Immunohistochemical expression of MMPs is a useful indicator of the disease development and progression in patients with colorectal cancer.

Introduction: COVID-19 can be worsened by hyper-production of cytokines accompanied by increased level of oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between a set of cytokines and the markers of the oxidative stress. Methods: The levels of cytokines IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL8, IL-10, VEGF, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1α, MCP-1 and EGF were determined by using High Sensitivity Evidence Investigator™ Biochip Array technology. The oxidative stress parameters (d-ROM, PAT, OS index) were measured in serum on FRAS5 analytical photometric system. Results: IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, VEGF, MCP-1 and EGF were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the patients with severe COVID-19 with increased levels of IL-2, IFN-y, TNF-α and IL-1α. The d-ROM, OS index, and PAT were significantly higher (p<0.05) in severe COVID-19 patients. IL-6 demonstrated the strongest correlation with all of the markers of the oxidative stress, d-ROM (r=0.9725, p=0.0001), PAT (r=0.5000, p=0.0001) and OS index (r=0.9593, p=0.012). Similar behavior was evidenced between IFN-y and d-ROM (r=0.4006, p=0.0001), PAT (r=0.6030, p=0.0001) and OS index (r=0.4298, p=0.012). Conclusion: The oxidative stress markers show good correlation with the tested cytokines which can be measured at the beginning of the disease in a primary care setting to predict the course of COVID-19.

No abstract

Background: Clinical evidence suggests increased oxidative stress in COVID-19 patients and this worsened redox status could potentially contribute to the progression of the disease. Objectives: To investigate the oxidative stress we have measured oxidative stress parameters, namely, PAT (total antioxidant power, iron reducing) and d-ROMs (plasma peroxides). Additionally we have investigated their correlation with the most frequently used clinical parameters CRP, LDH, and NLR in serum from moderate and severe COVID-19 patients hospitalized in a tertiary hospital. Methods: PAT and d-ROMs were determined by analytical photometric metric method in serum from 50 hospitalized patients. For each of them, two samples were collected and analyzed immediately after collection seven days apart. Results: All patients at admission had a much higher value for plasma peroxides and a significant correlation between oxidative stress parameters and CRP, LDH, and NLR. (p<0.05), except for OS index (OSI) vs CRP in the severe group. At discharge, plasma peroxides were reduced and OSI was improved in the moderate group. Conclusion: We consider that using OSI at the beginning of COVID-19 disease presents a valuable starting point for the general assessment of oxidative stress and hence enabling a better triage of the patients in terms of disease severity.

BACKGROUND:The aim of this study is estimation of pharmacokinetic parameters: Cmax, tmax, t1/2, AUC0-t and AUC0-∞ with the two-way analysis of variance, single observation (ANOVA) for two preparations containing acyclovir.OBJECTIVE:In order to evaluate pharmacokinetic study of acyclovir, method for quantitative determination of acyclovir in human plasma should be simple, rapid and reproducible. Therefore, the method is developed, validated and applied for analysis of acyclovir in plasma samples obtained from healthy volunteers.MATERIAL AND METHODS:High performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with UV-detection for the determination of acyclovir in human plasma is presented. This method involves protein precipitation with 20 % (V/V) perchloric acid. The chromatographic separation was accomplished on a reversed phase C8 column with a mobile phase composed of 0.1 % (V/V) triethylamine in water (pH 2.5). No internal standard is required. UV detection was set at 255 nm. The method was successfully applied for the evaluation of pharmacokinetic profiles of acyclovir tablets in 24 healthy volunteers.RESULTS:The validation results shows that proposed method is rugged, precise (RSDs for intra- and inter-day precision ranged from 1.02 to 8.37 %) and accurate (relative errors are less than 6.66 %). The calibration curve was linear in the concentration range of 0.1-2.0 µg/ml and the limit of quantification was 0.1 µg/ml. The Cmax, tmax and AUCs for the two products were not statistically different (p>0.05), suggesting that the plasma profiles generated by Zovirax were comparable to those produced by acyclovir manufactured by Jaka 80 company.CONCLUSION:Good precision, accuracy, simplicity, sensitivity and shorter time of analysis of the method makes it particularly useful for processing of multiple samples in a limited period of time for pharmacokinetic study of acyclovir.