The dynamics of the acid and neutral proteinases general enzymes activity change in the hepatocytes postnuclear fraction in the rats suffering from the Heren's carcinoma was investigated. It was determined that in the tumor development of the enzyme activity level of both the acid and neutral proteinases increased 2,6-fold. The natural preparation of the herbs (Calendula officinalis L., Echinacea purpurea L., Scorzonera humilis L., Aconitum moldavicum Hacq.) normalizes both the activity of the investigated enzymes and coefficients of the liver weights of the sick animals. The chemical medicinal preparation 5,6-benzcumarine-5-uracil normalizes the activity of the neutral cytoplasmatic proteinases and reduces the level of the proteolytic activity of the acid enzymes in comparison with the control group of the animals as well as increases of the liver weight coefficients.
In addition to a previously published study about Siberian Colletes species, we here further report on poorly known species. Twenty six species are currently known from Siberia with C. cinerascens Morawitz 1893, C. kaszabi Kuhlmann 2002, and C. ebmeri Kuhlmann 2002 found in Russia for the first time and C. wacki Kuhlmann 2002 is newly recorded from the Asian part of Russia. The male of C. wacki is here described for the first time and a lectotype designated for the closely related C. conradti Noskiewicz 1936 to clarify the taxonomy of this group. Colletes uralensis Noskiewicz 1936 was erroneously recorded from Russia and is removed from the list of Russian species. Images and updated distribution maps are provided for the closely related C. kaszabi and C. uralensis as well as for C. conradti and C. wacki to facilitate their identification. An updated checklist of the 42 species of Colletes so far known from Russia is provided.
As a supplement to a previously published study on Siberian Hylaeus species, we here report further records of twenty six rarely collected and little known species. Thirty two species are currently known from Siberia, including Hylaeus dorni Dathe, 1986, H. gredleri Förster, 1871, H. hungaricus (Alfken, 1905), H. moricei (Friese, 1898), H. nimbatus Dathe, 1986, H. oehlkei Dathe, 2010 and H. stubbei Dathe, 1986, which are reported from Russia for the first time, and H. brevicornis Nylander, 1852, H. communis Nylander, 1852, H. pfankuchi (Alfken, 1919) and H. styriacus Förster, 1871, which are newly recorded from Siberia. Hylaeus (Hylaeus) pesenkoi Proshchalykin & Dathe, sp. nov. is described as new from Siberia (Altai Republic and Tyva Republic) and neighbouring Mongolia (Khovd and Govi-Altai Aimags). The females of H. dorni Dathe, 1986 and H. oehlkei Dathe, 2010 are described for the first time; H. peregrinus Dathe, 1986 was recognised as the female of H. stubbei Dathe, 1986 and is treated as a new synonym.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between cardiac size and various measures of adiposity in children and the occurrence of coronary fatty streaks in relation to childhood obesity. DESIGN: A retrospective study based on 210 medico-legal autopsies of 5-15 y old children who had suffered violent death in the Province of Oulu, Finland, in 1970-1995. METHODS: Autopsy reports with attached clinical data and police records were recovered from the archives of the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Oulu, Finland. All 5-15 y old individuals who had died of external trauma and were not documented as having had any chronic illnesses were chosen for investigation. The following data were extracted from the papers: age, sex, height, body weight, heart weight, liver weight, total weight of the kidneys, thickness of the abdominal subcutaneous fat and description of the coronary arteries. Heart weight was indexed to height2.7, and liver weight and kidney weight were indexed to body weight, body surface area and height. The ponderal index (body weight/height3) was calculated, and relative body weight was determined as the percentage deviation of the weight from the mean weight for height according to a growth chart developed for Finnish children. RESULTS: The average absolute heart weight and heart weight/height2.7 were significantly higher in the boys than in the girls over 12 y of age. Abdominal subcutaneous fat was thicker in the girls, but there were no significant differences in the other indicators of obesity. After adjusting for age, there were significant positive correlations between the ponderal index and heart weight/height2.7 in both the boys (P = 0.000) and the girls (P = 0.038), between relative body weight and heart weight/height2.7 in the boys (P = 0.000) and the girls (P = 0.027), and between abdominal subcutaneous fat thickness and heart weight/height2.7 in the boys (P = 0.045) but not in the girls (P = 0.234). Multiple linear regression analysis showed the ponderal index to be a significant predictor of heart weight/height2.7. Coronary intimal fatty streaks were documented in six individuals (2.9%), five of them having a ponderal index above the average and all of them having a relative weight above the average. Kidney weights were higher in the boys and were positively correlated with the measures of obesity and with heart weight/height2.7. CONCLUSIONS: The results point to an important role of excess body weight and adiposity in the development of early myocardial and coronary changes in childhood: coronary fatty streaks were not found at all in the leanest individuals in this relatively large group and the cardiac size adjusted for body size indicated hypertrophy with increasing adiposity. Prospective autopsy studies are needed in order to determine whether adiposity and the regional distribution of fat, especially intra-abdominal fat accumulation, are associated with the earliest signs of myocardial hypertrophy and the initial phase of lesion development in the arterial intima of children.
Adjuvant hypofractionated versus conventional whole breast radiation therapy for early-stage breast cancer: long-term hospital-related morbidity from cardiac causes.
The risk of cardiac injury with hypofractionated whole-breast/chest wall radiation therapy (HF-WBI) compared with conventional whole-breast/chest wall radiation therapy (CF-WBI) in women with left-sided breast cancer remains a concern. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is an increase in hospital-related morbidity from cardiac causes with HF-WBI relative to CF-WBI.
Between 1990 and 1998, 5334 women = 80 years of age with early-stage breast cancer were treated with postoperative radiation therapy to the breast or chest wall alone. A population-based database recorded baseline patient, tumor, and treatment factors. Hospital administrative records identified baseline cardiac risk factors and other comorbidities. Factors between radiation therapy groups were balanced using a propensity-score model. The first event of a hospital admission for cardiac causes after radiation therapy was determined from hospitalization records. Ten- and 15-year cumulative hospital-related cardiac morbidity after radiation therapy was estimated for left- and right-sided cases using a competing risk approach.
The median follow-up was 13.2 years. For left-sided cases, 485 women were treated with CF-WBI, and 2221 women were treated with HF-WBI. Mastectomy was more common in the HF-WBI group, whereas boost was more common in the CF-WBI group. The CF-WBI group had a higher prevalence of diabetes. The 15-year cumulative hospital-related morbidity from cardiac causes (95% confidence interval) was not different between the 2 radiation therapy regimens after propensity-score adjustment: 21% (19-22) with HF-WBI and 21% (17-25) with CF-WBI (P=.93). For right-sided cases, the 15-year cumulative hospital-related morbidity from cardiac causes was also similar between the radiation therapy groups (P=.76).
There is no difference in morbidity leading to hospitalization from cardiac causes among women with left-sided early-stage breast cancer treated with HF-WBI or CF-WBI at 15-year follow-up.
The adrenals of 194 human fetuses of 17-40 weeks and newborn infants were studied by histological and morphometrical methods. The abortive material was taken at hospitals in the city of Arkhangelsk and regions beyond the Polar circle. The mass of adrenals was found to be reliably less as compared with the norms in middle latitudes, and the rate of increase of this index decreased in the dynamics of pregnancy. The microscopic and stereometric investigations have revealed decreased thickness of the cortex, adaptational and pathological changes of adrenocorticocytes. Little mass of the adrenals was associated in some cases with a premature formation of the cortex zones.
Adult-onset calorie restriction (A-CR) is an experimental model of life extension and healthy aging less explored, compared with calorie restriction begun at early ages, but one more realistic for human application. We examined the effect of A-CR on the aging rat kidney with respect to common structural age-dependent changes and the accumulation of mitochondrial enzyme abnormalities in tubular epithelial cells. A 40% calorie restriction was initiated in middle-aged rats, before the onset of significant age-related changes in the Fischer x Brown Norway rat kidney. This dietary intervention effectively reduced glomerulosclerosis and tubular atrophy within 6 mo and changed the rate of interstitial fibrosis formation within 1 yr and vascular wall thickening and the expression cytochrome c oxidase (COX)-deficient tubular epithelial cells in 18 mo compared with age-matched ad libitum-fed rats. Our histological approach (histochemical staining for mitochondrial enzyme activity and laser capture microdissection) coupled with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) PCR analyses demonstrated that COX-deficient renal tubular epithelial cells accumulated mtDNA deletion mutations and that these cells contained unique, clonally expanded mtDNA deletion mutations. Renal tubular epithelial cells with mitochondrial abnormalities presented cellular characteristics indicative of physiological dysfunction.
Age and gender specific normal values of left ventricular mass, volume and function for gradient echo magnetic resonance imaging: a cross sectional study.
BACKGROUND: Knowledge about age-specific normal values for left ventricular mass (LVM), end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV) and ejection fraction (EF) by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is of importance to differentiate between health and disease and to assess the severity of disease. The aims of the study were to determine age and gender specific normal reference values and to explore the normal physiological variation of these parameters from adolescence to late adulthood, in a cross sectional study. METHODS: Gradient echo CMR was performed at 1.5 T in 96 healthy volunteers (11-81 years, 50 male). Gender-specific analysis of parameters was undertaken in both absolute values and adjusted for body surface area (BSA). RESULTS: Age and gender specific normal ranges for LV volumes, mass and function are presented from the second through the eighth decade of life. LVM, ESV and EDV rose during adolescence and declined in adulthood. SV and EF decreased with age. Compared to adult females, adult males had higher BSA-adjusted values of EDV (p = 0.006) and ESV (p
Aging is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy, dilatation, and fibrosis of the heart. The Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 (F344/BNF1) rat is recommended for age-related studies by the National Institutes on Aging because this hybrid rat lives longer and has a lower rate of pathological conditions than inbred rats. However, little is known about age-associated changes in cardiac and aortic function and structure in this model. This study evaluated age-related cardiac changes in male F344/BNF1 rats using ECHO, gross, and microscopic examinations. Rats aged 6-, 30-, and 36-mo were anesthetized and two-dimensional ECHO measurements, two-dimensional guided M-mode, Doppler M-mode, and other recordings from parasternal long- and short-axis views were obtained using a Phillips 5500 ECHO system with a 12 megahertz transducer. Hearts and aortas from sacrificed rats were evaluated grossly and microscopically. The ECHO studies revealed persistent cardiac arrhythmias (chiefly PVCs) in 72% (13/18) of 36-mo rats, 10% (1/10) of 30-mo rats, and none in 6-mo rats (0/16). Gross and microscopic studies showed left ventricular (LV) dilatation, borderline to mild hypertrophy, and areas of fibrosis that were common in 36-mo rats, less evident in 30-mo rats, and absent in 6-mo rats. Aging was associated with mild to moderate decreases of LV diastolic and systolic function. Thus, male F344/BN F1 rats demonstrated progressive age-related (a) decline in cardiac function (diastolic and systolic indices), (b) LV structural changes (chamber dimensions, volumes, and wall thicknesses), and (c) persistent arrhythmias. These changes are consistent with those in humans. The noninvasive ECHO technique offers a means to monitor serial age-related cardiac failure and therapeutic responses in the same rats over designated time intervals.
