Structural curiosities of lanthanide (Ln)-modified bentonites analyzed by radioanalytical methods

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New serological markers in pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The spectrum of serological markers associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rapidly growing. Due to frequently delayed or missed diagnoses, the application of non-invasive diagnostic tests for IBD, as well as differentiation between ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), would be useful in the pediatric population. In addition, the combination of pancreatic autoantibodies and antibodies against Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies/perinuclear cytoplasmic antibody (pANCA) improved the sensitivity of serological markers in pediatric patients with CD and UC. Some studies suggested that age-associated differences in the patterns of antibodies may be present, particularly in the youngest children. In CD, most patients develop stricturing or perforating complications, and a significant number of patients undergo surgery during the disease course. Based on recent knowledge, serum antibodies are qualitatively and quantitatively associated with complicated CD behavior and CD-related surgery. Pediatric UC is characterized by extensive colitis and a high rate of colectomy. In patients with UC, high levels of anti-CBir1 and pANCA are associated with the development of pouchitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. Thus, serologic markers for IBD can be applied to stratify IBD patients into more homogeneous subgroups with respect to disease progression. In conclusion, identification of patients at an increased risk of rapid disease progression is of great interest, as the application of early and more aggressive pharmaceutical intervention could have the potential to alter the natural history of IBD, and reduce complications and hospitalizations

Preparation and structure's analyses of lanthanide (Ln) -exchanged bentonites

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Ultrasound-based motion analysing system in the assessment of children’s spinal curves in the sagittal plane

A gyermekkori tartásvizsgálat során gyakran felmerül az a kérdés, hogy indokolt-e röntgenvizsgálatot végezni. Szűrővizsgálatoknál és bármilyen ellenjavallat esetén a röntgenfelvétel készítése szóba sem jöhet, ekkor a fizikális vizsgálat mellett non-invasive, alternatív vizsgálati lehetőségek közül kell választani. A gyermekek gerincállapotának a felmérésére a Spinal Mouse és az ultrahang-alapú Zebris gerincvizsgáló eszköz egyaránt jól használható.A kutatás elsődleges célja, hogy az iskoláskorú gyermekek sagittalis síkú gerincgörbületeit alternatív, non-invasive sugárterheléssel nem járó vizsgáló módszerrel határozzuk meg: Az életkor és a testmagasság függvényében a háti kyphosis (TK), az ágyéki lordosis (LL), valamint a sagittalis síkú törzsdőlés (TTI) és a lateralis dőlés (LI) normáltartományát 530 helyes (fiziológiás) tartású és 394 hanyag testtartású 6-15 év közötti egészséges gyermek esetén adjuk meg.  Megállapítható, hogy a testmagasság szerinti (120 cm és 180 cm között 5 cm-enként) normálértékek megadása a célszerű. A kapott eredmények azt is mutatják, hogy mind a helyes-, mind a hanyag testtartású gyermekek esetén a fiúk és lányok gerincalakját jellemző paraméterek között a különbség szignifikáns, azaz a normáltartományok megadása a nemek szerinti bontásban indokolt. A vizsgálatok azt is bizonyítják, hogy a normál (fiziológiás) testtartású és a hanyag testtartású gyermekek összehasonlításakor a gerinc alakját leíró két szög (TK és LL) szignifikánsan eltérő. DOI: 10.17489/biohun/2015/2/05 In children’s posture examinations the question often arises whether an X-ray examination is necessary or appropriate. The use of X-ray is not an option in screenings or in case of any contraindication. In that case in addition to a physical examination a non-invasive, alternative examination method must be chosen. Both Spinal Mouse and Zebris ultrasound-based spine measuring instrument could be used to measure the shapes of the children’s spines. The main aim of the study is to determine the shape of the school-age children’s spines in the sagittal plane with an alternative, non-invasive, radiation-free measuring method. Normal ranges of kyphosis (TK), lordosis (LL) and thoracal and lateral inclination (TTI and LI) values are determined geared to age and height. The subjects were 530 healthy and 394 bad postured children between the ages of 6 and 15. In their case it can be stated that the normal values should be determined according to height (they were divided into groups according to their height between 120 and 180 cm with 5 cm long intervals). The results also showed that in both groups (in healthy children and in children with bad posture) there were a significant differences between the values of males and females, so normal values should be divided according to gender. The measurement results also indicated that comparing healthy children to bad postured children the two angels determining the shape of the spine (TK and LL) show significant differences.DOI: 10.17489/biohun/2015/2/0

Familiality of mood repair responses among youth with and without histories of depression

Affect regulation skills develop in the context of the family environment, wherein youths are influenced by their parents', and possibly their siblings', regulatory responses and styles. Regulatory responses to sadness (mood repair) that exacerbate or prolong dysphoria (maladaptive mood repair) may represent one way in which depression is transmitted within families. We examined self-reported adaptive and maladaptive mood repair responses across cognitive, social and behavioural domains in Hungarian 11- to 19-year-old youth and their parents. Offspring included 214 probands with a history of childhood-onset depressive disorder, 200 never depressed siblings and 161 control peers. Probands reported the most problematic mood repair responses, with siblings reporting more modest differences from controls. Mood repair responses of parents and their offspring, as well as within sib-pairs, were related, although results differed as a function of the regulatory response domain. Results demonstrate familiality of maladaptive and adaptive mood repair responses in multiple samples. These familial associations suggest that relationships with parents and siblings within families may impact the development of affect regulation in youth

Examination of the role of mitochondrial morphology and function in the cardioprotective effect of sodium nitrite administered 24 h before Ischemia/reperfusion injury

Background: We have previous evidence that in anesthetized dogs the inorganic sodium nitrite protects against the severe ventricular arrhythmias, resulting from coronary artery occlusion and reperfusion, when administered 24 h before. The present study aimed to examine, whether in this effect changes in mitochondrial morphology and function would play a role. Methods: Thirty dogs were infused intravenously either with saline (n = 15) or sodium nitrite (0.2 μmol/kg/min; n = 15) for 20 min, and 24 h later, 10 dogs from each group were subjected to a 25 min period of occlusion and then reperfusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. The severity of ischaemia and ventricular arrhythmias were examined in situ. Left ventricular tissue samples were collected either before the occlusion (5 saline and 5 nitrite treated dogs) or, in dogs subjected to occlusion, 2 min after reperfusion. Changes in mitochondrial morphology, in complex I and complex II-dependent oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), in ATP, superoxide, and peroxynitrite productions were determined. Results: The administration of sodium nitrite 24 h before ischemia/reperfusion significantly attenuated the severity of ischaemia, and markedly reduced the number and incidence of ventricular arrhythmias. Nitrite also attenuated the ischaemia and reperfusion (I/R)-induced structural alterations, such as reductions in mitochondrial area, perimeter, and Feret diameter, as well as the increase in mitochondrial roundness. The administration of nitrite, however, enhanced the I/R-induced reduction in the mitochondrial respiratory parameters; compared to the controls, 24 h after the infusion of nitrite, there were further significant decreases, e.g., in the complex I-dependent OXPHOS (by -20 vs. -53%), respiratory control ratio (by -14 vs. -61%) and in the P/E control coupling ratio (by 2 vs. -36%). Nitrite also significantly reduced the I/R-induced generation of superoxide, without substantially influencing the ATP production. Conclusions: The results suggest that sodium nitrite may have an effect on the mitochondria; it preserves the mitochondrial structure and modifies the mitochondrial function, when administered 24 h prior to I/R. We propose that nitrite affects primary the phosphorylation system (indicated by the decreased P/E ratio), and the reduction in superoxide production would result from the subsequent suppression of the ROS producing complexes; an effect which may certainly contribute to the antiarrhythmic effect of nitrite. © 2018 Demeter-Haludka, Kovács, Petrus, Patai, Muntean, Siklós and Végh

Hydrothermal Synthesis of Sr-Doped Hydroxyapatite and Its Antibacterial Activity

In this study, we prepared hydroxyapatite (HAP) samples using hydrothermal method. We investigated the effect of reaction conditions such as phosphate excess applying 1.49 and 1.67 (as stoichiometric) Ca/P ratio, pH (9/ 10/ 11/ 12) and time (4/ 8/ 12/ 24 h). Sample characterization was carried out by XRD and SEM. The results showed, all samples had HAP structure, however, lower Ca/P ratio, larger reaction time and setting the pH to 10 increased the crystallinity. Then, we synthetized Sr-doped HAP samples, varying the Sr concentration using 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 % Sr/ (Ca+Sr). The Sr content was revealed by EDX. Sr-incorporation did not change the obtained crystalline HAP phase but the unit cell parameters increased. We calculated lattice constants and found that a, b changed from 9.4310 Å to 9.4700 Å, c from 6.8819 Å to 6.9227 Å and the unit cell volume from 530.0951 Å3 to 537.6556 Å3 due to the larger ionic radius of Sr compared to Ca. The pure and doped samples had uniform, mostly needle-like morphology with 100-300 nm length and 25-100 nm. In vitro cytotoxicity tests revealed evident antibacterial activity in the case of doped samples compared to pure HAP against E. coli

Association of Impulsivity and Polymorphic MicroRNA-641 Target Sites in the SNAP-25 Gene.

Impulsivity is a personality trait of high impact and is connected with several types of maladaptive behavior and psychiatric diseases, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as pathological gambling and mood disorders. Polymorphic variants of the SNAP-25 gene emerged as putative genetic components of impulsivity, as SNAP-25 protein plays an important role in the central nervous system, and its SNPs are associated with several psychiatric disorders. In this study we aimed to investigate if polymorphisms in the regulatory regions of the SNAP-25 gene are in association with normal variability of impulsivity. Genotypes and haplotypes of two polymorphisms in the promoter (rs6077690 and rs6039769) and two SNPs in the 3' UTR (rs3746544 and rs1051312) of the SNAP-25 gene were determined in a healthy Hungarian population (N = 901) using PCR-RFLP or real-time PCR in combination with sequence specific probes. Significant association was found between the T-T 3' UTR haplotype and impulsivity, whereas no association could be detected with genotypes or haplotypes of the promoter loci. According to sequence alignment, the polymorphisms in the 3' UTR of the gene alter the binding site of microRNA-641, which was analyzed by luciferase reporter system. It was observed that haplotypes altering one or two nucleotides in the binding site of the seed region of microRNA-641 significantly increased the amount of generated protein in vitro. These findings support the role of polymorphic SNAP-25 variants both at psychogenetic and molecular biological levels