a b s t r a c tSystemic cryostimulation is useful treatment, both in sport and medicine, during which human body is exposed to very low, cryogenic temperature (below À100°C). Although there exists some evidence of its beneficial effect in biological regeneration, so far it has not been unequivocally determined if the positive effect of repeated stimulations depends on their number in a series. The aim of this research was to estimate the influence of 5, 10 and 20 sessions of 3 min-long exposures to cryogenic temperature (À130°C) on the lipid profile in physically active men. Sixty-nine healthy volunteers participated in the study. The blood samples were taken in the morning, after overnight fasting, before the first cryostimulation session, and the following morning after the last one (5th,10th, 20th).In serum specimens the concentration of total cholesterol (TCh), HDL cholesterol and triglicerydes were determined using enzymatic methods. LDL cholesterol level was calculated using Friedewald formula. The changes in lipid profile (LDL decrease with simultaneously HDL increase) occurred after at least 10 sessions of cryostimulation.Ó 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. IntroductionWhole-body cryostimulation in a cryogenic chamber uses very low temperatures (ranging from À100 to À160°C) over a short time span (1-3 min) to induce systemic physiological responses. It is based on the heat exchange between surfaces with different temperatures [30]. Heat is absorbed by cooled surface tissues from deeper situated tissues at the rate proportional to their difference in temperature.A desired response to a systemic effect of cryogenic temperatures (below À100°C) is a hyperaemic reaction (rebound effect), stimulatory in character. Exposure in cryogenic chamber, under a supervision of a physician and in compliance to commonly accepted rules concerning cryostimulation, is not harmful or dangerous to healthy individuals, although there exist several contraindications. Banfi et al. reported that whole-body cryotherapy is not deleterious to cardiac function in healthy individuals [1]. Documented analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antioedematous action reduces increased muscle tension and therefore cryotherapy has been increasingly often applied in sport and medicine, in combination with additional forms of treatment [13,14,25,34,36].It is postulated that cryostimulation mobilizes the white blood cells, particularly immunocompetent lymphocytes [4,15,21,22]. The effect on red blood cells has not been positively confirmed. Banfi et al. did not observe changes in the level of hematocrit, whereas red blood cells and mean corpuscular hemoglobin decreased after 5 cryostimulation sessions [2,3]. On the contrary, significant increase in erythrocytes count, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit value and the mean corpuscular value (MCV) were reported by Stanek et al. [33].It is unclear how repeated cryostimulation influences the level of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. There is a report of increased anti-inflammatory cy...

In most cancer patients pain can be successfully treated with pharmacological measures using opioid analgesics alone or in combination with adjuvant analgesics (coanalgesics). Weak opioids are usually recommended in the treatment of moderate cancer pain. There is still a debate as to whether the second step of the WHO analgesic ladder comprising opioid analgesics such as tramadol, codeine, dihydrocodeine, and dextropropoxyphene is still needed for the treatment of cancer pain. On the basis of our experience and review of the literature we think that there is definitely a place for weak opioids in the treatment of moderate cancer pain. One of the most interesting and useful weak opioids is tramadol (Adolonta, Contramal, Nobligan, Top-Algic, Tramal, Tramal Long, Tramal Retard, Tramundin, Trodon, Ultram, Zydol). Its unique mechanism of action, analgesic efficacy and profile of adverse reactions have been the reason of performing many experimental and clinical studies with tramadol. In this article we summarize data on pharmacology, mechanisms of action, pharmacokinetics, side effects and clinical experience assessing analgesic efficacy, adverse reactions and safety of tramadol in cancer pain.

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Opioids used topically may exercise several useful clinical effects. Opioids may cause immediate local analgesia and also may work indirectly through decreasing the inflammation process. In this article we describe six patients treated with topical opioids because of cutaneous pain due to tumor infiltration. skin ulcers of malignant and non-malignant origin, severe oral mucositis, pain due to knee arthrosis and severe tenesmoid pain. In all but one case, topical morphine provided rapid relief which lasted usually for 7-8 h. The side effects of topical opioids were none or minimal. Possible mechanisms of topical analgesia are discussed.

The bacteria did not cause any clinical signs of infection. Variations in the number and types of bacteria in individual wounds did not correlate to the grade of ulcer or the dressing used.

Violence in the family constitutes a serious social and psychological problem with harmful consequences leading, among others, to changes in the psychological functioning of the victim and, secondarily, also the perpetrator. The aim of this study was to examine resilience in women experiencing domestic violence. The BEgo Resiliency Scale^(ERS) was used to study the group of women suffering domestic violence. The study group included 52 women aged 30-65 years (mean age: 40.15) using assistance of the Crisis Intervention Centre due to experienced domestic violence. They most often reported suffering psychological and physical violence, with the husband or intimate partner being the most common perpetrator. Study women experiencing domestic violence obtained significantly lower scores on the ERS. The lowest scores on the ERS were achieved by women suffering paternal violence, while the highest -by women experiencing violence on the part of the intimate partner. Resilience of study women suffering domestic violence was lower than resilience of the general population, i.e. individuals not experiencing domestic violence. Suffered violence inflicted by the father exerted the greatest adverse impact on resilience. It seems advisable to consider resilience in the process of providing women experiencing domestic violence with psychosocial help.Keywords Resilience . Domestic violence . Women MOTTO: … growth and pain are not mutually exclusive but rather inextricably linked in recovery from trauma and loss (Saakvitne K.W., Tennen H., Affleck G.).

The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of a hydroalcoholic extract from Galinsoga parviflora herb (GP) in some aspects of the endothelial cell function necessary for anti-inflammatory activity and wound healing and relate these to the GP phytochemical profile. This study demonstrated that the GP extract caused a dose-dependent reduction of IL-6 secretion on IL-1β-stimulated endothelial cells. The IL-6 release was decreased to 33% ± 9% while this did not influence the IL-6 secretion without stimulation. Additionally, the GP extract exhibited an anti-hyaluronidase activity (IC50 = 0.47 mg/mL), which was evidently stronger than the positive control kaempferol (IC50 = 0.78 mg/mL) as well as a moderate and concentration-dependent, antioxidant activity. The results of the scratch assay showed that exposure of the endothelial cells to GP induced complete healing of the damage after 12 h of the study. The phytochemical profile of the extract was studied by using spectrophotometric (total amount of polyphenols and flavonoids) and UPLC (phenolic acids) methods. The main compound in the GP extract was a chlorogenic acid (2.00 ± 0.01 mg/g by UPLC). The total content of polyphenols was 98.30 ± 0.14 mg of chlorogenic acid equivalent/g of the dry herb and content of flavonoids amounted to 6.15 ± 0.41 mg quercetin equivalent/g of the dry herb. Moreover, the presence of flavonoids in G. parviflora was provided after their isolation and identification by spectroscopic methods. In conclusion, it demonstrated that application of GP in the treatment of skin lesions gives possibility of wound healing based on antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and hyaluronidase-inhibiting activities of G. parviflora herb extract.

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