Assessment of the Concentration of 51 Elements in the Liver and in Various Parts of the Human Brain-Profiling of the Mineral Status.

The anthropogenic environment and diet introduce many metals into the human body, both essential and toxic. Absorption leads to systemic exposure and accumulation in body fluids and tissues. Both excess and deficiency of trace elements are health hazards. The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate the concentration of 51 elements in liver samples and 11 selected brain regions obtained at post-mortem examination from a population of adults living in south-eastern Poland (n = 15). A total of 180 analyses were performed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in two independent replicates. The collected data show very high individual variability in the content of the investigated elements. Macroelements such as sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, and zinc occurred in the highest concentrations and with the greatest statistically significant variations. Although the elemental content of the brain and liver differed significantly, the strongest positive correlation between liver and polus frontalis was observed for the essential element selenium (0.9338) and the strongest negative one for manganese (-0.4316) and lanthanum (-0.5110). The brain areas studied have different requirements for phosphorus, manganese, iron, and molybdenum. In addition, males had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher brain content of lanthanides and actinides than females. The results of this study show that the inhabitants of south-eastern Poland are exposed to a fairly uniform accumulation of aluminum and vanadium in the brain, which have the highest affinity to the thalamus dorsalis. This result proves that there is environmental exposure to these elements.

The assessment of lenticulostriate arteries originating from middle cerebral artery using ultra high-field magnetic resonance time-of-flight angiography.

Time-of-flight angiography (ToF) was presented for the first time by Suryan and used by Hinshaw et al. This protocol allows to visualize blood flow within the vessels in vivo without the contrast administration, which is possible due to the large magnitude of magnetization, received from the moving spins and small magnitude of magnetization received from the stationary spins. Fourteen participants (male:female = 7:7) were analyzed, who have never been diagnosed with any central nervous system disease as well as any cardiovascular, metabolic disease and have never had any trauma. Although, the gold standard of cerebral vessel analysis is still DSA, ultra high-field 3D ToF-MRA shows clearer picture of all LSAs and the branches of LSAs in comparison to poor in contrast DSA imaging. Ultra high-field time-of-flight MRA is a valuable method in visualizing small perforating arteries, which can be used in the future as a diagnostic tool for clinical practice. The diversity of LSAs morphometry is vast and may alter during aging, thus the clinical anatomy of those vessels should be further investigated in vivo.

Assessment of the correlation between gender, age, body mass index and the severity of postoperative pain, nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

UNLABELLED: Obesity has become one of the leading epidemic diseases in the world. Obesity is acknowledged as a risk factor for postoperative pain, nausea and vomiting (PONV), especially in obese patients undergoing laparoscopic procedures. AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation between gender, age, BMI values and the severity of postoperative pain and PONV in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study enrolled 244 patients with cholelithiasis who underwent scheduled laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Patients were assigned to 3 groups according to BMI values. Patients were assessed for the presence of PONV and severity of pain in the 6(th) and 24(th) hour after surgery. RESULTS: BPONV was reported more frequently in female than in male patients in the 1(st) time period. In the first time point the postoperative pain was significantly higher in group O in comparison to group H and N. Postoperative pain significantly decreased in the 24(th) postoperative hour in comparison to its level assessed in the 6th postoperative hour in all three groups. CONCLUSIONS: Female gender is a risk factor of PONV, so women should receive antiemetic prophylactic. There is a positive relationship between BMI and postoperative pain, so obese patients undergoing laparoscopic procedures should receive prophylactic application of analgesic drugs.

Semi-automated kinetic perimetry provides additional information to static automated perimetry in the assessment of the remaining visual field in end-stage glaucoma.

PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis whether semi-automated kinetic perimetry (SKP) provides additional information to static automated perimetry (SAP) in the assessment of the remaining visual field in end-stage glaucoma, as defined by disc appearance (cup-to-disc ratio worse than 0.9) and SAP criteria (MD worse than 20 dB). METHODS: Fifty eyes of 44 patients presenting with end-stage glaucoma were examined first with SAP within the central 30° using stimulus size III, followed by SKP within 90° using test targets III4e and V4e. RESULTS: Overall, SKP provided additional information over SAP in more than half (54%) of the cases. In 16 instances (32%), SKP revealed visual field island beyond 30° that was undetected by SAP. In eight cases (16%), SKP showed both a central island and peripheral island of visual field. In three cases (6%) altitudinal scotomatous loss was found using SKP, but not in SAP. In 23 cases (46%) the central visual field island was defined both with SAP and SKP. The mean examination duration was 4 min for SAP and 9 min for SKP. CONCLUSIONS: In clinical practice, SKP with III4e and V4e test targets provides more information than 30° SAP regarding the remaining peripheral VF in patients with end-stage glaucoma; however, a longer test time is required for SKP.

Assessment of a gastric arterial network for oesophageal substitute by means of pulse oximetry.

Insufficient vascularisation of substitutes in the operative reconstruction of the oesophagus is one of the main causes of the occurrence of anastomotic leaks. In the present study, the blood oxygenation of gastric substitutes for the oesophagus was evaluated before and during the reconstruction. A pulse oximeter was used for the assessment (S&J Medico Teknik AIS, Albertslund, Denmark). Oxygenation in the examined places ranged from 79% to 98%. The values of blood oxygenation in places C1 (fundus of the stomach after the formation of the substitute) and C2 (fundus of the stomach after the formation and stretching of the substitute) were significantly lower than those in analogous places in the stomach before the transformation (C/C1 p < 0.02; C/C2 p < 0.03, Fisher test). There were no correlations between pulse oximetry values observed and the presence of anastomosis leak.