Cardiovascular complications after radiotherapy

Over the past decades, effective cancer therapies have resulted in a significant improvement in thesurvival rates for a number of cancers and an increase in the number of cancer survivors. Radiationtherapy is widely used in the treatment of cancer, and it can induce various cardiotoxicities that differconsiderably from chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. They occur primarily as late radiation-inducedcomplications, several years from the end of anticancer treatment and present as coronary artery disease,heart failure, pericardial disease, valvular heart disease and arrhythmias. Patients who recoveredfrom cancer disease suffer from cardiac complications of anticancer treatment, it affects the quality oftheir lives and life expectancy, especially if the diagnosis is delayed. These patients may present distinctsymptoms of cardiac injury, resulting from radiation-induced neurotoxicity and altered pain perception,which makes diagnosis difficult. This review highlights the need for a screening programme for patientswho have undergone radiation therapy and which will subsequently have a potentially profound impacton morbidity and mortality

Is FLT3 internal tandem duplication an unfavorable risk factor for high risk children with acute myeloid leukemia? : Polish experience

According to the AML-BFM 2004 Interim, a treatment protocol used in Poland since 2005, presence of FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3/ITD) qualifies a patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to a high-risk group (HRG). The present study was aimed to identify the prevalence of FLT3/ITD in children with AML in Poland and to evaluate its prognostic significance in the HRG patients. Out of 291 children with de novo AML treated in 14 Polish centers between January 2006 and December 2012, samples from 174 patients were available for FLT3/ITD analysis. Among study patients 108 children (61.7%) were qualified to HRG. Genomic DNA samples from bone marrow were tested for identification of FLT3/ITD mutation by PCR amplification of exon 14 and 15 of FLT3 gene. Clinical features and treatment outcome in patients with and without FLT3/ITD were analyzed in the study. The FLT3/ITD was found in 14 (12.9%) of 108 HRG children. There were no significant differences between children with and without FLT3/ITD in age and FAB distribution. The white blood cells count in peripheral blood at diagnosis was significantly higher (p <0.01) in the children with FLT3/ITD. Over 5-year overall survival rate for FLT3/ITD positive children was worse (42.4%) comparing to FLT3/ITD negative children (58.9%), but the statistical difference was not significant. However, over 5-year survivals free from treatment failures were similar. The FLT3/ITD rate (12.9%) observed in the study corresponded to the published data. There was no significant impact of FLT3/ITD mutation on survival rates, although further studies are needed on this subject

Non-nutritive compounds in Fabaceae family seeds and the improvement of their nutritional quality by traditional processing - A review

The consumption of seeds of the Fabaceae family is distributed worldwide mainly due to their high content of proteins, carbohydrates, dietary fiber and polyunsaturated fatty acids, jointly with vitamins and minerals. However, they contain several non-nutritive compounds (NNCs) that can exert adverse or beneficial actions upon ingestion depending on their chemical structure, concentration, time of exposure and their interaction with other dietary components. In this review, we present the representative legume NNCs, their chemical nature and their adverse and beneficial biological actions. Moreover, we summarized updated findings on the effect of different traditional processing, bearing in mind that legumes are mainly consumed in the household milieu, on the concentration of legume NNCs. The results of the in-vivo studies prove that the reduction/elimination of legume NNCs improves nutritional quality and the fate of improvements depends on many parameters such as botanical source, chemical composition, content, type of processing and operational conditions used, among others. Together, this review can provide a comprehensive perspective for further elucidating the roles of plant lectins that may target programmed cell death pathways. This review may, in turn, ultimately help to consumers for whom legumes are part of a vegetarian diet or are consumed as staple food which must take into consideration the improvement of legume nutritive quality by traditional processing. © by Piotr Gulewicz 2014.Peer Reviewe

Reactive extraction of citric acid using supercritical CO2 and trioctylamine

The paper is dedicated to the integrated process of the reactive extraction of citric acid from aqueous solution using supercritical CO2 and trioctylamine. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of process parameters (concentration of reactants in phases, pressure, temperature, mixing rate, mixing time) on the course of the reactive extraction process. The increase of the initial concentration of amine (0.04-0.07 mol∙dm-3) results in the higher efficiency of reactive extraction. The influence of pressure (12-18 MPa) on the process is negligible. The process efficiency decreases with temperature (308-328 K). The increase of stirrer speed (250-500 rpm) leads to increase of process rate, so the final efficiency is obtained in shorter time

State and conditions of Polish-Russian trade in agri-food products

Analiza wymiany towarowej w zakresie produktów rolno-spożywczych pomiędzy Polską a Rosją za latach 1997-2008 wykazała, iż wymianę tę charakteryzuje po stronie polskiej przewaga eksportu nad importem, a zatem dodatnie saldo handlu tymi towarami. Średni udział artykułów rolnospożywczych w ogólnej strukturze polskiego eksportu do Rosji na przełomie lat 1997-2008 ukształtował się na poziomie około 23%, podczas gdy import z Rosji na poziomie niewiele przekraczającym 1%. Spośród czterech sekcji produktów rolno-spożywczych największy udział w eksporcie z Polski do Rosji przypada na sekcję IV, tj. przetwory spożywcze, zaś najmniejszy na sekcję III, tj. tłuszcze i oleje. Po stronie szans polskiego eksportu towarów rolno-spożywczych do Rosji, które należałoby wykorzystać, można wskazać m.in. położenie geograficzne tego kraju, potencjał ekonomiczny, rozmiar i chłonność rynku oraz pozycję na arenie międzynarodowej, a także starania Rosji o wejście w struktury WTO, wzrost zamożności rosyjskiego społeczeństwa oraz brak samowystarczalności żywnościowej. Niestety obok szans istnieje także wiele zagrożeń oraz słabych stron polskiego eksportu do Rosji.Results of Polish-Russia trade in agri-food products in years 1997-2008 were presented. The value and structure of Polish exports to Russia and imports of agri-food products from Russia per sections of CN nomenclature were characterized. The share of agri-food products in the total value of Polish exports to Russia and imports from Russia was determined. The analysis of strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats in trading with Russia were presented