ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To explore individual variations in visibility of the fat planes between the pancreatic parenchyma and adjacent organs and blood vessels using the multi-detector-computed tomography (MDCT). METHODS: Abdominal contrast-enhanced MDCT examinations of 520 consecutive adult individuals were retrospectively analysed by exploring the presence of visible fat planes between the healthy pancreas and the following surrounding structures: stomach, descending duodenum (D2), splenic, portal, superior mesenteric vein (SV, PV, SMV), inferior vena cava (IVC), and coeliac trunk, common hepatic and superior mesenteric artery (CT, HA and SMA). Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rS) was used to assess the correlation of individual gender, age, body mass and BMI, and visible fat planes towards particular surrounding structures. RESULTS: Fat planes between the pancreatic parenchyma and surrounding structures was visible as follows: stomach in 76%, D2 11.7%, SV 51.5%, PV 0%, SMV 28.8%, IVC 80.8%, CT 99.4%, HA 90.4% and SMA in 100% participants. The presence of visible fat planes significantly correlated (p < 0.001) with body mass for stomach (rS = 0.367), D2 (rS = 0.247), SV (rS = 0.355), SMV (rS = 0.384) and IVC (rS = 0.259); BMI for stomach (rS = 0.292), SV (rS = 0.248), SMV (rS = 0.290) and IVC (rS = 0.216); age for D2 (rS = 0.363), SV (rS = 0.276) and SMV (rS = 0.409); and male gender for stomach (rS = 0.160) and SV (rS = 0.198). CONCLUSION: Fat planes around the pancreatic parenchyma in the MDCT scan was almost always visible towards the adjacent magistral visceral arteries and IVC, always invisible towards the PV, and variably visible towards the SV, SMV, stomach and duodenum depending on the individual body mass, BMI, age and gender.
Subject(s)
Abdominal Fat/diagnostic imaging , Anatomy, Cross-Sectional , Biological Variation, Population , Pancreas/anatomy & histology , Abdominal Fat/blood supply , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Celiac Artery/diagnostic imaging , Contrast Media/administration & dosage , Duodenum/blood supply , Duodenum/diagnostic imaging , Female , Hepatic Artery/diagnostic imaging , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Multidetector Computed Tomography , Pancreas/diagnostic imaging , Portal System/diagnostic imaging , Retrospective Studies , Sex Factors , Stomach/blood supply , Stomach/diagnostic imaging , Vena Cava, Inferior/diagnostic imaging , Young AdultSubject(s)
Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1/complications , Neoplasms, Multiple Primary , Pancreatic Neoplasms/complications , Pituitary Neoplasms/complications , Vipoma/complications , Adolescent , Diarrhea/etiology , Humans , Male , Neoplasms, Multiple Primary/diagnostic imaging , Pancreatic Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Pancreatic Neoplasms/surgery , Pituitary Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Radiography , Vipoma/diagnostic imaging , Vipoma/surgeryABSTRACT
The prevalidation strategy was applied to evaluate UV-vis spectrophotometric procedure with Folin-Ciocalteu's reagent for polyphenols determination. Favourable prevalidation characteristics verified this procedure as a valuable tool in polyphenols analysis and it was successfully applied for determination of total polyphenols and tannins in leaves, stems and flowers of Plantago L. species growing in Croatia. The results showed the variety of total polyphenols content between different plant parts (leaves: up to 10.15%; stems: up to 4.34% and flowers: up to 5.56%). The content of tannins in stems was from 0.28% to 1.00%, while leaves and flowers contained tannins in concentrations of 2.26% and 2.21%, respectively. The results of polyphenols determination were evaluated by using multivariate analysis (UPGMA and PCA) as a contribution to elucidation of relations between different taxa of genus Plantago L.
Subject(s)
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical/methods , Flavonoids/analysis , Phenols/analysis , Plantago/metabolism , Spectrophotometry/methods , Drug Industry/methods , Flavonoids/chemistry , Models, Theoretical , Multivariate Analysis , Phenols/chemistry , Phylogeny , Plant Leaves/metabolism , Polyphenols , Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet/methods , Tannins/analysis , Ultraviolet RaysABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of the study is detection and evaluation of the abdominal and gastrointestinal infective foci using 99mTc-ciprofloxacin (Laboratory for radioactive isotopes, Vinca). METHODOLOGY: In total 21 patients with clinical suspicion on abdominal or gastrointestinal infection were investigated. In all the patients, planar liver/spleen scintigraphy was performed. Ciprofloxacin chloride (3.5 mg) was mixed with 555 MBq of 99mTc in 3 mL of physiological solution and incubated for 20 min. After slow i.v. injection in a cubital vein, dynamic acquisition (1 f/min) was performed during the first 60 min in the position of interest, followed by static acquisition (500,000 imp) anterior and posterior view, abdomen and pelvis after 1 h and 4 h in all patients. When necessary, additional scintigrams were acquired after 24 h. In all the patients with negative or equivocal findings of planar scintigraphy, emission computerized tomography (SPECT) was performed (60 positions, 6 degrees). Interpretation was made by three independent observers. Additional data were provided using clinical findings, ultrasonography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, laboratory analyses, and surgical or microbiological confirmation of infection. RESULTS: There were eleven true-positive findings, seven true negative, two were false negative while one was false positive due to intestinal obstruction. Sensitivity was 79%, specificity 91%, positive predictive value 92%, negative predictive value 77%, accuracy 84%. CONCLUSIONS: According to our results, scintigraphy with radiolabeled ciprofloxacin is a useful method for detection and assessment of exact localization of abdominal and gastrointestinal infections.
Subject(s)
Abdomen/diagnostic imaging , Bacterial Infections/diagnostic imaging , Ciprofloxacin/analogs & derivatives , Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Organotechnetium Compounds , Bacterial Infections/metabolism , Ciprofloxacin/pharmacokinetics , False Negative Reactions , False Positive Reactions , Gastrointestinal Diseases/metabolism , Humans , Liver/diagnostic imaging , Liver/metabolism , Organotechnetium Compounds/pharmacokinetics , Predictive Value of Tests , Radionuclide Imaging , Sensitivity and Specificity , Spleen/diagnostic imaging , Spleen/metabolism , Tissue DistributionABSTRACT
This study was performed to identify the source of contamination of dialysate with trace elements which had been observed in some haemodialysis centres in Slovenia. A possible explanation of this phenomenon was adsorption-desorption processes occurring on the plastic tubing in which dialysate was circulating in the haemodialysis monitors during dialysis. To confirm this, contamination of tubing with trace elements was simulated in vitro. After contamination, acetate or bicarbonate dialysates were prepared by the conventional procedure and samples of each dialysate collected in 1 ml fractions. Trace elements were measured by atomic absorption spectrometry. The haemodialysis tubing was contaminated for 0.5 or 4.5 h with 1.85 or 7.41 mumol/l of aluminium, 38.24 or 76.48 mumol/l of zinc and 7.87 or 15.74 mumol/l of copper. Steady state concentrations were reached after 5 min and ranged for aluminium from 0.18 to 0.67 mumol/l, for zinc from 0.31 to 0.92 mumol/l and for copper from 0.13 to 0.28 mumol/l in acetate dialysate, and 0.15 to 0.56 mumol/l of aluminium, 0.46 to 1.53 mumol/l of zinc and 0.06 to 0.47 mumol/l of copper in bicarbonate dialysate. The results suggested that adsorption-desorption processes are a probable source of contamination of the dialysate that could affect the health of haemodialysis patients.
Subject(s)
Aluminum/chemistry , Copper/chemistry , Equipment Contamination , Plastics/chemistry , Renal Dialysis/instrumentation , Zinc/chemistry , Adsorption , Dialysis Solutions , Drug ContaminationABSTRACT
A group of 26 patients with the diagnosis of Senile Dementia of Alzheimer type (SDAT) was included by random assignment in a double-blind, cross-over trial of pyritinol versus placebo. The patients had a mild to moderate degree of dementia. Psychiatric and neurological examination, psychometric testing, and measurement of the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) at rest and during mental activation were used to assess treatment effects. The results of the study showed that pyritinol was associated with a significant improvement in cognitive performance. RCBF data showed that treatment with pyritinol normalized the pattern of blood flow increase during activation and improved the score on the test used for activation.
Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease/drug therapy , Cerebrovascular Circulation/drug effects , Neuropsychological Tests , Pyridines/therapeutic use , Pyrithioxin/therapeutic use , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Alzheimer Disease/psychology , Arousal/drug effects , Cerebral Cortex/blood supply , Double-Blind Method , Female , Humans , Male , Mental Processes/drug effects , Randomized Controlled Trials as TopicABSTRACT
Twenty-three individuals exposed to mixed organic solvents were compared with 23 nonexposed controls on a number of cognitive performance tasks. Solvent exposure resulted in a significantly poorer performance on the forward digit span test, copying of a complex figure, and on semantic memory tests which also measure individual's ability to integrate linguistic information into cohesive units. These tasks rely heavily upon short-term memory and its integrative operations in higher cognitive function. Acute exposure effect was also observed for the linguistic integrative task.
Subject(s)
Air Pollutants, Occupational/toxicity , Cognition/drug effects , Environmental Exposure , Solvents/toxicity , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Psychological Tests , Reference ValuesABSTRACT
Following contemporary trends, the author discusses questions and dilemmas of today's medical practice in relation to the patient, society, and generally in relation to positive and well known ethical principles. He is advocating a positive influence of the society on medicine as a science and on its practice. The impact of modern technology upon the physician-patient relationship and the new ethical dilemmas posed by advances in such technology is also discussed. The author cautiously accepts randomized clinical trials, with a necessary presence of uninvolved physicians with an interest in medical ethics, but he refuses to accept euthanasia as an ethically correct act, not only for physicians but for other professionals as well. Euthanasia should be replaced with a fight against pain, both physical and mental. The advantages of physicians in medical practice should not be underestimated especially in the assessment of scientific work and ethical codes of behavior as they relate to the practice of medicine. They should know better than other health care professionals what is good for the health of their patients.
Subject(s)
Ethics, Medical , Biotechnology , Humans , Physician-Patient RelationsABSTRACT
The antihypertensive efficacy and safety of lisinopril (L), a novel ACE inhibitor, was compared to captopril (C), the known and already approved drug in our country in a multicenter double-blind Yugoslav trial. The study included 91 mild-to-moderate hypertensive patients of both sexes. Forty-six patients were randomized to receive captopril and 45 lisinopril. After a 2 week placebo, the examinees were administered either L in increasing dose of 10, 20, or 40 mg per day (amount necessary to achieve normotension), or C in a dosage of 25, 50, or 100 mg per day. During the 8 week formal trial L decreased the systolic blood pressure by an average of 14.9% from the initial values, and the diastolic pressure by some 15.2%. The same parameters were lowered on C by 11.2%, and 11.7%, respectively. Although the L effects were more pronounced, the observed differences did not reach the level of statistical significance (except for the dose-to-normotension relationship which was significantly better in the L group). It is concluded that both ACEIs under study showed comparable efficacy and tolerability, L being marginally more potent, and longer acting.
Subject(s)
Antihypertensive Agents/therapeutic use , Captopril/therapeutic use , Enalapril/analogs & derivatives , Hypertension/drug therapy , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Blood Pressure/drug effects , Double-Blind Method , Enalapril/therapeutic use , Humans , Hypertension/physiopathology , Lisinopril , Middle Aged , Prospective StudiesABSTRACT
Since the organization of CINDI (Countrywide Integrated Non-Communicable Disease Intervention Programme) and MONICA (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease) in 1983 over the whole territory of Novi Sad community it has been found that the incidence of stroke has decreased from 2.68 to 2.36%, the mortality from 67.1 to 42.2% and the number of registered stroke survivors (morbidity prevalence) has increased almost three times. The subjects, material and methods as well as the results obtained so far are presented in this paper.