Chemical Transformations of Benzyl Alcohol Caused by Atomic Chlorine.

Atomic chlorine present in the polluted troposphere can form potentially carcinogenic compounds as a result of a reaction with a natural product. This paper examines the stability of benzyl alcohol-a natural product commonly found in cosmetics-in interaction with atomic chlorine, which is becoming ever more present in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of its pollution. Research shows that atomic chlorine generated in the gas phase easily penetrates the liquid phase of benzyl alcohol, resulting in the formation of hydrochloric acid. The resulting HCl initiates further transformations of benzyl alcohol. Our study presents the amounts of the reaction products. The quantitative analysis was made using the GC method, and all the products were identified using the GC-MS method. The products include dichloromethyl benzene, 2-chlorobenzyl alcohol, and 3-chlorobenzyl alcohol, which are harmful, but are formed in very small amounts. The harmful substance occurring in a much higher amount is benzyl chloride-that is a product of acidification of benzyl alcohol by HCl.

Reprint of 'A nonlinear parameterization of multivariate electrohysterographical signals'.

Electrohysterography is a technique which measures a bioelectrical activity of a uterus. This paper presents an application of a nonlinear parameterization of multivariate electrohysterographical signals for a uterine activity assessment to improve unsatisfactory a labor prediction accuracy by methods published in literature. A multivariate sample entropy used for differentiated 4-channel electrohysterographical signals, general Spearman's correlation and a combined index being the sum of them, were tested. These nonlinear measures use joint information contained in a multivariate signal. The results confirm that the combined index provides the best assessment of uterine contractions: 87% sensitivity and 50% specificity of labor prediction in the studied data. These results should be verified in a prospective study.

A nonlinear parameterization of multivariate electrohysterographical signals.

Electrohysterography is a technique which measures a bioelectrical activity of a uterus. This paper presents an application of a nonlinear parameterization of multivariate electrohysterographical signals for a uterine activity assessment to improve unsatisfactory a labor prediction accuracy by methods published in the literature. A multivariate sample entropy used for differentiated 4-channel electrohysterographical signals, general Spearman׳s correlation and a combined index being the sum of them, were tested. These nonlinear measures use joint information contained in a multivariate signal. The results confirm that the combined index provides the best assessment of uterine contractions: 87% sensitivity and 50% specificity of labor prediction in the studied data. These results should be verified in a prospective study.

Toll-like receptor 4 gene polymorphism 1196 C/T does not influence the risk of neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus in Polish population--a preliminary report.

OBJECTIVE: Recent data indicate that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) participate in various neuropathologic conditions, including ictogenesis, myelin disruptions associated with chronic alcohol abuse, behavioral and cognitive dysfunctions associated with alcohol-induced neuroinflammatory damage, and activation of microglia to reduce amyloid ß deposits. As seizures and depression are well known neuropsychiatric syndromes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) the aim of the study was to investigate whether TLR4 gene polymorphism 1196C/T (rs4986791, Thr399Ile) was a candidate for susceptibility of development of neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE). METHODS: The study covered 60 patients with SLE and 100 healthy individuals. TLR4 1196C/T genotyping was performed by real-time polymerase chain reaction with the SimpleProbe. RESULTS: The SLE group comprised 86.7% of patients with wild-type homozygotes CC and 13.3% heterozygotes CT and no homozygotes TT. The control group consisted of 85% wild-type homozygotes CC, 15% heterozygotes CT and no homozygotes TT. The frequencies of genotype and allele distribution in SLE patients did not differ significantly from those of the control subjects. The probability of describing the possible risk of SLE imputed to genotype did not significantly differ in comparison with the healthy individuals (p = 0.77, odds ratio = 0.87, 95% confidence interval 0.34-2.19). A significant genotype association of genotype CC with arthritis was found in SLE patients (p = 0.02). It was further confirmed by a significant association of a dominant allele C with arthritis (p = 0.02). No association between CC and CT genotypes of TLR4 1196C/T and NPSLE was found. Allele distribution of TLR4 1196C/T also was not associated with NPSLE. No other significant differences were found in genotype and allele frequencies regarding clinical manifestation of SLE patients. CONCLUSION: In the Polish population of SLE patients, 1196C/T polymorphism of TLR4 gene does not increase the risk of development of NPSLE; however, genotype CC and a dominant allele C is associated with arthritis in the course of SLE.