Features of the intestinal microbiota functional status in early-aged children with rotavirus infection

The aim is to assess the intestinal microflora functional and structural disorders in early-aged children in the dynamics of rotavirus infection by studying intestinal metabolites in faeces – short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). Materials and methods. The study included 60 breastfed children aged 1-24 months with rotavirus infection (the study group) and 30 healthy children, representative by age and sex (the comparison group). Determination of SCFA (acetate, propionate, butyrate) in faeces was carried out in all children of the study group three times in the dynamics of the disease (on the 3rd, 5th and 10th day) and in healthy children once. Results. The total concentration of SCFA in children with rotavirus infection was 3 and 2.2 times lower than in healthy children in the acute period of the disease (p<0.01 on the 3rd and 5th day, respectively), increasing on the 10th day (p<0.05), however, not reaching the normal level (p<0.01). The decrease in the total pool of SCFA occurred due to all volatile acids (C2, C3, C4), the concentrations of which were lower than in healthy children (p<0.01). Violation of the volatile acids ratio in their general pool was observed from the first days of rotavirus gastroenteritis in the form of an increase in the C2 relative concentration (p˂0.05) and a decrease in C3 and C4 profiles (p˂0.05). Correspondingly, a decrease in anaerobic index was noted. It was equal to 0.04 [0.01; 0.11] on the 3rd and 5th day of the disease, constituting only 1/5 of the healthy children values (p˂0,01), increasing on the 10th day to 0,09 [0,02; 0.17], however, remaining twice as lower than in children of the comparison group (p˂0,01). Conclusions. There is a violation of the intestinal microflora functional condition in early-aged children from the first days of rotavirus infection, which is expressed by depletion of the total pool of SCFA and concentrations of each of them, as well as structural disorders of intestinal microbiocinosis in the form of reducing its anaerobiosis. These changes are most pronounced during the first five days of rotavirus gastroenteritis and last up to 10th day of illness.

Morphological analysis of temporal area skin in patients with an additional pathology on age aspect

Background. Improvement of the technical aspects of surgery in aesthetic surgery led to an increase in the number of transactions and significant increase contingent of women who are turning to specialized clinics. But it also significantly increased the proportion of patients with a variety of concomitant diseases requiring new approaches to operational technologies and special attention in the postoperative period. In this group of patients is high risk of intraoperative and postoperative complications significantly limits the range of indications. So to prevent these complications is an important question when planning operations in aesthetic surgery of the face. Objective. Determine structural and functional changes of temporal area skin in women of different age groups with an additional internal pathology. Methods. Intraoperative biopsy material of skin of 104 women at the age from 19 to 73 years, that was taken during standard surgery instrumentations for different defects of face skin correction, was investigated. Results and conclusion. It was determined, that involutive dynamic of microvessel condition in papillary layer of derma coincides with grade reduction of relative volume of microvessels bed. Microcirculation age changes include structural disorders of intrapapillary capillary loops, disorganization of arterioles in papillary and reticular layers of derma, disorders of venules because of the changes in microenvironmental fibrillar network. It is typical at the patients with nicotinic dependence, ischemic heart disease, hypertonic disease, a diabetes, and also adiposity of a different degree essential infringement of microvessels bed structure criteria of skin condition that gives the basis for allocation of the given contingent of patients as group of high intraoperative and postoperative risk at carrying out of frontlift.

A Diffeomorphic Aging Model for Adult Human Brain from Cross-Sectional Data

Normative aging trends of the brain can serve as an important reference in the assessment of neurological structural disorders. Such models are typically developed from longitudinal brain image data – follow-up data of the same subject over different time points. In practice, obtaining such longitudinal data is difficult. We propose a method to develop an aging model for a given population, in the absence of longitudinal data, by using images from different subjects at different time points, the so-called cross-sectional data. We define an aging model as a diffeomorphic deformation on a structural template derived from the data and propose a method that develops topology preserving aging model close to natural aging. The proposed model is successfully validated on two public cross-sectional datasets which provide templates constructed from different sets of subjects at different age points.

Certain chorioretinal parameters of the eye in congenital and acquired myopia and their relationship with anatomical and optical parameters

Purpose: to assess the thickness of the central region of the retina and choroid, the layer of nerve fibers in the macular and peripapillary regions, the density of the superficial and deep plexus of the retina and the choroid in congenital and acquired myopia and see how they are related with the refraction and axial length of the eye.Material and methods. 33 patients aged 6 to 16 (averagely, 12.07 ± 3.09 years) were divided into 3 groups: 1) with congenital myopia (23 eyes), 2) with acquired myopia (9 eyes), and 3) the control group with emmetropia (20 eyes). Chorioretinal and hemodynamic parameters were determined using an RS-3000 Advance 2 spectral optical coherence tomograph (Nidek, Japan). Correlation analysis was performed using Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient (r).Results. Structural changes in the sensory and vascular membranes of the eye were revealed in both myopic groups as compared to the control group. Of the two clinical groups, more severe structural disorders were found in congenital myopia. Hemodynamic parameters revealed abnormalities in the deep retinal layers, as well as in the choriocapillary layer. The comparative analysis showed that morphological changes in the posterior pole have a stronger correlation with anatomical parameters as compared to optical ones.Conclusion. Optical coherence tomography is an informative method of differential diagnosis, monitoring, and prognostication of changes in the posterior pole in myopia.

Ocular and Cerebral Causes and A New Scoring System to Evaluate Visual Function in Young Children with Visual Impairment

Purpose: Childhood blindness is important cause contributing to the burden of blindness. It is necessary to identify the most frequently observed diseases in different populations. We aimed to demonstrate clinical features of low vision children and to evaluate the factors affecting visual function by a new visual function scoring system. Methods: 249 children between the age of 6 months and 3 years were included. Visual function was scored from 0 to 15 according to; response to threat, light, object, presence of fixation, duration of fixation, following of light and object in horizontal, vertical, oblique, and circular gazes, optokinetic nystagmus. Patients were classified according to neurological diagnosis and cranial magnetic resonance imaging. Correlation between visual function score and ocular and neurologic findings were evaluated. Results: While 136 patients (54.6%) had cerebral visual impairment (CVI), 89 (35.7%) had ocular pathology, 24 patients (9.6%) had combined pathology. The most common ocular and cerebral pathologies were oculocutaneous albinism (23.9%) and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) (27.5%), respectively. Patients with CVI had lower visual function than ocular pathologies. Neurological structural disorders and HIE had worse visual function. Widespread involvement of brain had lower visual function score. Seizure negatively affected visual function.Conclusions: Cerebral causes were found in approximately half of infants and children with low vision who were referred to our center for visual habilitation. The visual function scoring system we developed in this study will provide an opportunity to be objective in the follow-up of babies and in evaluating the effectiveness of visual habilitation programs.

Capacity of the CCC-2 to Discriminate ASD from Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders

The Children’s Communication Checklist (CCC-2) has demonstrated its usefulness as an instrument to assess discrepancies between the use of structural dimensions of language and the pragmatic and sociointeractive uses of language. The aims of the present paper are: (1) to test the capacity of the Galician adaptation of the CCC-2 to discriminate the linguistic profiles of children with different disorders and (2) to test whether the capacity of the CCC-2 to discriminate the linguistic abilities of children with different disorders is the same at different ages: earlier development and later development. The sample is of 117 children previously diagnosed with different disorders: autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental language disorder (DLD), attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Down syndrome children (DS) and typically developing children (TD). The children were divided into two different age groups: from 4 to 6 and from 7 to 16 years of age. The results indicate that the Galician CCC-2 (1) accurately identified children with and without communicative impairments, (2) distinguished between profiles with a predominance of pragmatic (ASD and ADHD) and structural disorders (DS and DLD) and (3) distinguished between different profiles of pragmatic impairment. The CCC-2 equally identified these profiles at both earlier and later ages. The Galician CCC-2 seems to be a useful instrument for differentiating among different clinical groups and for assessing pragmatic disorders from an early age, which can be valuable for planning early intervention.

Reduced microvascular reactivity in patients with diabetic neuropathy

BACKGROUND: Neurogenic regulation is involved in the development of microcirculation response to local heating. We suggest that microvascular reactivity can be used to estimate the severity of diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prospects for using the parameters of skin microvascular reactivity to determine the severity of DPN. METHODS: 26 patients with diabetes mellitus were included in the study (patients with retinopathy (n = 15), and without retinopathy (n = 11)). The severity of DPN was assessed using Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) and Norfolk QOL-DN (NQOLDN). Skin microcirculation was measured by laser Doppler flowmetry with local heating test. RESULTS: There were revealed moderate negative correlations between microvascular reactivity and the severity of DPN (for MNSI (Rs = –0.430), for NQOLDN (Rs = –0.396)). In patients with retinopathy, correlations were stronger than in the general group (for MNSI (Rs = –0.770) and NQOLDN (Rs = –0.636)). No such correlations were found in patients without retinopathy. CONCLUSION: Correlation of the microvascular reactivity and DPN was revealed in patients with registered structural disorders in microvessels (retinopathy). The lack of such correlation in patients without retinopathy may be explained by the intact compensatory mechanisms of microvessels without severe disorders.

Self-Regulation and Psychodynamics in Bioenergetic Analysis

This article presents ten theses containing theoretical considerations for a postgraduate curriculum as currently tested by the Polish Society for Bioenergetic Analysis. The bioenergetic notion of the self, of affect regulation and of mental defense are modified in order to allow for psychodynamic conflict-, structureand trauma-pathological concepts to be integrated into Bioenergetic Analysis. Among other advantages, this approach facilitates the work with structural disorders (narcissism, borderline personality disorder) in Bioenergetic Analysis.