National public health information system

Information production and its communication being a key public health activity, developing modern information systems is a precondition for its fulfilling these assignments. A national public health information system (NPHIS) is a set of human resources combined with computing and communication technologies. It enables data linkage and data coverage as well as undertaking information production and dissemination in an effective, standardized and safe way. The Croatian Institute of Public Health LAN/WAN modules are under development. Health Safety System, Health Workers Registry, and Digital Library are among the Institute's developmental priorities. Communication between NPHIS participants would unfold over the Internet by using every relevant data protection method. Web technology-based applications would be run on special servers. Between individual applications, use would be made of the transaction module of communication through an exchange of the HL7 standard-based xml messages. In the conditions of transition, the health system must make an optimal use of the resources, which is not feasible without applying modern information and communication technologies.     

Systemic fungal infections in immunocompromised patients

Opportunistic fungal infections are becoming more frequent complications during cancer therapy, after organ transplantation and in AIDS infections, especially after better control of bacterial infections in immunocompromised patients. Periods of prolonged neutropenia with neutrophil count less than 0.5 x 10(9)/L longer than 7 days, are the most important risk factors for the development of systemic fungal infections. Especially susceptible are the patients during treatment of acute leukemia, or after bone marrow transplantation. The most frequent causing agents of systemic fungal infections are Candida and Aspergillus species, than Cryptococcus neoformans and Mucor. Some other unusual species such Fusarium, Trichosporon, non-albicans Candida species of Candida are becoming more frequent, and is frequently resistant to conventional therapy. The difficulties in early and precise diagnosis of fungal infections, and the lack of adequate and efficient drugs are responsible for the high mortality of immunocompromised patients, even in potentially curable diseases. The recognition of risk factors, introduction of prophylactic measures, application of empirical antifungal therapy, are the procedures for the reduction of morbidity and mortality of invasive fungal infections. Fluconazole administration in prevention of systemic fungal infections, has become the standard approach, especially after bone marrow transplantation, while the oral itraconazole solution, has even more extended activity. Fluconazole appears successful also in the treatment of systemic Candidiasis. Conventional amphotericin-B is still the "gold standard" in the treatment of fungal infections. The new lipid formulations of amphotericin-B, intravenous itraconazole, has an identical efficacy, but are less toxic than conventional amphotericin-B. Several new promising agents are in the stage of clinical investigation like voriconazole, caspofungin, mycafungin and some other.     

Effects of melanotan II,a melanocortin agonist,on grooming and exploration in rats after repeated restraint/immobilization

2 mg/kg melanotan II (MTII, administered i.p.), a cyclic peptide analog of α-melanocyte stimulating hormone, at a single dose increased grooming in naive rats placed in an unfamiliar open-field device without changing locomotion or rearing. Male rats exposed to restraint/immobilization stress (IS) for 1 h on three consecutive days displayed increased grooming after the second stressor exposure, compared to pre-stress levels. MTII, administered to the rats after IS, enhanced the grooming response compared both to the pre- and post-stress values. The increase was greatest after the first dose and declined over the following two applications. As to the locomotion of rats in the entire experimental space, IS reduced the distance moved only after the first two stressor exposures; MTII did not influence these alterations. Locomotion in the central part of arena was not reduced by the stressor or by MTII, on the contrary, there was an increase in both groups after the third intervention. The only observed change in rearing was an increase in the MTII group after the third restraint exposure. Thus, MTII selectively increased grooming without markedly affecting the spatio-temporal structure of locomotor behavior in the open-field. The decline of MTII enhanced grooming over the three test days may be interpreted in terms of adaptation to the stressor and of the developing tolerance to the peptide.     

Development of flow cytogenetics and physical genome mapping in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Procedures for flow cytometric analysis and sorting of mitotic chromosomes (flow cytogenetics) have been developed for chickpea (Cicer arietinum). Suspensions of intact chromosomes were prepared from root tips treated to achieve a high degree of metaphase synchrony. The optimal protocol consisted of a treatment of roots with 2mmol/L hydroxyurea for 18h, a 4.5-h recovery in hydroxyurea-free medium, 2h incubation with 10µmol/L oryzalin, and ice-water treatment overnight. This procedure resulted in an average metaphase index of 47%. Synchronized root tips were fixed in 2% formaldehyde for 20min, and chromosome suspensions prepared by mechanical homogenization of fixed root tips. More than 4×10⁵ morphologically intact chromosomes could be isolated from 15 root tips. Flow cytometric analysis of DAPI-stained chromosomes resulted in histograms of relative fluorescence intensity (flow karyotypes) containing eight peaks, representing individual chromosomes and/or groups of chromosomes with a similar relative DNA content. Five peaks could be assigned to individual chromosomes (A, B, C, G, H). The purity of sorted chromosome fractions was high, and chromosomes B and H could be sorted with 100% purity. PCR on flow-sorted chromosome fractions with primers for sequence-tagged microsatellite site (STMS) markers permitted assignment of the genetic linkage group LG8 to the smallest chickpea chromosome H. This study extends the number of legume species for which flow cytogenetics is available, and demonstrates the potential of flow cytogenetics for genome mapping in chickpea.