Advances in Medical Sciences

PURPOSE: Smooth muscle cell (SMC) dysregulation is part of the pathological basis of pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). We aimed to explore the heterogeneity of SMCs in PAH. METHODS: The profile GSE210248 was obtained from NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, containing the scRNA-seq data of pulmonary arteries (PA) from three patients with PAH and three healthy donors. After quality control, normalization, and dimension reduction, cell clustering analysis was performed...

Obesity continues to be a significant global health concern, giving rise to various complications. This review article explores the current standards and emerging innovations in diagnosing and treating obesity, including recent disease name change, staging system or therapeutic goals. This narrative review has been based on recent scientific articles from PubMed database, limiting the scope of topics to current standards and upcoming developments and breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of obesity. The educational and informative nature of the review has been maintained in order to make the information presented accessible to both researchers and clinical practitioners...

PURPOSE: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a common disorder associated with disturbed neurotransmitter homeostasis. Memantine, an N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, was first used in Alzheimer's disease. Allopregnanolone (Allo), a potent positive allosteric modulator of the Gamma-Amino-Butyric Acid (GABA)-A receptors, decreases in neurodegenerative diseases. The study investigated the impact of Memantine versus Allo administration on the animal model of MetS to clarify whether the mechanism of abnormalities is related more to excitatory or inhibitory neurotransmitter dysfunction...

We present the results of an association study involving hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with a clinical background during the 3rd pandemic wave of COVID-19 in Slovakia. Seventeen single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the eleven most relevant genes, according to the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative, were investigated. Our study confirms the validity of the influence of LZTFL1 and 2'-5'-oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS)1/OAS3 genetic variants on the severity of COVID-19. For two LZTFL1 SNVs in complete linkage disequilibrium, rs17713054 and rs73064425, the odds ratios of baseline allelic associations and logistic regressions (LR) adjusted for age and sex ranged in the four tested designs from 2...

PURPOSE: Starting in 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused an epidemic that was growing rapidly and has harmed millions of people globally. It has been demonstrated that survivin regulates lymphocyte survival, a main route involved in COVID-19 pathogenesis. Survivin belongs to the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family, and its primary functions comprise regulating mitosis and inhibiting apoptosis. Since lower survivin expression has been shown to increase the sensitivity of lymphocytes to apoptotic induction, we looked into the function of survivin and its corresponding pathways in COVID-19 pathogenesis...

PURPOSE: Psoriasis is a skin disease characterized by excessive proliferation, inflammation and oxidative stress in keratinocytes. The present study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of Dendrobium officinale polysaccharide (DOP) on keratinocyte psoriasis-like models. METHODS: The HaCaT keratinocyte inflammation models were induced by interleukin (IL)-22 or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), respectively, and oxidative stress damage within cells was elicited by H2 O2 and treated using DOP...

PURPOSE: Acute exacerbations (AE) are severe complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, the need for biomarkers which predict them is still unmet. High platelet count (PLC) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are associated with higher mortality in patients with COPD. We investigated if PLC and PLR at the onset of a severe AE could predict the time of the next relapse. METHODS: In a prospective observational cohort study, data of 152 patients hospitalized with AECOPD were collected, and patients were divided into PLC-low (<239 × 109 /L, n = 51), PLC-medium (239-297 × 109 /L, n = 51) and PLC-high (>297 × 109 /L, n = 50) or PLR-low (<147, N = 51), PLR-medium (147-295, n = 51) and PLR high (>295, n = 50) groups based on PLC and PLR tertiles using admission laboratory results...

PURPOSE: Mitral valve surgery in children involves correcting congenital and acquired pathologies, with a reported mortality rate of 0.9%. Low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS) is a serious complication with the incidence of 20-25%. The aim of the study was to estimate possible prognostic factors of LCOS in children undergoing mitral valve procedure. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This single-center retrospective analysis enrolled children aged <18 years who underwent mitral valve surgery during 24 year period...

PURPOSE: New-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) is a frequent metabolic complication associated with podocyte damage and renal allograft dysfunction. Thus, Wilm's tumor-1 (WT-1) protein, as a podocyte marker, holds promise as an option to evaluate renal allograft dysfunction in NODAT. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate urinary WT-1 levels in NODAT patients during the first year after kidney transplantation (KTx). MATERIALS AND METHODS: KTx patients were categorized into non-NODAT and NODAT groups...

PURPOSE: Heart failure (HF) with improved ejection fraction (HFimpEF) is a new category of HF introduced in the newest European Society of Cardiology guidelines. However, clinical characteristics and long-term outcomes of HFimpEF patients remain insufficiently elucidated. We sought to characterize Polish HFimpEF patients and determine their long-term mortality. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Of 1186 patients enrolled in the single-center Lesser Poland Cracovian Heart Failure (LECRA-HF) registry between 2009 and 2019 and hospitalized due to HF decompensation, 340 (28...

PURPOSE: We explored the efficacy and influencing factors of chemoradiotherapy and radiotherapy alone in patients with locally advanced oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed 226 locally advanced oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients who underwent chemoradiotherapy and radiotherapy alone. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to analyse the impact of relevant factors. The endpoint was overall survival and progression-free survival...

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare High Carbohydrates Low Fat (HCLF) and Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF) diets in terms of changes in body composition and maximal strength. PATIENTS/METHODS: The study involved 48 men aged 25 ± 2.5, divided into two groups, one of which (n = 23) was following the LCHF diet and the other (n = 25) the HCLF diet. Both groups performed the same resistance training protocol for 15 weeks...

PURPOSE: Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are ubiquitous genomic sequences. Normally dormant HERVs, undergo reactivation by environmental factors. This deregulation of HERVs' transcriptional equilibrium correlates with medical conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Here we sought to explore whether exposing the U-87 MG astrocytoma cells to traumatic injury deregulates the expression of HERV-W family member ERVW-1 encoding syncytin-1. We also examined the expression of FURIN gene that is crucial in syncytin-1 synthesis...

PURPOSE: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy with high recurrence and mortality rates in women. There are still insufficient biomarkers to predict disease prognosis. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of postoperative hematologic parameters and their derivatives in patients with breast cancer who underwent tumor resection. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The clinicopathological and laboratory data of 90 female breast cancer patients who underwent surgical treatment in the Greater Poland Cancer Center in Poznan from December 2015 to November 2017 were retrospectively analyzed...

PURPOSE: Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is the main inhibitor of fibrinolytic systems. The effect of PAI-1 on inflammatory response is still inconsistent. Our study was conducted to investigate its effects on inflammation to clarify the role of PAI-1 in acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: ALI models were established in wild-type (WT) and PAI-1 knockout (KO) mice by LPS intervention for 48 ​h. Lung histopathology, wet-dry ratio, total cell count and TNF-α concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and inflammation related proteins were detected...

PURPOSE: Acute heart failure (AHF) is a serious condition that requires prompt diagnosis and management. To optimize patient care, clinicians need a reliable, non-invasive method to assess hemodynamic parameters and total body congestion. Currently, no standardized technology is widely used for this purpose. However, NICaS technology, which measures hemodynamic parameters based on regional bioimpedance, has shown promise in monitoring AHF patients in a non-invasive and reliable manner...

PURPOSE: Metformin (MET), a first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus, restores ovarian function in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. MET has been shown to increase the rate of success for in vitro fertilization when utilized in assisted reproductive technologies. This study was designed to examine the impact of MET on ovarian function and fertility in a mouse model of galactose-induced premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). We further investigated the underlying mechanisms...

PURPOSE: Bipolar affective disorder (BP) causes major functional impairment and reduced quality of life not only for patients, but also for many close relatives. We aimed to investigate mRNA levels in BP patients to find differentially expressed genes linked to specific clinical course variants; assuming that several gene expression alterations might indicate vulnerability pathways for specific course and severity of the disease. MATERIALS: We searched for up- and down-regulated genes comparing patients with diagnosis of BP type I (BPI) vs type II (BPII), history of suicide attempts, psychotic symptoms, predominance of manic/hypomanic episodes, and history of numerous episodes and comorbidity of substance use disorders or anxiety disorders...

PURPOSE: Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor beta superfamily and is faintly expressed under healthy conditions. GDF-15 is markedly elevated in a variety of diseases, including coronary artery disease (CAD), atrial fibrillation and heart failure. Here, we aimed to investigate the association of GDF-15 with the extent and severity of CAD in patients with stable CAD. METHODS: We enrolled 129 patients undergoing coronary angiography for the evaluation of stable CAD in the study...

BACKGROUND: Hypocalcaemia predicts coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity and mortality. We hypothesized an association between respiratory alkalosis secondary to hypoxia and low ionised calcium (iCa) concentration in patients with COVID-19. METHODS: Arterial blood gas samples taken from January 2019 to March 2021 were retrospectively matched with infection status. Principal components regression was undertaken to determine the correlation between pH, partial pressure arterial oxygen (PaO2 ), partial pressure arterial carbon dioxide (PaCO2 ), and iCa...