Exact and Numerical Solution of the Fractional Sturm-Liouville Problem with Neumann Boundary Conditions.

In this paper, we study the fractional Sturm-Liouville problem with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. We transform the differential problem to an equivalent integral one on a suitable function space. Next, we discretize the integral fractional Sturm-Liouville problem and discuss the orthogonality of eigenvectors.

Longitudinal assessment of cardiac function in extremely low birth weight children at 7 and 11 years of age: implications for adult medicine.

Background: The long-term impact of extreme prematurity on cardiac structure and function has not been fully evaluated.

Aims: The aim of the study was to assess cardiac condition at 11 years of age in a local cohort of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) children born between 2002 and 2004 and to compare it to a previous study in the same group at 7 years of age.

Methods: Sixty-four children with ELBW (median birth weight of 890 g) and 36 children born at full term underwent echocardiography and physical examination.

Dual Switch in Lipid Metabolism in Cervical Epithelial Cells during Dysplasia Development Observed Using Raman Microscopy and Molecular Methods.

Cellular lipid metabolism is significantly transformed during oncogenesis. To assess how dysplasia development influences lipid cellular metabolisms and what is the molecular background behind it, cervical epithelial cells of 63 patients assigned to seven groups (based on the cytological examination and HPVhr test results) were studied using a multimethodological approach including Raman microscopy and molecular methods. The consistent picture obtained studying the lipid content, cell inflammation, gene methylation (hence SREBP1 inhibition) and level of mitochondrial DNA copies (indirectly the number of mitochondria) showed that changes in lipid metabolism were multidirectional.

Sequence variation analysis of the E1 and E2 genes of human papillomavirus type 16 in cervical lesions in women from the south of Poland.

The E1 and E2 genes of the human papillomavirus encode the so-called early proteins, their sequences are conserved, and regulatory functions are associated with the viral oncoproteins. The purpose of this study is to determine the HPV16 E1 and E2 mutations appearing in the female population of southern Poland, depending on the severity of cervical pathological changes. We also take into account the number of E1 and E2 mutations detected in the E6 gene variant (350G or 350T).

Multimodal longitudinal respiratory function assessment in very low birth weight 7-year-old children.

Purpose: Preterm birth is associated with adverse pulmonary outcomes. We aimed to evaluate respiratory morbidities and lung function of very low birth weight (VLBW) Polish children followed up at the age of 7 years old, and to compare with electrical impedance segmentography (EIS) results recorded at 4 years of age.

Materials And Methods: VLBW children were compared with term controls using impulse oscillometry and spirometry.

HPV Infection Significantly Accelerates Glycogen Metabolism in Cervical Cells with Large Nuclei: Raman Microscopic Study with Subcellular Resolution.

Using Raman microscopy, we investigated epithelial cervical cells collected from 96 women with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) or belonging to groups I, IIa, IIID-1 and IIID-2 according to Munich III classification (IIID-1 and IIID-2 corresponding to Bethesda LSIL and HSIL groups, respectively). All women were tested for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection using PCR. Subcellular resolution of Raman microscopy enabled to understand phenotypic differences in a heterogeneous population of cervical cells in the following groups: I/HPV, IIa/HPV, IIa/HPV, LSIL/HPV, LSIL/HPV, HSIL/HPV, HSIL/HPV and cancer cells (SCC/HPV).

Extremely Low Birth Weight Predisposes to Impaired Renal Health: A Pooled Analysis.

Background: A number of studies examined the association between preterm delivery and kidney size and function later in life. However, the number of cases in published cohort studies is low. This study was aimed at performing a multicenter collaboration to pool data to obtain more accurate results to quantify the extent of renal impairment in former extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1,000 g) children.

Comet assay is not useful to predict normal tissue response after radiochemotherapy in cervical and larynx cancer patients.

Normal tissues reactions after radiotherapy vary considerably even between patients receiving the same treatment. The ability to predict the differences in radiosensitivity before radiotherapy would have important implication. Patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the: (i) cervix (38 patients) and (ii) larynx (19 patients) were studied.

Temperament traits in 4-year-old children born prematurely - may they suggest a threat for mental functioning?

Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess emotional functioning and identification of temperamental traits in 4-year-old children born prematurely with birth weight =< 1500 grams. The second aim was evaluation of autism spectrum disorders frequency in this group of children.

Methods: Eighty-six 4-year-old children born prematurely (gestational age =< 32 weeks, birth weight =< 1500 grams) were evaluated.

Somatic development and some indices of lipid metabolism in 11-year-old children born with extremely low birth weight (< 1000 g) (long-term cohort study).

Aim: To continue the prospective follow-up cohort study on the somatic development and lipid metabolic parameters of 11-year-old-children born with extremely low birth weight and to compare them with the results obtained in the study of 7-year-old children from the same group.

Material And Methods: 204 newborns with birth weight ≤1000 g were born in the Malopolska voivodship between 1.09.

Microstructure changes of occipital white matter are responsible for visual problems in the 3-4-year-old very low birth weight children.

Purpose: The main aim of the study was to evaluate which factors affect the long-time visual function in preterm children, whether it is prematurity or retinopathy of prematurity or perhaps disturbances in the visual pathway.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-eight children with mean birth weight 1016 g (range 520-1500 g) were evaluated at mean age 48 months (range 42-54 months). All children underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, visual evoked potentials (VEPs), and the Developmental Test of Visual Perception (DTVP).

Regional lung ventilation pattern in preschool children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia is modified by bronchodilator response.

Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains a significant long-term complication of prematurity. A standardized method of pulmonary function testing is still not available in preschool children with BPD. We investigated the feasibility of Electrical Impedance Segmentography (EIS) monitoring in this group and the impact of bronchodilator response (BDR) to salbutamol on the pattern of lung ventilation.

Blood Pressure Profile in the 7th and 11th Year of Life in Children Born Prematurely.

Background: Several research trials have analyzed the impact of prematurity on the prevalence of hypertension (HT). However, prospective long-term studies are lacking.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of HT at the age of 7 and 11 years in a regional cohort of preterm infants with a birth weight of ≤ 1000 g.

Ocular outcomes in 4-year old prematurely born children.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess functional and structural ophthalmologic outcomes in 4-year old very low birth weight children (VLBW).

Material And Methods: A group of 82 VLBW children including: (1) children without retinopathy of prematurity – group O (n = 30), (2) children with retinopathy of prematurity with no indications for laser coagulation- group 1 (n = 20 ), (3) children with retinopathy of prematurity treated with laser coagulation – group 2 (n = 32) were enrolled. Functional (visual acuity, visual evoked potentials, stereopsis, color vision test) and structural (anterior eye segment examination and fundoscopy) outcome, cycloplegic refraction, intraocular pressure and angle of squint were examined in all children.

HPV16 E6 polymorphism and physical state of viral genome in relation to the risk of cervical cancer in women from the south of Poland.

The aim of this study was to analyse the correlation between HPV16 E6 variants and the physical status of viral genome (integrated, mixed, episomal) among patients with cervical cancer (n=40) and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions - LSIL (n=40). The study was performed on 80 HPV16 positive samples. HPV16 E6 variants were identified using PCR and DNA sequencing.

Prevalence of respiratory tract infections, allergies and assessment of humoral immunity within the Malopolska region's cohort of 11- year old children born with extremely low birth weight in comparison with to their term born peers.

Background: Children born with extremely low birth weight (ELBW) have more respiratory tract complications during childhood. Little is known about respiratory and allergy problems in ELBW children at the threshold of adolescence.

Materials And Methods: A follow-up study was conducted at the age of 11 among ELBW children (n=65) and age-matched controls (n=36).

Comparison of effectiveness of treatment of patients with sporadic and germline BRCA1-related ovarian cancer.

Objectives: Numerous reports suggest that the clinical course of ovarian cancer (OC) in BRCA, including BRCA1, mutation carriers (BRCA1-OC) is different than in patients with sporadic ovarian cancer (SOC). Most of the authors indicate more fa-vourable treatment results in patients with BRCA1-OC. The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of treatment of patients with advanced-stage (FIGO III/IV) SOC and BRCA1-OC.

Usefulness of the most popular neurodevelopmental tests in preschool assessment of children born with very low birth weight.

Background: The aim of our study was multifaceted neurodevelopmental examination of children born prematurely with very low birth weight (VLBW) in order to evaluate the usefulness of popularly used tests. The second aim of the study was exploration of risk and protective factors of neurodevelopmental impairment.

Methods: Eighty-nine VLBW patients were evaluated at the age of 50 months.

Longitudinal assessment of renal size and function in extremely low birth weight children at 7 and 11 years of age.

Background: There are a lack of studies describing a longitudinal association between preterm delivery and renal complications later in life. We assessed renal size and function in preterm infants born with extremely low birth weight (ELBW) during 4 years of follow-up, comparing these parameters to age-matched children born full term (term controls).

Methods: The results of selected renal laboratory tests [levels of cystatin C, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN)] and of renal ultrasound evaluations were compared between the ELBW group and the term control group at age 7 and 11 years.

Relationship between Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Frontoinsular Gray Matter and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Very Low Birth Weight Children at the Age of 4.

Very low birth weight is associated with long term neurodevelopmental complications. Macroscopic brain abnormalities in prematurity survivors have been investigated in several studies. However, there is limited data regarding local cerebral metabolic status and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Physical state of human papillomavirus type 16 in cervical intraepithelial lesions and cancers determined by two different quantitative real-time PCR methods.

The aim of this study was to analyse the correlation between a new multiplex qPCR assay and a reference qPCR assay for assessment of the human papillomavirus (HPV16) load and the viral genome status. The study was performed on 100 HPV16 positive samples containing premalignant lesions and carcinomas. HPV16 E2 and E6 gene loads were assessed by two PCR methods.

Relationship between Stereoscopic Vision, Visual Perception, and Microstructure Changes of Corpus Callosum and Occipital White Matter in the 4-Year-Old Very Low Birth Weight Children.

Aim: To assess the relationship between stereoscopic vision, visual perception, and microstructure of the corpus callosum (CC) and occipital white matter, 61 children born with a mean birth weight of 1024 g (SD 270 g) were subjected to detailed ophthalmologic evaluation, Developmental Test of Visual Perception (DTVP-3), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) at the age of 4.

Results: Abnormal stereoscopic vision was detected in 16 children. Children with abnormal stereoscopic vision had smaller CC (CC length: 53 ± 6 mm versus 61 ± 4 mm; p < 0.

Nephrectomy or nephron-sparing surgery - how to decide?

Aim Of The Study: Radical nephrectomy in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains the gold standard, but nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) is still increasing in importance. The main goal of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound and multi-detector computed tomography in RCC staging and its influence on deciding about further patient treatment.

Material And Methods: 87 patients (age range 27-90 years; median 61.

From a regional cohort of extremely low birth weight infants: cardiac function at the age of 7 years.

Background: The long-term impact of prematurity on cardiac structure and function has not yet been fully discovered.

Objectives: To assess long-term cardiac complications in the regional cohort of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) children born in 2002-2004.

Material And Methods: Eighty-one children born as ELBW infants (91% of the available cohort) with a median birth weight of 890 g (25-75th percentile: 760-950) were evaluated at the mean age of 6.

On reflection symmetry and its application to the Euler-Lagrange equations in fractional mechanics.

We study the properties of fractional differentiation with respect to the reflection symmetry in a finite interval. The representation and integration formulae are derived for symmetric and anti-symmetric fractional derivatives, both of the Riemann-Liouville and Caputo type. The action dependent on the left-sided Caputo derivatives of orders in the range (1,2) is considered and we derive the Euler-Lagrange equations for the symmetric and anti-symmetric part of the trajectory.