Listeria in Pregnancy-The Forgotten Culprit.

is a Gram-positive bacterium that causes listeriosis, a severe foodborne illness that is particularly dangerous during pregnancy. It thrives in diverse environments, including refrigerated conditions and food production facilities, due to its adaptability to varying temperatures, pH levels, and salt concentrations. Its virulence stems from the ability to invade host cells, particularly macrophages and epithelial cells, and avoid, or at least postpone, immune detection by utilizing virulence factors such as internalins, listeriolysin O, and actin assembly-inducing protein.

Lipoprotein-Cholesterol Fractions in Marginalized Roma versus Majority Population.

The trend of modern clinical biochemistry is to emphasize the composition and the quality of lipoproteins over their quantity. The serum lipoprotein fractions and subfractions were analyzed by the Lipoprint Lipoprotein Subfractions Testing System, the parameters of lipid profile, as total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and triacylglycerides (TAG) were determined by an automated selective biochemical analyzer. Our results showed a significantly lower concentration of cholesterol in the LDL fractions 1 and 2 and in the HDL fractions 8 to 10 in Roma compared to the majority population.

Effect of selected flavones on cancer and endothelial cells.

In our study we used quercetin (3,3 ,4 ,5,7-pentahydroxyflavone) as the reference standard to compare antiproliferative and antiangiogenic effects of chrysin (5,7-dihydroxyflavone) and 3-hydroxyflavone. Our data indicates that chrysin and 3-hydroxyflavone showed significantly higher cytotoxic effect than reference standard quercetin. These tested agents significantly decreased cell survival with the efficacy of 65-85% at the concentration 100 micromol/l for HUVEC, lung carcinoma and leukemic cells being the most sensitive.