Medicina
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Background and objectives: B-lymphoma Mo-MLV insertion region 1 (Bmi-1) is a stem cell factor that is overexpressed in various human cancer tissues. It has been implicated in cancer cell proliferation, cell invasion, distant metastasis, and chemosensitivity, and is associated with patient survival. Several reports have also identified Bmi-1 protein overexpression in endometrial carcinoma; however, the relationship between Bmi-1 expression and its significance as a clinicopathological parameter is still insufficiently understood. ⋯ Conclusions: Our study suggests that Bmi-1 levels in endometrial carcinoma tissues may be useful as a reliable proliferation and prognostic biomarker. Recently, the promise of anti-Bmi-1 strategies for the treatment of endometrial carcinoma has been detected. Our results provide fundamental data regarding this anti-Bmi-1 strategy.
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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the level of oxidative stress before and after breast cancer surgery. ⋯ The most expressed changes demonstrate the significance of MDA as a marker to evaluate oxidative stress in breast cancer patients. The degree of oxidative stress depends on the patient's age and stage of disease.
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Due to the growing availability of imaging examinations the percentage of patients with incidentally diagnosed adrenal tumors has increased. The vast majority of these lesions are benign, non-functioning adenomas, although according to various estimates even up to 30%-50% of patients with adrenal incidentaloma may present biochemical hypercortisolemia, without typical clinical features of Cushing's syndrome. Adrenal adenomas secreting small amounts of glucocorticoids may cause morphological and functional changes in the myocardium and blood vessels. ⋯ This risk may result not only from the traditional risk factors. Seemingly hormonally inactive adrenal tumors can indeed produce small amounts of glucocorticoids that have metabolic implications. Therefore, evaluation of patients with incidental adrenal findings presenting with subclinical cardiovascular disease seems of particular importance.
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Observational Study
Electrocardiographic Changes in Liver Cirrhosis-Clues for Cirrhotic Cardiomyopathy.
Background andObjectives: Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy is a chronic cardiac dysfunction associated with liver cirrhosis, in patients without previous heart disease, irrespective of the etiology of cirrhosis. Electrocardiography (ECG) is an important way to evaluate patients with cirrhosis and may reveal significant changes associated with liver disease. Our study aimed to evaluate ECG changes in patients with diagnosed liver cirrhosis and compare them to patients with chronic hepatitis. ⋯ We found an accentuated deceleration of the T wave in patients with cirrhosis. These findings correlated to serum levels of albumin, cholesterol and ammonia. Conclusions: ECG changes in liver cirrhosis are frequently encountered and are important noninvasive markers for the presence of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy.
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The current psychopharmacological treatment approaches for major depression focus on monoaminergic interventions, which are ineffective in a large proportion of patients. Globally, treatment-resistant bipolar depression (TRBD) affects up to 33% of depressive patients receiving treatment. ⋯ However, little data are available on ketamine performance in TRBD patients with somatic comorbidities, including highly prevalent ones, i.e., cardiovascular disease (heart failure, hypertension, post-myocardial infarct, arrhythmias, etc.) diabetes, and obesity, and depression-associated comorbidities such as stroke, epilepsy, as well as in the elderly population. The literature shows that treatment with ketamine is efficacious and safe, and the majority of adverse drug reactions are mild and tend to mostly disappear within 30 min to 2 h of ketamine administration.