Croatian medical journal
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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.
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Croatian medical journal · Apr 2014
Possible transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) in cardiac surgery patients.
To determine the incidence of possible transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) and related risk factors in cardiac surgery patients. ⋯ We observed a higher rate of possible TRALI cases than in other studies on cardiac surgery patients. Serial monitoring of PaO2/FiO2 ratio and detection of its post-transfusion worsening aids in identification of possible TRALI cases.
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Croatian medical journal · Apr 2014
Enhanced activation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 correlates with the degree of papillary thyroid carcinoma infiltration.
To determine whether matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) may be a useful adjunctive tool for predicting unfavorable biological behavior of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) by evaluating the expression profile and proteolytic activity of MMP-9 in PTC by different techniques and correlating the findings with clinicopathological prognostic factors. ⋯ This is the first report suggesting that the evaluation of active MMP-9 by immunohistochemistry and determination of its activation ratio by gelatin zymography may be a useful adjunct to the known clinicopathological factors in predicting tumor behavior. Most important, in situ zimography with an MMP-2 inhibitor for the first time demonstrated a strong impact of MMP-9 activity on the degree of tumor infiltration during PTC progression.
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Croatian medical journal · Apr 2014
Alcohol abuse as the strongest risk factor for violent offending in patients with paranoid schizophrenia.
To determine predictive risk factors for violent offending in patients with paranoid schizophrenia in Croatia. ⋯ This study found an association between alcohol abuse and the risk for violent offending in paranoid schizophrenia. We hope that this finding will help improve public and mental health prevention strategies in this vulnerable patient group.