Mogućnosti upravljanja materijalnim troškovima anestezije analizom različitih anestezioloških tehnika

The must of material cost rationalization in medical practice has stimulated the authors to analyze the structure of material expenses of spinal and general anesthesia on a model of arthroscopic knee surgery. The aim was to determine whether the cost of spinal anesthesia was still lower than that of general anesthesia after the introduction of expensive atraumatic needles. In addition, we were interested in the extent to which our daily practice correlated with that in industrialized countries and what were the possibilities of cost rationalization. Using retrograde analysis of two comparable groups of 40 patients each, submitted to arthroscopic knee surgery in general or spinal anesthesia, the anesthesia material expenses were divided into variable and constant expenses that are partially common to both types and partially specific for each type of anesthesia. The sums of variable and specific expenses were compared between the two types of anesthesia, amounting to 78,26 HRK for spinal anesthesia and 115,19 HRK for general anesthesia. There were no major operative or postoperative complications in either patient group. As only 40% of the procedures were performed in spinal anesthesia, whereas the respective figure in industrialized countries exceeds 70%, there is obviously much room for savings. If the percent of the procedures performed in spinal anesthesia were increased to the feasible 60%, a saving of 1470 HRK would be achieved exclusively in knee arthroscopy surgery, considering that some 200 procedures have been performed per year.Imperativ racionalizacije materijalne potrošnje u medicinskoj praksi potaknuo je autore da na modelu artroskopske operacije koljena analiziraju strukturu materijalnih troškova spinalne i opće anestezije. Cilj je bio utvrditi je li spinalna anestezija i nakon uvođenja skupih atraumatskih igala i dalje jeftinija od opće anestezije. Zanimalo nas je kako naša dnevna praksa korelira s onom u razvijenim zemljama i koje su mogućnosti racionalizacije. Retrogradnom analizom dviju usporedivih skupina od po 40 bolesnika artroskopiranih u općoj, odnosno spinalnoj anesteziji materijalni troškovi anestezije podijeljeni su na varijabilne i stalne, od kojih je dio univerzalan za obje anestezije, a dio specifičan za svaki tip anestezije. Uspoređivane su sume varijabilnih i specifičnih troškova dvaju tipova anestezije koje za spinalnu anesteziju iznose 78,26 kn, a za opću 115,19 kn. Ni u jednoj skupini nisu zabilježene značajne operacijske ili poslijeoperacijske komplikacije. Kako je od spomenutih operacija samo 40% operirano u spinalnoj anesteziji, dok je prosjek razvijenih zemalja iznad 70%, postoji dosta prostora za uštedu. Samo na artroskopijama koljena kojih se godišnje radi oko 200 uštedjelo bi se 1470 kn kad bismo postotak operiranih u spinalnoj anesteziji podigli na realno ostvarivih 60%

Book of abstracts: Scientific Opening of The Microsoft Reasearch Centre for Computational and Systems Biology, Trento, Italy, April 3-5, 2006

Abstracts of the talks of the Scientific Opening of the Microsoft Research - University of Trento Centre for Computational and Systems Biology held in Trento on April 3-5, 200

Characterization of the in vitro gene response of chicken cells to Salmonella Enteritidis

Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) is one of the most frequently reported causative agent of human gastroenteritis, originating mainly from poultry. Pathogenesis of SE infection in poultry is well-elucidated, but the complexity of the host cell response, and its relation to differring pathogenic potential of various strains is much less understood. Therefore we intended to provide a genome-wide comparative characterization of the gene expression profiles of chicken cells to wild type strains and virulence-related mutants of Salmonella Enteritidis. Freshly isolated chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells co-incubated with Salmonella for 4 hrs were used to model gene response of young chickens to Salmonella infection and to measure the invasiveness of wild type strains SE147, SE11 and non-motile mutants of SE11 lacking the fliD gene and/or the virulence plasmid. Agilent custom 8×15K microarray was designed to profile the expression of 13741 chicken genes, with emphasis to those related to immune response. Significant gene expression changes with fold change ≥3 (in total of 31 genes) were verified by real-time PCR. Expression profile of infected CEF cells resulted in 314 genes significantly misregulated by the infection with the wild type strain SE147 (206 up-/108 down-regulations) while only 135 genes were significantly expressed as a result to SE11 infection (74 up-/61 down-regulations). There were 100 genes induced by both wild strains, among them CSF3 (colony-stimulating factor), IL-1β and IL-8 showing the highest upregulations. In contrast to this, infection with non-motile mutants lacking fliD gene and/or the virulence plasmid, did not cause any significant change in host gene expression. However real-time PCR results indicated that the cell cycle-related G0S2 switch-, and the enolase ENO2 genes were highly induced by the mutant strains, indicating that the reduced invasiveness of the mutants might have stimulated cell division and/or metabolism of the host cells. Results suggest that fliD gene plays a key role in the invasiveness of Salmonella strains, and could be considered as an important modulator of the chicken response to Salmonella infection. This work was supported by the EU FP6 NoE MedVetNet and OTKA 105635. Ama Szmolka is a holder of János Bolyai Research Scholarship of HAS

Quantum properties of dichroic silicon vacancies in silicon carbide

The controlled generation and manipulation of atom-like defects in solids has a wide range of applications in quantum technology. Although various defect centres have displayed promise as either quantum sensors, single photon emitters or light-matter interfaces, the search for an ideal defect with multi-functional ability remains open. In this spirit, we investigate here the optical and spin properties of the V1 defect centre, one of the silicon vacancy defects in the 4H polytype of silicon carbide (SiC). The V1 centre in 4H-SiC features two well-distinguishable sharp optical transitions and a unique S=3/2 electronic spin, which holds promise to implement a robust spin-photon interface. Here, we investigate the V1 defect at low temperatures using optical excitation and magnetic resonance techniques. The measurements, which are performed on ensemble, as well as on single centres, prove that this centre combines coherent optical emission, with up to 40% of the radiation emitted into the zero-phonon line (ZPL), a strong optical spin signal and long spin coherence time. These results single out the V1 defect in SiC as a promising system for spin-based quantum technologies

Possible Prognostic Significance of P53 and Ki 67 in Inverted Sinonasal Papilloma

The aim of this study is to test the possible prognostic significance of p53 and Ki67 expression in inverted papilloma of the lateral nasal wall and adjacent sinuses regarding their malignant potential and recurrence. 49 biopsies of the lateral nasal wall and adjacent sinuses obtained from 41 patients from three hospitals were investigated. Immunohistochemically demonstrated p53 and Ki67 expression was measured and statistically valuated. p53 immunoreactivity was demonstrated in most of papillomas with carcinomas but only in two benign papillomas, while Ki67 demonstrated stronger immunoreactivity in carcinomas and surrounding epithelium. Immunohistochemical staining of inverted sinonasal papillomas for p53 and Ki67 can give useful information concerning the existence of synchronous carcinoma and, in case of high Ki67, a hint toward possible recurrence