ABSTRACT Introduction: Measurements of extracellular pH show that the micro environment of malignant tumors is more acidic than that of normal cells, whereas pH does not differ appreciable in normal and malignant cells. The acid micro environment of tumors is created by the secretion of tumor factors and ATP hydrolysis in hypoxic tumor tissue. In order to survive in a low pH-environment tumor cells develop regulatory mechanisms which keep their intracellular pH stable. Two of the most important systems are the Na+/H+ ion pump and the Na-dependent HCO3-/Cl- pump of stilbenian derivatives. Material and methods: Experiments were carried out on DBA mice of both sexes at the age of 4 month. Laboratory animals were grown in our institute and supplied with food and aqua ad libitum. Results: After termination of the experiments the mean tumor diameter in the control group was 12.4±0.8mm, in group A it was 6.9±0.6mm, and in group B we measured 6.6±3.1mm. At the final day the tumor size in treated animals was twice as small as in the control group. In addition we observed the rate of survival. In the control group only 18% of the animals were still alive at day 18. Considering the rate of survival a statistically significant difference between treated and untreated animals was observed. The survival of tumor cells is dependent on the function of these ion pumps which keep their intracellular pH values constant in the setting of an acid extracellular environment. Conclusion: The activity of the ion pump is especially important at the beginning of cell division and in cell proliferation. Our in vivo experiments demonstrate that prolonged administration of intratumoral ion pump inhibitors suppresses tumor growth as well as enhances survival of tumor-bearing animals. Research of inhibitors of ion pumps and their action in tumor growth opens new perspectives into pathophysiology of malignant tumors and may create new therapeutic options.

ABSTRACT Background: The reasons for the chronic viral persistence of hepatitis B virus infection (HBV) are unknown, but are probably related to host immune factors. Cytokines play a significant role in immune defense. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a proinflammatory cytokine and some studies have demonstrated that IL-1 production was impaired in patients with chronic infections of hepatitis B virus, implying that IL-1 may play a role in viral clearance, progression of fibrosis and in malignant potential of HBV. In this study, along with routine laboratory tests, has been performed the analysis of serum levels of proinflammatory cytokine IL-1 α in order of better understanding and monitoring of chronic hepatitis B. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the usefulness of laboratory tests, which are routinely used in the assessment of liver disease with specified immunological parameters in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Patients and methods: Total of 60 subjects was divided into two groups: HBV- PCR positive and negative group. The control group of 30 healthy participants was included. Apart from standard laboratory tests, the analysis included serum levels of cytokine IL-1 α. Results and discussion: IL-1α had the highest mean concentration in group 1–viral hepatitis C, with PCR positive test (5.73 pg / ml), and then in group 2- viral hepatitis B, PCR negative test (5.39 pg / ml). ANOVA test proves that IL-1α in the healthy group (3) was different from other groups as follows: in relation to group 1 statistical significance level was p <0.001 (F = 32 75 5); in relation to group 2 was also statistically significant at p <0.001 (F = 182 361); Cytokine IL-1 was statistically analyzed separately and compared by group 1 and 2 using Student t-test for independent samples. Statistical significance was observed at p = 0.026. IL-1 α was positively correlated with the duration of the illness (p <0.01) and with serum ALT activity (p <0.01) and serum AST activity (p <0.01). Using multivariate analysis model “Factor Analysis”, was made significant stratification predictive parameters in relation to the cytokine IL-1α, stratified significance is indicated as follows: 1. Age, 2. history of receiving transfusions, 3. ALT, 4. AST, 5. MELD score (negative), 6. Child-Pugh score (Negative). Conclusion: IL-1α was significantly elevated in inflammatory conditions of pronounced activity (PCR positive hepatitis). IL-1α may have important role as marker of both inflammation and hepatic injury, particularly in the course of hepatitis B. Results suggest that inflammatory and immune parameters, analyzed together can significantly contribute to the understanding and predicting of chronic liver damage. IL-1 can be used as important parameter of inflammatory activity and fibrosis evaluation and eventually prediction of malignant transformation in chronic liver damage.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is considered to be the most precise method for locoregional staging, was commonly used for differentiating mucosal lesions from submucosal lesions. By contrast, computed tomography (CT) was used to detect the presence of distant metastasis. Both are valuable tools for the pre-operative evaluation of gastric cancer. With the introduction of new therapeutic options and the recent improvements in CT technology, further evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of EUS and multidetector CT (MDCT) is needed. Aim: The present study was conducted to compare the staging accuracy of EUS with that of MDCT in series of patients and to evaluate their usefulness in association with the clinicopathological factors. Patients and Methods: In total, 277 patients with gastric lesions who underwent EUS and CT, hospitalized at Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Center, University of Sarajevo. The results from the pre-operative EUS and MDCT were compared with the post-operative pathological findings. Results: Among the 277 patients, the overall accuracy of EUS and MDCT for T staging was 74.7% and 76.9%, respectively. Among the 141 patients with visualized primary lesions on MDCT, the overall accuracy of EUS and MDCT for T staging was 61.7% and 63.8%, respectively. The overall accuracy for N staging was 66% and 62.8%, respectively. The performance of EUS and MDCT for large lesions and lesions at the cardia and angle had significantly lower accuracy than that of other groups. For EUS, the early gastric cancer lesions with ulcerative changes had significantly lower accuracy than those without ulcerative changes. Conclusions: For the pre-operative assessment of individual T and N staging in patients with gastric cancer, the accuracy of MDCT was close to that of EUS. Both EUS and MDCT are useful complementary modalities for the locoregional staging of gastric cancer.

Early studies supposed that personality traits and students’ life, which include brings many social and academic changes, may be relevant factors in initiation and maintenance of smoking. The aims of this study were to investigate differences in personality dimensions, as well as exposure to stressful life events among students’ smokers and nonsmokers and finally to examine the predictive contribution of these variables to smoking status. The study was conducted on the sample of 200 students from the University of Mostar, with a median age of 21 (interquartile range, 3) who completed Goldberg’s Personality Questionnaire and Scale of stressful life events. The group of students who never smoke (N = 101) and the group of smokers (N = 99) took part in the study. The results have shown that personality dimension of neuroticism and stressful life events related to social alienation, academic failure and everyday social conflict differed the smokers and non-smokers group. The smokers had higher scores in comparison to non-smokers group of students. Neuroticism and stressful life events academic failure and academic maladjustment were also significant predictors to smoking status.

To analyze frequency and type of personality pattern in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), to correlate these findings with clinical data, and to assess its possible influence on quality of life (QoL).