IGFBP-3/transferrin/transferrin receptor 1 complexes as principal mediators of IGFBP-3 delivery to colon cells in non-cancer and cancer tissues.

Purpose: The aim of this work was to study the involvement of IGFBP-3/Tf complexes in the pathology of colorectal carcinoma (CRC), quantify them, investigate their relation to iron concentration and binding to transferrin receptor (TfR) in colon tissue (non-cancer and cancer), and to assess the priority of this pathway for internalization of IGFBP-3.

Methods: The presence of IGFBP-3/Tf complexes was analyzed in sera from healthy persons and patients with CRC, and in colon tissue by immunoblotting. Complexes were immunoprecipitated, quantified by immunoassay and structurally characterized by immunoblotting, lectin blotting and mass spectrometry.

Simultaneous hybrid carotid stenting and coronary bypass surgery versus concomitant open carotid and coronary bypass surgery: a pilot, feasibility study.

Objectives: Concomitant carotid and cardiac surgery carries an increased perioperative morbidity and mortality risk. Whether the hybrid procedure of carotid artery stenting (CAS) and coronary bypass surgery decreases the risk of stroke and other complications is still unknown. The aim of this study was to assess early outcomes after simultaneous hybrid CAS and coronary bypass grafting versus open concomitant carotid and coronary bypass surgery.

Molecular forms of the insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2 in patients with colorectal cancer.

The components of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system and molecules with which they interact are associated with the neoplastic transformation of cells in colorectal cancer. The IGF-binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) plays a significant role in mitotic stimulation of the cancer cells and its concentration is significantly elevated in tumor states. Little is known about IGFBP-2 at the molecular level and the purpose of this study was to examine the interactions between IGFBP-2 and some other proteins, the fragmentation pattern and posttranslational modifications that might have occurred due to a disease.

Detection and identification of oxidized insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins and receptors in patients with colorectal carcinoma.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide and also the one with the highest mortality rate. Tumor growth is assisted by various growth factors, and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are among the most important. A majority of the IGFs are bound to IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) and their release is dependent on the rate of IGFBP proteolysis.

[Prospects of cardioprotection by volatile anesthetics].

Myocardial ischaemia is followed by some reversibile or ireversibile changes. The aim of cardioplegia is to protect numerous intracellular processes: to spare the intracellular energy stores, to reduce the free oxygen radicals synthesis, to protect the function of the endothelium and myocardial oxygen balance as well as ionic balance. The crystalloid or blood cardioplegia, with anterograde or retrograde infusion, is a basic procedure of the intraoperative cardiac protection.

[Brugada syndrome--a brand new case].

Background: Brugada syndrome (BS) is a disorder characterized by syncope or sudden death associated with one of several electrocardiographic (ECG) patterns characterized by incomplete right bundle branch block and ST elevation in the anterior precordial leads. Patients with BS are prone to develop ventricular tachyarrhythmias that may lead to syncope, cardiac arrest, or sudden cardiac death.

Case Report: A 58-year-old woman is the first described case of Brugada syndrome in Serbia with intermittent typical changes in basic electrocardiography (ECG): ST segment elevation in the precordial chest leads like dome or coved--major form or type I.

Association of elevated IGFBP-1 with increased IGF-II concentration in patients with carcinoma of the liver.

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are mitogens for numerous types of cells including cancer cells. The aim of this work was to analyze some of the components of the IGF system to assess which could be potential clinical biomarkers for monitoring patients diagnosed with liver cancer. Compared to healthy persons, patients with liver cancer had a lower concentration of IGF-I and a higher concentration of IGFBP-1, whereas the concentrations of IGF-II and IGFBP-3 remained unchanged.

[Consistency and firmness in rearing practices of parents of adolescent drug addicts].

This paper deals with the increasingly popular theoretical approaches to drug addiction as a "family disease". Many theories have appeared claming that ethiopathogenic role related to the family environment is of crucial importance in juvenikle drug consumption. The main objective is to understand, trough consideration of one part of family dynamics, the etiological potential of the juvenile drug addiction.

[A case of dementia pugilistica in our practice].

The authors describe a case of "boxer's dementia" which is rarely seen in our literature and even more in clinical practice. Although the patient exhibited fairly mild and discrete symptoms, which gave rise to some suspicion that this might be a case of this rare psychoorganic illness, authors immediately employed all available diagnostic procedures (psychiatric, radiological, neurological, neuropsychological, etc) so as to resolve their diagnostic dilemma. Based on the clinical picture, the result of the diagnostic procedures and the key anamnestic information that a patient was a professional boxer for 15 years, the authors concluded that this was a case of clinical exhibition of chronic encephalopathy, often called dementia pugilistica in literature.

[Functional effects of preserving the intercostobrachial nerve and the lateral thoracic vein during axillary dissection in breast cancer conservative surgery].

Background/aim: Conventional axillary dissection in breast cancer surgery implicates the section of the neurovascular elements passing through the dissected tissue: the intercostobrachial nerve (ICBN) and lateral thoracic vein (LTV). Preservation of the ICBN during axillary dissection is well documented in the literature, with slightly contradictory results of its influence to postoperative pain. There is no published data, as far as we know, on the functional effects of preserving the LTV.

[Rene Favaloro--a surgeon who has changed the history of coronary disease].

Rene Favaloro was one of the most distinguished surgeons of the 20th century. He was the first to introduce the original technique of aortocoronary bypass grafting, entering the new era of coronary artery disease treatment. Working at the Cleveland Clinic, together with Mason Sones and Effler, he became a member of the medical team which performered the first aortocoronary bypass grafting and showed the functional competence of the new graft.

The fate of the radial artery conduit in coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the standard surgical procedure for the treatment of advanced coronary artery disease. CABG surgery has been demonstrated to improve symptoms and, in specific subgroups of patients, to prolong life. Despite its success, the long-term outcome of coronary bypass surgery is strongly influenced by the fate of the vascular conduits used.

Off-pump myocardial revascularization using the Octopus tissue stabilizer system.

Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery (OPCAB) has changed the approach to contemporary coronary surgery. Development of new surgical devices and techniques has reduced morbidity and mortality during off-pump surgery. From March 2000-April 2002, a total of 136 patients underwent open heart surgery using off-pump technique and fast-track anesthesia at Dedinje Cardiovascular Institute.

[Characteristics of knowledge and attitude to drugs and drug addiction in a population of addicted and non-addicted adolescents].

Governed by the idea of importance of the extent and character of being informed on drugs and narcomany the author of the study were reviewing a pattern sample of 50 drug-addicts while patients of the Centre for Treatment of Drug-Addiction with the Psychiatric Clinic of the Clinic Centre in Sarajevo. The control group was composed of fifty pupils of secondary schools (also-from district of Sarajevo) who were positively determined of never having had any experience of drugs. The results of the study evidently distinguish between the experimental and the control groups, both in respect of sources and way of informing as well in certain viewpoints and opinions in its prevention etc.

[Consequences of abuse of inhalants].

The work reviews large scale of serious somatic and psychic damages resultant from chronical, but also the acute, intoxication with various solvents. It gives the brief description of the most frequent somatic damages that have been already sorted as the specific and special entities, such as the Fankony's syndrome, "hufer's" neuropathy and further to the characteristic psyhoorganic syndrome or bone marrow aplasia. Regardless it is only a simple erytheme or a serious liver and kidney damage appearing as a result of the solvents abuse, it is constantly emphasized that out of all chemical solvents, the toluene has the most pathogenic effect.

[Abuse of cannabis preparations].

The author reviews the basic features, nature of action and the effects of the canabis drugs (hashish and marijuana) on human organism. The review starts with the well known fact that these kinds of drugs are the oldest ones and the most widely known to the civilization. It reviews in details very wide effects of the canabis drugs on the mental functions as well as the clinical expression of that action, where the basic mechanisms dominate: euphorogenic, sedative and psychodelic.