Comparative effects of atorvastatin 80 mg and rosuvastatin 40 mg on the levels of serum endocan, chemerin, and galectin-3 in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: Endocan, chemerin, and galectin-3 are discrete biomarkers associated with cardiovascular diseases and acting through different pathophysiological pathways. The aim of this study is to investigate and compare the effects of high doses of atorvastatin and rosuvastatin on serum endocan, chemerin, and galectin-3 levels in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods: Sixty-three patients with AMI were randomized to receive atorvastatin (80 mg/day) or rosuvastatin (40 mg/day) after percutaneous revascularization.

[Individual Growth of the Great Ramshorn Snail Planorbarius corneus (Gastropoda, Planorbidae) Embryos].

Individual growth of the great ramshorn snail Planorbarius corneus has been studied by intravital video imaging. As has been observed, the types of growth change over the embryogenesis. The linear dimensions slightly but in a statistically significant manner decrease during the stages of cleavage to blastula.

[Dependence of size of the great ramshorn (Planorbarius corneus L., Gastropoda, Pulmonata) on population density].

The dependence of the mean mass (M) of great ramshorn (Planorbarius corneus) individuals on the number of individuals (N) that reached 82-days age in culture with constant conditions--water volume 50 ml, temperature 25 degrees C, and redundant food (dandelion leaves)--has been studied. The relationship between these parameters has been shown to be approximated by the equation M = 139/N mg. Consequently, at least in these conditions the total biomass of same-aged ramshorn individuals in the culture is relatively constant and does not depend on the number of individuals in the population.

[Ontogenesis and population: evaluation of developmental stability in natural populations].

Ontogenetic and population studies traditionally develop independently. At the same time, the relevance of specific analysis of a specimen as ontogenesis for both correct assessment of populations and their dynamics in time and space and understanding the mechanisms underlying population processes is becoming more and more clear. Developmental stability serves as the most general description of the developing organism status.