Biomedical subjects

A Duraković

Publications and source records attributed to A Duraković.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

On depleted uranium: gulf war and Balkan syndrome.

The complex clinical symptomatology of chronic illnesses, commonly described as Gulf War Syndrome, remains a poorly understood disease entity with diversified theories of its etiology and pathogenesis. Several causative factors have been postulated, with a particular emphasis on low level chemical warfare agents, oil fires, multiple vaccines, desert sand (Al-Eskan disease), botulism, Aspergillus flavus, Mycoplasma, aflatoxins, and others, contributing to the broad scope of clinical manifestations. Among several hundred thousand veterans deployed in the Operation Desert Storm, 15-20% have reported sick and about 25,000 died. Depleted uranium (DU), a low-level radioactive waste product of the enrichment of natural uranium with U-235 for the reactor fuel or nuclear weapons, has been considered a possible causative agent in the genesis of Gulf War Syndrome. It was used in the Gulf and Balkan wars as an armor-penetrating ammunition. In the operation Desert Storm, over 350 metric tons of DU was used, with an estimate of 3-6 million grams released in the atmosphere. Internal contamination with inhaled DU has been demonstrated by the elevated excretion of uranium isotopes in the urine of the exposed veterans 10 years after the Gulf war and causes concern because of its chemical and radiological toxicity and mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. Polarized views of different interest groups maintain an area of sustained controversy more in the environment of the public media than in the scientific community, partly for the reason of being less than sufficiently addressed by a meaningful objective interdisciplinary research.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Medical effects of internal contamination with uranium.

The purpose of this work is to present an outline of the metabolic pathways of uranium isotopes and compounds, medical consequences of uranium poisoning, and an evaluation of the therapeutic alternatives in uranium internal contamination. The chemical toxicity of uranium has been recognized for more than two centuries. Animal experiments and human studies are conclusive about metabolic adverse affects and nephro- toxicity of uranium compounds. Radiation toxicity of uranium isotopes has been recognized since the beginning of the nuclear era, with well documented evidence of reproductive and developmental toxicity, as well as mutagenic and carcinogenic consequences of uranium internal contamination. Natural uranium (238U), an alpha emitter with a half-life of 4.5x10(9) years, is one of the primordial substances of the universe. It is found in the earth's crust, combined with 235U and 234U, alpha, beta, and gamma emitters with respective half-lives of 7.1x10(8) and 2.5x10(5) years. A special emphasis of this paper concerns depleted uranium. The legacy of radioactive waste, environmental and health hazards in the nuclear industry, and, more recently, the military use of depleted uranium in the tactical battlefield necessitates further insight into the toxicology of depleted uranium. The present controversy over the radiological and chemical toxicity of depleted uranium used in the Gulf War warrants further experimental and clinical investigations of its effects on the biosphere and human organisms.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

Changes of the corrected Q-T interval in the electrocardiogram of patients with anorexia nervosa.

Thirty patients with anorexia nervosa and 30 controls had an electrocardiogram with the corrected Q-T interval. The aim of the study was to analyse the corrected Q-T interval in patients with anorexia nervosa compared with the findings in the control group, to compare the body mass index between two groups and to measure underlying dispersion of the corrected Q-T interval in each of the 12 ECG leads in both groups. All corrected Q-T intervals were measured in each of the 12 ECG leads and the longest values of three consecutive intervals were used for this analysis. The prolonged corrected Q-T interval was found in 12 out of 30 patients with anorexia nervosa (40%), with the longest mean values of 0.421 s (range, 0.334-0.500 s), and in 2 out of 30 patients of the controls (7%), with the longest mean values of 0.390 s (range, 0.343-0.444 s). The difference was statistically significant (t = 4.453, P < 0.001). Relative risk for prolongation of the corrected Q-T interval in patients with anorexia nervosa was high: 12 compared with control subjects. The longest values of the corrected Q-T interval in both groups, and the longest values of the prolonged corrected Q-T interval in both groups were observed in the anteroseptal leads of the electrocardiograms. The mean serum potassium level in the group with anorexia nervosa was 3.97 and in the control group was 4.15 mmol/l.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Radioprotective agents in medicine.

The diminished probability of strategic nuclear confrontation alleviates some of the global concerns about large numbers of radiation casualties in the event of a nuclear war. As a result of the protection of the environment, the management of smaller numbers of radiation casualties assumes a more predictable and more specific role confined to accidents in nuclear energy projects, industry, technology and science. Recent experience of the consequences of accidents in nuclear power plants, in the field of radiotherapy and in the disposal of radioactive waste and spent fuel, present the medical and scientific communities with formidable problems if such events are to lead to minimal adverse effects on the biosphere. Whereas it is not possible to predict a nuclear or radiation accident, radioprotection is hardly an issue of health science alone, but rather an issue of the strictest quality assurance in all aspects of the utilization of nuclear energy and ionizing radiation. Thus, the medical community concerned with radioprotection will have to confine its emphasis on the management of radiation-induced alterations of the human organism from acute radiation syndromes to the stochastic concepts of chronic alterations of radiosensitive organic systems. Current multidisciplinary research in the field of radioprotection involves all aspects of basic and clinical research ranging from the subatomic mechanisms of free radical formation, macromolecular and intracellular radiation-induced alterations, biochemical and physiological homeostatic mechanisms and organ level manifestations to the clinical management of radiation casualties in a controlled hospital environment. Radioprotective agents, although widely studied in the past four decades and including several thousand agents, have not reached the level of providing the field of medicine with an agent that conforms to all criteria of an optimal radioprotectant, including effectiveness, toxicity, availability, specificity and tolerance. This article discusses the current state of radioprotection in medical therapy, and emphasizes a need for continued research in the area of medical management of radiation casualties from the viewpoint of a realistic probability of nuclear incidents or accidents in the nuclear energy-dependent world at the end of the millennium.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

The preexcitation syndrome: epidemiological and genetic study.

A sample of 4210 subjects of both sexes aged 35-54 years was examined, chosen at random from six regions of Croatia. An electrocardiogram at rest was performed in all subjects and changes analyzed by the Minnesota code. A short P-R interval together with a widening QRS complex and a delta wave was found in 0.05%, while 42 (1.0%) of the examinees had a short P-R interval, but only 0.21% were symptomatic. Three years after the first examination 0.06% of the subjects had preexcitation with a delta wave, and in one subject it appeared after three years. 0.35% of the subjects had a short P-R interval after three years but only 0.18% were symptomatic and in 22 (0.65%) it had disappeared in three years. After 13 years these subjects did not appear for an examination, and the short P-R interval did not appear in any of other subjects during this period. There were more short P-R intervals: 3.22% in females and 1.96% in males, but 0.33% only were symptomatic. Antigens of the human leukocyte group A (HLA) system were analyzed in 46 patients: the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome was found in 35, while 11 had the Lown-Ganong-Levine syndrome. Antigens of the HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DR locuses were determined by the microlymphocytotoxicity method. The results of the frequency of HLA system antigens were compared to the results of the control group of a Croatian population consisting of 175 people. There was an increased frequency of HLA-A9 and HLA-B5 (P = 0.026 and 0.0092) in the investigated population as a whole. The participation of HLA-A3 antigen was significantly less among patients (P = 0.03), while HLA-B14 antigen was not found in patients with preexcitation. Within 10 HLA-DR locuses, HLA-DR7 antigen was rather more frequently present, although this was not statistically significant (P = 0.173).

Adult↗

PubMed1987