Browsing by Author "Zdravkovic, Nebojsa (24479207600)"

Smoke derived from combustible cigarettes (CCs) contains numerous harmful chemicals that can impair the viability, proliferation, and activation of immune cells, affecting the progression of chronic inflammatory diseases. In order to avoid the detrimental effects of cigarette smoking, many CC users have replaced CCs with heated tobacco products (HTPs). Due to different methods of tobacco processing, CC-sourced smoke and HTP-derived aerosols contain different chemical constituents. With the exception of nicotine, HTP-sourced aerosols contain significantly lower amounts of harmful constituents than CC-derived smoke. Since HTP-dependent effects on immune-cell-driven inflammation are still unknown, herein we used flow cytometry analysis, intracellular staining, and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine the impact of CCs and HTPs on systemic inflammatory response in patients suffering from ulcerative colitis (UC), diabetes mellitus (DM), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Both CCs and HTPs significantly modulated cytokine production in circulating immune cells, affecting the systemic inflammatory response in COPD, DM, and UC patients. Compared to CCs, HTPs had weaker capacity to induce the synthesis of inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-5, IL-6, IL-12, IL-23, IL-17, TNF-α), but more efficiently induced the production of immunosuppressive IL-10 and IL-35. Additionally, HTPs significantly enhanced the synthesis of pro-fibrotic TGF-β. The continuous use of CCs and HTPs aggravated immune-cell-driven systemic inflammation in COPD and DM patients, but not in UC patients, suggesting that the immunomodulatory effects of CC-derived smoke and HTP-sourced aerosols are disease-specific, and need to be determined for specific immune-cell-driven inflammatory diseases. © 2024 by the authors.

Strokes are one of the global leading causes of physical or mental impairment and fatality, classified into hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes. Ischemic strokes happen when a thrombus blocks or plugs an artery and interrupts or reduces blood supply to the brain tissue. Deciding on the imaging modality which will be used for stroke detection depends on the expertise and availability of staff and the infrastructure of hospitals. Magnetic resonance imaging provides valuable information, and its sensitivity for smaller infarcts is greater, while computed tomography is more extensively used, since it can promptly exclude acute cerebral hemorrhages and is more favorable speed-wise. The aim of this article was to give information about the neuroimaging modalities used for the diagnosis and monitoring of ischemic strokes. We reviewed the available literature and presented the use of computed tomography, CT angiography, CT perfusion, magnetic resonance imaging, MR angiography and MR perfusion for the detection of ischemic strokes and their monitoring in different phases of stroke development. © 2023 by the authors.

Background and Objectives: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (ASAH) is defined as bleeding in the subarachnoid space caused by the rupture of a cerebral aneurysm. About 11% of people who develop ASAH die before receiving medical treatment, and 40% of patients die within four weeks of being admitted to hospital. There are limited data on single-center experiences analyzing intrahospital mortality in ASAH patients treated with an endovascular approach. Given that, we wanted to share our experience and explore the risk factors that influence intrahospital mortality in patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysms treated with endovascular coil embolization. Materials and Methods: Our study was designed as a clinical, observational, retrospective cross-sectional study. It was performed at the Department for Radiology, University Clinical Center Kragujevac in Kragujevac, Serbia. The study inclusion criteria were ≥18 years, admitted within 24 h of symptoms onset, acute SAH diagnosed on CT, aneurysm on DSA, and treated by endovascular coil embolization from January 2014 to December 2018 at our institution. Results: A total of 66 patients were included in the study—48 (72.7%) women and 18 (27.3%) men, and 19.7% of the patients died during hospitalization. After adjustment, the following factors were associated with in-hospital mortality: a delayed ischemic neurological deficit, the presence of blood in the fourth cerebral ventricle, and an elevated urea value after endovascular intervention, increasing the chances of mortality by 16.3, 12, and 12.6 times. Conclusions: Delayed cerebral ischemia and intraventricular hemorrhage on initial head CT scan are strong predictors of intrahospital mortality in ASAH patients. Also, it is important to monitor kidney function and urea levels in ASAH patients, considering that elevated urea values after endovascular aneurysm embolization have been shown to be a significant risk factor for intrahospital mortality. © 2024 by the authors.