Advantages of modified osteosynthesis in treatment of osteoporotic long bones fractures--experimental model.

In surgery of fractured long bones, a patient suffering from osteoporosis represents constant challenge to a surgeon and applied material and instruments that need to destroy as little as possible of an already damaged bone. One potential way of increasing the contact surface between the implants and osteoporotic bone is injection of bone cement (methyl-metacrilat, Palakos) into a prepared screw bed. This method of osteosynthesis was therefore subjected to experimental research to prove that application of modified osteosynthesis using bone cement in treatment of fractures in osteoporotic patients has advantage over the standard method of osteosynthesis because this modified method enables significantly greater firmness and stability of the osteosynthesis, which is the essential precondition of a successful fracture healing.

The main biomechanical risk factors for the prevalence of the left hip joint traumatic and degenerative changes.

The aim of this paper is to examine characteristic biomechanical features leading to the acetabular fracture and hip joint arthrosis, and to explain the prevalence of the left side traumatic and degenerative pelvic pathology that is usually seen in diverse groups of patients. A total of 253 patients were analyzed in a retrospective case-control study during a six-year period. The patients were divided into the case group of 103 patients suffering traumatic acetabular fractures and into the control group of 150 patients with hip joint arthrosis, where operative aloarthroplasty was not yet performed.

Role of the WNK-activated SPAK kinase in regulating blood pressure.

Mutations within the with-no-K(Lys) (WNK) kinases cause Gordon's syndrome characterized by hypertension and hyperkalaemia. WNK kinases phosphorylate and activate the STE20/SPS1-related proline/alanine-rich kinase (SPAK) protein kinase, which phosphorylates and stimulates the key Na(+):Cl(-) cotransporter (NCC) and Na(+):K(+):2Cl(-) cotransporters (NKCC2) cotransporters that control salt reabsorption in the kidney. To define the importance of this pathway in regulating blood pressure, we generated knock-in mice in which SPAK cannot be activated by WNKs.

Nicotinamide-rich diet protects the heart against ischaemia-reperfusion in mice: a crucial role for cardiac SUR2A.

It is a consensus view that a strategy to increase heart resistance to ischaemia-reperfusion is a warranted. Here, based on our previous study, we have hypothesized that a nicotinamide-rich diet could increase myocardial resistance to ischaemia-reperfusion. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether nicotinamide-rich diet would increase heart resistance to ischaemia-reperfusion and what is the underlying mechanism.

Testing efficiency transfer codes for equivalence.

Four general Monte Carlo codes (GEANT3, PENELOPE, MCNP and EGS4) and five dedicated packages for efficiency determination in gamma-ray spectrometry (ANGLE, DETEFF, GESPECOR, ETNA and EFFTRAN) were checked for equivalence by applying them to the calculation of efficiency transfer (ET) factors for a set of well-defined sample parameters, detector parameters and energies typically encountered in environmental radioactivity measurements. The differences between the results of the different codes never exceeded a few percent and were lower than 2% in the majority of cases.

Vertebroplasty for vertebral compression fracture.

The patients with intensive pain caused by the vertebra body fracture were treated by application of bone cement under local or general anesthesia, by means of diascopy through unilateral transpedicular approach. The intensity of pain was followed-up on the VAS scale before surgery, 24 hours after surgery and three months after surgery. The cement was applied in 55 patients (43 women, 12 men).

Arthroscopic removal of metal foreign bodies from the knee joint after explosive war injuries.

The results of arthroscopic removal of metallic fragments from knee joint due to explosive war injuries are presented. In period from 1991-1995 during war in Croatia we have operated 25 knee joints. Indications for arthroscopy were based on radiographic and clinical findings.

A novel method for the functionalization of gamma-irradiated single wall carbon nanotubes with DNA.

In this work we describe a novel method for highly efficient functionalization of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by DNA wrapping. Exposure of SWCNTs to gamma-irradiation (50 kGy) has lowered by one order of magnitude the amount of single stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ssDNA) required for SWCNT modification. The resulting hybrids of gamma-irradiated SWCNTs and ssDNA were characterized by optical absorbance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

[CO2-laser-assisted de-epithelialization of perforation margins of persistent tympanic membrane perforations. An alternative to conventional surgical procedures].

Introduction: The standard treatment of persistent eardrum perforation is conventional surgical closure using myringoplasty or a tympanoplasty type I. In this study the valence of a modified, CO(2)-laser-assisted de-epithelialization of perforation margins was investigated.

Material And Methods: A total of 44 patients with mesotympanal eardrum perforation (diameter 1-5 mm) were included in a partially retrospective and partially prospective study.

Open total talar dislocation with extrusion (missing talus).

Open total dislocation of a talus with extrusion (missing talus) is an extremely rare injury. We present a case of a 63-year-old male who sustained an open total lateral dislocation of the right talus with extrusion and without a concomitant fracture after a fall from a small height. Tibiocalcaneonavicular arthrodesis was performed.

Regional tritrophic relationship patterns of five aphid parasitoid species (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) in agroecosystem-dominated landscapes of southeastern Europe.

A regional survey of the complex tritrophic associations (parasitoid-aphid-plant) of aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) was carried out to determine and explore the patterns of those associations in various types of environments. Here, we present trophic relationship patterns of the five aphid parasitoid species in crop and noncrop habitats in southeastern Europe, and we contrast them in a regional (Mediterranean [MED] versus continental [CNT]) context. In total, 79 aphid host taxa were identified in this survey.

Vertical ridge augmentation using guided bone regeneration (GBR) in three clinical scenarios prior to implant placement: a retrospective study of 35 patients 12 to 72 months after loading.

Purpose: The aims of the current study were to: (1) evaluate the results of vertical guided bone regeneration (GBR) with particulate autogenous bone grafts, (2) determine clinically and radiographically the success and survival rates of 82 implants placed in such surgical sites after prosthetic loading for 12 to 72 months, and (3) compare defects that were treated simultaneously with sinus augmentation and vertical GBR to other areas of the jaw treated with vertical GBR only.

Materials And Methods: Eighty-two implants were inserted in 35 patients with 36 three-dimensional vertical bone defects. The patients were divided into three groups: single missing teeth (group A), multiple missing teeth (group B), and vertical defects in the posterior maxilla only (group C).

[The topical application of mitomycin C in the treatment of scar formation and stenosis in hollow organs of the head and neck: a field report].

Introduction: The antibiotic und antitumoral effect of Mitomycin C (MMC), a derivative of Streptomyces caespitosus, has been known since 1956. Besides its use as an adjunction in the treatment of breast, lung and prostate cancer, or as a second-line cytostatic drug for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), since 1963, MMC has also been successfully used in the suppression of post-operative scar formation, particularly in the field of ophthalmology. This is due to its modulation of fibroblast activity, which enables decreased scarring and fibrosis.

M-LDH physically associated with sarcolemmal K ATP channels mediates cytoprotection in heart embryonic H9C2 cells.

Muscle form of lactate dehydrogenase (M-LDH) physically associate with K(ATP) channel subunits, Kir6.2 and SUR2A, and is an integral part of the ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channel protein complex in the heart. Here, we have shown that concomitant introduction of viral constructs containing truncated and mutated forms of M-LDH (Delta M-LDH) and 193gly-M-LDH respectively, generate a phenotype of rat heart embryonic H9C2 cells that do not contain functional M-LDH as a part of the K(ATP) channel protein complex.

A dual mechanism of cytoprotection afforded by M-LDH in embryonic heart H9C2 cells.

Muscle form of lactate dehydrogenase (M-LDH), a minor LDH form in cardiomyocytes, physically interacts with ATP-sensitive K+ (K ATP) channel-forming subunits. Here, we have shown that expression of 193gly-M-LDH, an inactive mutant of M-LDH, inhibit regulation of the K ATP channels activity by LDH substrates in embryonic rat heart H9C2 cells. In cells expressing 193gly-M-LDH chemical hypoxia has failed to activate K ATP channels.

[Subjective Visual Vertical test: normative values in healthy population].

Introduction: Subjective Visual Vertical test (SW test) can be applied to measure one of the functions of the vestibular apparatus, its afferent pathways and nuclei within the brain stem. The test is based on the subjective assessment of verticality. The possibility of perceived visual vertical in healthy subjects can show deviation with accuracy of -/+ 2 degrees at most.

[Orbital complications of rhinosinusitis].

Introduction: Orbital complications were observed in 53 patients (1.35%, n=53/3912 of all treated patients; 11.04%, n= 53/480 of hospitalized patients).

Developments in therapeutic human papillomavirus vaccination.

Much progress has been made in the prevention and therapy of premalignant and malignant dysplasia caused by human papillomavirus by encouraging screening programs and recently by introducing preventive vaccines. To further reduce the worldwide burden of HPV-associated cancer supplementation of the established therapies with immunotherapeutic methods would have the potential for significant impact. Dysplastic epithelial lesions and cancer of the anogenital and the oropharyngeal region show strong association with HPV.

Generation of hydroxyl radical in isolated pea root cell wall, and the role of cell wall-bound peroxidase, Mn-SOD and phenolics in their production.

The hydroxyl radical produced in the apoplast has been demonstrated to facilitate cell wall loosening during cell elongation. Cell wall-bound peroxidases (PODs) have been implicated in hydroxyl radical formation. For this mechanism, the apoplast or cell walls should contain the electron donors for (i) H(2)O(2) formation from dioxygen; and (ii) the POD-catalyzed reduction of H(2)O(2) to the hydroxyl radical.

SURA2 targeting for cardioprotection?

SUR2A is an ATP-binding protein known to serve as a regulatory subunit of metabolic-sensing, cardioprotective sarcolemmal ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channels. It has been recently found that a moderate increase in expression of SUR2A protects the heart against different types of metabolic stresses, including ischaemia/reperfusion and hypoxia. Although the sarcolemmal K(ATP) channel is a multiprotein complex composed of many proteins in vivo, it seems that an increase in SUR2A levels is sufficient to increase the number of sarcolemmal K(ATP) channels.

A patient suffering from hypokalemic periodic paralysis is deficient in skeletal muscle ATP-sensitive K channels.

Hypokalemic periodic paralysis (HOPP) is a rare disease associated with attacks of muscle weakness and hypokalemia. In the present study, immunoprecipitation/Western blotting has shown that a HOPP patient was deficient in sarcolemmal K(ATP) channels. Real-time RT-PCR has revealed that HOPP has decreased mRNA levels of Kir6.

Laser-assisted cholesteatoma surgery: technical aspects, in vitro implementation and challenge of selective cell destruction.

Cholesteatoma is a destructive ear condition requiring complete surgical removal. One major problem lies in the frequent occurrence of residual cholesteatoma caused by squamous epithelium remaining in the middle ear. Our aim is to develop a laser treatment that is selectively directed against residual cholesteatoma cells and can be performed after cholesteatoma surgery in the same session.

The analysis of the unstable tibia fracture treatment applying internal stabilization method.

The study included 51 patients with tibia fractures, who underwent percutaneous bone reposition and stabilization with unrimed tibial locking nail. The results obtained using this method were compared with those obtained by standard fracture treatment where flat and anatomic plates were applied (n = 64). In patients who had osteosynthetic material implanted percutaneously (using unrimed tibial locking nail) there was no incidence of post surgical osteitis or any pseudarthrosis.

An esthetic solution for single-implant restorations - type III porcelain veneer bonded to a screw-retained custom abutment: a clinical report.

A new esthetic solution to restore dental implants in combination with limited interdental, facial or labial, or interocclusal space is presented. This article describes the translational application of novel-design porcelain veneers and adhesive restorative principles in the implant realm. A patient is presented who was treated with a single implant-supported restoration replacing a missing mandibular lateral incisor and partially collapsed interdental space.