Novel biomarkers of mitochondrial dysfunction in Long COVID patients.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to severe acute respiratory syndrome, and while most individuals recover within weeks, approximately 30-40% experience persistent symptoms collectively known as Long COVID, post-COVID-19 syndrome, or post-acute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (PASC). These enduring symptoms, including fatigue, respiratory difficulties, body pain, short-term memory loss, concentration issues, and sleep disturbances, can persist for months. According to recent studies, SARS-CoV-2 infection causes prolonged disruptions in mitochondrial function, significantly altering cellular energy metabolism.

Suprapapillary Biliary Stents Have Longer Patency Times than Transpapillary Stents-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background And Study Aims: Endoscopic biliary stent placement is a minimally invasive intervention for patients with biliary strictures. Stent patency and function time are crucial factors. Suprapapillary versus transpapillary stent positioning may contribute to stent function time, so a meta-analysis was performed in this comparison.

Selective intraoperative cholangiography should be considered over routine intraoperative cholangiography during cholecystectomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Decades of debate surround the use of intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) during cholecystectomy. To the present day, the role of IOC is controversial as regards decreasing the rate of bile duct injury (BDI). We aimed to review and analyse the available literature on the benefits of IOC during cholecystectomy.

Angiogenic factors measured in aspirated placental tissue between the 10 + 6 and 18 + 3 weeks of gestation.

This study was designed to determine the level of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in chorionic villi during in first and second trimester, and their association with nuchal translucency (NT) measured by ultrasound. Seventy-five singleton healthy pregnancies with no detected congenital malformation were collected for NT measurements and chorionic villus sampling (CVS). Concentrations of angiogenic factors were assayed in chorionic villi sampled between 10 + 6 and 18 + 3 weeks of gestation.

Impact of EUCAST ceftaroline breakpoint change on the susceptibility of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates collected from patients with complicated skin and soft-tissue infections.

Objectives: In 2018, the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) introduced an intermediate breakpoint for ceftaroline against Staphylococcus aureus. The objective of this study was to compare data on resistance to ceftaroline among methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates using versions 7.

Analysis of serum cytokine levels in children with chronic cough associated with Toxocara canis infection.

Toxocara infection is associated with an increased prevalence of airway symptoms and may be a possible aetiologic agent of chronic cough. The occurrence of toxocariasis in Hungary is mild and/or sporadic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of serum cytokines (IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha) and total IgE, the blood eosinophil count, the results of skin prick and non-specific bronchus provocation tests in Toxocara-seropositive children with chronic cough relative to those in healthy controls.

Kynurenines and intestinal neurotransmission: the role of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors.

Gastrointestinal neuroprotection involves the net effect of many mechanisms which protect the enteral nervous system and its cells from death, dysfunction or degeneration. Neuroprotection is also a therapeutic strategy, aimed at slowing or halting the progression of primary neuronal loss following acute or chronic diseases. The neuroprotective properties of a compound clearly have implications for an understanding of the mechanism of dysfunctions and for therapeutic approaches in a number of gastrointestinal diseases.

Cystic Dilation of the Aqueductus Sylvii in Case of Trisomy 17p11.2-pter with the Deletion of the Terminal Portion of the Chromosome 6.

Since the 1970s, about 30 cases of partial or complete trisomy 17p have been presented in the literature. Partial trisomies of the short arm of chromosome 17 are somewhat more common, but complete trisomy is quite rare. Most of these cases were described in infants and newborns; and to our knowledge only 3 cases of trisomy 17p have been detected intrauterine.

Role of the vascular endothelial growth factor in the inverse relationship between increased nuchal translucency thickness and fetomaternal transfusion.

Objective: To elucidate the possible etiological role of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the inverse correlation between nuchal translucency (NT) thickness and fetomaternal transfusion (FMT).

Methods: The level of FMT was determined prospectively in 80 viable, singleton pregnancies in which 10-14-week ultrasonographic scanning, NT thickness measurement; chorionic villus sampling (CVS) for fetal karyotyping and VEGF concentration determination were performed. The grouping procedures were based either on NT thickness (<2 MoM in Group I, and ≥2 MoM in Group II), or on karyotype (euploid in Group A, and aneuploid in Group B).

International comparison of blood pressure and BMI values in schoolchildren aged 11-16 years.

Aims: This study comprised part of a larger cross-sectional survey performed in Hungary in the period 2005-2006, which was designed first to reveal the representative age-, gender- and height-specific percentile values for the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in Hungarian children aged 11-16 years. The second aim was to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity.

Methods: Analyses were performed on 14,290 Hungarian children aged 11-16 years.

N-Methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonism decreases motility and inflammatory activation in the early phase of acute experimental colitis in the rat.

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases are accompanied by severe motility disorders. The aim of our study was to investigate whether the blockade of peripheral N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-sensitive glutamate receptors (NMDA-Rs) alters motility changes in chemically induced acute colitis and how this modulation is accomplished.

Methods: The inflammatory and motility changes in 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis were studied in anaesthetized Wistar rats following treatment with the natural NMDA-R antagonist kynurenic acid (KynA) or SZR-72, a blood-brain barrier-permeable synthetic KynA analogue.

99-mTc-HMPAO single photon emission computed tomography examinations in genetically determined neurometabolic disorders.

Unlabelled: The aim of our study was to determine regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) abnormalities in different types of enzymopathies.

Patients And Methods: Among the patients with genetically determined enzymopathies 3 patients had aminoacidopathies, and 11 had different types of encephalopathies, from which 10 had mitochondrial encephalomyopathy (MEMP), and 1 patient had hyperuricaemic encephalopathy. Besides the mentioned 14 patients, 1 had ceroid lipofuscinosis and another patient had tuberous sclerosis.

Genetically determined neuromuscular disorders of some Roma families living in Hungary.

The authors discuss the clinical and molecular genetic aspects of genetically determined neuromuscular disorders of some Roma families living in Hungary. Among the autosomal recessively inherited spinal muscular atrophic (SMA) group, 8 Caucasian children had the typical 7-8 exonal deletions of the SMA gene, but only 2 patients belonged to the Roma population. There was no difference in the molecular genetic findings among the Caucasian and the Roma SMA patients.

Modality distribution of sensory neurons in the feline caudate nucleus and the substantia nigra.

Despite extensive analysis of the motor functions of the basal ganglia and the fact that multisensory information processing appears critical for the execution of their behavioral action, little is known concerning the sensory functions of the caudate nucleus (CN) and the substantia nigra (SN). In the present study, we set out to describe the sensory modality distribution and to determine the proportions of multisensory units within the CN and the SN. The separate single sensory modality tests demonstrated that a majority of the neurons responded to only one modality, so that they seemed to be unimodal.

Effects of magnesium supplementation on the glutathione redox system in atopic asthmatic children.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the effects of 12-week oral magnesium (Mg) supplementation on the RBC redox system in stable, persistent, moderately asthmatic children (N = 40, 24 boys, 16 girls) aged 4-16 years in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Design: Oxidized (GSSG) and reduced (GSH) glutathione, oxyhaemoglobin, methaemoglobin (metHb), hemichrome and bilirubin levels before and after treatment were determined, and GSH stability tests were performed.

Result: The GSH concentration was significantly higher in the Mg-treated than in the placebo-treated patients after the treatment period.

Prognostic value of coronary flow reserve and aortic distensibility indices in patients with suspected coronary artery disease.

In recent studies it has been demonstrated that a reduced coronary flow reserve (CFR) is independently associated with a less benign long-term outcome. Aortic stiffness is one of the most important cardiovascular risk factors predicting cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Vasodilator stress transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a suitable method to evaluate simultaneously CFR and elastic properties of the descending thoracic aorta.

Changing views on the goal of reproductive genetic counselling in Hungary.

Over the last few decades, the goal of genetic counselling has been interpreted as giving value-neutral information about the genetic risk, the genetic disorder, and screening, diagnostic or treatment possibilities in order to promote the autonomous decision-making of counsellees. Recently, however, the theoretical possibility and the practical necessity of this non-directive approach have been questioned, and redefinition of the objective of genetic counselling is required. In our paper, we intend to contribute to this clarification process by critically examining the views of Hungarian genetic counsellors on the objective of genetic counselling, and by exploring the expectations of the counsellees.

Reduction of coronary flow reserve in patients with increased aortic stiffness.

Aortic stiffness is thought to affect coronary blood flow, but little is known about its influence on coronary flow reserve (CFR). The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between aortic stiffness and CFR in matched patients with and without increased aortic stiffness. Stress transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) as the CFR measurement and coronary angiography were performed in all cases.

Obesity is associated with aortic enlargement and increased stiffness: an echocardiographic study.

Background: Obesity may be associated with early vascular changes. The current study was designed to assess the relationship between obesity and aortic stiffness in two populations, one aged 18-40 years and one aged 41-64 years.

Methods: The study complied 121 subjects, all of them underwent a physical examination, transthoracic echocardiography and blood pressure measurement.

Grade of aortic atherosclerosis: a valuable adjunct to coronary flow velocity reserve in the evaluation of coronary artery disease.

Background: Atherosclerosis is a generalized disease of the arterial vasculature; among thus it manifests in the descending aorta and the coronary arteries. We tested whether known risk factors, the coronary flow velocity reserve and the grade of aortic atherosclerosis detected by transoesophageal echocardiography in the course of the same semi-invasive examination is able to distinguish between patients with significant left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) stenosis or with multivessel disease.

Methods And Results: The present study involved 125 consecutive patients (mean age: 56 +/- 11 years, range: 22-73) with chest pain undergoing coronary angiography.

Epidemiology of familial multiple sclerosis in Hungary.

The prevalence of familial aggregation of multiple sclerosis (MS) is estimated between 5 and 10%. Studies emphasize the effect of genetic factors over the environment of the patients in the development of the disease. We investigated familial accumulation of MS in the cases of 1500 patients in five Hungarian MS centers.

The additional prognostic power of diabetes mellitus on coronary flow reserve in patients with suspected coronary artery disease.

Aims: The aim of the present study was to assess the relative prognostic value of coronary flow reserve (CFR) and diabetes mellitus (DM) in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods: We prospectively studied 347 inhospital patients with chest pain. Coronary angiography was performed in 281 patients (81%).

Simultaneous echocardiographic evaluation of coronary flow velocity reserve and aortic distensibility indices in hypertension.

The coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR), a measure of endothelial function in coronary circulation, can be measured semi-invasively in the left anterior descending coronary artery by using stress transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). During the same stress TEE, aortic distensibility indices (elastic modulus [E(p)] and Young's circumferential static elastic modulus [E(s)]) can be assessed. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether stress TEE is valuable method for parallel evaluation of CFVR, E(p), and E(s) in patients with hypertension.

Diclofenac epolamine is effective in the treatment of acute migraine attacks. A randomized, crossover, double blind, placebo-controlled, clinical study.

Hydrosoluble diclofenac epolamine (DHEP) represents an interesting approach to acute migraine attacks, where gastrointestinal motility and drug absorption are often reduced. Its efficacy was investigated in a randomized, crossover, double-blind trial on 155 patients who treated four consecutive mild-to-moderate migraine attacks, either with DHEP (65-mg sachet) or placebo. If pain was not relieved within 1 h, a second dose was given.

Multisensory integration in the basal ganglia.

Sensorimotor co-ordination in mammals is achieved predominantly via the activity of the basal ganglia. To investigate the underlying multisensory information processing, we recorded the neuronal responses in the caudate nucleus (CN) and substantia nigra (SN) of anaesthetized cats to visual, auditory or somatosensory stimulation alone and also to their combinations, i.e.