A novel application of inverse gas chromatography for estimating contact angles in porous media.

Hypothesis: Surface wettability is a critical factor in multi-phase flow within porous media, a processes essential in various applications e.g. in the energy sector.

The therapeutic landscape of citrin deficiency.

Citrin deficiency (CD) is a recessive, liver disease caused by sequence variants in the SLC25A13 gene encoding a mitochondrial aspartate-glutamate transporter. CD manifests as different age-dependent phenotypes and affects crucial hepatic metabolic pathways including malate-aspartate-shuttle, glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, de novo lipogenesis and the tricarboxylic acid and urea cycles. Although the exact pathophysiology of CD remains unclear, impaired use of glucose and fatty acids as energy sources due to NADH shuttle defects and PPARα downregulation, respectively, indicates evident energy deficit in CD hepatocytes.

Systematic Study of Wettability Alteration of Glass Surfaces by Dichlorooctamethyltetrasiloxane Silanization-A Guide for Contact Angle Modification.

To investigate the effects of wettability on multiphase flow in porous media, glass bead packs or micromodels are commonly used. Their wettability can be altered by the surface treatment method-silanization. Although silanization is widely used for glass wettability modification, comparable systematic approaches over a large range of geometries, treatment conditions, and measurement systems are scarce.

Blue carbon assessments of seagrass and mangrove ecosystems in South and Southeast Asia: Current progress and knowledge gaps.

Coastal blue carbon ecosystems can be an important nature-based solution for mitigating climate change, when emphasis is given to their protection, management, and restoration. Globally, there has been a rapid increase in blue carbon research in the last few decades, with substantial investments on national scales by the European Union, the USA, Australia, Seychelles, and Belize. Blue carbon ecosystems in South and Southeast Asia are globally diverse, highly productive and could represent a global hotspot for carbon sequestration and storage.

Retinal microvascular complexity as a putative biomarker of biological age: a pilot study.

Physiological changes associated with aging increase the risk for the development of age-related diseases. This increase is non-specific to the type of age-related disease, although each disease develops through a unique pathophysiologic mechanism. People who age at a faster rate develop age-related diseases earlier in their life.

VALIDATION OF THE BRIEF INTERNATIONAL COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT FOR MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (BICAMS) IN A LARGE COHORT OF RELAPSING-REMITTING MS PATIENTS.

Cognitive impairment is one of the most frequently reported symptoms in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) has been recommended as a standardized international screening and monitoring tool for brief cognitive assessment. The aim of our study was to assess the reliability and validity of the Serbian version of the BICAMS.

Inflammation-Related microRNAs-146a and -155 Are Upregulated in Mild Cognitive Impairment Subjects Among Older Age Population in Montenegro.

Background: Pathological and clinical features of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are in temporal discrepancy and currently accepted clinical tests provide the diagnosis decades after the initial pathophysiological events. In order to enable a more timely detection of AD, research efforts are directed to identification of biomarkers of the early symptomatic stage. Neuroinflammatory signaling pathways and inflammation-related microRNAs (miRNAs) could possibly have a crucial role in AD, making them promising potential biomarkers.

Irreducible and site-symmetry-induced representations of single/double ordinary/grey layer groups.

Considered are 80 sets of layer groups, each set consisting of four groups: ordinary single and double, and grey single and double layer groups. The structural properties of layer groups (factorization into cyclic subgroups and the existence of grading according to the sequence of halving subgroups) enable efficient symbolic computation (by the POLSym code) of the relevant properties, real and complex irreducible and allowed (half-)integer (co-)representations in particular. This task includes, as the first step, classification of the irreducible domains based on the group action in the Brillouin zone combined with torus topology.

Post-mortem Findings of Inflammatory Cells and the Association of 4-Hydroxynonenal with Systemic Vascular and Oxidative Stress in Lethal COVID-19.

A recent comparison of clinical and inflammatory parameters, together with biomarkers of oxidative stress, in patients who died from aggressive COVID-19 and survivors suggested that the lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) might be detrimental in lethal SARS-CoV-2 infection. The current study further explores the involvement of inflammatory cells, systemic vascular stress, and 4-HNE in lethal COVID-19 using specific immunohistochemical analyses of the inflammatory cells within the vital organs obtained by autopsy of nine patients who died from aggressive SAR-CoV-2 infection. Besides 4-HNE, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (SOD2) were analyzed alongside standard leukocyte biomarkers (CDs).

Preliminary Findings on the Association of the Lipid Peroxidation Product 4-Hydroxynonenal with the Lethal Outcome of Aggressive COVID-19.

Major findings of the pilot study involving 21 critically ill patients during the week after admission to the critical care unit specialized for COVID-19 are presented. Fourteen patients have recovered, while seven passed away. There were no differences between them in respect to clinical or laboratory parameters monitored.

Cell-Type-Specific Modulation of Hydrogen Peroxide Cytotoxicity and 4-Hydroxynonenal Binding to Human Cellular Proteins In Vitro by Antioxidant Extract.

Although contains numerous bioactive components, the activity principles of widely used extracts are uncertain. Therefore, we analyzed the effects of genuine aqueous extract (AV) on human cells with respect to the effects of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE). Fully developed leaves were harvested and analyzed for vitamin C, carotenoids, total soluble phenolic content, and antioxidant capacity.

Antioxidative 1,4-Dihydropyridine Derivatives Modulate Oxidative Stress and Growth of Human Osteoblast-Like Cells In Vitro.

Oxidative stress has been implicated in pathophysiology of different human stress- and age-associated disorders, including osteoporosis for which antioxidants could be considered as therapeutic remedies as was suggested recently. The 1,4-dihydropyridine (DHP) derivatives are known for their pleiotropic activity, with some also acting as antioxidants. To find compounds with potential antioxidative activity, a group of 27 structurally diverse DHPs, as well as one pyridine compound, were studied.

Dihydropyridine Derivatives as Cell Growth Modulators In Vitro.

The effects of eleven 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives (DHPs) used alone or together with prooxidant anticancer drug doxorubicin were examined on two cancer (HOS, HeLa) and two nonmalignant cell lines (HMEC, L929). Their effects on the cell growth (H-thymidine incorporation) were compared with their antiradical activities (DPPH assay), using well-known DHP antioxidant diludine as a reference. Thus, tested DHPs belong to three groups: (1) antioxidant diludine; (2) derivatives with pyridinium moieties at position 4 of the 1,4-DHP ring; (3) DHPs containing cationic methylene onium (pyridinium, trialkylammonium) moieties at positions 2 and 6 of the 1,4-DHP ring.

Adjuvant Cancer Biotherapy by Viscum Album Extract Isorel: Overview of Evidence Based Medicine Findings.

Within the integrative medicine one of the most frequently used adjuvant cancer biotherapies is based on aqueous mistletoe (Viscum album) extracts. Tumor growth inhibition, stimulation of host immune response and improvement of the quality of life are the positive effects of mistletoe therapy described in several preclinical and clinical studies. However, cumulative results of the evidence based medicine findings on such treatments are rarely given.

Mechanical coupling in homogeneously deformed single-wall carbon nanotubes.

We developed a full symmetry implementing method, based on classical molecular dynamics with the Brenner-Tersoff potential, for determining the optimal configuration of homogeneously deformed infinitely long single-wall carbon nanotubes. All nanotubes with diameter less than 1.3 nm are studied.

Natural torsion in chiral single-wall carbon nanotubes.

Optimizations performed with two geometrical, molecular mechanical and density functional models show that the configuration of single-wall carbon nanotubes is slightly twisted with respect to that predicted by conventional techniques. Geometrical models are used to explain the effect by breaking of local symmetry of the equally distant neighbors in graphene in the course of rolling, which is minimized by torsion. The torsion angle is small, and decreases with nanotube diameter, being less than 1° Å(-1) for ultrathin tubes.

The carcinostatic and proapoptotic potential of 4-hydroxynonenal in HeLa cells is associated with its conjugation to cellular proteins.

Background: Previous studies have shown that the lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) acts as a cell growth modulator if used at low, physiological concentrations being strongly cytotoxic at higher concentrations for a number of cells. These effects of HNE also appeared to be mutually dependent on the effects of serum growth factors. The aim of this investigation was to study the concentration-dependent response of human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells in vitro with respect to the intracellular uptake of exogenous HNE, the cellular energy metabolism, DNA synthesis, overall gene expression and susceptibility to apoptosis.

Symmetry of single-wall nanotubes.

Nanotubes have become attractive subjects in solid-state physics owing to their potential applications in nanotechnology. Their symmetry is one of the important tools in theoretical investigations. Here a review is presented of the symmetry groups of the single-wall nano- and microtubes considered in literature: BN, GaN, MS2, C, BC3, BC2N.

An overview on anticancer activities of the Viscum album extract Isorel.

The activity principle of the mistletoe (Viscum album L.) phytotherapeutics could be considered as combined cytotoxic and "biological response modifying" activities (increasing host defense against cancer) that result from the activities of the plant lectins and the other biologically relevant substances. We found before that the aqueous extract Isorel, produced by Novipharm GmbH (Pörtschach, Austria) from the entire plant (planta tota) of fresh mistletoe under standardized conditions with bioassay validated batch consistency, can be valuable in experimental adjuvant cancer therapy increasing efficiency of cyclophosphamide chemotherapy.

Clinical performance of the new cardiac markers troponin T and CK-MB on the Elecsys 2010. A multicentre evaluation.

Elecsys assays for the cardiac markers Troponin T (cTnT) and CK-MB have been evaluated in an international multicenter study on the random access analyzer Elecsys 2010 to characterize their clinical performance and their comparability with respective established routine methods. In method comparison studies of Elecsys Troponin T (TnT) with Enzymun-Test TnT, good correlations (r > or = 0.95) and a high degree of correspondence (slopes in 4 laboratories between 0.

[60 years' of the modern hospital in Pozega].

The development of the hospital in Pozega, from medieval poor houses to the establishment of a modern hospital in 1936, is presented. In the late 19th and early 20th century, surgery departments were founded in many hospitals in Slavonia. The old town hospital built in 1836 did not meet the demands of medical work, and in the period from 1930 to 1936 a new hospital building was constructed.