High versus low energy administration in the early phase of acute pancreatitis (GOULASH trial): protocol of a multicentre randomised double-blind clinical trial.

Introduction: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory disease with no specific treatment. Mitochondrial injury followed by ATP depletion in both acinar and ductal cells is a recently discovered early event in its pathogenesis. Importantly, preclinical research has shown that intracellular ATP delivery restores the physiological function of the cells and protects from cell injury, suggesting that restoration of energy levels in the pancreas is therapeutically beneficial.

Continuous Synthesis and Purification by Coupling a Multistep Flow Reaction with Centrifugal Partition Chromatography.

Continuous-flow multistep synthesis is combined with quasi-continuous final-product purification to produce pure products from crude reaction mixtures. In the nucleophilic aromatic substitution of 2,4-difluoronitrobenzene with morpholine followed by a heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation, the desired monosubstituted product can be continuously separated from the co- and by-products in a purity of over 99 % by coupling a flow reactor sequence to a multiple dual-mode (MDM) centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) device. This purification technique has many advantages over HPLC, such as higher resolution and no need for column replacement or silica recycling, and it does not suffer from irreversible adsorption.

Chronic stress-induced mechanical hyperalgesia is controlled by capsaicin-sensitive neurones in the mouse.

Background: Clinical studies demonstrated peripheral nociceptor deficit in stress-related chronic pain states, such as fibromyalgia. The interactions of stress and nociceptive systems have special relevance in chronic pain, but the underlying mechanisms including the role of specific nociceptor populations remain unknown. We investigated the role of capsaicin-sensitive neurones in chronic stress-related nociceptive changes.

Six hydrophobins are involved in hydrophobin rodlet formation in Aspergillus nidulans and contribute to hydrophobicity of the spore surface.

Hydrophobins are amphiphilic proteins able to self-assemble at water-air interphases and are only found in filamentous fungi. In Aspergillus nidulans two hydrophobins, RodA and DewA, have been characterized, which both localize on the conidiospore surface and contribute to its hydrophobicity. RodA is the constituent protein of very regularly arranged rodlets, 10 nm in diameter.

Surface plasmon polariton absorption modulator.

An electrically controlled ultra-compact surface plasmon polariton absorption modulator (SPPAM) is proposed. The device can be as small as a few micrometers depending on the required extinction ratio and the acceptable loss. The device allows for operation far beyond 100 Gbit/s, being only limited by RC time constants.

[Prognostic significance of retinal microaneurysm number and localization in type-1 diabetes mellitus].

The authors studied whether central retinal microaneurysm count predicts further progression of background retinopathy in juvenile onset type-1 diabetes mellitus. 94 patients (49 females and 45 males) were followed up longitudinally (8-17.5, mean 10 years) by evaluating fluorescein angiograms.

[Retinal microangiopathies in diabetic children and adolescents, occurring in cases of pubertal and prepubertal onset of diabetes].

The prevalence and development of retinal microvascular complications in pre-puberty and puberty onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were studied in 109 young patients with an average follow-up of 6 years. The data suggest that the earlier childhood the diabetes began, the later the microvascular abnormalities could be found by fluorescein angiography. First signs of background retinopathy were seen in average 20--22 years of age, almost independently the age at onset of diabetes.

[Effect of puberty on the development of diabetic microangiopathy].

Fluorescein angiography was used to follow the development of retinal microangiopathy at the time of puberty in 34 children with type I diabetes. When the results were compared with those for the control children who had suffered from the disease for a similar length of time, it was concluded that (in contrast with certain literature data) the process of sexual maturation does not essentially influence the development of retinal microangiopathy if the diabetes is maintained under good control for a long-lasting period. Appreciable roles in the rapid progression that is frequently observed in early adulthood are attributed to the sudden changes in the previously systematic living conditions (school, family, etc.

[Correlation of autonomic neuropathy and retinal microangiopathy in diabetic children].

The authors investigated the preclinical signs of autonomic neuropathy (resting heart rate, hyperventilatory arrhythmia, heart rate on standing/lying, orthostatic blood-pressure decrease) in 15 type I diabetic children with negative FLAG as well as a control group of 10 healthy children. In the diabetic group with negative FLAG as compared to control children the mean resting heart rate was significantly higher, the mean values of cardiovascular reflexes did not show significant differences, however in a third of these patients the narrowing of hyperventilatory arrhythmia was demonstrable. The differences of mean values of all the four investigated parameters in the group with positive FLAG comparing with the control group proved to be significant.

[Connection between plasma thromboxane and prostacyclin levels in the metabolic control of diabetic children].

Platelet poor plasma thromboxane and prostacyclin levels and the quantity of metabolic control, altogether with vascular complications were evaluated in 55 children diabetes mellitus. The control group consisted of 33 healthy children of the similar age. Thromboxane levels remained unchanged in diabetics, while prostacyclin proved to be significantly decreased, which resulted in greater thromboxane/prostacyclin ratio.