Acute Peripheral Facial Nerve Palsy in Children and Adolescents: Clinical Aspects and Treatment Modalities.

Background: Peripheral facial nerve palsy is a relatively frequent, rather idiopathic, and isolated nonprogressive disorder with a tendency toward spontaneous recovery in children. It is primarily characterized by unilateral paresis or paralysis of the mimic musculature affecting verbal communication, social interactions, and quality of life.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical aspects and efficacy of different therapeutic modalities in the population of children and adolescents with acute peripheral facial nerve palsy, the quality and recovery rate in comparison to different therapy modalities and etiological factors as well as to determine parameters of recovery according to the age of patients.

Paroxetine mitigates cardiac remodelling by doxorubicin and increases survival.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an effective anticancer drug. However, its use is hampered by the development of very mortal cardiomyopathy. Here, we investigate whether the co-administration of the antidepressant paroxetine (P), known to exert beneficial cardiovascular effects, would provide effective cardioprotection.

Oral teicoplanin versus oral vancomycin for the treatment of severe Clostridium difficile infection: a prospective observational study.

The aim of this study was to compare clinical cure rate, recurrence rate and time to resolution of diarrhea in patients with severe and severe-complicated Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) treated with teicoplanin or vancomycin. This two-year prospective observational study included patients with first episode or first recurrence of CDI who had severe or severe-complicated CDI and were treated with teicoplanin or vancomycin. Primary outcomes of interest were clinical cure rate at discharge and recurrence rate after eight weeks follow up, and secondary outcomes were all-cause mortality and time to resolution of diarrhea.

Fractal analysis and Gray level co-occurrence matrix method for evaluation of reperfusion injury in kidney medulla.

Fractal analysis and Gray level co-occurrence matrix method represent two novel mathematical algorithms commonly used in medical sciences as potential parts of computer-aided diagnostic systems. In this study, we tested the ability of these methods to discriminate the kidney medullar tissue suffering from reperfusion injury, from normal tissue. A total of 320 digital micrographs of Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) - stained kidney medulla from 16 Wistar albino mice (20 per animal), were analyzed using National Institutes of Health ImageJ software (NIH, Bethesda, MD) and its plugins.

Oral teicoplanin for successful treatment of severe refractory Clostridium difficile infection.

Introduction: Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhoea. There is no defined protocol for treating severe Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) refractory to vancomycin or vancomycin and metronidazole combination therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of clinical cure, time to resolution of diarrhoea and recurrence rate in patients with severe refractory CDI treated with oral teicoplanin.

Incidence, predictors and prognostic implications of bleeding complicating primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background/aim: Data about bleeding complicating primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are more frequently obtained from randomized clinical trials on patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), but less frequently from surveys or registries on patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence, predictors and prognostic impact of in-hospital major bleeding in the population of unselected real-world patients with acute STEMI undergoing primary PCI.

Methods: All consecutive patients presenting with STEMI who underwent primary PCI at a single large tertiary healthcare center between January 2005 and July 2009, were studied.

Characteristics of patients dying from acute viral hepatitis in Serbia.

Background/aims: Acute viral hepatitis is complicated rarely with severe liver failure due to many factors associated with the etiology, patient age, and time of development of hepatic encephalopathy, etc. The aim of this study was to identify some of the clinical and laboratory features associated with a fatal outcome in patients dying from acute viral hepatitis in Serbia.

Methods: Clinical and laboratory data from 47 patients hospitalized from January 1989 December 2006 were reviewed retrospectively.

Treatment of subacute hepatitis B with lamivudine: a pilot study in Serbia.

Background/aim: The incidence of acute hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection in adults has increased in recent years in Serbia. Most icteric patients with acute hepatitis B resolve their infection and do not require treatment. Fulminant hepatitis B is a severe form of acute infection complicated by encephalopathy and liver failure.

Acute protective effects of simvastatin in the rat model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury: it is never too late for the pretreatment.

Acute pretreatment with a single i.v. bolus injection of simvastatin (1 mg/kg) significantly protects rat kidney injured by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) (45 min + 6 h).

Older age at the time of liver biopsy is the important risk factor for advanced fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Background/aims: Progression of chronic hepatitis C depends on the host and viral characteristics, duration of infection, co-infection with other viruses, etc. In this study, some of demographic, epidemiological and viral data as risk factors for a degree of liver fibrosis were evaluated.

Methodology: A total of 144 patients was investigated (89 males, ages from 16-65 years) classified into two groups, with fibrosis scores 0-3 and 4-6, using the Ishak scoring system.

Baseline temperature in an animal model of schizophrenia: long-term effects of perinatal phencyclidine administration.

Phencyclidine (PCP), a dissociative anaesthetic, acts as a noncompetitive N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. PCP is a psychostimulant capable of producing both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, including cognitive dysfunction in normal humans. Perinatal phencyclidine administration to rats has been widely accepted as an animal model of schizophrenia.

[Effects of new nitric oxide synthase inhibitors on spontaneous locomotor activity].

Introduction: New nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors: 3-bromo-7-nitroindazole (3-Br-7-NI), 1-(2-trifluoromethylphenyl) imidazole (TRIM), S-methyl-L-thiocitrulline (S-Me-TC) and 7-nitroindazole (7-NI) reduce spontaneous locomotor activity in mice.

Material And Methods: In order to elucidate central effects of NOS inhibitors on locomotor activity, the influence of 7-NI on electroencephalographic (EEG) power spectrum in rats was investigated.

Results: 7-NI reduced the EEG power density in all frequency bands in rats, suggesting a depression of the central neuronal activity.

Single-dose intravenous simvastatin treatment attenuates renal injury in an experimental model of ischemia-reperfusion in the rat.

The effect of acute pretreatment with a single dose of simvastatin (1 mg/kg, i.v.; 30 min before ischemia) on renal dysfunction caused by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in the rat was investigated.

Type of electrical stimulation influences diaphragm response to adrenoceptor and calcium channel modulators: the role of extracellular and intracellular calcium events.

The influence of direct single pulse and subtetanic electrical stimulation (ES) on isolated rat hemidiaphragm response to adrenoceptor antagonists and calcium channel blockers was investigated. Muscle contractility was stimulated by cumulative micromolar noradrenaline. Noradrenaline effects on developed tension (Td) in the presence of various alpha- and beta-adrenoceptor antagonists (e.

[Chronic hepatitis C virus infection: is there a correlation between HCV genotypes and the level of viremia?].

Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA status and HCV genotypes have become extremely important for exact diagnosis, prognosis, duration of treatment and monitoring of antiviral therapy of chronic HCV infection.

Material And Methods: For the purpose of precise and objective assessment of virologic analyses, such as the determination of the number of virus copies and virus genotypes, 110 patients with chronic HCV infection were tested Genotyping of HCV isolates and HCV RNA quantification were performed by using the PCR method. Genotype 1b infection was verified in 49.

Histopathology of chronic hepatitis C in relation to virus genotype.

Background/aim: The natural history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is variable and the factors determining the course of the illness are unclear. There are geographical variations in the distribution of different HCV genotypes, and some of them are related to the specific infection routes. Regarding our country, the dominant genotype is genotype 1b.

Homocysteine serum levels and MTHFR C677T genotype in patients with Parkinson's disease, with and without levodopa therapy.

Both methylenetetrahydrofolate (MTHFR) C677T genotype and levodopa treatment may give rise to elevated serum homocysteine levels in parkinsonian patients. We aimed to clarify the interplay of these factors in pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD)-related hyperhomocysteinemia. Total serum levels of homocysteine (tHcy) and MTHFR C677T genotype were investigated in levodopa-treated and -untreated parkinsonian ("de novo") patients, as well as in control healthy subjects matched by age and gender (N=83, 30 and 53, respectively).

Pattern of utilization of benzodiazepines in patients with hypertension: a pilot study.

Background/aim: The analysis of drug prescribing in general practice in Serbia showed that the use of benzodiazepines is most frequently associated with hypertension. The aim of this study was to establish the correlation of the characteristics of patients with hypertension to antihypertensive drug therapy, and the intake of benzodiazepines.

Methods: A special questionnaire was used for interviewing the patients (n = 171) chronically treated for hypertenson.

Treatment of anicteric acute hepatitis C with peginterferon alpha-2a plus ribavirin.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most frequent cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma in the world. Acute hepatitis C is the most commonly asymptomatic liver disease with the development of chronic HCV infection in the majority of infected patients. Studies of the natural history of HCV infection suggest that only 15-30% of patients with acute infection recover spontaneously.

Aminophylline pretreatment modulates the nitric oxide system of the isolated rat diaphragm: the role of frequency of the electrical stimulation.

The effect of different frequencies of direct subtetanic electrical stimulation (14, 20, and 30 Hz) and aminophylline (AMPh) pretreatment on the effect of N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (1 mM) on isolated rat diaphragm was investigated. L-NAME potentiated tension developed (Td) in the diaphragm pretreated with a single concentration of AMPh (1.08 mM) in a frequency-dependent manner.

NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester-induced potentiaton of the effect of aminophylline on rat diaphragm: the role of extracellular calcium.

The role of extracellular calcium in the interaction between intracellular cAMP and nitric oxide (NO)/cGMP on the contractility of rat diaphragm pretreated with cumulative concentrations of aminophylline (0.36 - 3.60 mM) was investigated.