The genetic predisposition and its impact on the diabetes mellitus development in patients with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis.

The most common cause of chronic pancreatitis (CP) is alcohol abuse. The aim of the present study was to identify patients with genetic predisposition to CP abusing alcohol. The question posed was whether CP manifests at a younger age and diabetes mellitus develops earlier in individuals with genetic predisposition.

Glucocorticosteroids as markers of death from hypothermia.

In the course of hypothermia, biochemical changes occur that are associated with stimulation of protective thermogenic mechanisms as well as mobilization of internal energy resources mediated by the hormone system. The objective of the investigation was the assessment of validity of determinations of cortisol, cortisone and corticosterone as hypothermia markers in cases of fatal hypothermia combined with concomitant insobriety of the victims. The experimental group consisted of blood samples collected in the course of medico-legal autopsies of 23 hypothermia victims.

Low dose of bupropion significantly enhances the anticonvulsant activity of felbamate, lamotrigine and topiramate in mice.

Experimental evidence indicates that bupropion hydrochloride, an antidepressant and a first-line smoking cessation aid, exerts dose-dependently anticonvulsant and convulsant effects. In this study, chronic bupropion pretreatment intraperitoneally (i.p.

Pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic interactions between common antiepileptic drugs and acetone, the chief anticonvulsant ketone body elevated in the ketogenic diet in mice.

Purpose: Acetone is the principal ketone body elevated in the ketogenic diet (KD), with demonstrated robust anticonvulsant properties across a variety of seizure tests and models of epilepsy. Because the majority of patients continue to receive antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during KD treatment, interactions between acetone and AEDs may have important clinical implications. Therefore, we investigated whether acetone could affect the anticonvulsant activity and pharmacokinetic properties of several AEDs against maximal electroshock (MES)-induced seizures in mice.

Acetonaemia as an initial criterion of evaluation of a probable cause of sudden death.

The archived head-space chromatograms of ethanol determinations in autopsy blood in the years 1996-2003 were analysed. One hundred and two cases with elevated acetone level >250mmol/l were selected in which the biochemical profiles of volatile alcohols (methanol, isopropanol and n-propanol) were determined after "post-hoc" calibration of the constant internal standard. Based on the files obtained from the Prosecutor's Office, the circumstances of death and those preceding death (alcoholism, prolonged or single consumption of alcohol, intoxications with other substances, hypothermia, undernourishment, diabetes) were analysed and the most probable cause of endogenous or exogenous ketonaemia were determined.

[Diagnostic usefulness of the beta-hydroxybutyrate/acetone ratio in medico-legal diagnostics of sudden deaths].

Our previous studies demonstrated the usefulness of screening determinations of acetone as an initial diagnostic criterion in deaths due to hypothermia, alcoholic ketoacidosis, diabetes mellitus, starvation and some poisonings. In alcoholemia, particularly in cases of prolonged ethanol consumption, the above-mentioned conditions may not result in acetonemia, despite marked concentrations of beta-hydroxybutyrate acid (beta-HBA). Therefore, for the purpose of the present study, the method of beta-HBA determination was modified using GC-MS-EI and applied to analyze 47 autopsy blood samples of individuals who died suddenly due to unknown causes.

In vitro co-metabolism of acetoacetate and ethanol in human hepatic mitochondrial and cytosolic fractions.

The rate of alcohol elimination is highly resistant to acceleration in vivo in well-nourished individuals. The acceleration of ethanol elimination may be achieved by providing the conditions in which the action of alcohol dehydrogenase is not delayed by the insufficiency of the oxidized NAD form. The aim of the study was to verify the theoretically assumed mechanism of accelerating alcohol elimination by administering excessive acetoacetate (Ac-Ac) in the experimental in vitro model.

Biochemical background of ethanol-induced cold susceptibility.

The process of cooling is always associated with the depletion of energetic reserves and burning the ketone bodies covers the tissues' needs. Ethanol shows antiketonaemic effects changing the cellular redox potential, inhibiting beta-oxidation of fatty acids, stimulating the release of insulin and inhibiting the release of its antagonist. The aim of the study was to determine whether the cooling process of the organism in the presence of ethanol intoxication may be related to inhibition of the physiological mechanism of ketogenesis induced by hypothermia.

[Post mortem diffusion of carbon monoxide to muscles and blood--preliminary examinations].

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the postmortem diffusion of carbon monoxide (CO) significantly affected the results of carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) and carboxymyoglobin (COMb) determinations. The musculocutaneous and muscular specimens collected from adult cadavers were used. The specimens were treated with CO for 24 h at room temperature.

Stability of toluene and reduction of acetone to 2-propanol in homogenates of the human liver, brain and lungs.

The homogenates of the livers, lungs and brains collected from five different cadavers were placed in the desiccator filled with vapours of rubber glue solvents and the concentrations of toluene, acetone and 2-propanol were determined during the 28-day storage at +25, +4 and -20 degrees C. It was demonstrated that only freezing of the material stabilised the initial concentration of these three xenobiotics while cooling to +4 degrees C resulted in limited conversion of acetone to 2-propanol and additionally reduced the biodegradation of toluene in the brain homogenates. Moreover, it was showed that at +25 degrees C the loss of acetone was almost equimolarly balanced by the 2-propanol increase, which allowed to estimate the initial concentration of acetone with the mean error of about 10%.

Genetic data on 19 STR loci in south-east Poland.

Allele frequencies for the 19 STRs loci, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11, CSF1PO, F13A01, F13B, FESFPS, FGA, LPL, Penta D, Penta E, TH01, TPOX and VWA were obtained from a sample of 203-1188 unrelated individuals living in the area of south-east Poland.

Evidential value of injuries useful for reconstruction of the pedestrian-vehicle location at the moment of collision.

The paper presents final results of the studies concerning the usefulness of knee, ankle, hip, pelvis and neck injuries in reconstructing the circumstances of car-to-pedestrian accidents. Each type of injuries was evaluated with regard to possible reconstruction of the victim's position (upright or recumbent) at the moment of collision and in the upright hits-the side of the pedestrian's body hit. In each group, a chance of proper reconstruction of the pedestrian's location (which determined the frequency of injury pattern assumed as the typical one of a given position or impact side) and error risk (percentage of cases in which the injury pattern showed improper position or impact side) were calculated.

The influence of ethanol on the level of ketone bodies in hypothermia.

Presently available possibilities of macro- and microscopic diagnosis of death from hypothermia are very limited as the changes observed are either weakly specific (ecchymoses in the mucous membrane of the stomach, histological features of haemorrhagic pancreatic necrosis, cardiomyocyte necrosis or decreased content of glycogen in hepatocytes) or represent only local action of low temperatures (frostbites, violet patches in the region of knees and elbows, red livores) and they may not be present in cases of death from cooling at environmental temperature close to zero or higher. The study evaluated the usefulness of acetoacetic acid (Ac-Ac), beta-hydroxybutyric acid (beta-HBA) and acetone determinations in blood, urine and vitreous humour for diagnosis of death from hypothermia. These three substances called ketone bodies, are easily assimilated energetic substrates that get oxidized preferentially before glucose and fatty acids.