Judit Forrai

Serum ghrelin level and TNF-α/ghrelin ratio in patients with previous myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND AND AIMSnStudies investigating serum ghrelin level in atherosclerosis yielded contradictory results. Interaction of ghrelin with adipocytokines is obscure in cardiovascular diseases. We undertook this study to determine which molecules influence ghrelin level and to see whether post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients have decreased ghrelin levels.nnnMETHODSnIn this cross-sectional study, acyl-ghrelin concentration was determined by radioimmunoassay in sera of 171 patients (ages 62 ± 6 years, mean ± SD) with previous MI and 81 age-matched referent subjects. We evaluated the associations of ghrelin with insulin, adiponectin, leptin, resistin, fetuin-A and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α).nnnRESULTSnPatients had lower ghrelin levels compared to referent subjects (240.55 ± 59.33 vs. 337.96 ± 30.75 pg/mL, p <0.001) even after excluding diabetic and obese patients (240.63 ± 54.08 vs. 337.96 ± 30.75, p <0.001). In multivariate analysis, insulin (β = -0.327, p <0.001) and adiponectin (β = 0.301, p <0.001) determined ghrelin level (R(2) = 0.199, p <0.001). There was no association between ghrelin and TNF-α levels. In discriminant analysis using ghrelin, adiponectin, leptin, fetuin-A, resistin and TNF-α, the structure matrix revealed ghrelin and TNF-α as strongest predictors for belonging to the patient group (0.760 and -0.569, respectively). Using these two parameters, 89.7% of cases were correctly classified. Subjects with high TNF-α/ghrelin ratio had 11.25 times higher chance for belonging to the patient group (95% CI 5.80-21.80; χ(2) (1) = 215.6, p <0.001)nnnCONCLUSIONSnAcylated ghrelin levels are decreased in patients with coronary atherosclerosis, independently of body weight and the presence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ghrelin level is determined by elevated insulin and decreased adiponectin levels. Ghrelin alone or in combination with TNF-α may prove to be a novel indicator of coronary atherosclerosis.

Dental practice in Hungary at the end of the eighteenth century.

The consumer society, with its pursuit of niceties rather than merely necessities, came late to Hungary. After the expulsion of the Turks, reconstruction of the country was inevitably very Austria-dependent, with Hungary cast in the role of the granary of the Empire and excluded from the economic changes affecting much of the rest of western Europe. As regards dental care, the wealthy might seek sophisticated treatment in Vienna or later in Pest where dental science first emerged. The University was founded at Nagyszombat (today, Trnava in Slovakia) where the Faculty of Medicine was founded in 1770. The qualification of Magister artis dentariae was awarded from 1799. Dental treatment was also provided by other types of practitioner throughout the country, namely by itinerant healers who operated at fairs, frequently extracting the wrong teeth.