Vimentin is an intermediate filament protein normally expressed in cells of mesenchymal origin, e.g. myofibroblasts, chondrocytes, macrophages, and endothelial cells. The expression of vimentin, which has been thought of as the main mesenchymal marker, is also detected in tumour tissue. In tumours of the gastrointestinal tract vimentin expression is usually correlated with advanced stage of tumour, lymph node metastasis, and patient survival.

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BackgroundThe “double-faced” effect of nitric oxide (NO) is thought to play an important role in triggering and progression of glaucoma.Material/MethodsIris samples were obtained during iridectomy in 35 patients (mean age of 65.4±5.3 years) with diagnosed primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). The controls were collected postmortem from 10 donors with a mean age of 62.2±1.9 years. Visual field defects were evaluated by perimetry. The Hodapp-Parrish-Anderson classification was used to divide patients into 3 visual field defect groups. The intraocular pressure was measured 3 times before surgery using applanation tonometry. The phenotype activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoenzymes (endothelial – eNOS and inducible – iNOS) and expression of nitrotyrosine in iris vasculature was assessed.ResultsSignificant differences were found between glaucoma patients and the controls in eNOS and iNOS activity (Mann-Whitney test, U=35.5, Z=−2.037, p=0.04 and U=21, Z=2.69, p=0.007, respectively). In addition, the results showed an upregulation of nitrotyrosine in the capillary endothelial cells in the study group, which was associated with the duration of diagnosed glaucoma (R-Spearman of 0.33, p=0.0047) and visual field mean defect MD (R-Spearman of 0.29, p=0.019). Moreover, the activity of nitrotyrosine was significantly correlated with iNOS immunoreactivity (R-Spearman of 0.5, p=0.0001). However, the iNOS activity significantly varied among Hodapp-Parrish-Anderson groups (p=0.03).ConclusionsOur observations confirmed the association between glaucomatous disturbances and upregulation of iNOS, together with increased nitrotyrosine storage.

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AbstractThe acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) treatment is widespread therapeutic strategy in cardiology clinics. On the other hand, patients with heart diseases represent a significant group of cases in dental clinics. Accordingly, we studied the local hemostatic thrombus formation after dental tooth extractions (n=47) and other oral surgery treatment (n=13) in 60 patients with heart disease being on ASA therapy without drug discontinuation. In the control group free of ASA therapy it was: (n=24) and (n=6), respectively. In all studied patients, the aggregative activity of blood platelets by PFA-100 analyzer was assessed. It was found that 61.7% patients treated with ASA presented inhibition of platelets aggregation. Unexpectedly, in 35% of such patients, platelet aggregation function remained unchanged. In the control group, normal platelet aggregation was found in all subjects. It has been shown that ASA therapy has neutral effects on both thrombus formation and pain complications in patients with heart disease underwent tooth extraction and other oral surgery. Thus discontinuation of ASA therapy before surgery seems to be weakly validated.