina lečenja pacijenata je 25.01 godina. Kriterijumi koji su korišćeni za uključivanje pacijenata u studiju su bili dvojaki. Prvu grupu su predstavljali dijagnostički kriterijumi tipova šizofrenije po definiciji MKV IV registra za klasifikaciju bolesti, a drugu grupu DSM IV klasifikacija Američke asocijacije lekara za klasifikaciju psihijatrijskih oboljenja. Uz pomoć direktne kaudatometrije mereni su i analizirani sledeći morfometrijski paramteri na MR snimcima endokranijuma pacijenata : fronto-rostralna linija – rastojanje najrostralnijih tačaka glave desnog i levog nu. caudatusa do tabule interne frontalne kosti, FH linija – rastojanje najrostralnijih tačaka glava levog i desnog nu. caudatusa, bikaudatna linija – rastojanje između dve međusobno najbliže tačke leve i desne glave nu. caudatusa, bikorporalna linija – rastojanje između najkaudalnijih tačaka tela levog i desnog nu. caudatusa, okcipitokaudalna linija – rastojanje između najkaudalnijih tačaka levog i desnog nu. caudatusa do tabule interne okcipitalne kosti, najveći promer dimenzija dužine i širine nu. caudatusa, najveći promer dimenzija dužine i širine mozga...This investigation was conducted with intention of investigating the existence of differences in morphometric characteristics of caudate nuclei between population of schizophrenic patients and helathy population and establishing its importance in pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Working hypothesis was established favoring the existence of important differences in morphology of this structure and in the measure that its role in schizophrenia can be assumed. This study involved 77 patients treated in hospital conditiions with diagnosis of different existing varieties included in schizophrenic personality disorder. A representative control group of healthy subjects encompassed 110 people. For analysis of parameters 77 brain images made with magnetic resonance was used, 34 of males and 43 of females, aged between 21 and 86 years, on average 50.27 years old. Average duration of treatment was 25.01 years. 110 magnetic resonance brain images of healthy control group were used. Criteria used for inclusion of patients in the study were defined by diagnostic criteria of MKV IV registar for disease classification as well as DSM IV classification of American Doctors Association for classification of psychiatric ilnesses. With help of direct cauometry next morphological parameters were measured and analyzed using magnetic resonance images of brain : fronto-rostral line – the distance between the most rostral points of head of caudate nuclei and inner surfeace of frontal bone, FH line – the distance between the most rostral points of heads of left and right caudate nuclei, bicaudate line – the distance between the two closest points of heads of right and left caudate nuclei, bicorporal line – the distance between the most caudate points of bodies of left and right caudate nuclei, occipitocaudal line – the distance between the most caudal points of left and right caudate nuclei to the inner surface of occipital bone, the widht and lenght of caudate nuclei, the biggest values of brain lenght and widht..

Otpornost nekih komercijalnih sorti pšenice prema Tilletia tritici

This paper deals with the resistance of twenty commercial winter wheat cultivars to common bunt causal agent (Tilletia tritici). Significant differences among the cultivars concerning the infection percent were observed, as well as the differences in the level of commercial cultivars' resistance to T. tritici. Most of the studied cultivars belonged to susceptible categories, and just few of them to the resistant ones. Cultivar Lasta was classified as highly resistant during the both investigation years in Kragujevac, while in Leposavić Lasta and Tiha were classified as resistant. The other studied cultivars were more or less susceptible.U radu je prikazana otpornost dvadeset komercijalnih sorti pšenice prema prouzrokovaču glavnice (Tillecia tritici). Utvrđeno je da postoje značajne razlike u procentu infekcije pojedinih sorata, kao i to da je otpornost komercijalnih sorata pšenice prema T. tritici različita. Većina ispitivanih sorata pripadala je osetljivim, a manji broj otpornim kategorijama. Vrlo otporna u obe godine proučavanja u Kragujevcu bila je sorta Lasta, a u lokalitetu Leposavić u kategoriji otpornih bile su sorte Lasta i Tiha. Ostale proučavane sorte su bile manje ili više osetljive

Hepatoprotective Effect of Mixture of Dipropyl Polysulfides in Concanavalin A-Induced Hepatitis

The main biologically active components of plants belonging to the genus Allium, responsible for their biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and immunomodulatory, are organosulfur compounds. The aim of this study was to synthetize the mixture of dipropyl polysulfides (DPPS) and to test their biological activity in acute hepatitis. C57BL/6 mice were administered orally with DPPS 6 h before intravenous injection of Concanavalin A (ConA). Liver inflammation, necrosis and hepatocytes apoptosis were determined by histological analyses. Cytokines in liver tissue were determined by ELISA, expression of adhesive molecules and enzymes by RT PCR, while liver mononuclear cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. DPPS pretreatment significantly attenuated liver inflammation and injury, as evidenced by biochemical and histopathological observations. In DPPS-pretreated mice, messenger RNA levels of adhesion molecules and NADPH oxidase complex were significantly reduced, while the expression of SOD enzymes was enhanced. DPPS pretreatment decreased protein level of inflammatory cytokines and increased percentage of T regulatory cells in the livers of ConA mice. DPPS showed hepatoprotective effects in ConA-induced hepatitis, characterized by attenuation of inflammation and affection of Th17/Treg balance in favor of T regulatory cells and implicating potential therapeutic usage of DPPS mixture in inflammatory liver diseases

Associative Word Relations in Natural Language Processing

Motivation for this work comes from the longest-running Serbian television quiz show called TV Slagalica and more specifically from one of its games named associations. In the associations game, two players attempt to guess a solution given several clue words. There is a large number of publicly available game scenarios that were used to evaluate applicability of trained artificial neural networks to predict possible solutions. Material used for the network training was obtained through unconventional sources as no professional text corpus exists for Serbian language. Under outlined schemes, it is observed that solution words come up within 2% or less of the training vocabulary, depending on the method of data preparation. Data preparation and neural network training specifics are further outlined to demonstrate effects of each technique used. Even though the results obtained are below human-level performance, they can nevertheless be useful for puzzle creation

Involvement of PI3K, Akt and RhoA in Oestradiol Regulation of Cardiac iNOS Expression

BACKGROUND: Oestradiol is an important regulatory factor with several positive effects on the cardiovascular (CV) system. We evaluated the molecular mechanism of the in vivo effects of oestradiol on the regulation of cardiac inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS) expression and activity. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were treated with oestradiol (40 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) and after 24 h the animals were sacrificed. The concentrations of NO and L-Arginine (L-Arg) were determined spectrophotometrically. For protein expressions of iNOS, p65 subunit of nuclear factor-κB (NFκB-p65), Ras homolog gene family-member A (RhoA), angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1R), insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1), p85, p110 and protein kinase B (Akt), Western blot method was used. Coimmunoprecipitation was used for measuring the association of IRS-1 with the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol- 3-kinase (PI3K). The expression of iNOS messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) was measured with the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Immunohistochemical analysis of the tissue was used to detect localization and expression of iNOS in heart tissue. RESULTS: Oestradiol treatment reduced L-Arg concentration (p<0.01), iNOS mRNA (p<0.01) and protein (p<0.001) expression, level of RhoA (p<0.05) and AT1R (p<0.001) protein. In contrast, plasma NO (p<0.05), Akt phosphorylation at Thr308 (p<0.05) and protein level of p85 (p<0.001) increased after oestradiol treatment. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that oestradiol in vivo regulates cardiac iNOS expression via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, through attenuation of RhoA and AT1R