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Introduction. Chronic pelvic pain negatively affects the quality of life (QoL) of patients with a painful form of external genital endometriosis (EGE) and adversely impacts on the physical, psychoemotional and sexual health of reproductive-age women resulting in distress, maladaptation, anxiety-depressive disorders, disrupted social functioning in family relationships. Aim: to assess the QoL of women with painful EGE after radical treatment in the rehabilitation period by using subjective research methods. Materials and Methods. We examined 104 female patients of reproductive age (42.4 ± 3.7 years) with painful EGE after radical treatment: group IA – 49 women underwent "active" rehabilitation, group IB – 55 patients underwent "passive" rehabilitation tactics in accordance with standards and National Clinical Guidelines. The assessment of QoL (subjective) was performed using specialized questionnaires: visual analog scale (VAS), PainDETECT questionnaire, Endometriosis Health Profile-30 (EHP-30) questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Assessment of QoL parameters was carried out at 6 control time points: before, as well as 5–9 days, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after surgical treatment. Results. Patients underwent "active" rehabilitation tactics (group IA) showed prominently reduced pain syndrome, neuropathic component of pain, anxiety-depressive disorders, normalized sexual function and improved all QoL parameters, unlike patients managed with "passive" tactics, who underwent a complex of rehabilitation measures within the framework of National Clinical Guidelines (group IB). More severe EGE course and significantly decreased QoL in patients with painful EGE at "passive" rehabilitation tactics were noted. Conclusion. Applying a complex personalized rehabilitation program along with multidisciplinary approach in patients with painful EGE after radical treatment can markedly improve overall well-being, timely correct psychoemotional and sexual dysfunction, and therefore prominently increase the patients' QoL.

Introduction. External genital endometriosis (EGE) is a chronic, relapsing disease that affects various aspects of sexual function, the quality of sexual and interpersonal relationships, physical and psycho-emotional health and leads to social maladjustment and anxiety-depressive disorders, resulting in progressively decreased quality of life (QoL).Aim: to analyze an impact of sexual disorders on QoL of women with painful and painless EGEs.Materials and Methods. A prospective comparative randomized interventional study involved 160 patients (110 and 50 women with painful and painless EGE, respectively) of reproductive age, with laparoscopically and morphologically verified diagnosis according to the revised American Fertility Society scoring system (R-AFS, 1996). Pain syndrome and sexual dysfunction were assessed using specialized questionnaires: visual analogue scale (VAS), PainDETECT, and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). After surgical treatment, 8 patients refused to participate in the study (6 with painful EGE and 2 with painless EGE). Thus, only 152 women passed all stages of the study. The patients were divided into 4 groups depending on the presence and/or absence of pain syndrome and the tactics of the rehabilitation period ("active" or "passive"): group IA consisted of 49 (47.1 %) women with pain and "active" rehabilitation; group IБ – 55 (52.9 %) women with pain syndrome and "passive" rehabilitation tactics; group IIA – 23 (47.9 %) patients without pain syndrome with "active" rehabilitation; group IIБ – 25 (52.1 %) patients without pain syndrome with "passive" rehabilitation tactics.Results. Women with painful vs. painless EGE were found to have a more severe course of the disease and a markedly decreased quality of sexual life. It was observed that patients with "active" rehabilitation tactics (groups IA and IIA) had intensity of the pain syndrome and the neuropathic pain component significantly decreased, improved parameters of the quality of sexual life, sexual desire and sexual excitability compared to patients with "passive" rehabilitation tactics applied with the measures within the framework of the National Clinical Guidelines (groups IБ and IIБ).Conclusion. A significantly decreased quality of sexual life of EGE patients indicates a need for assessing and correcting sexual disorders as well as introducing early onset of rehabilitation measures by using a multidisciplinary approach.

Introduction. Chronic pain syndrome with external genital endometriosis (EGE) causes profound psychoemotional changes, anxiety disorders, decreased physical and social activity, general well-being and mood, sexual dysfunction, and as a consequence, deteriorated quality of patients' life.Aim: to study an influence of psychoemotional disorders on the quality of life of women with painful and painless forms of EGE.Material and Methods. There were enrolled 160 patients (110 women with painful and 50 with painless forms of EGE) of reproductive age with laparoscopically and morphologically verified diagnosis, according to the Revised American Fertility Society score (R-AFS) classification. Pain syndrome and psychoemotional status were assessed using various quality of life assessment questionnaires: Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Endometriosis Health Profile-30 (EHP-30), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). After surgical treatment, 8 patients refused to participate in the work (6 with painful form of EGE and 2 with painless form). Thus, 152 women passed all stages of the study. The patients were divided into 4 groups depending on the presence and/or absence of pain syndrome and tactics of the rehabilitation period ("active" or "passive"): group IA consisted of 49 (47.1 %) women with pain syndrome and "active" rehabilitation; group IБ – 55 (52.9 %) women with pain syndrome and "passive" rehabilitation tactics; group IIA – 23 (47.9 %) patients without pain syndrome and with "active" rehabilitation; group IIБ – 25 (52.1 %) patients without pain syndrome and with "passive" rehabilitation tactics.Results. It was found that painful vs. painless form of EGE differs by a more severe course of the disease and markedly decreased quality of life. In a comparative analysis of the four groups it was noted that women with "active" tactics of rehabilitation measures (IA and IIA) had a decrease in pain syndrome, improved emotional, social and sexual activity, decreased depression and anxiety scores as compared to the patients (IБ and IIБ) who underwent a set of rehabilitation measures within the National clinical guidelines.Conclusion. Timely diagnostics and correction of psychoemotional disorders will allow to develop a differentiated approach to provide specialized medical and psychological care and improve the quality of life of patients with EGE.

Hysterectomy currently occupies one of the leading places among obstetric and gynecological surgeries and is one of the highly effective and sometimes the only method of treating various diseases of the female genital organs. Quite often, however, hysterectomy results not only in the elimination of the cause of disease, but also in the development of complications that reduce the quality of life of patients. More and more attention is being paid to neurological complications, which is obviously due to improved diagnostic capabilities, as well as the results of recent research on the pathogenesis and treatment of neurological disorders. Only recently the scientists have begun to think about the true causes of one of the most important neurologic complications of hysterectomy, namely chronic postoperative pain.The review describes in detail the main neurological disorders that develop after hysterectomy: chronic postoperative pain, traumatic neuroma, residual ovarian syndrome as possible causes of chronic pain, mononeuropathies, sexual and sleep disorders, decreased cognitive and motor functions, lower urinary tract and bowel dysfunction. Considerable attention is given to the mechanisms of neurological complications and the relationship between the surgery and emotional disturbances in women.

Aim: to analyze current literature sources on endometriosis-associated cancer (ЕАС) in gynecology.Materials and Methods. We searched for publications in the international scientific databases: eLibrary, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, PubMed/MEDLINE and clinical research registries. For this systematic analysis, only full-text publications were used. We evaluated the reliability of evidence and the methodological quality of the studies. The data on the modern approach to the therapy and rehabilitation of women with external genital endometriosis (EGE) are presented. Search terms for publications in Russian and English were used: «endometriosis», «endometriosis-associated ovarian neoplasia», «oncology», «rehabilitation».Results. Despite the fact that EGE is considered a benign disease, there is a risk for its malignant transformation. However, the pathogenesis and pathomorphological mechanisms of ЕАС are not yet fully understood.Conclusion. Active management of the rehabilitation period for women with EGE provides an opportunity for early diagnosing recurrences that will provide early diagnostics ovarian ЕАС and improve the main indicators of the quality of life for such patients.

Background: Diabetes mellitus type 1 (T1D) is an autoimmune organ-specific disease with a wide range of clinical manifestations, in which the β cells of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans are destroyed by the action of autoreactive T lymphocytes and the formation of autoantibodies against β cell components. Among used serological markers of T1D, anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD65), anti-tyrosine phosphatase antibodies (IA2), islet cell antibodies (ICA), insulin autoantibodies (IAA) and anti-zinc transporter antibodies (Zn-T8) are of great significance., Objective: This study aimed to analyze presence of type 1 diabetes-related autoantibodies (GAD65, IA2, ICA, IAA and Zn-T8 and effects of age and gender on their occurrence in pediatric population., Methods: Sixty seven (N=67) T1D pediatric patients were included in the study. The levels of immunological parameters such as anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD-Ab), anti-tyrosine phosphatase antibodies (IA2-Ab), islet cell antibodies (ICA) and insulin autoantibodies (IAA) were determined by chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) and anti-zinc transporter antibodies (Zn-T8-Ab) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). For statistical analysis, we used SPSS statistical program., Results: Our study revealed that among 67 patients with T1D (40 male and 27 female), with an average age of 12,1±3,9 years. The average age of diabetes diagnosis was 6,15±3,29 years. 24 (35,8%) cases were positive for GAD65, 15 (22,4%) for ICA, 34 (50,7%) for IAA, 16 (23,9%) for IA2 and 36 (53,7%) for Zn-T8. The largest number of patients had single positive antibody, the most dominated among them was IAA dominated (40,9%), then Zn-T8 (31,8%). According to Spearman correlation test Zn-transporter shows a significant positive correlation with age of the participants (p=0.027) and disease duration (p=0.006). Anti IA2 shows significant negative correlation with HbA1c (p=0.043). Zn-transporter is associated with patients age and duration of T1D., Conclusion: In most cases, patients with T1D are positive for at least one of the specific autoantibodies. Zn-T8 is the most frequently detected and is an important serological marker of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Gender effects on autoantibodies seems to be insignificant, while age alongside disease duration shows important effects., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (© 2023 Lamija Zecevic-Pasic, Suzana Tihic-Kapidzic, Snijezana Hasanbegovic, Ermin Begovic, Refet Gojak, Nejra Dzananovic.)

Background: Psoriasis as an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease. The basis of the pathogenesis of psoriasis is the dysregulation of immune cell function in genetically predisposed individuals. The characteristic dysfunction of the immune system in patients with psoriasis is manifested as a variation in the cellular phenotypic profile in accordance with the disease status., Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunophenotypic profile of lymphocytes obtained by flow cytometry as an auxiliary diagnostic tool in the objectivization of the PASI score., Methods: The study group included 40 patients with psoriasis, hospitalized and treated at Dermatology Clinic of Clinical center University of Sarajevo and 30 healthy individuals as controls. After venepunction, the blood samples for determining the immune profile were prepared following standard laboratory procedures using conjugated monoclonal antibodies and BD FACSCanto II flow cytometer. T-lymphocytes (CD3, CD4, CD8), B lymphocytes (CD19), Natural killer cells (NK), and activatet T-cells (CD3HLA) were determined for all patients. Based on the PASI score, the severity and area of the disease was assessed for all psoriasis patients by dermatology specialist., Results: Our data shows no significant difference in any of the lymphocyte subpopulations between psoriasis patients and healthy controls, except CD3HLA. CD3HLA has higher values in patients with psoriasis, p=0.015. Of all the parameters, only NK cells were significantly correlated to the PASI score (rho -0.279; p=0.048). ROC curve analysis revealed a statistically significant difference for the proportion of CD3 lymphocytes (AUC 0.799; p=0.004), CD8 lymphocytes (AUC 0.733; p= 0.023), NK cells (AUC 0.722; p=0.008) and CD3HLA activated T lymphocytes (AUC 0.347; p=0.034)., Conclusion: Profile of major lymphocyte subsets in patients with psoriasis is similar to that of healthy controls. The values of CD3, CD8, NK, CD3HLA were defined as biomarkers capable of distinguishing psoriasis according to the severity of the disease. Immunophenotyping of peripheral blood lymphocytes can play an important role as an auxiliary diagnostic method in differentiating the clinical stages of psoriasis and objectifying the PASI score., Competing Interests: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors have no conflict of interest to report., (© 2023 Lamija Zecevic-Pasic, Nejra Dzananovic, Refet Gojak, Suzana Tihic-Kapidzic, Berina Hasanefendic, Ermin Begovic, Amir Fazlagic.)

The mission of the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) is to advance the research, literacy, and educational aspects of the scientific field of the tear film and ocular surface. Fundamental to fulfilling this mission is the TFOS Global Ambassador program. TFOS Ambassadors are dynamic and proactive experts, who help promote TFOS initiatives, such as presenting the conclusions and recommendations of the recent TFOS DEWS II™, throughout the world. They also identify unmet needs, and propose future clinical and scientific solutions, for management of ocular surface diseases in their countries. This meeting report addresses such needs and solutions for 25 European countries, as detailed in the TFOS European Ambassador meeting in Rome, Italy, in September 2019., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objectives: Young laboratory medicine professionals (YLMPs) are the future of clinical laboratories. Although everyday practice shows significant differences among countries, especially during residency training, most of them face the same challenges. Besides promoting scientific, professional and clinical aspects of laboratory medicine in Europe, the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) should take into consideration YLMPs' concerns and interests to help them achieve excellence. The aim of this survey was to assess the opinion and expectations of YLMPs about their involvement in the activities of EFLM., Methods: An online survey was distributed to YLMPs in Europe through different channels. The questionnaire consisted of 21 items grouped into five sections: demographic questions, opinion about the current status of YLMPs within EFLM, YLMPs network, suggestions and opportunities, and scientific training and exchange. Where appropriate, responses from residents and specialists were compared., Results: A total of 329 valid responses were obtained from 53 different countries. Countries with the highest number of participants were Spain, Turkey, Croatia and Romania. A significant percentage would like to know more about EFLM and their activities (86%) and wish EFLM promoted networking and scientific exchanges (95%), for instance by means of a European YLMPs network (93%). EFLMLabX project was widely unknown (75%)., Conclusions: YLMPs demand better connection to share concerns about daily healthcare duties, to keep updated and to advance professionally. EFLM needs to improve their advertising through national societies to increase YLMPs' participation. In addition to international meetings and congresses, respondents have emphasized that workshops and other small group activities would significantly help promote laboratory medicine practice in Europe.

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus(DM) is considered an independent cardiovascular risk factor. Having in mind concomitant occurence of diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors, it is expected that patients with poor glucoregulation will have more cardiovascular risk factors and higher cardiovascular risk than patients with good glucoregulation., Aim: To compare cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular risk factors between patients with poorly controlled and patients with well-controlled Diabetes mellitus., Material and Methods: Hundered ten patients aged 40-70 years suffering from Diabetes mellitus type 2 were included. Research is designed as a retrospective, descriptive study. Patients with glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) > 7% were considered to have poorly controlled diabetes. The following data and parameters were monitored: age,sex, family history, data on smoking and alcohol consumption, BMI (body mass index), blood pressure, blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, HDL, fibrinogen, uric acid. For the assessment of cardiovascular risk, the WHO / ISH (World Health Organization/International Society of hypertension) tables of the 10-year risk were used, and due to the assessment of the risk factors prevalence, the optimal values of individual numerical variables were defined., Results: Differences in the mean values of systolic, diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol are statistically significant higher in patients with poorly controlled diabetes. Hypertension more frequently occurre in patients with poorly controlled DM. The majority of patients with well-controlled DM belong to the group of low and medium cardiovascular risk, while the majority of patients with poorly controlled DM belong to the group of high and very high cardiovascular risk. In our research, there was a significant difference in cardiovascular risk in relation to the degree of DM regulation, and HbA1c proved to be an important indicator for the emergence of the CVD., Conclusion: There are significant differences in certain risk factors between patients with poorly controlled and well controlled DM. Patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus have a higher cardiovascular risk than patients with well controlled diabetes. The value of HbA1c should be considered when assessing cardiovascular risk.

Objectives: Impaired positive autobiographical memory (AM) is closely linked to emotional disorders. AM impairments are often found in depressed adults and may be related to the difficulties such persons have in regulating their dysphoric mood. By contrast, less is known about AM disturbances among adolescents, or about the functional relationship of AM disturbances to early-onset depression., Design: A high-risk family design served to compare four groups of youth who differed in depression histories and familial depression risk., Methods: Thirty-one currently depressed probands, 185 remitted probands, 204 never-depressed siblings of probands, and 180 healthy control youth were induced into a negative mood prior to recalling positive AMs via a novel memory elicitation procedure. Several positive AM characteristics were assessed., Results: Relative to control youth, unaffected siblings and probands exhibited consistently impaired positive AMs. Moreover, we also found some evidence that probands were more impaired than siblings, who were in turn more impaired than controls, consistent with a gradient effect., Conclusions: Positive AM disturbances may not only precede the onset of depression in vulnerable youth, but also continue to persist after remission of a depressive episode. Clinical and basic research implications of the findings are discussed., Practitioner Points: Positive AM impairments may be trait-like, persist in the euthymic phase of depression, and may serve as a risk marker for early-onset depression among vulnerable adolescents. Disturbances in positive AM may negatively impact the mood-regulatory functions of positive memory recall and contribute to persistent sadness and anhedonia, which are core features of depression. Our sample of currently depressed youth was relatively small, tempering our conclusions. Although we collected data on some important covariates (e.g., socioeconomic status), we lacked information on other relevant variables such as youths' executive functioning or IQ., (© 2017 The British Psychological Society.)

Many introductory biology courses amount to superficial surveys of disconnected topics. Often, foundational observations and the concepts derived from them and students' ability to use these ideas appropriately are overlooked, leading to unrealistic expectations and unrecognized learning obstacles. The result can be a focus on memorization at the expense of the development of a meaningful framework within which to consider biological phenomena. About a decade ago, we began a reconsideration of what an introductory course should present to students and the skills they need to master. The original Web-based course's design presaged many of the recommendations of the Vision and Change report; in particular, a focus on social evolutionary mechanisms, stochastic (evolutionary and molecular) processes, and core ideas (cellular continuity, evolutionary homology, molecular interactions, coupled chemical reactions, and molecular machines). Inspired by insights from the Chemistry, Life, the Universe & Everything general chemistry project, we transformed the original Web version into a (freely available) book with a more unified narrative flow and a set of formative assessments delivered through the beSocratic system. We outline how student responses to course materials are guiding future course modifications, in particular a more concerted effort at helping students to construct logical, empirically based arguments, explanations, and models., (© 2016 M. W. Klymkowsky et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).)

Background: Metazoan multicellularity is rooted in mechanisms of cell adhesion, signaling, and differentiation that first evolved in the progenitors of metazoans. To reconstruct the genome composition of metazoan ancestors, we sequenced the genome and transcriptome of the choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta, a close relative of metazoans that forms rosette-shaped colonies of cells., Results: A comparison of the 55 Mb S. rosetta genome with genomes from diverse opisthokonts suggests that the origin of metazoans was preceded by a period of dynamic gene gain and loss. The S. rosetta genome encodes homologs of cell adhesion, neuropeptide, and glycosphingolipid metabolism genes previously found only in metazoans and expands the repertoire of genes inferred to have been present in the progenitors of metazoans and choanoflagellates. Transcriptome analysis revealed that all four S. rosetta septins are upregulated in colonies relative to single cells, suggesting that these conserved cytokinesis proteins may regulate incomplete cytokinesis during colony development. Furthermore, genes shared exclusively by metazoans and choanoflagellates were disproportionately upregulated in colonies and the single cells from which they develop., Conclusions: The S. rosetta genome sequence refines the catalog of metazoan-specific genes while also extending the evolutionary history of certain gene families that are central to metazoan biology. Transcriptome data suggest that conserved cytokinesis genes, including septins, may contribute to S. rosetta colony formation and indicate that the initiation of colony development may preferentially draw upon genes shared with metazoans, while later stages of colony maturation are likely regulated by genes unique to S. rosetta.

The seagrass limpet Tectura paleacea (Gastropoda; Patellogastropoda) belongs to a seagrass obligate lineage that has shifted from the Caribbean in the late Miocene, across the Isthmus of Panama prior to the closing of the Panamanian seaway, and then northward to its modern Baja California - Oregon distribution. To address whether larval entrainment by seagrass beds contributes to population structuring, populations were sampled at six California/Oregon localities approximately 2 degrees latitude apart during two post-settlement periods in July 2002 and June 2003. Partial cytochrome oxidase b (Cytb) sequences were obtained from 20 individuals (10 per year) from each population in order to determine the levels of population subdivision/connectivity. From the 120 individuals sequenced, there were eighty-one unique haplotypes, with the greatest haplotype diversity occurring in southern populations. The only significant genetic break detected was consistent with a peri-Point Conception (PPC) biogeographic boundary while populations north and south of Point Conception were each panmictic. The data further indicate that populations found south of the PPC biogeographic boundary originated from northern populations. This pattern of population structure suggests that seagrass patches are not entraining the larvae of T. paleacea by altering flow regimes within their environment; a process hypothesized to produce extensive genetic subdivision on fine geographic scales. In contrast to the haplotype data, morphological patterns vary significantly over very fine geographic scales that are inconsistent with the observed patterns of genetic population structure, indicating that morphological variation in T. paleacea might be attributed to differential ecophenotypic expression in response to local habitat variability throughout its distribution. These results suggest that highly localized conservation efforts may not be as effective as large-scale conservation efforts in near shore marine environments.

As arguably the simplest free-living animals, placozoans may represent a primitive metazoan form, yet their biology is poorly understood. Here we report the sequencing and analysis of the approximately 98 million base pair nuclear genome of the placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens. Whole-genome phylogenetic analysis suggests that placozoans belong to a 'eumetazoan' clade that includes cnidarians and bilaterians, with sponges as the earliest diverging animals. The compact genome shows conserved gene content, gene structure and synteny in relation to the human and other complex eumetazoan genomes. Despite the apparent cellular and organismal simplicity of Trichoplax, its genome encodes a rich array of transcription factor and signalling pathway genes that are typically associated with diverse cell types and developmental processes in eumetazoans, motivating further searches for cryptic cellular complexity and/or as yet unobserved life history stages.