Aim of this study was to recognize differences in long-term clinical outcome after femoral neck fracture and hip endoprosthesis implantation. Total of 145 patients were examined, 32 patients with unipolar, 70 with bipolar and 43 patients with total hip endoprosthesis. The mean values of Harris hip score, after 3.8 ± 1.9 years, were: 72.1 ± 17.8, 74.27 ± 19.1, 78.2 ± 22.5 for patients with unipolar, bipolar and total hip endoprosthesis, respectively. No statistically significant difference was observed (p=0.704). The in-hospital mortality rates were: 4.3%, 4.6%, and 5.3% for groups of patients with bipolar, unipolar and total hip endoprosthesis, respectively. Considering clinical outcomes, general health and costs, it could be concluded that choice of endoprosthesis does not pose an obstacle in patient’s recovery.

Resistive switching offers a promising route to universal electronic memory, potentially replacing current technologies that are approaching their fundamental limits. In many cases switching originates from the reversible formation and dissolution of nanometre-scale conductive filaments, which constrain the motion of electrons, leading to the quantisation of device conductance into multiples of the fundamental unit of conductance, G0. Such quantum effects appear when the constriction diameter approaches the Fermi wavelength of the electron in the medium – typically several nanometres. Here we find that the conductance of silicon-rich silica (SiOx) resistive switches is quantised in half-integer multiples of G0. In contrast to other resistive switching systems this quantisation is intrinsic to SiOx and is not due to drift of metallic ions. Half-integer quantisation is explained in terms of the filament structure and formation mechanism, which allows us to distinguish between systems that exhibit integer and half-integer quantisation.

Le complexe III de la chaine respiratoire mitochondriale (OXPHOS III) chez S. cerevisiae est assemblé à partir de dix sous-unités structurales codées par le génome soit nucléaire, soit mitochondrial et fait intervenir une douzaine de protéines extrinsèques au complexe. Nous avons étudié l’une d’entre elle, Bcs1, une ATPase oligomérique conservée de la famille des protéines AAA (ATPases Associated with diverse cellular Activities), qui contrôle la dernière étape de l’assemblage du complexe III. Chez l’Homme, des mutations dans l’orthologue de BCS1, BCS1L, sont associées à différentes maladies. Nous avons montré que des mutations dans les résidus conservés du domaine AAA de Bcs1 peuvent être compensées par des mutations dans les sous-unités de l’ATP synthase mitochondriale (OXPHOS V). Ces mutations compensatrices diminuent toutes l’activité d’hydrolyse de l’ATP de l’enzyme et nous avons proposé que la biogenèse du complexe III puisse être modulée selon l’état énergétique mitochondrial par Bcs1 via sa dépendance à l’ATP. Nous avons aussi identifié des mutations compensatrices dans d’autres gènes et le cas particulier de la délétion du RRF1, facteur général du recyclage des ribosomes mitochondriaux, a été étudié. Nous avons montré que l’absence de Rrf1 a un effet différent sur la stabilité et la traduction des divers ARNm mitochondriaux. Nos résultats suggèrent une coopération entre les facteurs généraux et les facteurs spécifiques de la traduction mitochondriale dans le contrôle de l’expression des sous-unités des complexes OXPHOS traduites dans la mitochondrie.

The predictive value of cystatin C as a marker of course of the disease has been evaluated. Fifty-two pairs of serum samples of patients with B non-Hodgkin lymphoma have been collected at the time of diagnosis and before fourth cycle of chemotherapy. The levels of cystatin C, CRP, β 2M, LDH, and IL-6 in samples have been measured, and clinical parameters of course of the disease (B symptoms, clinical stage, patients' age, and IPI) have been noted. In total patient's group cystatin C levels correlated with β 2M and IPI. In aggressive lymphomas, the inhibitor levels correlated with clinical stage of disease and were significantly higher in patients with elevated LDH activity. In aggressive nodal lymphomas its levels correlated with β 2M, IPI, and clinical stage of disease. The cystatin C level was significantly increased in total group of patients over 60 years old, while in particular types of lymphoma, no statistical significance has been obtained. Our results indicate that cystatin C should be taken into consideration in disease monitoring. However, we expect that the disease-free and overall survival analysis will give the definitive answer about the reliability of cystatin C as an indicator of course of aggressive lymphomas.

Introduction Pseudomonas aeruginosa is well-known cause of hospital infections with high morbidity and mortality rates [1]. According to the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (NNISS), P. aeruginosa is responsible for approximately 8% of all hospital infections. It was the most frequent cause of ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAP), the fourthrated on the list of causes of hospital urinary infections, and fifth cause of surgical site infections according to frequency of occurence (2). Infections caused by P. aeruginosa are difficult to control and treat due to its high rate of resistance to antibiotics and to the limited number of available antibiotics with efficacy against P. aeruginosa. During the last decade, an increase in resistance to imipenem and meropenem was observed among many strains of Gram-negative bacteria, and especially among isolates of P. aeruginosa [3,4,5]. Numerous studies have also shown that carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (CRPA) is frequently simultaneously resistant to other antipseudomonal antibiotics, making the treatment very difficult [6]. A number of risk factors for the emergence of CRPA-caused hospital infections was identified, including spending time in an intensive care unit and/or prior use of certain antibiotics [7,8,9,10]; however, for the majority of factors, the strength of the association was either low or equivocal. Sound knowledge of the risk factors and quantification of their influence on hospital infections are important for proper prevention and treatment of the CRPA-caused nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors associated with the CRPA-caused hospital infections.