Bratisl Med J
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Bacillus anthracis is a causative agent of zoonotic anthrax disease. In the last years, significant progress in therapy and diagnosis of anthrax was made. Concurrently, knowledge about anthrax progression, molecular pathology and release of anthrax toxin during the disease has improved. This review covers the recent progress in this field. ⋯ Currently, the microorganism is considered one of the top biological warfare agents due to lethality, long term stability of spores, easy dissemination and production. The recent research is focused on countermeasures suitable for reduction of consequences by a misuse of the microorganism in form of biological weapon (Tab. 3, Fig. 1, Ref. 101). Text in PDF www.elis.sk.
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The purpose of this paper is to present the development and design of an abdominal retractor which allows a single person to perform operations and the fixation of the operation instruments can be done with one hand. The additional devices make the operation more comfortable for surgeons. ⋯ The present abdominal retractor is user-friendly and all components are easily sterilized by conventional methods (Fig. 7, Ref. 6) Keywords: abdominal retractor, stainless steel retractor, standard surger, fixation system of the frame, lamp, video camera, conventional methods.
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Phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P MRS) is currently not accepted as a diagnostic tool in the neuro-oncological practice, although it provides useful non-invasive information about biochemical processes ongoing in the intracranial tumours. This pilot study was aimed to present the diagnostic capability of the 31P MRS in brain tumour examination, even its application on clinical 1.5T MR scanner. Seven patients with brain tumorous lesions (four glioblastomas, one ependymoma, and two lung metastasis) underwent multivoxel in vivo 31P MRS performed on clinical 1.5 T MR scanner within measurement time of 20 minutes. ⋯ High energetic tumorous tissue demands leading to anaerobic metabolic turnover were present as a significant decline in phosphocreatine ratios and adenosine triphosphates. Intracellular pH evaluation showed a tumorous tendency to alkalize. 31P MRS enables the non-invasive metabolic characterization of intracranial tumours and thus appears to be a clinically useful method for the determination of ongoing tumour pathomechanisms (Fig. 2, Ref. 26). Keywords: brain tumour, 31P MRS, 1.5 Tesla; energetic metabolism.
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The goal of this study was to compare the treatment outcome after two different treatment modalities in cases of disc displacement of the temporomandibular joint diagnosed via magnetic resonance technique, namely surgical procedure in form of arthroscopic lysis and lavage vs. hyaluronic acid superior joint space application. ⋯ Our study shows that both arthroscopic lysis and lavage and hyaluronic acid injections are effective and safe in the treatment of disc displacement in the temporomandibular joint (Tab. 3, Ref. 30).
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To investigate the protective potential of resveratrol (RES) in blunt hepatic trauma (BHT) by exploring the anti-inflammatory and histopathologic effects as well as modulatory effects on hepatic biomarkers of acute injury, regeneration, apoptosis and survival in a rat model of BHT. ⋯ In conclusion, our findings revealed for the first time that RES exerts promising hepato-ameliorative effects against blunt hepatic injury as evidenced by decreased inflammation scores, parallel with improved hepatic histology, decreased serum transaminase activity as well as enhanced modulatory effect on regenerative and apoptotic processes in RES-treated rats subjected to experimentally-induced blunt hepatic trauma (Tab. 1, Fig. 1, Ref. 37).