Anatomical description of malformations of the neck of the left atrial appendage.

The recently-described left atrial appendage (LAA) neck is a truncated cone-shaped structure that connects the LAA orifice to its lobe. It shows malformations in some cases, but their exact description and clinical significance are unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide a detailed anatomical and morphometric analysis of LAA neck malformations in clinical context.

[Photoprotection and its implications for drug safety].

Appropriate photoprotection plays a key role in the safety of using medicinal preparations whose active substances may induce photosensitivity reactions. This aspect applies not only to drugs applied topically to the skin, but also systemically. Drug-induced photosensitivity reactions to light depend on the active substance contained in the medicinal product and its dose, which translates into the concentration in the skin, the type of ultraviolet radiation, its intensity and exposure time.

Description and prevalence of ventricular mitral annular disjunction: variation of normality or pathological variant?

Introduction And Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate a new variation of the atrial wall-mitral annulus-ventricular wall junction along the mural mitral leaflet and commissures: the ventricular mitral annular disjunction (v-MAD). This new variant is characterized by spatial displacement of the mitral leaflet hinge line by more than 2mm toward the left ventricle.

Methods: We examined a cohort of autopsied human hearts (n=224, 21.

Towards effectiveness of cell free DNA based liquid biopsy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Liquid biopsy is a minimally invasive procedure, that uses body fluids sampling to detect and characterize cancer fingerprints. It is of great potential in oncology, however there are challenges associated with the proper handling of liquid biopsy samples that need to be addressed to implement such analysis in patients' care. Therefore, in this study we performed optimization of pre-analytical conditions and detailed characterization of cfDNA fraction (concentration, length, integrity score) in surgically treated HNSCC patients (n = 152) and healthy volunteers (n = 56).