ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Prophylaxis of iodine deficiency-related disorders with iodized salt in Slovakia was introduced in 1951. This prophylactic measure yielded remarkably good results. Endemic goiter and endemic cretinism disappeared. Sufficient iodine intake, mainly in children and adolescents, was confirmed in several local and international studies carried out in the period 1991-95. Unfortunately, since seventies, there has been no institution which would have dealt with iodine prophylaxis in such an extent as this important measure of Slovak preventive medicine would require. Neither systematic monitoring of iodine intake nor systematic population epidemiological studies have been carried out. We do not have any data on the iodine intake in pregnant women, the most vulnerable population group in relation to the iodine deficiency. During the period June 2014 - October 2015, we examined iodine excretion in 426 probands from three regions of Slovakia with an emphasis on the pregnant women. RESULTS: Iodine intake was found to be sufficient, even more than adequate, in all age groups of Slovak population. The only population group with iodine intake borderline or very mild iodine deficiency are pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS: 1/ Iodine nutrition in Slovakia is generally sufficient, even oversteps the requirement, with the exception of pregnant women. Iodine intake in pregnant women should be fortified by iodine containing multivitamin preparations. 2/ We recommend to include the examination of urinary iodine into the screening of thyropathies in early pregnancy. 3/ It is not enough to implement the iodine deficiency-related disorders prevention programs, it is also necessary to stabilize such programs over time and balance the benefits with possible side effects of this program.
Subject(s)
Iodine/deficiency , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Iodine/administration & dosage , Iodine/urine , Male , Middle Aged , Pregnancy , SlovakiaABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We present the results of a cytogenetic and molecular cytogenetic analysis of a series of patients with bone and soft tissue tumors. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS: We analyzed a cohort of 26 patients with Ewing sarcoma/PNET, 15 patients with rhabdomyosarcoma, 5 with synovial sarcoma and one patient with an undifferentiated sarcoma using the cytogenetic and molecular cytogenetic techniques M-FISH and arrayCGH. RESULTS: We found nonrandom chromosomal structural and numerical changes with diagnostic and prognostic relevance in most patients. Eight patients with ES/PNET had only a t(11;22)(q24;q12), eight patients had secondary aberrations as well and six had only secondary aberrations. In the RMS patients we detected the t(1;13)(p36;q14) once and the t(2;13)(q35;q14) four times, both of them characteristic for the alveolar subtype with poor prognosis and numerical aberrations, characteristic for the embryonal subtype, in five patients. Four patients with synovial sarcoma had the diagnostic t(X;18)(p11.2;q11.2), one of them had a complex karyotype with a complex t(X;18;21) (p11.2;q11.2;q11.2) together with t(2;5)(q24-32;p13-14) and t(12;20)(p11;q13). We correlated the karyotype of cancer cells with histopathologic morphologic analysis, clinical outcome and foreign published results. CONCLUSION: Cytogenetic and molecular cytogenetic analysis is a valuable diagnostic tool in bone and soft tissue tumors, especially in less differentiated subtypes, and as such it should be an integral part of curative care.
Subject(s)
Bone Neoplasms/genetics , Chromosome Aberrations , Soft Tissue Neoplasms/genetics , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Comparative Genomic Hybridization , Female , Humans , In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence , Male , Young AdultABSTRACT
On example of three patients with septo-optic dysplasia the authors present a rare clinical entity involving combined disturbances of endocrine and neurologic systems and variable expressed clinical triad: 1) pituitary aplasia/dysplasia with pituitary hormones deficiency, 2) developmental disturbance of the middle-brain structures (corpus callosum and septum pellucidum), and 3) dysplastic changes of the optic nerve. The knowledge about components belonging to the competence of other specialists and awareness of consequences of untreated hypopituitarism, are imperatives for interdisciplinary cooperation of ophthalmologist, neurologist, radiologist, and endocrinologist. Moreover, they predict early initiation of the adequate and often vital therapy. Molecular-genetic studies in patients with septo-optic dysplasia represent a way to better knowledge about early stages of the pituitary gland and brain development.
