Effect of deferoxamine and L-arginine treatment on lipid peroxidation in an intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion model in rats.

This study investigated lipid peroxidation (LPO) changes during intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion with and without deferoxamine or L-arginine treatment. White Wistar rats were allotted into four groups as follows: sham-operated (Group SOP), ischaemia-reperfusion only (Group I/R), I/R with deferoxamine (Group D) or L-arginine (Group A) treatment. Concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), overall concentration of malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxy-alkenals (LPO586), activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) of the jejunal homogenates were determined. The same analytes except LPO586 were assayed in RBC haemolysates. Measurements of ferric reducing ability (FRAP), total antioxidant status (TAS) and nitric oxide (NO) concentrations of plasma samples were also completed. The only significant change observed in the SOP group was an increased SOD activity after the ischaemic period. In the I/R group significant increase of intestinal LPO586 concentration was observed during hypoxia that was followed by similar changes in intestinal and RBC TBARS and plasma FRAP values upon reperfusion. In Group D the intestinal TBARS and LPO586 concentrations were significantly lower while FRAP and NO concentrations were significantly higher compared to the I/R group. At the same time RBC TBARS concentration and GPX activity significantly decreased within Group D. In Group A the intestinal LPO586 concentration was significantly lower than in the I/R group whilst RBC TBARS concentration showed a similar pattern. Plasma FRAP and NO concentration showed similar changes to those seen in Group D. It is concluded that I/R increased the LPO in the intestinal tissue and altered some parameters of plasma and RBCs, too. Deferoxamine treatment prevented these effects, while the usefulness of L-arginine remained doubtful.

Cardiac digital image loops and multimedia reports over the internet using DICOM.

The authors define an open, scaleable telemedicine architecture to reduce the time of reports delivery and consultation; increasing their simplicity via introducing common image presentation, storage and telecommunication formats and methods for telecardiology. They've developed a software application to implement it introducing the most appropriate digital imaging methods and formats using the latest available technology.

Mental disturbances and perceived complexity of nursing care in medical inpatients: results from a European study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship between mental disturbances - anxiety and depression, somatization and alcohol abuse - on admission to internal medicine units and perceived complexity of care as indicated by the nurse at discharge was studied. The goal was to study the utility of short screeners for mental disturbances to select patients for case-management on admission. DESIGN: The study had a cohort design: patients were included on admission and followed through their hospital stay until discharge. The study was conducted within the framework of the European Biomed 1 Risk Factor study. RESEARCH METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS: In the first 3 days of admission the patients were interviewed by a trained health care professional, who scored the SCL-8D, a somatization questionnaire based on the Whiteley-7 and the CAGE. At discharge, nurses rated the complexity of the patient's care. RESULTS: Patients with high scores on anxiety and depression (SCL-8D) and on somatization received higher ratings on perceived nursing complexity than those with low scores, with and without control for age, severity of illness and chronicity. The actual nursing intensity and medical care utilization, as measured daily by means of a checklist, could not explain these relations. No differences were found between patients with high or low scores on alcohol abuse. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows a potential use of screeners for mental disturbances to detect patients for whom nurses might need additional help. However, mental disturbance is not the sole criterion: functional status and other variables that predict medical and nursing care utilization should be included in a screening strategy for case-management programmes.

Rate of lipid peroxidation in brain and liver tissues and the total antioxidant status of blood plasma in developing chicks.

Age-related changes of tissue lipid peroxidation (LPO) of liver and brain, as well as plasma antioxidant capacity of broiler chicken cockerels were investigated. Tissue LPO was characterised by the spectrophotometric assessment of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Plasma antioxidant power was evaluated by the measurement of total antioxidant status (TAS). Newly hatched broiler chicks had similar TAS value (1.19 mmol/l) as newborns of mammalian species. Significant changes (p < 0.05) were observed in the time course of all parameters. Tissue TBARS concentration was higher in the brain than in the liver at hatching, while the latter organ was found to have more effective antioxidant defence during embryonic life. The concentration of TBARS increased up to the 10th day in the liver but only up to the 21st day in the brain, and the former was accompanied by an approximately 50% decrease of plasma antioxidant capacity. This suggests that the liver plays an important role in forming the antioxidant defence mechanisms of the blood plasma in broiler chicks.

Care complexity in the general hospital: results from a European study.

There is increasing pressure to effectively treat patients with complex care needs from the moment of admission to the general hospital. In this study, the authors developed a measurement strategy for hospital-based care complexity. The authors' four-factor model describes the interrelations between complexity indicators, highlighting differences between length of stay (LOS), objective complexity (such as medications or consultations), complexity ratings by the nurse, and complexity ratings by the doctor. Their findings illustrate limitations in the use of LOS as a sole indicator for care complexity. The authors show how objective and subjective complexity indicators can be used for early and valid detection of patients needing interdisciplinary care.

Risk factors for complex care needs in general medical inpatients: results from a European study.

The authors linked admission risk factors to a series of indicators for complex care delivery to enable detection of patients in need of care coordination at the moment of admission to the general hospital. The authors found 13 risk factors to be predictive of more than one indicator of care complexity. An admission risk screening procedure to detect patients in need of care coordination should focus on these risk factors and should include predictions made by doctors and nurses at admission and information collected from the patient and the medical chart.

COMPRI--an instrument to detect patients with complex care needs: results from a European study.

The authors developed a screening instrument to detect patients in need of complex care coordination at admission to a general hospital. On the basis of a series of risk factors for care complexity, the authors constructed a short, care complexity prediction instrument (COMPRI) and assessed its qualities. The COMPRI is an easily administered screening instrument that detects patients at risk for complex care needs for whom care coordination is indicated. COMPRI's predictive power exceeds all currently available case-mix instruments.

Biochemical and antioxidant changes in plasma and erythrocytes of pentathlon horses before and after exercise.

Physical exercise in the horse induces a series of normal physiological and biochemical adaptations. Increasing metabolism and oxygen uptake may induce oxidative stress in various organs. The aim of this study was to examine exercise-induced changes in some plasma and RBC biochemical and antioxidant variables in pentathlon horses. Blood samples were taken from 14 horses before, immediately after, and 24 hours after competing in two 1-minute runs of intense exercise over jumps. The peak intensity periods were preceded by a 20-minute warm-up and separated by a 20-minute break. The following plasma biochemical analytes were determined: total protein, uric acid, and lactate concentrations, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) activities. Total antioxidant status (TAS) and the ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) also were measured. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), reduced glutathione (GSH), and total protein concentrations, and glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were determined in RBC hemolysates. Significantly increased concentrations of total protein, lactate, and FRAP, and increased activities of CK and LDH were observed immediately postexercise compared with pre-exercise samples (P<0.05). All results returned to approximately initial values after 24 hours of rest. RBC GSH and TBARS concentrations did not change immediately after exercise, but decreased after 24 hours of rest (P<0.05). Plasma uric acid and FRAP values were positively correlated in a linear model (r = 0.78). In summary, the type of exercise applied in this study, which can be considered quite usual for pentathlon horses, caused detectable biochemical and lipid peroxidative changes in plasma and RBCs. FRAP and TAS values changed in opposite directions, indicating that when antioxidant capacity is assessed using different methods, highly different results may be obtained.

Effects of saturated and unsaturated fats with vitamin E supplementation on the antioxidant status of broiler chicken tissues.

The influence of fish oil (highly unsaturated) and beef tallow (highly saturated) with vitamin E (100 IU/kg) supplementation on the antioxidant status of broiler chicken cockerels was investigated. Chicks were fed a control diet with no added fat, 40 g/kg each of fish oil and beef tallow diets, respectively, from 11 to 42 days of age. Tocopherol concentration and the rate of lipid peroxidation, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) in liver, fatty acid composition of the liver lipids, blood serum total antioxidant status (TAS), and reduced glutathione (GSH) content were determined. Vitamin E supplementation of the diet increased liver alpha-tocopherol content in chicks regardless of the type of dietary fat. Fish oil diet resulted in higher liver TBARS value while beef tallow diet showed lower values compared to the control diet. Vitamin E supplementation reduced liver TBARS as well as serum GSH, and raised serum TAS for all diets. Serum GSH was the same for vitamin E supplemented diets regardless of the fat supplement. Fish oil diets resulted in a significant increase in hepatic lipid n-3 PUFA content. A significant positive correlation was found between liver TBARS and n-3 PUFA content. No relationships were established, however, between liver TBARS and n-6 PUFA or saturated fatty acids. The results suggest that feeding oils rich in n-3 PUFA increases tissue concentration of these fatty acids, consequently increasing tissue lipid peroxidation and reducing the antioxidative status of broiler chickens. Supplementing high levels of vitamin E with such oils may increase tissue oxidative stability. Serum TAS or GSH may be used as a measure of antioxidative status in chickens.

DICOM extensions for narrow-band networks.

DICOM is today's de-facto standard for exchanging medical images. Since new image acquisition devices produce more and more image and non-image data, image compression has become an important part of the standard. However, the compression of non-pixel data also stored in DICOM data sets has been disregarded up to now. In the scope of an EU research project we have examined a large amount of real-world DICOM images to test whether or not there is a potential for compressing the non-pixel attributes. Especially for use with narrow-band networks extensions as proposed in this paper could be a solution to save valuable bandwidth.

Structural order of membranes and composition of phospholipids in fish brain cells during thermal acclimatization.

A comparison of the structural orders of membranes of a mixed brain-cell population isolated from Cyprinus carpio L. acclimated to either summer (23-25 degrees C) or winter (5 degrees C) revealed a high degree of compensation (80%) for temperature, as assayed by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The cells rapidly forget their thermal history and adjust the physical properties of the membranes when shifted to the other extreme of temperature either in vivo or in vitro. Phospholipids separated from both types of animals exhibit only around 10% compensation. Arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids are the major polyunsaturated fatty acids in the brains, but the fatty acid composition of the brain total phospholipids does not vary with adaptation to temperature. Separation of phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanolamines into molecular species revealed a 2- to 3-fold accumulation of 18:1/22:6, 18:1/20:4, and 18:1/18:1 species in the latter; 18:0/22:6 showed an opposite tendency. Molecular species composition of phosphatidylcholines did not vary with the temperature. The same trends of changes were seen with brains of freshwater fish from subtropical (Catla catla L.) or boreal (Acerina cernua) regions. It is concluded that the gross amount of docosahexaenoic acid (22:6) plays only a minor role in adjusting the membrane physical properties to temperature. Factors other than lipids might be involved in the adaptation processes. Due to their specific molecular architecture, molecules such as 18:1/22:6, 18:1/20:4, or 18:1/18:1 phosphatidylethanolamine might prevent the contraction of membranes in the cold and may provide an environment for some other components involved in the temperature regulation of physical properties of nerve cell membranes.

Complex hydrogenation/oxidation reactions of the water-soluble hydrogenation catalyst palladium di (sodium alizarinmonosulfonate) and details of homogeneous hydrogenation of lipids in isolated biomembranes and living cells.

Palladium di (sodium alizarinmonosulfonate) is a highly efficient catalyst for the hydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids esterified in lipids of model or biological membranes, enabling the study of the relationship between function and the physical state of membranes. However, the catalyst shows a complex behavior in the action of molecular hydrogen and oxygen, giving rise to the formation of at least four products. Two of these are free radicals. Owing to this complexity, precise control of the reaction requires pretreatment of the catalyst. When partial hydrogenation of the palladium complex is followed by air oxidation, a catalyst solution is produced which is stable on air and maintains catalytic hydrogenation activity for several days. This form of the catalyst induces hydrogenation of unsaturated lipids with no induction period making a strict timing of the procedure possible. Of the several other factors affecting the outcome of membrane hydrogenations, one of the most important is the accessibility to the catalyst of particular membrane regions or lipid pools. Differences in accessibility may arise as a consequence of different local microviscosities or their change during hydrogenation, of the appearance of distinct liquid crystalline phases, and of strong protein-lipid interactions. Obviously, in case of whole-cell hydrogenations, the accessibility is influenced by the spatial separation of the organelles, as well.