Reproducibility of 'COST reference microplasma jets'.

Atmospheric pressure plasmas have been ground-breaking for plasma science and technologies, due to their significant application potential in many fields, including medicinal, biological, and environmental applications. This is predominantly due to their efficient production and delivery of chemically reactive species under ambient conditions. One of the challenges in progressing the field is comparing plasma sources and results across the community and the literature. To address this a reference plasma source was established during the 'biomedical applications of atmospheric pressure plasmas' EU COST Action MP1101. It is crucial that reference sources are reproducible. Here, we present the reproducibility and variance across multiple sources through examining various characteristics, including: absolute atomic oxygen densities, absolute ozone densities, electrical characteristics, optical emission spectroscopy, temperature measurements, and bactericidal activity. The measurements demonstrate that the tested COST jets are mainly reproducible within the intrinsic uncertainty of each measurement technique.

[The etiologic diagnostics of rhinosinusitis using clinical laboratory methods].

The examination was applied to 81 children aged 5-15 years, including 64 children with diagnosis of rhinosinusitis. The control group consisted of 17 healthy children. The set of laboratory clinical diagnostic techniques was applied to detect the causes of pathology. It is established that children with rhinosinusitis suffered from concurrent bacterial and virus infections. The morphologic presentation of mucous membrane of nasal cavity reflects the etiologic factor and the stage of inflammatory process. The detection of concentration of IL-4, IL-6 and IL-8 of blood serum gives a possibility to diagnose children with combined mechanisms of development of rhinosinusitis.

[Hormones, cytokines and macroglobulines in blood of women with autoimmune thyroid diseases].

AIM: To study proportions of hormones, cytokines and macroglobulins in autoimmune thyroid diseases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Participants of the study were 28 females aged 43 +/- 5 years with diffuse toxic goiter (DTG), 31 females aged 41 +/- 6 years with autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) and 26 controls (n = 26) free of thyroid pathology aged 40 +/- 4 years. DTG and AIT diagnoses were confirmed by ultrasound and laboratory examinations. RESULTS: Both autoimmune diseases were accompanied by a significant rise of serum IL-6 and fall of TNF-alpha levels vs those in the controls. In AIT interferon-gamma was higher than in DTG while in DTG alpha-2-macroglobulin rose higher but TNF-alpha reduced more than in AIT. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that an elevated level of interferon-gamma in AIT contributes to blockade of endocytosis of peptid hormones and cytokines transported by macroglobulins. Overproduction of IL-6 in DTG may be caused by deficiency of its antagonist--TNF-gamma leading to an increase in macroglobulin concentration, its gene inductor is the above interleukin.

Postradiation prostatic sarcoma: de novo carcinogenesis or dedifferentiation of prostatic adenocarcinoma?

Postradiation sarcoma (PRS) of the prostate is rare. We describe the second case associated with brachytherapy for adenocarcinoma and review the literature on prior cases of PRS as well as carcinosarcoma, a dedifferentiated form ofadenocarcinoma that may be confused with true prostate sarcoma. It is clear that radiation to the prostate confers a significantly increased risk for subsequent sarcoma, although not within the prostate. Because many of the reported cases of PRS were admixed with adenocarcinoma and had relatively short latency periods, we conclude that these cases of PRS ofthe prostate are, in fact, carcinosarcoma. Therefore, with only one case reported following therapeutic irradiation, PRS of the prostate is extremely rare.