Croatian medical journal
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Croatian medical journal · Apr 2014
Improved visibility of character conflicts in quasi-median networks with the EMPOP NETWORK software.
To provide a valuable tool for graphical representation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data that enables visual emphasis on complex substructures within the network to highlight possible ambiguities and errors. ⋯ Inspection of the raw data confirmed the presence of phantom mutations due to suboptimal electrophoresis conditions and data misinterpretation. The network software proved to be a powerful tool to highlight problematic data and guide quality control of mtDNA data tables.
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Croatian medical journal · Apr 2014
Albendazolesulphoxide concentrations in plasma and hydatid cyst and prediction of parasitological and clinical outcomes in patients with liver hydatidosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus.
To investigate the relationship between plasma and cyst concentrations of albendazolesulphoxide (ASO) and their effects on parasitological findings and disease recurrence in patients with liver hydatidosis. ⋯ Viability of protoscolices progressively decreased with increasing ASO concentrations in the cyst. Data strongly suggested that higher plasma concentrations reduced the risk of disease recurrence.
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Croatian medical journal · Apr 2014
ReviewMarkers for sepsis diagnosis in the forensic setting: state of the art.
Reliable diagnoses of sepsis remain challenging in forensic pathology routine despite improved methods of sample collection and extensive biochemical and immunohistochemical investigations. Macroscopic findings may be elusive and have an infectious or non-infectious origin. Blood culture results can be difficult to interpret due to postmortem contamination or bacterial translocation. ⋯ Procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-6 can be measured in biological fluids collected during autopsy and may be used as in clinical practice for diagnostic purposes. However, concentrations of these parameters may be increased due to etiologies other than bacterial infections, indicating that a combination of biomarkers could more effectively discriminate non-infectious from infectious inflammations. In this article, we propose a review of the literature pertaining to the diagnostic performance of classical and novel biomarkers of inflammation and bacterial infection in the forensic setting.
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Croatian medical journal · Apr 2014
ReviewThe resonance phenomenon in population persistence: can the same theory guide both national security policies and personalized medicine?
The theory of resonance in population persistence proposes that the survival of a population that is exposed to externally inflicted loss processes (disturbances) during part of its life cycle is dependent on the relation between the average period of the disturbances and the average generation time of the population. This suggests that the size of a population can be controlled by manipulating the period between external disturbances. ⋯ The current article provides a brief review of the evolution of the resonance theory into a tool that can be applied to designing vaccination policies - specifically, in preparedness for bio-terrorism attacks - and in personalized medicine. A personalized protocol based on the resonance theory was applied to a cancer patient, stabilizing his tumor progression, relieving his hematopoietic toxicity, and extending his survival.