Plazmonikus aranyfelületek és nanoszerkezetek felületerősített Raman-szóráshoz

Surface enhanced Raman scatting is intensively studied nowadays. After the detailed explanation of the phenomenon, research focuses on the preparation of efficient SERS substrates, on the increase of selectivity and the combination of SERS with other methods. The aim of my PhD work was the development of efficient SERS surfaces capable of recording Raman signals of functional groups on the surface of micro-objects such as aerosols, cells or bacteria, and their study by using experimental and numerical methods. I dealt with the following specific tasks during my work: - Comparative characterization of SERS substrates of periodic arrays of cavities having different morphology and size using experimental and numerical methods. - Application of the obtained results for the preparation of perforated, liquid-permeable SERS substrates suitable for trapping micro-objects, and characterization of the obtained surfaces. - Preparation and characterization of substrates capable for trapping and study of red blood cells. - Characterization of SERS structures formed by entrapping 50-250 nanometer sized gold nanospheres in quadrilateral pyramidal cavities having two-micrometer base

Hierarchically Combined Periodic SERS Active 3D Micro- and Nanostructures for High Sensitive Molecular Analysis

To increase the local field intensity of Raman scattering, gold nanospheres were entrapped in gold coated periodic inverse pyramid structures, being SERS substrates by themselves. The applicability of this complex structure for sensitive molecule detection was proved by comparison of the detected Raman signals with and without particle entrapment. Moreover its relevance in molecular diagnostic was also proposed considering the specific surface functionalisation of the gold nanoparticles

Functional gastrointestinal symptoms and increased risk for orthorexia nervosa

Purpose: Recent guidelines point out the possible risk for orthorexia nervosa in functional gastrointestinal disorders, however, to date, no study has investigated this association. The present study aimed to explore the potential relationship between irritable bowel syndrome-related functional gastrointestinal symptoms and certain maladaptive eating behaviours, such as symptoms of orthorexia nervosa and emotional eating. Methods: A sample of 644 Hungarian volunteers (Mage=22.37; SDage=3.95) completed a survey with the following questionnaires: the Rome IV Diagnostic Questionnaire (R4DQ) for adults—Irritable bowel syndrome module for the measurement of functional gastrointestinal symptoms, the Hungarian version of the ORTO-15 questionnaire (ORTO-11-Hu) to assess symptoms of orthorexia nervosa, the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) Emotional Eating subscale to measure symptoms of emotional eating and the Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) for the assessment of health anxiety. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to explore the associations between the measured variables, and structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed mediation models. Results: Functional gastrointestinal symptoms were positively related to symptoms of orthorexia nervosa and emotional eating. The relationship between functional gastrointestinal symptoms and symptoms of orthorexia nervosa was partially mediated by health anxiety, while the association between functional gastrointestinal symptoms and symptoms of emotional eating was partially mediated by symptoms of orthorexia nervosa. Conclusion: Our fndings highlight the possible risk for developing orthorexic symptoms in functional gastrointestinal symptoms, which could lead to other types of disordered eating patterns, such as emotional eating. The results also underscore the potential role of health anxiety in these relationships

Természetes ölő (NK) T lymphocyták légúti gyulladásokban = Natural killer (NK) T lymphocytes in airway inflammation

1.A természetes ölősejtek által keltett légúti gyulladás szteroid gyulladásgátlóval szemben rezisztens. 2.Ebben a modellben csökken az allergiával szembeni tolerancia és fokozódik egy viszonylag újabban felfedezett gyulladáskeltő mediátor, az interleukin-17 (IL-17) szintézise a tüdőben. 3. Az IL-17 hiánya a fenti modellben szteroid rezisztenssé teszi a légúti hyperreaktivitást. 4. Szteroid rezisztens légúti allergia (asthma) modellünkben microarray technikával találtunk mintegy 23 olyan gént, melyeknek a szteroid rezisztencia kialakulásában szerepe lehet. 5. Terhes asthmás betegekben igazoltuk, hogy a Treg sejtek számbeli fokozódása elmarad, mely egészséges terhességben egyébként jellemző. Az anyai asthma tehát csökkenti a terhesség alatti immuntoleranciát. 6. Ugyanerre utalt a szérum HSP70 koncentráció, valamint a Th17/Treg sejtarány emelkedése is asthmás terhesekben. 7. Egészséges terhesekben összefügg a Treg sejtek számának fokozódása (immuntolerancia) a magzati növekedés fiziológiás mértékével. Asthmás terhesekben a Treg szám nem nő és nincs összefüggés a Treg szám és a magzati születési súly között. 8.Számos eredmény született a dohányzás által kiváltott kísérletes pulmonalis hypertonia pathomechanizmusáról, a cisplatinnal kapcsolatos nephropathia kockázati télnyezőiről, valamint az asthma és a tüdőrák különféle biomarkereiről. | 1.Airway inflammation induced by the activation of natural killers proved to be resistant to treatment by steroid antiinflammatory agents. 2.In this model, tolerance against the development of allergies is decreased and the synthesis of interleukin-17 (IL-17), a recently discovered proinflammatory mediator, is increased. 3.Absence of IL-17 in this model of asthma makes airway inflammation steroid resistant. 4.In our earlier, steroid resistant airway allergy model, using microarray technique, we have identified 23 genes possibly responsible for steroid resistance. 5.The increase of Treg cells in healthy pregnancy is absent in pregnant patients suffering from asthma. Thus, asthma interferes with natural immunotolerance of pregnancy. 6.The same conclusion can be drawn basen on the increase of heat-shock protein-70 and the Th17/Treg ratio in asthmatic pregnants. 7.There is a relationship between the abundance of maternal Tregs and the birth weight of newborns in healthy pregnants. This relationship is absent in asthmatic pregnants as is the abundance of Tregs. 8. Many new findings have been published by us about the mechanism of experimental pulmonary hypertension induced by smoking and nephropathy induced by cisplatin (in lung cancer patients). New biomarkers (in the exhaled breath) were identified in asthmatics and lung cancer patients

Three mechanisms in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia suggested by over-represented transcription factor-binding sites detected with comparative promoter analysis

Microarray studies generating lists of genes with altered expression in placentas from pregnancies complicated with pre-eclampsia (PE) have so far been published in several different studies. Working under the assumption that altered gene expression in PE may be the result of altered expression of regulatory transcription factors (TFs), we looked for over-represented TF-binding sites (TFBSs)-which indicate the involvement of TFs in gene regulatory networks-in lists of genes (n = 143) compiled in these studies. We compared the prevalence of TFBSs in the promoter regions of 68 genes with the background prevalence of TFBSs in promoters of the human genome. The prevalence of the E47, sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) and NFKB-p50 TFBSs was higher (P < 0.005) in the promoter sequences of the PE gene lists than in the background model. Each of these TFBSs could be implicated in the development of PE. The E47 protein is an E-protein or basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) TF. Data support the role of bHLHs in the differentiation of placental tissue. SREBP-1, a lipid-sensing sterol regulatory element-binding protein, is a critical regulator of fatty acid homeostasis in the placenta. The target genes of NFKB-p50 determine inflammatory response, and aberrant cytokine homeostasis is a further sign of PE. These TFs may provide an insight into the pathogenesis of the disease

Application of gold nanoparticles–epoxy surface nanocomposites for controlling hotspot density on a large surface area for SERS applications

The applicability of a novel gold–epoxysurface nanocomposite for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is investigated. The nanocomposite consists of ellipsoidal nanoparticles in a hexagonal arrangement, where the average particle diameter (D0) and interparticle gap (D) can be controlled in the 0.15–1.00 (D/D0) range on a large surface area (several cm 2). Numerical simulations were used to estimate the SERS enhancement factors of substrates with five different particle arrangements. The fabricated substrates’ surface was functionalized with 20 base-pair long double-stranded DNA molecules and the intensities of the characteristic Raman peaks related to DNA were used to quantify the substrate performance. It was proved that by optimizing the fabrication parameters and maximizing the interparticle coupling, the characteristic Raman intensities could be increased by more than 2.5 orders of magnitude

Alvászavarok, hangulatzavar és életminőség krónikus betegségekben szenvedők körében = Sleep disorders, mood disorders and quality of life in patients suffering from chronic disorders

150 epilepsziás; 1000 vesetranszplantált, 400 várólistás, 900 nem szelektált dializált és kb 200 dialízis kezelésre még nem szoruló beteg. Országos reprezentatív minta: kb 12000 fő. Epilepsziásoknál az unilaterális műtét után alvás során tapasztalt ellenoldali "spike" aktivitás rossz prognosztikus tényező. A REM fázisban gyakori "spike" tevékenység a szekunder generalizált klonusos-tonusos görcsökkel mutat kapcsolatot. Az országos felmérésben a vizsgált személyek 47 %-a számolt be legalább egy alvásproblémáról, 9 % volt inszomniás. Az inszomniások gyakrabban vettek igénybe egészségügyi szolgáltatásokat. A horkolás gyakorisága a férfiaknál 60%, a nőknél 42% volt. Többváltozós elemzésben a horkolás kapcsolatot mutatott a kardiovaszkuláris morbiditással. A nyugtalan láb szindróma (RLS) és az inszomnia ritkább volt vesetranszplanált (Tx), mint dializált (Dial) betegekben. Még nem dializált veseelégtelen betegekben a RLS gyakorisága 6-8%, az inszomniáé 30-40%. A Tx betegek jobb életminőségről számoltak be, mint várólistás dializált betegek. Az alvászavarok rosszabb életminőséggel jártak. A Tx betegek esetében az életminőség pontszám a 3 éves mortalitás független prediktora. A depressziós betegek aránya magasabb volt a dializált csoportban, mint a Tx populációban. A depresszió mértéke az életminőség legerősebb prediktora. A Tx betegek körében a depressziós betegek 3 éves mortalitása magasabb volt, mint nem depressziós betegtársaiké. | Patients (pts): 150 with seizure disorder; 1000 kidney transplanted (Tx), 400 waitlisted dialysis pts, 900 unselected dialysis (dial) and 200 predialysis pts. National representative sample: 12000 persons. Pts with seizure contralateral spikes seen during sleep post brain surgery is a bad prognostic marker for seizure free survival. Frequent spikes seen during REM sleep are associated with clonic-tonic secondary seizure activity. 47% of the people in the nationally representative survey complained for at least one sleep problem. The prevalence of insomnia was 9 %. Insomniacs utilized health care services more frequently than non-ionsomniacs. Snoring was present in 60% of men and 42% of women. Snoring was independently associated with cardiovascular morbidity. Both restless legs syndrome (RLS) and insomnia was significantly less frequent in Tx than in dial pts. In chronic kidney disease patients not yet on dialysis RLS was seen in 6-8%, insomnia in 30-40%. Tx pts reported better quality of life (QoL) than waitlisted dial pts. Sleep disorders were associated with worse QoL. QoL scores were independently associated with 3 year all cause mortality in the Tx group. Depression was significantly more prevalent in the Tx than in the dial group. Depression score was the most powerful independent predictor of QoL in both pts group. Depression was an independent predictor of 3 year mortality in Tx pts