Short term oxidative DNA damage by hyperbaric oxygenation in patients with chronic leg ulcers.

INTRODUCTION: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) is successfully used for the treatment of a variety of conditions and diseases. HBO therapy can be valuable for treating selected cases of hypoxic diabetic leg ulcers and chronic venous insufficiency. Exposure to high concentration of oxygen is known to induce damage to cells, possibly due to an increased oxygen radical production. Reactive oxygen species also cause DNA damage. METHOD: The Comet assay method has been used to determine DNA damage. Number of DNA strand breaks obtained by the single cell gel electrophoresis in nucleuses of lymphocytes was isolated from venous blood. Nucleuses of lymphocytes were incubated by bacterial repair endonucleases, which detect and remove damaged parts of DNA (SBs, FPG, AlcA, ENDO, and H2O2). MATERIAL: 27 patients were investigated in this study; diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in 15 of them, and chronic venous insufficiency in 12. They were exposed in average 27 times in a hyperbaric chamber to a pressure of 2.5-3ATA of 100 % oxygen. Lymphocytes were isolated from venous blood before treatment and at different time after treatment (24 hours, 7 days, 14 days, 6 weeks). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Results of DNA damage evaluation at different time periods suggest there are no significant changes if compared to initial DNA damage values. HBO treatment can be used as adjuvant treatment because no significant risk is manifested with this therapy (Tab. 1, Fig. 7, Ref. 52).

[Catamnesis of a group of 84 castrated sexual offenders]. / Katamnézy souboru 84 kastrovaných sexuálních delikventu.

The authors examined 84 castrated sexual delinquents after a 1-15-year interval following castration. 18% of the subjects were capable of occasional sexual intercourse. 21% of the subjects lived in a stable heterosexual partnership. Almost half the men had occasional erections in the morning. More than one third of the group masturbates occasionally. Only three men committed another sexual offence after castration. These offences did not have an aggressive character. From a sub-group of 32 men punished previously on account of non-sexual offences 15, i.e. almost half of them, committed further non-sexual offences. One quarter of the examined subjects had objections to the results of castration. Most frequently because sex was lacking in their life. The authors did not observe serious physical or mental consequences of castration in the examined men. Castration must be considered even nowadays an important part of the therapeutic arsenal in sexual delinquents. It should be performed in those patients who cannot be influenced by other types of treatment.

[Sexual and nonsexual crimes of patients institutionalized for treatment of sex offenses]. / Sexuální a nesexuální kriminalita pacientu ústavní ochranné lécby sexuologické.

The authors compare the sexual and non-sexual criminality of five of the most frequent diagnostic groups of patients having sexuological in-patient treatment: homosexual delinquents, sexual aggressors, delinquents with polymorphous deviate activities, heterosexual peadophils and exhibitionists. The large number of individuals prosecuted for non-sexual crimes in the group (42%) is surprising, although in all diagnostic groups non-sexual delinquency of patients is lower than sexual delinquency. In the sexual sphere the criminal relapse rate is higher in patients with deviant activity (exhibitionists, sexual aggressors and polymorphous deviant subjects), in the non-sexual sphere in patients with deviations as regards the object (in particular in homosexuals). The results provide evidence of the necessity of more widely conceived provisions within the framework of the therapeutic and preventive approach to this type of patients.