Multiple pathogens are competing against the human immune response, leading to outbreaks that are increasingly difficult to control. For example, the SARS-CoV-2 virus continually evolves, giving rise to new variants. The ability to evade the immune system is a crucial factor contributing to the spread of these variants within the human population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPredictors for the risk of severe COVID-19 are crucial for patient care and control of the disease. Other infectious diseases as potential comorbidities in SARS-CoV-2 infection are still poorly understood. Here we identify association between the course of COVID-19 and Lyme disease (borreliosis), caused by Borrelia burgdorferi transmitted to humans by ticks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe immune response and specific antibody production in COVID-19 are among the key factors that determine both prognostics for individual patients and the global perspective for controlling the pandemics. So called "dark figure", that is, a part of population that has been infected but not registered by the health care system, make it difficult to estimate herd immunity and to predict pandemic trajectories. Here we present a follow up study of population screening for hidden herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in individuals who had never been positively diagnosed against SARS-CoV-2; the first screening was in May 2021, and the follow up in December 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPopulation immunity (herd immunity) to SARS-CoV-2 derives from two sources: vaccinations or cases of infection with the virus. Infections can be diagnosed as COVID-19 and registered, or they can be asymptomatic, oligosymptomatic, or even full-blown but undiagnosed and unregistered when patients recovered at home. Estimation of population immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is difficult and remains a subject of speculations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
December 2014
This work presents results of FT-IR spectroscopic studies of anions-chromate, phosphate and arsenate - sorbed from aqueous solutions (different concentrations of anions) on zeolites. The sorption has been conducted on natural zeolites from different structural groups, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo decipher early promoters of the local microenvironment for Th2-type immunity, we wanted to identify gene patterns that were induced by Leishmania major in the infected skin of susceptible, Th2-prone BALB/c, but not of resistant, Th1-prone C57BL/6 mice. We found a marked up-regulation of the chemokine I-TAC (Cxcl11) during the first 2 d of infection in the epidermis of susceptible but not of resistant mice. Accordingly, local injection of I-TAC (2×1 μg) in resistant mice on the first day of infection resulted in a Th2-driven, sustained deterioration of disease and dramatically enhanced parasite levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCD163 is a multi-ligand scavenger receptor exclusively expressed by monocytes and macrophages, which is released after their activation during sepsis (sCD163). The biological relevance of sCD163, however, is not yet clear. We now demonstrate that sCD163 exhibits direct antimicrobial effects by recognizing a specific subfragment ((6) F1(1) F2(2) F2(7) F1) of fibronectin (FN) bound to staphylococcal surface molecules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In contrast to other chronic inflammatory diseases glucocorticoids alone do not maintain sufficient remission in primary vasculitis. The reasons for this therapeutic failure remain unclear.
Objectives: To investigate the molecular effects glucocorticoids exert on endothelial cells (EC) and to elucidate the molecular pathways responsible.
Glucocorticoids (GC) are the most widely used immunosuppressive agents in clinical medicine. Recently we showed that GC enhance survival of human monocytes and induce a specific anti-inflammatory monocyte subtype which actively induces resolution of inflammation. We now investigated if cytokines IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10, which, like GC, have mostly anti-inflammatory effects on macrophages, would have GC-like effects also on monocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Treatment of breast cancer can lead to abnormally shaped anteroposterior spinal curvatures, which consequently leads to functional disturbances of trunk muscles. The aim of the paper was to investigate the correlation between trunk muscle function and type of body posture in women receiving treatment for breast cancer.
Material And Methods: Fifty women following treatment of breast cancer were included in the study.
Introduction: Human body posture changes in the course of ontogenesis. The changes are brought about by both internal factors (illness) and external factors (injury). The negative consequences of a medical condition such as breast cancer, together with the treatment process, undoubtedly contribute to disturbance of body posture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) is a rare inborn multisystemic disease, resembling intrauterine viral infection and resulting in psychomotor retardation, spasticity and chilblain-likeskin lesions. Diagnostic criteria include intracerebral calcifications and elevated interferon-alpha and pterin levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We report on four adult siblings with unknown neurodegenerative disease presenting with cerebrovascular stenoses, stroke and glaucoma in childhood, two of whom died at the age of 40 and 29 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The etiology and pathology of pain in the lumbosacral region and pelvis of pregnant women during and after pregnancy have not been fully determined. This study evaluated if lower back pain during pregnancy and after childbirth is connected with static alterations in the alignment of the pelvis, dysfunction of sacroiliac joints, and irritation of the pelvic ligaments and spine in the lumbosacral region.
Methods: This study was carried out on a group of 30 women in their eighth month of pregnancy and through 3 months after childbirth.
Active resolution of inflammation is a previously unrecognized process essential for tissue homeostasis. Monocytes play a pivotal role in the generation as well as resolution of inflammation. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely used anti-inflammatory agents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of the work was to determine the activity of trunk muscles in the sagittal plane in relation to body posture type in women treated for breast cancer. Fifty women having undergone treatment for breast cancer, with an average age of 61, participated in the study. All patients were studied by application of the photogrammetric method in order to determine posture; on the basis of the compensation ratio (mu), the examined group was divided into three posture sub-groups: kyphotic (K), lordotic (L) and balanced (R).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: In Poland, physiotherapy is offered at three types of school: medical universities, universities of physical education, and schools that do not specialise in either the medical sciences or physical education. This study explored the knowledge of students who were completing their physiotherapy studies about working in Poland and other countries of the European Union (EU), and about their vocational plans. Students were asked, through self-assessment, about aspects of the professional skills they had gained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There has been a growing interest in studies examining the importance of the aquatic environment in non-invasive treatment of scoliosis. The water environment is an important element in the correction of body posture abnormalities. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the influence of corrective exercises in a water environment on the shape of the antero-posterior curves of the spine and on the functional status of the locomotor system of children with Io scoliosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to assess the changes of the bioelectric activity of the selected muscles and their impact on the functioning of the shoulder joint in people with impingement syndrome. The study covered 58 subjects aged between 24 and 85, who were treated for impingement syndrome in the years 2004-2006. The average duration of the disease was 40 months.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Impingement syndrome (IS) is one of the most common causes of progressive dysfunctions of the shoulder joint. The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in the joint's mobility in patients with IS and to find correlations between the angular values of particular motion ranges.
Material And Method: The study involved 58 people aged 24-85 years, treated for IS from 2004 to 2006.
Background: The study aimed to assess changes in shoulder joint mobility and symmetry as well as changes in the bioelectrical activity of selected muscles important for the functioning of the shoulder complex in order to determine optimal physiotherapeutic management in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.
Material And Method: The study involved 58 persons aged 24-85 years treated for shoulder impingement syndrome from 2004 to 2006. Symptoms had been present for 40 months on average.
Background: The posture of people with shoulder impingement syndrome (SIS) is a result of adaptive defensive posturing to decrease the intensity of pain in the affected joint. The aim of this work is to characterise trunk and shoulder girdle positioning in patients with SIS.
Material And Method: The study involved 58 patients treated for SIS in the years 2004-2006.
Background. Swimming and aquatic exercises are a very attractive form of movement for children and young people, which is helpful in correcting posture defects. The water environment relieves pressure on the spine, relaxes muscles, and makes it easier to assume the proper posture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground. One of the key elements in the examination and evaluation of body posture is defining the shape and size of anterior-posterior curvature of the spine and the location of symmetrical bone points in the trunk area. The aim of our study was to determine which somatic features and parameters of spinal curvature in the sagittal plane show statistically significant differences among children with given types of body posture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground. The goal of our study was to assess the outcome of the surgical treatment of scoliosis using the Cotrel- Dubousset method. Material and methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground. The aim of our study was to assess self-correction of body posture depending on the position assumed. We made observations of the body posture of subjects in the habitual-unrestrained position and the forced erect position, and on that basis we assessed the capacity for self-correction in girls with lateral idiopathic scoliosis.
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