Students´ preparedness, learning habits and the greatest difficulties in studying Histology in the digital era: A comparison between students of general and dental schools.

Introduction: There are only sporadic references in literature regarding general medicine and dentistry student´s preparedness for Histology, study resources and how students might use them in the era of virtual microscopy.

Methods: A structured questionnaire was used to evaluate students´ opinion, with 192 students of general medicine and 82 students of dentistry responding.

Results: The dentistry students evaluate their previous knowledge of basic high school disciplines as less helpful when compared to their general medicine colleagues, but this difference diminishes during the first year of medical school studies.

Changes in antioxidant, inflammatory and metabolic markers during 1 week cultivation of human skin explants.

Human skin explant (HSE) seems to be a useful model for dermatological/cosmetic testing. HSE prepared from donor superfluous skin from plastic surgery operations is cheap and easily obtainable compared to reconstructed models. The HSE use, however, may be limited by the degeneration processes during cultivation.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the presentation of virtual histology slides by students during classes. Are there any differences in approach between dentistry and general medicine students?

Introduction: Virtual microscopy, used as a method to teach histology, has many undeniable advantages. However, the usefulness of this method is somewhat limited by the difficulties students face in finding their way through huge amounts of digital data, compounded by decreased interaction between students and teachers. We describe the results of a recent pilot project which combined the modern teaching methods of active learning, where students themselves present histological slides and make use of the virtual microscopy system.

Comparison of various methods to analyse toxic effects in human skin explants: Rediscovery of TTC assay.

Skin explants are a suitable model which can replace dermatological experiments on animals or human volunteers. In this study, we searched for a fast, cheap and reproducible method for screening skin explant viability after treatment with UVA radiation or/and chemical agents. We compared frequently used methods: 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), neutral red (NR) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity assay with a rarely used 2,3,5-triphenyl-2H-tetrazolium chloride (TTC) assay for the evaluation of UVA radiation and/or chlorpromazine and 8-methoxypsoralen effect as model agents.

Lonicera caerulea fruits reduce UVA-induced damage in hairless mice.

UVA photons are less energetic than UVB photons but they are more abundant in solar radiation. Modern tools have shown that UVA light has serious adverse effects on the skin. We investigated the effect of consuming Lonicera caerulea berries on UVA-induced damage in SKH-1 mice.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors in regulation of cytochromes P450: new way to overcome multidrug resistance?

Embryonic and tumour cells are able to protect themselves against various harmful compounds. In human pathology, this phenomenon exists in the form of multidrug resistance (MDR) that significantly deteriorates success of anticancer treatment. Cytochromes P450 (CYPs) play one of the key roles in the xenobiotic metabolism.

DNA damage after acute exposure of mice skin to physiological doses of UVB and UVA light.

Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation is an important risk factor in skin carcinogenesis. This has been attributed mainly to the UVB waveband because the high-energetic photons are capable of interacting with DNA and inducing DNA damage. Recently, UVA light has also gained increasing interest in relation to DNA alteration.

The metabolic syndrome: relationship between insulin sensitivity and the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) in saccharide and lipid metabolism.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are subgroups of nuclear hormonal receptors of transcripting factors mostly found in adipose tissue. They are described as important regulators of lipid and saccharide metabolism including insulin sensitivity; therefore they are taken as marker of metabolic syndrome. Their synthetic ligands could be used as drugs for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Serum leptin in the development of insulin resistance and other disorders in the metabolic syndrome.

The metabolic syndrome mostly represented by obesity and hyperinsulinaemia connected with insulin resistance, presents the main mechanism in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to analyze the interrelations between several metabolic variables (including leptin) and factors related to insulin resistance in groups of both normal and non-diabetic hyperlipemic postmenopausal women and men of appropriate age, and to attempt to elucidate the gender differences. Two groups of patients (20 men, 20 women) with hypertriglyceridemia were compared with 30 individuals (10 men, 20 women) with normal serum triacylglycerols.

TNF-alpha in the development of insulin resistance and other disorders in metabolic syndrome.

Insulin resistance and obesity are very frequent disorders and are described as the dominant risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to analyze the interrelations between several metabolic variables (including TNF-alpha) and factors related to insulin resistance in groups of both normal and hyperlipidemic postmenopausal women and men of appropriate age, and to attempt to elucidate the gender differences. The study was carried out on 70 out-patients of the Metabolic Center.

Gender differences in factors influencing insulin resistance in elderly hyperlipemic non-diabetic subjects.

Background: The increase in the prevalence of insulin resistance-related metabolic syndrome, a disorder that greatly increases the risk of diabetes, heart attack and stroke, is alarming. One of the most frequent and early symptoms of metabolic syndrome is hypertriglyceridemia. We examined the gender differences between various metabolic factors related to insulin resistance in elderly non-diabetic men and postmenopausal women of comparable age suffering from hypertriglyceridemia, and compared them with healthy subjects of equal age.