Analysis of the contribution of I(to) to repolarization in canine ventricular myocardium.

Background And Purpose: The contribution of the transient outward potassium current (I(to)) to ventricular repolarization is controversial as it depends on the experimental conditions, the region of myocardium and the species studied. The aim of the present study was therefore to characterize I(to) and estimate its contribution to repolarization reserve in canine ventricular myocardium.

Experimental Approach: Ion currents were recorded using conventional whole-cell voltage clamp and action potential voltage clamp techniques in canine isolated ventricular cells.

Expression and function of C5a receptor in a fatal anaphylaxis after honey bee sting.

The mechanisms leading to death from anaphylaxis after insect sting involve antigen cross-linkage of antibody molecules that activate immunoglobulin receptors on inflammatory cells. The aim of our study was to investigate the pathomorphology and the expression of C5aR in fatal anaphylaxis in a patient after a fatal insect sting. A 38-year-old women was stung by a honeybee.

Cellular and muscular growth patterns during sipunculan development.

Sipuncula is a lophotrochozoan taxon with annelid affinities, albeit lacking segmentation of the adult body. Here, we present data on cell proliferation and myogenesis during development of three sipunculan species, Phascolosoma agassizii, Thysanocardia nigra, and Themiste pyroides. The first anlagen of the circular body wall muscles appear simultaneously and not subsequently as in the annelids.

Significance of methicillin-teicoplanin resistant Staphylococcus haemolyticus in bloodstream infections in patients of the Semmelweis University hospitals in Hungary.

The purpose of this study was to quantify the impact of Staphylococcus haemolyticus in the epidemiology of the blood stream infection (BSI) and to characterize the rates and quantitative levels of resistance to antistaphylococcal drugs. During an eight-year period, 2967 BSIs of the patients hospitalized in different clinical departments of the Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary were analyzed. One hundred eighty-four were caused by S.

Clinical microbiology of neonatal candidiasis in Hungary.

The occurrence of Candida spp. was investigated during a three-year period in two neonatal intensive care units, Budapest, Hungary. The species distribution among the 41 analysed cases was the following: C.

Pseudohypoxic brain swelling (postoperative intracranial hypotension-associated venous congestion) after spinal surgery: report of 2 cases.

Background And Importance: Pseudohypoxic brain swelling is a rare event that may occur after uneventful brain surgery when subgaleal vacuum drainage is used. To date, such cases of unexpected postoperative disturbances of consciousness associated with radiological signs of basal ganglia, thalamic, brainstem, and cerebellum damage without any signs of vessel occlusion have not been known to occur after spinal surgery.

Clinical Presentation: We report for the first time on 2 patients presenting with a clinical and radiological picture of pseudohypoxic brain swelling after spinal surgery.

Association of adherence to therapy and complementary and alternative medicine use with demographic factors and disease phenotype in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Background And Aims: Previous studies have suggested an increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Furthermore, a significant number of IBD patients fail to comply with treatment. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of non-adherence and the use of CAM in Hungarian patients with IBD.

Factors of influence upon overall survival in the treatment of intracranial MPNSTs. Review of the literature and report of a case.

Background: Intracranial malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors are rare entities that carry a poor prognosis. To date, there are no established therapeutic strategies for these tumors.

Methods: We review the present treatment modalities and present the current therapeutic dilemmas.

Genotypic and phenotypic characterisation of invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from Hungary, and coverage of the conjugate vaccines.

Background And Aims: The 7-valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine (Prevenar) was introduced as a recommended (but not yet obligatory) vaccine in Hungary in April 2009 and there was a sharp increase in the number of children vaccinated. Hence there is an urgent need for in-depth epidemiological data on invasive pneumococci before vaccination becomes widespread. Such a study has never been done before in Hungary.

In vitro activity of clarithromycin in combination with other antimicrobial agents against biofilm-forming Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains.

The aim of the study was to investigate the biofilm-production of 60 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from clinical samples and to examine the effect of different antimicrobials and their combinations with clarithromycin on biofilm-formation. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs), minimal biofilm inhibitory concentrations (MBICs), and antibiotic synergy by calculating the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index were determined for the following antibiotics: ceftazidime, cefepime, piperacillin/tazobactam, imipenem, meropenem, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, amikacin, tobramycin, netilmicin and clarithromycin. A total of 14 (23.

Rapid identification of pathogens in blood culture with fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH).

Rapid identification of pathogens in bloodstream infections is of utmost importance to improve survival of septic patients. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) accelerates the identification of most frequent bacterial and yeast pathogens of sepsis. In this study, 210 positive blood cultures were tested with FISH method and the results were evaluated comparing to the traditional cultivation based results.

Pre-existing chiasma syndromes do not entirely remit following transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary adenomas.

Background: It is not known whether following transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary adenomas the vision of patients with preoperative chiasma syndromes (CS) does improve to the degree of vision of patients without preoperative CS.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to answer the question above.

Methods: Pertinent data of a successive series of patients operated transsphenoidally for the first time for pituitary adenoma were retrospectively analysed.

The common consensus criteria have high predictive values for long-term postoperative acromegaly remission.

Objective: The aim of this work was to retrospectively study the long-term reliability of the common consensus endocrinological criteria for the assessment of postoperative remission of acromegaly.

Patients And Methods: In 96 consecutive patients, surgical remission of acromegaly following transsphenoidal surgery was considered to be present when, without adjuvant treatment, 3 months postoperatively there was no clinical evidence of persisting disease, and, according to the common consensus criteria for acromegaly remission, GH was suppressed to < 1 μg/l during the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) was within normal limits. The results of the second postoperative week, 3 months postoperative, and the most recent follow-up OGTT and IGF-1 measurements were used to calculate the positive and negative predictive values of the following endocrinological criteria of acromegaly remission: the common consensus criteria for acromegaly remission, GH suppression to < 1 μg/l during OGTT and IGF-1 within normal limits.

Simulation-assisted evidence for the existence of two stable kaolinite/potassium acetate intercalate complexes.

Recent molecular simulation findings with several kaolinite intercalate complexes raised the question of the existence of more than one stable state, which has not been confirmed by experimental observations yet. Kaolinite/potassium acetate intercalate complexes were synthesized and examined by X-ray diffraction, and a molecular simulation study was performed for the system. Consistent with the suggestion from the simulations, an additional stable basal spacing was found experimentally at d(001)=1.

Gated multidetector computed tomography. A technique to reduce intracranial aneurysm clip and coil artifacts.

Background And Purpose: Streak artifacts caused by aneurysm clips and coils impede image quality in multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). The authors propose a technique to minimize these artifacts by gated data reconstruction and shifting the reconstruction window.

Patients And Methods: Intracranial CT angiograms were acquired in the follow-up of six patients with clipped and coiled intracranial aneurysms, respectively.

Protein expression of urotensin II, urotensin-related peptide and their receptor in the lungs of patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Urotensin II (UII) and urotensin-related peptide (URP) are vasoactive neuropeptides with wide ranges of action in the normal mammalian lung, including the control of smooth muscle cell proliferation. UII and URP exert their actions by binding to the G-protein coupled receptor-14 known as UT. Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a disease of progressive lung destruction resulting from the excessive growth of abnormal smooth muscle-like cells that exhibit markers of neural crest origin.

Scopulariopsis brevicaulis as the cause of dermatomycosis.

Scopulariopsis (S.) brevicaulis (Saccardo) Bainier 1907 is a ubiquitous fungus frequently isolated as a saprophyte from various layers of the soil, wood, straw, paper, food, and occasionally in animals and humans. This nondermatophyte filamentous fungus is multiresistant and is frequently associated with onychomycosis in humans.

mTOR signaling in lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

The protein mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays a central role in cell growth and proliferation. Excessive mTOR activity is a prominent feature of many neoplasms and hamartoma syndromes, including lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a destructive lung disease that causes progressive respiratory failure in women. Although pharmacological inhibitors of mTOR should directly target the pathogenesis of these disorders, their clinical efficacy has been suboptimal.

Dynamic Monte Carlo simulation in mixtures.

The dynamic Monte Carlo technique is a widely used simulation tool but the parameters of the calculation have to be tuned to reflect the same dynamics as the corresponding molecular dynamics simulation. As the direct calibration of the dynamic Monte Carlo with molecular dynamics is a laborious task, we propose a new method that allows the standard dynamic Monte Carlo to realize the correct time proportionality in many-component systems without the need of corresponding molecular dynamics calculation. The method has been tested in various systems and the dynamic Monte Carlo results obtained by the proposed method were found to be in good agreement with the results of the control molecular dynamics simulations.

Neuromuscular development of Aeolidiella stephanieae Valdéz, 2005 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia).

Background: Studies on the development of the nervous system and the musculature of invertebrates have become more sophisticated and numerous within the last decade and have proven to provide new insights into the evolutionary history of organisms. In order to provide new morphogenetic data on opisthobranch gastropods we investigated the neuromuscular development in the nudibranch Aeolidiella stephanieae Valdéz, 2005 using immunocytochemistry as well as F-actin labelling in conjunction with confocal laser scanning microscopy (cLSM).

Results: The ontogenetic development of Aeolidiella stephanieae can be subdivided into 8 stages, each recognisable by characteristic morphological and behavioural features as well as specific characters of the nervous system and the muscular system, respectively.