Notable radiophysicists and radiochemists in Croatia by 1945

Physicists and chemists were among the first potential victims of occupational exposure to ionising radiation and they were also the first to warn about the harmful effects of radiation on living organisms. This review presents the work of the first notable scientists in the field of radiation science in Croatia from the discovery of radiation (Henry Becquerel in 1896) to 1945. The beginning of radiation science and radiation protection in Croatia can be traced to the end of the 19th century. Our research of the archived material and literature not only gave a deeper insight to the life and work of some of these notable scientists, but also gave a glimpse of previously unknown facts and details important for the history and development of radiation science, radiation protection, as well as medical physics. Our research has shown that Croatian scientists not only kept pace with contemporary scientific knowledge but also made notable contributions from the very beginning.     

Changes in short-term memory processes in patients with multiple sclerosis

In this study we compared the performance of 39 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with 28 age-, sex- and education-matched controls on both the Mini-Mental State Examination, a global cognitive assessment tool, and the Sternberg Short-Term memory scanning task, a standardized test of short-term memory (STM) processes. While the STM span of our MS patients did not differ from that of our controls, STM scanning time of the MS group was reliably slower than that of the controls and a significant correlation was observed between STM scanning time and duration but not severity of illness. Our results suggest that processing stages other than the manipulation of data within the STM buffer are also affected by MS.     

Clinical approach to normal intraocular pressure glaucoma

Normal intraocular pressure (IOP) glaucoma is a clinical condition characterized by pathologic optic nerve excavation and visual field impairment, defined as optic neuropathy with certain features of a disease known as glaucoma. Glaucomatous optic nerve lesion is characterized by optic disk excavation or depression, however, this feature may greatly vary. The level of IOP is considered only one of the multiple risk factors involved in the disease development. In normal IOP glaucoma, papillary lesions and visual field impairments may differ from those occurring in primary open-angle glaucoma. In modern ophthalmology, the terminology has been modified, so the term low IOP glaucoma has been replaced by the term normal IOP glaucoma. It is now believed that various factors play a role in the development of glaucomatous optic neuropathy in normal IOP glaucoma and show variable interference depending on IOP level. Additional studies are needed to define these interactions and their impact on the mechanism of glaucomatous excavation. This will hopefully pave the way to new therapeutic approaches and help in clinical decisions concerning the prognosis and treatment of individual patients.     

Bypassing major venous occlusion and duodenal lesions in rats,and therapy with the stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, L-NAME and L-arginine

AIM To investigate whether duodenal lesions induced by major venous occlusions can be attenuated by BPC 157 regardless nitric oxide(NO) system involvement.METHODS Male Wistar rats underwent superior anterior pancreaticoduodenal vein(SAPDV)-ligation and were treated with a bath at the ligated SAPDV site(BPC 157 10 μg, 10 ng/kg per 1 mL bath/rat; L-NAME 5 mg/kg per 1 m L bath/rat; L-arginine 100 mg/kg per 1 mL bath/rat, alone and/or together; or BPC 157 10 μg/kg instilled into the rat stomach, at 1 min ligation-time). We recorded the vessel presentation(filled/appearance or emptied/disappearance) between the 5 arcade vessels arising from the SAPDV on the ventral duodenum side, the inferior anterior pancreaticoduodenal vein(IAPDV) and superior mesenteric vein(SMV) as bypassing vascular pathway to document the duodenal lesions presentation; increased NO-and oxidative stress [malondialdehyde(MDA)]-levels in duodenum.RESULTS Unlike the severe course in the SAPDV-ligated controls, after BPC 157 application, the rats exhibited strong attenuation of the mucosal lesions and serosal congestion, improved vessel presentation, increased interconnections, increased branching by more than 60% from the initial value, the IAPDV and SMV were not congested. Interestingly, after 5 min and 30 min of L-NAME and L-arginine treatment alone, decreased mucosal and serosal duodenal lesions were observed; their effect was worsened at 24 h, and no effect on the collateral vessels and branching was seen. Together, L-NAME+L-arginine antagonized each other's response, and thus, there was an NO-related effect. With BPC 157, all SAPDV-ligated rats receiving L-NAME and/or L-arginine appeared similar to the rats treated with BPC 157 alone. Also, BPC 157 in SAPDV-ligated rats normalized levels of NO and MDA, two oxidative stress markers, in duodenal tissues.CONCLUSION BPC 157, rapidly bypassing occlusion, rescued the original duodenal flow through IAPDV to SMV flow, aneffect related to the NO system and reduction of free radical formation.     

Antioxidant properties of extracts of wild medicinal mushroom species from Croatia

Antioxidant activity and total phenol (TP) content of methanol and water extracts of three wild Croatian mushroom species Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) Quél., Sarcoscypha austriaca (Sacc.) Boud., and Strobilurus esculentus (Wulfen) Singer were determined and compared with the values obtained for extracts of four cultivated mushrooms Agaricus bisporus (J.E. Lange) Imbach (brown and white strains), Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.) P. Kumm., and Lentinus edodes (Berk.) Singer. Spectrophotometric determination of the TP content was performed using the Folin-Ciocalteu method, while antioxidant activity was measured in a reaction with 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH assay) and ferric-tripyridyltriazine (Fe3+-TPTZ) complex (FRAP assay). On the average, 5.8-fold higher TP content was observed for water in comparison to methanol extracts of all analyzed mushrooms. Consequently, antioxidant activity was also higher for water extracts, which is evident from the obtained higher values in the FRAP assay and lower EC50 values in the DPPH assay. Among the three tested wild species, the water extract of S. esculentus exhibited the highest concentration of TP, 8.12 mg/g gallic acid equivalents (GAE), the highest reducing power, 19.42 mmol Fe2+/kg, and the best radical scavenging properties, EC50= 13.5 mg/mL.     

Unraveling the biological mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease--lessons from genomics

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and the most common neurodegenerative disease, with a complex genetic background. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have yielded important new insights into genetic mechanisms of AD pathology. Current results unequivocally confirm apolipoprotein E (APOE) as a major genetic risk factor for development of late onset AD. Additional associations of more than twenty genes have also been identified and replicated in subsequent genetic studies. Despite the exciting new GWAS data which have emerged in the last few years, it has become clear that common variants within the genome cannot fully explain the underlying genetic risk for AD. Novel approaches such as genome-wide analysis of copy number variations (CNV) or low-frequency rare functional gene variants may provide additional insight into genetic basis of AD. In this review we summarize the findings of eighteen GWAS studies in AD performed to date, with an emphasis on potential future developments in the quest for genetic risk factors of AD.