Investigation of pH and substituent effects on the distribution ratio of novel steroidal ring D- and A-fused arylpyrazole regioisomers and evaluation of their cell-growth inhibitory effects in vitro

Novel androstanopyrazoles have been efficiently synthesized from steroidal β-ketoaldehydes with different arylhydrazine hydrochlorides both under acidic and basic conditions. Knorr-type transformations of 16-hydroxymethylene-dehydroepiandrosterone containing its 1,3-dicarbonyl moiety on ring D, proved to be regioselective in pyridine at room temperature, while mixtures of regioisomers were obtained in acidic EtOH under reflux. Contrarily, the cyclocondensation reactions of 2-hydroxymethylene-dihydrotestosterone bearing its reactive functionalities on ring A, led to a mixture of pyrazole regioisomers in varying ratio depending on the applied medium. The regioisomeric distribution was found to depend on the electronic character of the substituent of the phenylhydrazine applied. After separating the related isomers by column chromatography, they were subjected to in vitro pharmacological studies to investigate their antiproliferative activities against three human breast malignant cell lines (MCF7, T47D, MDA-MB-231). Flow cytometry revealed that the most potent agents elicited a cell cycle disturbance on MDA-MB-231 and T47D cells.

Four-Layer Grapheme Model for Computational Paleography

This article proposes a novel mathematical model of logical relationship among glyphs belonging to the same grapheme. Its research belongs to the computational paleography that is a field in the applied computer science. The proposed grapheme model is presented in four logical layers from bottom to up namely as Topology, Visual Identity, Phonetic, and Semantic Layer. In the Topology Layer, a unique glyph is defined by a set of topological properties. When trying to describe the logical relation of various glyphs, their topological properties must be examined in a higher layer framework so called Visual Identity Layer. In that layer, the glyphs of a single grapheme share some topological attributes in common. These common topological attributes form a main identity of a grapheme, which is called Common Identity template that is obtained by means of Supervised Learning method. The Phonetic Layer gives the sound values associated to the grapheme, and the Semantic Layer describes the usage of the grapheme in texts. Some potential implementations of the grapheme model are also presented.

Microwave-assisted stereoselective approach to novel steroidal ring D-fused 2-pyrazolines and an evaluation of their cell-growth inhibitory effects in vitro

Novel ring D-condensed 2-pyrazolines in the Δ(5)-androstene series were efficiently synthesized from 16-dehydropregnenolone or its acetate with different arylhydrazines or methylhydrazine, respectively, under microwave irradiation. The reactions are assumed to occur via hydrazone intermediates, followed by intramolecular 1,4-addition leading to the fused heteroring stereoselectively with a 16α,17α-cis ring junction. The synthesized compounds were subjected to in vitro pharmacological studies of their antiproliferative activities against four human breast (MCF7, T47D, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-361) and three cervical (HeLa, C33A and SiHA) malignant cell lines. Flow cytometry revealed that the most potent agent elicited a cell cycle disturbance.

[Automated measurement of biomarkers for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction]

INTRODUCTION

Cardiac biomarkers have a prominent role in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

AIM

The aim of the authors was to study the diagnostic effectiveness of automated measurement of cardiac biomarkers.

METHOD

Myeloperoxidase, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, myoglobin, heart-type fatty acid binding protein, creatine kinase, creatine kinase MB, high-sensitivity troponin I and T were measured.

RESULTS

The high-sensitivity troponin I was the most effective (area under curve: 0.86; 95% confidence interval: 0.77-0.95; p<0.001) for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. Considering a critical value of 0.35 ng/mL, its sensitivity and specificity were 81%, and 74%, respectively. Combined evaluation of the high-sensitivity troponin T and I, chest pain, and the electrocardiogram gave the best results for separation of acute myocardial infarction from other diseases (correct classification in 62.5% and 98.9% of patients, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Until a more sensitive and specific cardiac biomarker becomes available, the best method for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction is to evaluate electrocardiogram and biomarker concentration and to repeat them after 3-6 hours.

[Isolated aspartate aminotransferase elevation in a young, healthy person. Case report]

The authors present diagnostic methods used in a young healthy person who had isolated aspartate aminotransferase elevation. Polyethylene glycol precipitation test, aspartate aminotransferase serum electrophoresis and immunofixation were performed for measuring the macro-aspartate aminotransferase. It was found that aspartate aminotransferase activity in the patient was almost completely eliminated after precipitation of immunoglobulins with polyethylene glycol. In addition, aspartate aminotransferase migrated in the control samples to the anode while in the patient towards the cathode. Finally, a wider and more intense staining band was visible in the region of immunoglobulin A in the patient sample on the immunofixation gel as compared to the control sample. The authors conclude that that increased aspartate aminotransferase activity was due to macro formation. The elevated level of immunoglobulin A and selective increase of polyclonal immunoglobulin A (κ and λ light chains) indicated that the macro format was created by immunoglobulin A bound to aspartate aminotransferase.

Number and twistedness of strands in weavings on regular convex polyhedra

This paper deals with two- and threefold weavings on Platonic polyhedral surfaces. Depending on the skewness of the weaving pattern with respect to the edges of the polyhedra, different numbers of closed strands are necessary in a complete weaving. The problem is present in basketry but can be addressed from the aspect of pure geometry (geodesics), graph theory (central circuits of 4-valent graphs) and even structural engineering (fastenings on a closed surface). Numbers of these strands are found to have a periodicity and symmetry, and, in some cases, this number can be predicted directly from the skewness of weaving. In this paper (i) a simple recursive method using symmetry operations is given to find the number of strands of cubic, octahedral and icosahedral weavings for cases where generic symmetry arguments fail; (ii) another simple method is presented to decide whether or not a single closed strand can run along the underlying Platonic without a turn (i.e. the linking number of the two edges of a strand is zero, and so the loop can be stretched to a circle without being twisted); and (iii) the linking number of individual strands in an alternate 'check' weaving pattern is determined.

Comparison of seven estimated glomerular filtration rate equations in kidney patients

Introduction: The degree of glomerular filtration rate determines the stages of chronic renal disease and, therefore, knowledge on its estimation is essential. Aims: Two standardized creatinine based estimated glomerular filtration rate equations and five equations based on the immunoturbidimetric determination of cystatin C were compared. Methods: The distribution of the analytes and the equations, their relations, as well as the differences among the estimated glomerular filtration rates and their chronic kidney disease stages assignments were studied. Results: The equations based on cystatin C classified more patient into stage 1, while the creatinine based ones more into stages 2, 3 and 4. The equations published as Grubb1, Grubb2 and Larsson classified more patients while the equations created by Tan and Sjöström classified fewer into stage 5 compared to the creatinine based equations. The equations of Grubb1 and Grubb2 resulted in the most similar stage assignment. The occurence of stages between 3 and 5 was the lowest using the equation of Sjöström. Conclusions: The different equations for the estimation of glomerular filtration rate modify significantly the chronic kidney disease stage assignment which may have an influence on the treatment and outcome measures of the patients. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 415–425.

A proposed novel method for CHD screening by fetal heart murmur detection using phonocardiography

The paper presents a novel screening method to indicate congenital heart diseases (CHD) which otherwise would remain undetected because of their low level. Therefore, not belonging to the high-risk population, they are omitted from the regular fetal monitoring with ultrasound echocardiography. Based on the fact that CHDs are morphological defects of the heart causing turbulent blood flow, this turbulence appears as a murmur, which can be detected by phonocardiography (PCG). The proposed method applies measurements on the maternal abdomen and from the recorded sound signal a sophisticated processing determines the fetal heart murmur. The paper describes the problems and the additional advantages of the PCG method including the possibility of measurements at home and its combination with the prescribed regular cardiotocographic (CTG) monitoring. The proposed screening process implemented on a telemedicine system provides an enhanced safety against hidden cardiac diseases.

Wrapping the cube and other polyhedra

An infinite series of twofold, two-way weavings of the cube, corresponding to ‘wrappings’, or double covers of the cube, is described with the aid of the two-parameter Goldberg–Coxeter construction. The strands of all such wrappings correspond to the central circuits (CCs) of octahedrites (four-regular polyhedral graphs with square and triangular faces), which for the cube necessarily have octahedral symmetry. Removing the symmetry constraint leads to wrappings of other eight-vertex convex polyhedra. Moreover, wrappings of convex polyhedra with fewer vertices can be generated by generalizing from octahedrites to i -hedrites, which additionally include digonal faces. When the strands of a wrapping correspond to the CCs of a four-regular graph that includes faces of size greater than 4, non-convex ‘crinkled’ wrappings are generated. The various generalizations have implications for activities as diverse as the construction of woven-closed baskets and the manufacture of advanced composite components of complex geometry.

Screening for congenital heart diseases by murmurs using telemedical phonocardiography

A large proportion of congenital heart diseases (CHD) remain undetected during pregnancy or even after birth. Many of them generate turbulent blood flow, resulting heart murmur. Doppler ultrasound cardiotocography (CTG) is suitable for the assessment of the fetal heart rate and some derived parameters, but it is inadequate for detecting heart murmurs. Although comprehensive examination can be carried out with echocardiography, it is expensive and requires expertise; therefore, it is not applicable for widespread screening. This paper presents a new possibility for screening for some CHDs using phonocardiography, which can be combined with Doppler ultrasound CTG as an extension of it. Furthermore it can be carried out at home allowing repeated measurements, which increases also the reliability of filtering out innocent murmurs. The diagnostic capability of this screening method is supported by a large number of evaluated fetal heart sound records. Moreover, according to experiences pregnant women prefer this reliable, easy to use method, which facilitates their examination.

Fetal phonocardiography--past and future possibilities

The paper presents an overview of the 15 year long development of fetal phonocardiography including the works on the applied signal processing methods for identification of sound components. Based on the improvements achieved on this field, the paper shows that beyond the traditional CTG test the phonocardiography may be successfully applied for long-term fetal measurements and home monitoring. In addition, by indication of heart murmurs based on a comprehensive analysis of the recorded heart sound congenital heart defects can also be detected together with additional features in the third trimester. This makes an early widespread screening possible combined with the prescribed CTG test even at home using a telemedicine system.

A new, phonocardiography-based telemetric fetal home monitoring system

The purpose of this article is to describe a new, phonocardiography-based fetal telemonitoring system, which, due to its passive nature, allows long-term measurements even at the home of the pregnant woman. The input element of the system was the home monitor with two sensors for recording the trans-abdominal fetal heart signal and the uterine contractions. The recorded signal was transmitted by mobile network and Internet to an Evaluation Center, where it was analyzed in detail to obtain information about possible dysfunction of the fetal heart. The investigations on this system made clear that by advanced processing of the recorded signal the system captured many additional cardiac features compared with the traditional ultrasound-based cardiotocographic procedure.

Fairness Analysis and Improvement of Transport Layer Protocols

The article presents a comparison of fairness properties of different congestion control schemes. It is hard to investigate the various protocol mechanisms implemented in transport protocols; therefore a simulator called SimCast is developed for the analysis of fairness characteristics of transport protocols as well as a network traffic generator and measurement tool called SimTest. This article presents the operation and basic properties of these evaluation systems together with some simulation and measurement results. The article also presents a fairness based bandwidth control mechanism, called the Balancer method, which optimizes resource allocation of busy servers with large amount of outgoing traffic. The efficiency of this control method is presented through simulation results.

Depressive and anxiety symptoms, dysfunctional attitudes and social aspects in irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVE

Biopsychosocial models for both organic and functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders have been described in the recent literature. The objective of this study was to give further data to this model by assessing stressful life events, social support, psychopathological symptoms, and dysfunctional attitudes in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and healthy subjects.

METHOD

Age- and gender-matched IBS and IBD patients presenting at a tertiary care gastroenterological center completed self-reported questionnaires on stressful life events, social support, depressive and anxiety symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes. For comparative purposes, data from an age- and gender-matched healthy control group were obtained.

RESULTS

No significant differences were found between the groups regarding stressful life events and social support. Both patient groups had higher depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to healthy subjects, and IBS patients had higher depressive scores compared to IBD patients. IBS patients had more dysfunctional attitudes compared to both IBD and healthy subjects, while IBD and healthy subjects did not differ on dysfunctional attitudes.

CONCLUSIONS

GI patient status is associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, in addition IBS patients have more severe depressive symptoms and depressogenic dysfunctional attitudes. The fact that functional GI patients are characterized by more severe psychological, but not social parameters, supports the hypothesis that IBS might be related to the range of depressive disorders.

Atrophic rhinitis vaccine composition triggers different serological profiles that do not correlate with protection

Atrophic rhinitis (AR) is a widespread and economically important disease of swine caused by Bordetella bronchiseptica and Pasteurella multocida. It can be controlled by vaccination. This study investigates the effect of altering the composition (adjuvants and/or addition of formalin-inactivated P. multocida toxin, fPMT) of conventional vaccines on the serological profile and on protection against AR in swine. A significantly higher B. bronchiseptica specific antibody titre was detected for vaccines with novel immunostimulants, the best being Montanide IMS 1313 (1:630 compared to 1:274 obtained with alum). The highest B. bronchiseptica antibody titre was demonstrated for a combination of B. bronchiseptica--fPMT, while PMT antibody titre was highest for monovalent fPMT (both adjuvanted with IMS 1313). The AR-specific antibodies were transmitted from dams to their offspring in similar titres and with the same hierarchy of effectiveness. After a B. bronchiseptica--P. multocida bacterial challenge, piglets from dams vaccinated with fPMT combined with B. bronchiseptica or B. bronchiseptica--P. multocida bacterins showed the lowest nasal lesions scores (4.5 and 3.2, respectively, out of a possible maximum score of 18). These combinations, both of which were adjuvanted with IMS 1313, gave the best protection against experimentally induced AR. Our results show that the adjuvant and the antigen composition of the vaccine strongly affect seroconversion, and that the AR-specific antibody titre does not necessarily correlate with the degree of protection.

Fetal breathing transmission in phonocardiographic monitoring telemedicine systems

The phonocardiographic monitoring of fetal heart activity due to its passive nature enables extremely long measuring times providing thus the possibility of fetal breathing recovery. The long monitoring time is required because of the temporary appearing of breathing movement. However, the long measurement time and consequently the large amount of data to be transmitted to the hospital's computer centre may be costly on mobile phone network. To keep monitoring costs low an appropriate data compression should be applied assuring the transmission of all important features of the detected acoustic signal. The present work summarizes the results of the extension of the novel telemedicine system with measurement of breathing periodicity and the achieved compression level of acquisited data. The Golomb-Rice compression is applied for lossless transmission of the segmented beat cycles considering the importance of the given segments in order to obtain the most accurate transfer of beat-to-beat time and all irregular heart sounds.

Application of the matching pursuit method in a fetal phonocardiographic telemedicine system

A novel compact method for fetal home monitoring optimized for long data acquisition time has already been presented. The method involves preprocessing a disturbed acoustic signal received on the maternal abdomen. The present work summarizes phenomena encountered during analysis of the incoming PCG signal, and describes further improvements made to the analysis system already in use including the application of the MP method to determining heartbeat lengths and identifying murmurs between heart sounds.

Effect of nursing methods and faeces consumption on the development of the bacteroides, lactobacillus and coliform flora in the caecum of the newborn rabbits

The effect of nursing method and ingestion of maternal faeces on the development of the bacteroides, lactobacillus and coliform flora of the caecum in the first 10 days of life were examined in freely nursed pups having access to maternal faeces (Group FF), pups nursed once a day and having access (Group CF), or having no access (Group CN) to maternal faeces. Colonisation of the caecum by Bacteroides commenced already on day 3 after birth. On day 2 the bacteroides counts were below 100, while on day 4 they were already between 100 and 10,000. In Group CN, the Bacteroides counts were lower (by 14 to 40%) throughout the 10-day period studied than in the groups having access to maternal faeces. Differences between groups were significant only on days 4 and 6. The average number of maternal faecal pellets left behind the doe in Group CN was 3-4 (between 0.5 and 6.4 per doe). In Groups FF and CF the pellets became smaller, crumbled and finally disappeared from the nest box, they were consumed by the pups and could be found in their gastric content. The lactobacillus counts decreased in all three groups with age, from 6.0 to 3.5 log10 CFU.g-1 (FF), 4.6 to 2.8 log10 CFU.g-1 (CF) and 5.1 to 3.1 log10 CFU.g-1 (CN), respectively. The coliform counts were higher in the first 4 days in FF (5.6 log10 CFU.g-1) than in CF (< 2 log10 CFU.g-1) and CN (2-3.6 log10 CFU.g-1) animals. Bacteroides could be cultured from the surface of the vulvar labia (max. 1000 colony count) and the vagina (max. 190 colony count), so young rabbits could become "infected" by them already in the doe's vagina. Thus prevention of ingestion of maternal faeces only slightly influenced the development of the bacteroides flora, the faeces left behind by the doe did not play an exclusive role in their colonisation.