THE IMPORTANCE OF FEEDBACK IN MONITORING PATIENTS' RADIATION DOSES IN MAMMOGRAPHY.

The majority of medical facilities in the Slovak Republic archive diagnostic images of their patients in a picture archiving and communicating system (PACS). Data from the PACS system can be used to analyse patient radiation dose and perform internal and external quality control through dose monitoring software systems. However, appropriate use of such systems requires the provision of feedback and the ability of staff to identify causes of diagnostic reference level exceedances.

PRECAUTION IN THE USE OF EFFECTIVE DOSE IN CORONARY CT ANGIOGRAPHY.

The effective dose is a quantity used in clinical practice for statistical evaluation of the radiation dose of patients undergoing different types of examinations. Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a specific examination whose calculated effective dose may be subject to several biases. For this reason, it is important to consider factors (different examination techniques, heart rate and patient habitus) that may influence its resulting value.

CURRENT TRENDS OF RADIATION PROTECTION EQUIPMENT IN INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY.

Interventional radiology represents subspecialty of radiology, which does not use imaging modalities only for diagnostics, but mostly for therapeutic purposes. Realisation of interventional procedures is done through X-rays, which replaces direct visual control done by interventional radiologist or cardiologist. For the targeted reduction of the radiation exposure, the interventional radiology staff use personal protective equipment.

The importance of public health in radiology and radiation protection.

The ionizing radiation belongs to the basic physical factors that can be measured. We forget often about its risks and the possible damage to our health. The imaging methods which use the ionizing radiation increase the diagnostics quality and they have become a certainty for many medical workers.

RISK EVALUATION IN THE LOW-DOSE RANGE CT FOR RADIATION-EXPOSED CHILDREN, BASED ON DNA DAMAGE.

One of the most common usages of radiation in current medical diagnosis is computed tomography (CT) using X-rays. The potential health risk of CT scans has been discussed in various studies to determine whether low-dose radiation from CT could enhance the chromosome aberration yields in pediatric patients and increase their risk of carcinogenesis. For this reason, it is of great interest to study the effects of low-dose radiation.

ESTIMATION OF DIAGNOSTIC REFERENCE LEVELS FOR CT CORONAROGRAPHY IN SLOVAKIA.

The coronary CT angiography (CCTA) is a frequent diagnostic method connected with large variability of effective dose. Therefore, it is the type of examination where optimization is very important and the use of a national diagnostic reference level (DRL) recommended. In Slovakia the DRL for interventional radiology examinations until now fails.

Acute dark chocolate ingestion is beneficial for hemodynamics via enhancement of erythrocyte deformability in healthy humans.

Erythrocyte deformability is an important property of erythrocytes that considerably affects blood flow and hemodynamics. The high content of polyphenols present in dark chocolate has been reported to play a protective role in functionality of erythrocytes. We hypothesized that chocolate might influence erythrocytes not only after repeated chronic intake, but also immediately after its ingestion.

Sex differences in the blood antioxidant defense system in juvenile rats with various genetic predispositions to hypertension.

This study investigated the contribution of blood oxidative stress (OS) to the development of hypertension, as well as sex differences in the antioxidant defense system (ADS) in genetic models of hypertension. Nine-week-old normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, borderline hypertensive rats (BHR) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) of both sexes were used. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was determined by tail-cuff plethysmography, the trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and the concentration of lipid peroxides (LP) were determined in plasma.

Effect of the French oak wood extract Robuvit on markers of oxidative stress and activity of antioxidant enzymes in healthy volunteers: a pilot study.

We examined in vitro antioxidant capacity of polyphenolic extract obtained from the wood of oak Quercus robur (QR), Robuvit, using TEAC (Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity) method and the effect of its intake on markers of oxidative stress, activity of antioxidant enzymes, and total antioxidant capacity in plasma of 20 healthy volunteers. Markers of oxidative damage to proteins, DNA, and lipids and activities of Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were determined in the erythrocytes. We have found an in vitro antioxidant capacity of Robuvit of 6.