What Happens When the Zygote Divides? On the Metaphysics of Monozygotic Twinning.

It is often argued that certain metaphysical complications surrounding the phenomenon of monozygotic twinning force us to conclude that, prior to the point at which twinning is no longer possible, the zygote or early embryo cannot be considered an individual human organism. In this essay, I argue, on the contrary, that there are in fact several ways of making sense of monozygotic twinning that uphold the humanity of the original zygote, but also that there is no easy answer to what happens when the human zygote twins. All of the options available carry with them one or more surprising, alarming, or otherwise counterintuitive implications.

The Relationship between the Level of Anterior Cingulate Cortex Metabolites, Brain-Periphery Redox Imbalance, and the Clinical State of Patients with Schizophrenia and Personality Disorders.

Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder whose course varies with periods of deterioration and symptomatic improvement without diagnosis and treatment specific for the disease. So far, it has not been possible to clearly define what kinds of functional and structural changes are responsible for the onset or recurrence of acute psychotic decompensation in the course of schizophrenia, and to what extent personality disorders may precede the appearance of the appropriate symptoms. The work combines magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging with clinical evaluation and laboratory tests to determine the likely pathway of schizophrenia development by identifying peripheral cerebral biomarkers compared to personality disorders.

Holiday and weekend effects on mortality for acute myocardial infarction in Shanxi, China: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To examine the effects of holiday and weekend admission on in-hospital mortality for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in China.

Methods: Patients with AMI in 31 tertiary hospitals in Shanxi, China from 2014 to 2017 were included (N = 54,968). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the effects of holiday and weekend admission on in-hospital mortality.

Oxidative-Antioxidant Imbalance and Impaired Glucose Metabolism in Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder featuring chronic, complex neuropsychiatric features. The etiology and pathogenesis of schizophrenia are not fully understood. Oxidative-antioxidant imbalance is a potential determinant of schizophrenia.

Working Memory Load Affects Processing Time in Spoken Word Recognition: Evidence from Eye-Movements.

In daily life, speech perception is usually accompanied by other tasks that tap into working memory capacity. However, the role of working memory on speech processing is not clear. The goal of this study was to examine how working memory load affects the timeline for spoken word recognition in ideal listening conditions.

[Wilson's disease - a case report].

Wilson's disease (WD) or hepatolenticular degeneration, is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by mutations in the Wilson disease protein (ATP7B) gene. It is characterized by impaired copper metabolism leading to its accumulation in various tissues and organs, including the liver and central nervous system, this results in the development of characteristic liver disease and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Liver symptoms usually appear during first three decades of life, while psychiatric symptoms are observed in people who are in their twenties or older.

Donor dominance cures CHILD nevus.

Background: Congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform nevus and limb defects (MIM 308050, CHILD) syndrome is an X-linked dominant, male-lethal, multisystem birth defect. Patients suffer from an inflammatory nevus that covers large areas, predominantly of one side of the body, with a sharp midline demarcation. Treatment of CHILD nevus is notoriously difficult.

Azoospermia in a renal transplant recipient during sirolimus (rapamycin) treatment.

Sirolimus is used as a powerful immunosuppressant drug in patients after organ transplantation. It was shown to block spermatogenesis by interrupting the stem cell factor/c-kit system. Oligozoospermia was shown in single patients.

Cellular and biochemical markers in semen indicating male accessory gland inflammation.

Leucocytospermia is considered to be a sign of male accessory gland inflammation. The leucocytes in semen are mainly polymorphonuclear neutrophilic granulocytes. Leucocytospermia is not associated with the presence of bacteria and antibiotic treatment does not significantly lower the extent of leucocytospermia.

Treatment with levofloxacin does not resolve asymptomatic leucocytospermia--a randomized controlled study.

The manual of the World Health Organization defines leucocytospermia as the presence of >1 x 10(6) white blood cells per ml semen. Most authors consider leucocytospermia to be a consequence of inflammation due to bacterial infection. However, the efficacy of antibiotic therapy was not unequivocally demonstrated until now.

Levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 in seminal fluid of men attending an andrological clinic.

The presence of interleukins (IL) and other cytokines in seminal plasma was demonstrated in the literature. In particular, the levels of IL-6 were found to be related to male accessory gland inflammation. The close correlation to leucocyte count indicates a production of interleukins from the leucocytes and by the prostate gland.

Influence of antisperm antibodies on the acrosome reaction as determined by flow cytometry.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of antisperm antibodies on the acrosome reaction (AR).

Design: Clinical study.

Setting: University of Marburg, Department of Andrology, Clinical Training Center of the European Academy of Andrology.

[TSH-receptor antibodies in thyroid diseases].

The clinical usefulness of detection of TSH receptor antibodies (TRAK-assay, Henning) in differential diagnosis of thyroid disorders and in follow up of treatment of Graves' disease was evaluated and compared to thyroperoxidase antibodies estimation (DYNOtest antiTPO Henning). 313 patients with various thyroid diseases and 50 persons from control group were examined. Thyroperoxidase antibody (TPO-Ab) titers were frequently elevated in Graves' disease before treatment (88.

[levels of erythropoietin in serum of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism].

Unlabelled: The present study aimed assess the relationship between erythropoietin (EPO) and parathormone (PTH) secretion in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP). Seventeen patients with PHP and 24 patients with uncomplicated cholelithiasis were examined before and during 14 days after surgical treatment. In PHP patients plasma EPO levels were significantly higher than in patients with cholelithiasis (31.

Segmenting textures using cells with adaptive receptive fields.

Textural segmentation plays an important role in the figure-ground discrimination process. Evidence from neuroscience and psychophysics suggests that the segregation of texture patterns composed of oriented line segments is strongly influenced by the orientation contrast between the patterns (Nothdurft, Vision Res. 31, 1073-1078, 1991).

[Changes of thyroid hormone levels in the perioperative period in patients with various types of goiter].

The thyroid hormone level was studied in the perioperative period in patients with various types of goitre. The clinical material comprised 85 patients treated surgically for nodular neutral goitre, nodular hyperactive goitre, Graves-Basedow disease, and cholecystolithiasis. The determination of total and free thyroid hormone blood serum levels was carried out in three periods of time, that is 4-5 days before operation, immediately after operation, and on the fifth day after operation.

[Hypercalciuria and primary hyperparathyroidism in patients with kidney calculi. II. Primary hyperparathyroidism].

Among 1819 patients with renal stone disease 44 cases with primary hyperparathyroidism (p.h.p.

[Hypercalciuria and primary hyperparathyroidism in patients with kidney calculi. I. Hypercalciuria].

In 1819 patients with active or non active respectively nephrolithiasis the following parameters were assessed: plasma level of calcium, phosphate, and uric acid and urinary excretion of calcium, phosphate, oxalate, uric acid and creatinine. These parameters were estimated after 5 days of diet containing 400 mg of calcium, 800 mg of phosphate, 100 mg of purines and 40 g of proteins. In 3/4 of all examined patients at least one lithogenic factor was present.

[Migration inhibition test with thyroid membrane antigen in Graves-Basedow disease and nodular goiter].

The evaluation of the migration inhibition test with thyroid membrane antigen was carried out in 20 patients with Graves' disease, 13 patients with neutral nodular goiter and 13 healthy subjects. A significant inhibition of migration by thyroid antigen as compared to the control group was demonstrated only in the patients with Graves' disease (the value of the migration index was 0.57 +/- 0.

[Clinical evaluation of the DALLOP-type of fascial prostheses in closing extensive ventral hernias].

In five patients having extensive abdominal hernias, after performing the plastic operation - the abdominal wall was strengthed by seving on the DALLOP type muscles fascias prosthesis. The postoperative course was uncomplicated, and the remote result satisfactory. No recurrent hernia has been observed.