Biomedical Papers of the Medical Faculty of the University Palacký, Olomouc, Czechoslovakia

AIMS: The present study aimed to assess vitamin D status and serum concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-17, Il-23, and IL-18 in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and their association with various demographic and clinical characteristics. METHODS: The study was conducted during the autumn/winter period on 48 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and 48 controls. Total serum 25(OH)D level was determined with Roche Elecsys® 2010 Vitamin D total assay...

The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature pertaining to cytology of extrahepatic bile ducts. A search using the keywords "biliary brush cytology" was conducted in the PubMed database, with a focus on recent articles. The inclusion criteria primarily encompassed publications addressing problematic biliary stenosis. Emphasis was placed on identifying articles that explored innovative or less-utilized examination techniques aimed at enhancing the sensitivity of cytological examination...

Oxidative DNA damage markers (8OHdG, comet assay, gammaH2AX) are becoming widely used in clinical cardiology research. To conduct this review of DNA damage in relation to hypertension in humans, we used databases (e.g. PubMed, Web of Science) to search for English-language publications up to June 30, 2022 and the terms: DNA damage, comet assay, gammaH2AX, 8OHdG, strand breaks, and arterial hypertension. Exclusion criteria were: children, absence of relevant controls, extra-arterial hypertensive issues, animal, cell lines...

AIMS: To evaluate the 3-year follow-up results of two children delivered at our institution in 2019 from mothers with a transplanted uterus. METHODS: Observational data on pregnancy outcomes, neonatal course, and growth trajectory in two children born to mothers after uterus transplantation, including 3-year follow-up and neurodevelopmental status assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, third edition (Bayley-III). RESULTS: Both children were born prematurely via uneventful caesarean sections, to mothers with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome and a transplanted uterus...

HPV16 status in oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is an important prognostic factor. Its determination, based on immunistochemical analysis of p16 oncoprotein requires an invasive biopsy. Thus, alternative methods are being sought. Determining oral HPV16 status appears to be a promising alternative. However, it is not used routinely. This prompted us to perform a systematic literature review enabling us to evaluate the diagnostic and predictive ability of this approach. Thirty-four relevant studies were finally selected...

AIMS: The aim of this study is to determine whether the risk of preterm births differs according to the conception method: with or without ART and according to the ART method used (in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) with fresh embryo transfer, frozen embryo transfer (FET) and oocyte receipt (OoR)). METHODS: The research is based on individualised anonymised data on deliveries in Czechia in 2013-2018 (n=651,049) obtained from the National Health Information System. We employ the survival analysis approach applying survival functions (Life tables method) and Cox regression to model the risk of preterm births according to the conception method when controlling for a set of covariates...

BACKGROUND: Acutely ill older patients frequently suffer not only from their acute disease, but also polymorbidity and frailty. Dehydration is another typical symptom, usually occurring in its both forms: low-intake dehydration and volume depletion. POCUS is goal-directed bedside ultrasound examination and several studies refer to its positive impact on hydration assessment. The aim of our study was to determine whether POCUS might influence (de)hydration diagnostics and/or treatments in older patients with acute illness...

INTRODUCTION: Functioning pituitary adenomas lead to substantial morbidity and increased mortality associated with typical endocrine syndromes. Surgical therapy is an integral part of the management of these tumours. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of surgical transnasal procedures in patients with functioning pituitary adenomas who underwent the surgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Olomouc. METHODS: Patients with functioning pituitary adenoma (ACTH, GH, PRL) were indicated for surgery...

The continuing global increase in allergic conditions and diseases in children is now a serious public health and scientific issue. Amongst other concerns is the maternal antenatal diet as intake of essential nutrients. Even small deficits in essential vitamin C can permanently impair the developing brain for example. In this article, we first review ascorbic acid deficiency in different organs of both mother and foetus. However, major emphasis is on the importance of vitamin C in foetal immunity with studies showing an inverse relationship between maternal intake of fresh fruit and vegetables and allergic conditions in childhood, inter alia...

Obesity has become a serious medical condition where many factors can contribute to excess weight gain. The most common type of childhood obesity is simple obesity, which is due to gene-obesogenic environment interaction. Only a minority are due to pathological causes. Secondary causes of obesity, while less common, include these: genetic syndromes, drug-related obesity, as well as endocrine disorders (hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome, growth hormone deficiency, hypogonadism, pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ia, insulinoma, hypothalamic obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome)...

INTRODUCTION: A kidney transplant is the best method for treating terminal kidney failure. Long-term results of kidney transplants from living donors are significantly better than transplants from dead donors. Living kidney donors are healthy people who undergo a major operation in order to improve the health of another person. Therefore, major emphasis is on safety, low level of invasiveness and a desirable cosmetic effect of the donor nephrectomy. Since 2012, the Department of Urology at the University Hospital in Olomouc has performed 12 kidney harvestings from living donors...

BACKGROUND: A number of recent studies have shown that the intestinal microbiome, part of the brain-gut axis, is implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis. An essential part of this axis, is the intestinal barrier and gastrointestinal disorders with intestinal barrier dysregulation appear to be linked to CNS demyelination, and hence involved in the etiopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the integrity of the intestinal barrier in patients with clinically definite multiple sclerosis (CDMS) and clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) using two serum biomarkers, claudin-3 (CLDN3), a component of tight epithelial junctions, and intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP), a cytosolic protein in enterocytes...

BACKGROUND: Medication poisoning in children is a severe condition that can endanger a child's life. Although drug intoxications are easily preventable, awareness of the proper handling of drugs and their safe storage out of the reach of children is not widespread among the general public. In this work, we investigated the demographic and clinical data of children admitted to the Department of Pediatrics of the University Hospital Olomouc for acute drug-induced intoxication. We also selected several case reports to illustrate the wide range of both presentations and outcomes in individual patients...

BACKGROUND: Gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) is a well-known laboratory biomarker. In spite of high concentration and the possible biomedical importance of estimating GGT in human seminal plasma (hSP), it has not been widely explored in reproductive physiology. This study aimed to complement existing data on its diversity, previously obtained on seminal extracellular vesicles, by analyzing matched soluble fraction of hSP. The GGT-associated patterns of selected glycoproteins were analyzed in order to establish an adjunct referent parameter for differentiation between known high molecular mass forms of GGT...

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to find a possible association between retinal microvascular abnormality and major depression in a non-geriatric population. METHOD: The participants with major depression were hospitalised at the University Hospital in Hradec Kralove, Department of Psychiatry. Retinal images were obtained using a stationary Fundus camera FF450 by Zeiss and a hand-held camera by oDocs. RESULTS: Fifty patients (men n=18, women n=32) aged 16 to 55 (men's average age 33...

AIMS: Mepolizumab, a fully-humanized recombinant IgG1 kappa monoclonal antibody directed against IL-5, has shown improved asthma control and lung function in randomised controlled trials. The aim of this study was to evaluate real-world clinical experience in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma treated with mepolizumab in Slovakia. METHODS: A retrospective, non-interventional study based on medical records of all adult asthma patients initiating mepolizumab between November 1, 2017 and January 31, 2019, completing 12 months of treatment...

PURPOSE: Pleomorphic adenoma (PA), the most common benign tumour of the parotid gland, requires accurate preoperative diagnosis owing to its capacity for malignant transformation. The aim of this study was to evaluate our experience with ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in the diagnostic algorithm for patients with PA and to assess clinical outcomes for those with different surgical approaches. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We carried out a retrospective analysis of patients treated for parotid gland mass between 2010 and 2016...

OBJECTIVE: The best results in glioblastoma (GBM) are obtained through aggressive treatment comprising maximally radical but safe resection followed by chemoradiotherapy. However, certain patients will undergo only stereotactic biopsy. This paper aims to evaluate life expectancy in GBM patients who underwent only stereotactic biopsy, including the effect of subsequent oncological treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with confirmed GBM histology who had undergone stereotactic biopsy between June 2006 and December 2016 were retrospectively selected...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prognostic potential of S100B protein in patients with craniocerebral injury, correlation between S100B protein and time, selected internal diseases, body habitus, polytrauma, and season. METHODS: We examined the levels of S100B protein in 124 patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). RESULTS: The S100B protein level 72 h after injury and changes over 72 h afterwards are statistically significant for prediction of a good clinical condition 1 month after injury...

AIM: Circular DNA segments TREC (T-cell receptor excision circles) formed during T-lymphocyte maturation in the thymus, are a sensitive marker of thymic lymphocyte production in a broader manner. Quantification using qPCR is proposed as a surrogate marker of T cell malfunction in various primary and secondary conditions in a non-SCID selected risk newborn population. METHODS: We collected 207 dry blood spot samples during the years 2015-2018, from newly admitted risk newborns...