Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pinealectomy and melatonin treatment on the rat thymus gland characteristics, taking into consideration possible gender differences. Materials and methods Thirty adult Wistar rats of both sexes were divided into three groups. Group C and group PX served as control groups and included sham-pinealectomized and pinealectomized animals that were treated with 10% ethanol solution (0,1ml/daily, subcutaneous). Animals from third group (group PXM) underwent pinealectomy and seven days after surgery started receiving melatonin dissolved in 10% ethanol solution (3mg/kg/daily, subcutaneous). All animals were treated for 4 weeks. Results Volume density of the thymus cortex showed statistically significant (p<0,05) decrease while the volume density of the thymus medulla was increased in the pinealectomized compared to the sham-pinealectomized female rats. Numerical density of macrophages as well as the distribution of blood vessels showed no gender differences. The numerical density of lymphocytes was statistically significantly decreased in female in comparison to the male pinealectomized rats. Melatonin treatment was proved to cause reverse effects in the sense that the results from the melatonin treated group corresponded to the results obtained from the control group of animals. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that the pinealectomy causes gender-related changes in the rat thymus. Short-term melatonin treatment showed reverse effect, equally in both sexes.

UDK: 547.56:582.728.4 Phenolic compounds content and antioxidant capacity from Viscum album ssp. album Beck. leaves and twigs extracts were determined. Common mistletoe was collected from four hosts (Crataegus monogyna, Malus domestica, Prunus cerasifera, and Populus x canadensis.). Folin-Ciocalteu method, AlCl3 method, method with Arnow reagent, and acid-butanol assay were applied for determination of total phenols, flavonoids, phenolic acids and proanthocyanidins respectively. DPPH, ABTS and FRAP methods were applied in the determination of antioxidant capacity of the extracts. Total phenols were in the range 7.16-11.70 mg GAE/g DW, flavonoids 2.115-4.668 mg RE/g DW, phenolic acids 0.811-1.789 mg caffeic CAE/g DW, and proanthocyanidins 0.71-2.62 mg LCE/g DW. Content of phenols and flavonoids was higher in the leaves than the twigs. The highest antioxidant capacity in leaves (50.86-65.93 µmol Trolox equivalents/g DW) was determined for mistletoe collected from Crataegus monogyna while the highest capacity in twigs had mistletoe collected from Malus domestica (67.28-81.72 µmol Trolox equivalents/g DW). Also, high correlation has been noticed between total phenols, flavonoids, phenolic acids and antioxidant capacity for V. album leaves. For twigs, high correlation was obtained between phenols and antioxidant capacity, and in some moderate extends for proanthocyanidins.  

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice and its prevalence increases with age. Patients who develop AF also have cardiovascular risk factors, structural heart disease, and comorbidities, all of which can increase mortality. AF causes a significant economic burden with the increasing trend in AF prevalence and hospitalizations. Research Objectives: The objective of our study is to evaluate the impact of the most common known risk factors on the incidence of atrial fibrillation as an important precursor of cardiac and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality among our patients in Bosnia and Herzegovina during median follow up period (September 2006 - September 2016). The other objective is to estimate the CHA2DS2-VASc score among our patients based on clinical parameters. Patients and methods: This study includes 2352 ambulant and hospitalized patients with atrial fibrillation. All patients underwent clinical evaluation which includes thorough assessment for potential risk factors and concomitant conditions in order to determine which of them represent the most common among examinees with atrial fibrillation. Results: The results show that male gender has slightly more incidence of AF. Obesity and overweight with BMI ≥ 27, cigarettes smoking and sedentary life style are almost present in patients with AF. Arterial hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic renal dysfunction, structural and valvular heart disease and peripheral vascular disease are the most common comorbidities among our patients. The mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 3.2±1.4 and the mean HAS-BLED score was 2.1±1.2. Conclusion: Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac rhythm disorder. The study shows that obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking cigarettes and dyslipidemia can be considered as triggers and predisposing factors for appearance of AF. Arterial hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, Peripheral vascular disease and chronic kidney disease are playing important role in developing of AF.

John Bryden (1932-2012) was Public health consultant in Glasgow. Scotland. John Bryden graduated in medicine at Glasgow University in 1956 and after completing his national service worked in orthopedics and became a GP covering Mosspark and Govan. An early interest in optical character recognition and computer programming led to a three-year fellowship in administrative medicine and a diploma in Social medicine from Edinburgh University. In his final year he was on the commissioning team for Woodside Health Center and set up its computerized patient index, improving preventive medicine.