Impact of fructose diet and renal failure on the function of pancreatic islets.

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the impact of fructose-rich diet and chronic kidney disease (CKD) on the in vitro function of pancreatic islets.

Methods: Fifty-four rats were divided into 3 equal groups as follows: control, rats with CKD 1/2 that underwent surgical uninephrectomy, and rats with CKD 5/6 that underwent uninephrectomy and kidney cortex mass resection. Each group was further assigned to 3 diet protocols--regular diet, regular diet with 10% fructose (F10), and 60% fructose-rich diet (F60).

Conditioned medium derived from mesenchymal stem cells culture as a intravesical therapy for cystitis interstitials.

The treatment of Interstinal Cystitisis (IC) is still challenge for urologist. Available therapies do not result in long-term control of symptoms and do not provide pain relive to patients. Unique abilities of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) could be used to develop new treatment approaches for Interstitial Cystitis.

Tissue engineering of urinary bladder - current state of art and future perspectives.

Introduction: Tissue engineering and biomaterials science currently offer the technology needed to replace the urinary tract wall. This review addresses current achievements and barriers for the regeneration of the urinary blad- der based on tissue engineering methods.

Materials And Methods: Medline was search for urinary bladder tissue engineering regenerative medicine and stem cells.

α-blockade, apoptosis, and prostate shrinkage: how are they related?

Purpose: The α1-adrenoreceptor antagonists, such as terazosin and doxazosin, induce prostate programmed cell death (apoptosis) within prostate epithelial and stromal cells in vitro. This treatment should cause prostate volume decrease, However, this has never been observed in clinical conditions. The aim of this paper is to review the disconnect between these two processes.

Optical coherence tomography diagnostics for onco-urology. Review of clinical perspectives.

Introduction: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is being investigated widely for use in urologic pathology. The current imaging of urogenital cancers cannot be perfect, thus, routine methods demands new updates or inventions of alternative radiological scope. OCT presents so-called "live" optical biopsy.

The patents on glucocorticosteroids and selected new therapies for the management of asthma in children: update.

Despite the continuous increase in the prevalence of asthma in many developing countries, there have been major advances in understanding and managing this disease. The remarkable role of inflammation in asthma is well known. Current asthma guidelines recommend the use of anti-inflammatory drugs and immunotherapy for long-term management of asthma.

The interpretation of exhaled nitric oxide values in children with asthma depends on the degree of bronchoconstriction and the levels of asthma severity.

Background: The clinical implications of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (F(ENO)) measurements in childhood asthma are unclear. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between the level of exhaled nitric oxide and pre-bronchodilator FEV1 and the change in FEV1 after bronchodilator in children with asthma.

Methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study.

Airway response to exercise measured by area under the expiratory flow-volume curve in children with asthma.

Background: The exercise challenge test is the gold standard for diagnosing exercise-induced bronchoconstriction; however, it produces negative results in many children with postexercise symptoms.

Objective: To assess the utility of the area under the expiratory flow-volume curve (Aex) to identify exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in children with asthma.

Methods: Data from the medical records of 221 children with asthma who underwent an exercise treadmill challenge (ETC) were analyzed.

Diagnostic value of lung function parameters and FeNO for asthma in schoolchildren in large, real-life population.

Background And Objective: To establish a diagnostic value of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), interrupter resistance measurement (Rint), specific resistance of the airways (sRaw), spirometric parameters in asthma diagnosis in schoolchildren.

Methods: It was a retrospective, cross-sectional study. We evaluated data from medical documentation of 6,439 children (aged 6-18) with symptoms suggestive of asthma, who attended our Pediatric Allergic Outpatient Clinic.

Neurologic and functional long-term outcome after carotid endarterectomy.

Background: The aim of this research was to assess the neurologic status of patients a year after endarterectomy with the use of National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and the degree of disability using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and to examine the patients' subjective evaluation of their health.

Methods: One hundred two patients with symptomatic internal carotid artery stenosis who underwent endarterectomy and attended a 1-year follow-up examination were enrolled in the study. The material comprised 72 (70.

Pulmonary resection for bronchial polyp after lung transplant in a cystic fibrosis patient.

Many clinical conditions should be considered in the differential diagnosis of life-threatening events in cystic fibrosis patients after a lung graft transplant. We report on a 17-year-old boy who underwent a lobectomy owing to an inflammatory endobronchial polyp complicated by massive airways bleeding 12 months after having had a bilateral sequential lung graft for cystic fibrosis. This unusual complication underscores the requirement for flexible bronchoscopy in patients with recurrent infection at any stage after transplant.

Transforming growth factor-beta1 and IL-13 response to allergen predict steroid needs in asthmatic children.

Background: The remission of asthma, which is induced during specific immunotherapy (SIT) or appears spontaneously in children is not completely understood and predictors of this phenomenon are still undefined.

Objective: To assess CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) Treg cells and cytokine/proliferation response to allergen-specific stimulation of PBMC as predictors of steroid sparing effect of SIT and steroid dosage needs without SIT during 5 years of follow-up in asthmatic children.

Methods: This is a 5-year long study of 32 asthmatic children, sensitive only to house dust mite (HDM).

Optical scanner for 3D radiotherapy polymer gel dosimetry.

Sophisticated techniques employed in radiotherapy for irradiation of tumours require comprehensive dosimetry allowing for precise, high resolution measurements of radiation dose distribution in three dimensions and verification of treatment planning systems. Polymer gel dosimetry has been shown to be a unique technique for three-dimensional high resolution measurements of absorbed radiation dose distributions. If exposed to ionizing radiation, radical polymerisation and crosslinking of monomeric components take place in a 3D polymer gel dosimeter, leading to the formation of large polymeric structures that scatter visible light.

Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) may predict exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) in schoolchildren with atopic asthma.

Background: There is a need for the performance of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) tests in the monitoring of childhood asthma control. We aimed to evaluate whether in children with atopic asthma, EIB can be predicted by one or more of the following parameters or by their combination: fractional exhaled nitric-oxide (FeNO), allergy profile, asthma treatment, total IgE serum concentration and eosinophil blood count (EBC).

Methods: It was a retrospective, cross-sectional study.

Influence of internal carotid endarterectomy on patients' life quality.

Unlabelled: Appropriate treatment of symptomatic carotid artery stenosis can reduce ischemic cerebral strokes' risk and in some cases eliminate neurological symptoms. Endarterectomy is the most common surgical treatment. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of carotid endarterectomy on neurological symptoms and patients' life quality.

Comparative effect of pre-coseasonal and continuous grass sublingual immunotherapy in children.

Background: One of the most important aspects of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is the regimen of administration. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy and the safety of SLIT given pre-coseasonally (starting before the pollen season and continuing until the end of it) and continuously (all year round, independent of the pollen season) in children allergic to grass pollen.

Methods: Sixty children aged 6-18, sensitive only to grass pollen, with rhinitis (20 patients had concomitant asthma) participated in the 2-year prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Pediatric asthma caregiver's quality of life questionnaire is a useful tool for monitoring asthma in children.

Purpose: There is little agreement among researchers whether a caregiver's QOL can be used to detect changes in asthma severity in children. We assessed correlation between QOL in parents and QOL in children with asthma as well as clinical parameters of asthma. We determined whether changes in caregiver's QOL scores reflect changes in child's QOL and their asthma control.

The association between fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and cat dander in asthmatic children.

Background: The aim of our study was to assess risk factors of increased FeNO in asthmatic children with no cat at home.

Methods: It was a retrospective, cross-sectional study. We evaluated data from medical documentation of children with asthma: FeNO results, allergen sensitization, seasonal allergen exposure, FEV(1), allergic rhinitis (AR) diagnosis and cat presence at home.

An increasing trend of the delay in asthma diagnosis after the discontinuation of a population-based intervention.

Background: We have previously analyzed the delay in asthma diagnosis in children from the cohort of Asthma Prevention Program in Lodz Province, Poland. That community-based intervention focused mainly on the improvement in access to specialists. The aim of this study was reevaluation of the timelines of all recent asthma diagnoses (N = 500) in children referred to our clinic after the discontinuation of the program, that is, in the time span from 2004 to 2009.

One-year follow-up of clinical and inflammatory parameters in children allergic to grass pollen receiving high-dose ultrarush sublingual immunotherapy.

Background: In a previous double-blind placebo-controlled study, we analyzed a high-dose sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) ultrarush protocol in asthmatic children monosensitized to grass pollen. In the present open-label study, we assessed the effect of SLIT on symptom score and nonspecific bronchial hyperreactivity in the same cohort followed for 1 subsequent year.

Methods: The study population comprised 35 children who were enrolled in our previous study.

Inhaled corticosteroids may have a beneficial effect on bone metabolism in newly diagnosed asthmatic children.

Background: The adverse effect of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) treatment on bone metabolism in children with asthma is still controversial, and a possible beneficial effect of vitamin D added to ICS on bone turnover is uncertain.

Objective: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, 6-month trial to assess the effects of a medium and high dose of ICS and a high-dose ICS with vitamin D on bone metabolism in children with newly diagnosed atopic asthma.

Methods: 96 children were equally randomized to 4 groups receiving the following doses of inhaled budesonide [μg/day]: 400 (ICS 400 group), 800 (ICS 800 group), 800 with oral vitamin D (ICS 800 with vit D group), and montelukast as a control (control group).

Polymorphisms in RAD51, XRCC2 and XRCC3 genes of the homologous recombination repair in colorectal cancer--a case control study.

XRCC2 and XRCC3 proteins are structurally and functionally related to RAD51 which play an important role in the homologous recombination, the process frequently involved in cancer transformation. In our previous work we show that the 135G>C polymorphism (rs1801320) of the RAD51 gene can modify the effect of the Thr241Met polymorphism (rs861539) of the XRCC3 gene. We tested the association between the 135G>C polymorphism of the RAD51 gene, the Thr241Met polymorphism of the XRCC3 gene and the Arg188His polymorphism (rs3218536) of the XRCC2 gene and colorectal cancer risk and clinicopathological parameters.

Intracranial occlusions and internal carotid artery stenoses: clinical implications.

Background: The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of intracranial stenoses or occlusions on the outcome of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in patients with internal carotid artery stenosis. The authors also searched for internal carotid artery plaque's morphology influence on the atherosclerotic process in intracranial arteries.

Methods: The study included 154 patients who underwent angiography and CEA.