Self-rated health, subjective social status, and middle-aged mortality in a changing society.

In this study, the authors examined the relationships between self-rated health and subjective and objective socioeconomic status (as measured by income and education) in relation to middle-aged mortality differences in men and women across 20 counties in Hungary through a cross-sectional, ecological study. The authors interviewed 12,643 people in a Hungarostudy 2002 survey, profiling the Hungarian population according to gender, age, and county. They found that mean self-rated health and self-rated disability at the county level were significantly associated with middle-aged mortality differences among counties, with male mortality more closely associated with self-rated health.

Improving control of hypertension by an integrated approach -- results of the 'Manage it well!' programme.

Background: Patient non-compliance is a significant contributor to poor blood pressure control. Although measures to improve compliance are known, they are not in routine use.

Objective: To apply measures based on current recommendations in an integrated approach in the 'Manage it well!' (MIW) programme, and to determine the improvement in blood pressure control.

Possible therapeutic targets in cardiac myocyte apoptosis.

Since Kerr described programmed cell death (apoptosis) as a process distinct from necrosis, there have been many studies of apoptosis in disease, especially of immunological origin. Because cardiac myocytes are terminally differentiated cells, they have typically been assumed to die exclusively by necrosis. However, during the last decade this view has been challenged by several studies demonstrating that a significant number of cardiac myocytes undergo apoptosis in myocardial infarction, heart failure, myocarditis, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, and immune rejection after cardiac transplantation, as well as in other conditions of stress.

Epidemiological studies on adverse dieting behaviours and eating disorders among young people in Hungary.

Background: Most results on the prevalence rates of eating disorders and related adverse dieting attitudes have been published in North America and Western Europe and there have been only a few pioneering surveys conducted in Central and Eastern Europe in this domain. The authors investigated the prevalence rates for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and related adverse dieting attitudes and eating behaviours among secondary school and college students in Budapest and Pécs in the second half of the 1990s.

Methods: In the process of a two-stage study, a series of internationally approved tests were carried out as a screening examination and a semi-structured diagnostic interview was conducted.

Animal-assisted therapy for middle-aged schizophrenic patients living in a social institution. A pilot study.

Objectives: To determine whether animal-assisted therapy is effective in the rehabilitation of middle-aged schizophrenic patients living in a social institution.

Design: A before and after study with nine-month treatment period.

Setting: Social institute for psychiatric patients.

Ocadaic acid treatment causes tyrosine phosphorylation of caveolin-2 and induces internalization of caveolae in rat peritoneal macrophages.

In this paper, we provide evidences that protein phosphatases could regulate the internalization cycle of caveolae in rat peritoneal cells. Ocadaic acid (OA)--a serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor--was used in various concentrations (4 and 100 nM) to study the internalization of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in resident and elicited macrophages. We have found that OA in both concentrations has significantly decreased HRP uptake in resident and elicited cells.

IL-9 increases the expression of several cytokines in activated mast cells, while the IL-9-induced IL-9 production is inhibited in mast cells of histamine-free transgenic mice.

Histamine and IL-9 are suspected to play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthmatic and allergic reactions. Mast cells store a large amount of histamine in their granules and are capable of producing different cytokines upon stimulation. In this study we show that mast cells stimulated by IL-9 and ionomycin or IL-9 and antigen-specific IgE/antigen express several cytokines at mRNA level, among them are IL-5, IL-4, IL-10, IL-9, IL-13, IL-1beta, IL-1Ra, IL-6 and MIF.

Plant-derived protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors as anticancer agents.

Protein tyrosine kinases play a fundamental role in signal transduction pathways regulating a number of cellular functions such as cell growth, differentiation and cell death. Tyrosine kinases are, therefore attractive targets for the design of new therapeutic agents, not only against cancer, but also against many other diseases. Numerous tyrosine kinase inhibitors have been discovered by screening of plant extracts based on ethnopharmacological and chemotaxonomical knowledge.

Prolonged impact of five imprinters on the serotonin content of white blood cells and mast cells of weanling rats: outstanding effect of benzpyrene and chlorpheniramine.

In previous experiments, treatment at weaning or adult age with endorphin, serotonin or an antihistamine (late hormonal imprinting) durably influenced the serotonin content of white blood cells and mast cells of rat. In the present experiments, five molecule (approved imprinters in other indexes) were studied for imprinting effect of immune cells, 3 weeks after a single treatment at weaning. Three steroid hormone-like molecule (vitamin D3, mifepristone and dexamethasone) were ineffective (except dexamethasone in 1/4 indexes), while benzpyrene (aromatic hydrocarbon) and chlorpheniramine (H1-receptor blocker antihistamine) were highly effective (5/6 and 4/4 respectively).

Efferent connections of septal nuclei of the domestic chick (Gallus domesticus): an anterograde pathway tracing study with a bearing on functional circuits.

Small iontophoretic injections of the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin were placed in different subregions of the septum of domestic chicks. The main targets of septal projections comprised the ipsi- and contralateral septal nuclei, including the nucleus of the diagonal band, basal ganglia, including the ventral paleostriatum, lobus parolfactorius, nucleus accumbens, and olfactory tubercle, archistriatum, piriform cortex, and anterior neostriatum. Further diencephalic and mesencephalic septal projections were observed in the ipsilateral preoptic region, hypothalamus (the main regions of afferentation comprising the lateral hypothalamic nuclei, ventromedial, paraventricular and periventricular nuclei, and the mammillary region), dorsal thalamus, medial habenular and subhabenular nuclei, midbrain central gray, and ventral tegmental area.

Long-term results with different bone substitutes used for sinus floor elevation.

One of the surgical procedures preceding implantation is elevation of the base of the maxillary sinus. Numerous bone substituting materials (grafts) may be used for this purpose, including autogenous bone, heterografts, xenogenous bone, and synthetic materials alone or in combination or mixed with growth factors and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) preparations. A study of the frequencies of the failures (graft material resorption or implant loss) after sinus elevations with various graft materials or their combinations was conducted.

Repair of bony defect with combination biomaterials.

Background: Numerous possibilities are available for the reconstruction of facial bone defects. The materials used to fill such defects must satisfy various requirements. One of the most important is that they must undergo transformation into autologous bone tissue in the process of remodeling.

Impact of single neonatal serotonin treatment (hormonal imprinting) on the brain serotonin content and sexual behavior of adult rats.

Hormonal imprinting takes place perinatally at the first encounter between the developing receptor and its target hormone. As a consequence of imprinting the receptor accomplishes its maturation and reaches the binding capacity characteristic to the adult age. In the excess of target hormone or presence of molecules similar to the target hormone, which are able to bind to the unmatured receptors, faulty imprinting develops with life-long consequences.

Induction of melatonin synthesis in Tetrahymena pyriformis by hormonal imprinting--a unicellular "factory" of the indoleamine.

Melatonin is present in Tetrahymena and its synthesis can be enhanced by pretreatment (imprinting) with melatonin. Two days after imprinting melatonin level is elevated in the cells and more elevated in the supematant. Such a minute quantity, as 10(-12) M melatonin for 1 hour is able to provoke imprinting, however the effect is more expressed using 10(-6) M.

Characterization of chemotactic ability of peptides containing N-formyl-methionyl residues in Tetrahymena fMLP as a targeting ligand.

The chemotactic effects of six formylated, putatively bacterial peptides (fMLP, fMLPP, fMMM, fMP, fMV, and fMS) were studied. From the set of six peptides, only fMLP (one of the most effective chemoattractant peptides in mammals) elicited a significant positive chemotactic response in the eukaryotic ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis, while the other formylated ligands, e.g.

Immediate DNA ploidy analysis of gastrointestinal biopsies taken by endoscopy using a mechanical dissociation device.

Background: Quantitative DNA analysis of fresh biopsy material can contribute to a more accurate diagnosis and prognosis. The authors aimed to develop and test a mechanical, nuclear preparation protocol for quantitative DNA analysis.

Patients And Methods: Altogether 32 gastric (10 healthy, 17 gastritis, 7 adenocarcinoma) and 48 colon (21 healthy, 20 colitis ulcerosa, 7 adenocarcinoma) biopsy specimens were evaluated.

Ruthenium red inhibits TASK-3 potassium channel by interconnecting glutamate 70 of the two subunits.

TASK channels are highly pH-sensitive two-pore-domain background potassium channels expressed in the central nervous system and in some peripheral tissues. Their current can be regulated by receptor-mediated activation of phospholipase C and also by pharmacological means. We have reported previously that the cationic dye, ruthenium red (RR), inhibited homodimeric TASK-3 (kcnk9), whereas TASK-1 (kcnk3) homodimer and TASK-1/TASK-3 heterodimer were not affected by this compound.

Social capital in a changing society: cross sectional associations with middle aged female and male mortality rates.

Objectives: Social capital has been linked to self rated health and mortality rates. The authors examined the relations between measures of social capital and male/female mortality rates across counties in Hungary.

Design: Cross sectional, ecological study.

Phorbol ester-induced migration of HepG2 cells is accompanied by intensive stress fibre formation, enhanced integrin expression and transient down-regulation of p21-activated kinase 1.

Previously, we observed that phorbol ester induced more intensive scattering of HepG2 human hepatoma cells than hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). Regulatory components accounting for this intensive migration were studied. Phorbol ester-activated protein kinase C induced the early appearance of a great number of actin stress fibres.

Endogenous glutamate contributes to the maintenance of glutathione level under oxidative stress in isolated nerve terminals.

Exposure of isolated nerve terminals to hydrogen peroxide (25-500 microM) for 10 min produced a partially reversible decrease in the total and reduced glutathione level. No release and resynthesis of glutathione by the oxidant was involved in this effect. Loss of reduced glutathione was associated with elimination of H(2)O(2), which was very quick with >70% of the oxidant eliminated within 5 min.

Removal of titanium plates coated with anodic titanium oxide ceramic: retrospective study.

Transformation of the surface of metallic titanium with titanium oxides prepared in various ways is a modern procedure. For more than 15 years, the authors have been utilizing fixing elements coated with titanium oxide ceramics, prepared by anodic oxidation and thermal treatment, for purposes of jawbone osteosynthesis. The aim of the authors' work was to assess the extent to which the titanium oxide ceramic coating influences the fate of the plates used for osteosynthesis within the human organism, in regard to the possible need for their removal.

The influx of serum albumin to enamel matrix in rat incisors after trauma.

The most frequent results of trauma to tooth germs are enamel hypoplasia and enamel hypocalcification. These differing results may be due to the stage of amelogenesis at which trauma occurs. The cellular and biomolecullar events involved in the genesis of these defects are poorly understood.

Serum semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) activity is an independent marker of carotid atherosclerosis.

Background: Clinical and experimental studies suggest that increased activity of semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) and the production of cytotoxic metabolites (e.g., formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide) may play an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.

Extracellular matrix components in breast carcinomas.

A malignant process interferes with the normal 'programme' of extracellular matrix biosynthesis and can modify extensively the structure and composition of the matrix. This effect appears to be attributable to several processes such as direct production of some selected matrix macromolecules by malignant cells or indirectly by the production of factors by malignant cells interfering with the regulation of normal matrix production. Other possibilities may also exist, such as the direct action of an environmental carcinogen on otherwise normal mesenchymal cells.

Renal medullary nitric oxide deficit of Dahl S rats enhances hypertensive actions of angiotensin II.

Studies were designed to examine the hypothesis that the renal medulla of Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl S) rats has a reduced capacity to generate nitric oxide (NO), which diminishes the ability to buffer against the chronic hypertensive effects of small elevations of circulating ANG II. NO synthase (NOS) activity in the outer medulla of Dahl S rats (arginine-citrulline conversion assay) was significantly reduced. This decrease in NOS activity was associated with the downregulation of protein expression of NOS I, NOS II, and NOS III isoforms in this region as determined by Western blot analysis.