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The most common histological type of thyroid cancer is papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Radical resection of the thyroid gland is currently the recommended method of treatment. Almost 75% of thyroidectomies performed just for diagnostic purposes are benign. Thus, the confirmation of innovative and more precise noninvasive biomarkers holds promise for the detection of PTC, which may decrease the number of unnecessary thyroid lobectomies. In this work, using the droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) method, we have analyzed the level of five miRNAs (let-7a, let-7c, let-7d, let-7f, and let-7i) in the plasma of patients with PTC and compared them with those of a healthy control group to investigate whether miRNAs also have value in the management of PTC. Levels of four miRNAs, namely let-7a, let-7c, let-7d, and let-7f, were significantly higher in PTC patients than healthy controls. Thus, the analysis of circulating let-7 can be a useful tool and support the currently used methods for PTC diagnosis. However, our observation requires further research on a larger patient group.

Nosocomial infections caused by strains Acinetobacter baumannii strands are a growing clinical problem.The occurrence of multidrug-resistant strands is observed and that limits the ways of therapy considerably. the aim of the study was to determine the rate of infection and susceptibility spectrum of the species Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from patients treated at Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Hospital in Zgierz with particular emphasis on surgical wards. Materials and methods. The material consisted of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates were obtained from samples of materials from patients treated at Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Hospital in Zgierz from January to December 2011. Isolated bacterial strains were cultured at microbiological substrates. Isolates were identified to species using the VITEK 2 GN card (bioMérieux) and Vitek 2 automated system (bioMérieux). Susceptibility towards antibiotics of particular strains was determined by the means of AST NO 93 card. In the case of resistance towards carbapenem, the MIC was marked by E-test with Mueller Hinton substrate. The occurrence of MBL was verified by the means of disc system with Mueller Hinton substrate. Results. We have shown that total number of Acinetobacter baumannii infections at hospital was 140 (10,31% of total results of cultures). Percentage of Acinetobacter baumannii infections at wards: Intensive Care Unit 48%, Surgical Departments 20%, Internal Diseases Department 16%, Neurology 13%, other wards -3%. The susceptibility percentage of Acinetobacter Baumannii against antibiotics: colistin 90%, imipenem 64%, meropenem 43%, ampicillin-sulbactam 28%, amikacin 27%, gentamicin 24%, cefepime 9%, ceftazidime 7%, ciprofloxacin 7% conclusions. Acinetobacter baumannii infections are a significant proportion of nosocomial infections. Most relate to surgical wards and ICUs. Acinetobacter baumannii is resistant against most antibiotics. The highest percentage of sensitivity demonstrated for colistin and carbapenems.

Papillary thyroid cancer is the most common thyroid cancer type. However, diagnostics based on fine needle biopsy cannot make a definitive diagnosis in 25% of thyroid nodules. Additionally, approximately 70% to 80% of thyroid lobectomies performed just for diagnostic purposes are benign. Despite this, biopsy still remains the main method of evaluation of thyroid nodules. Cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) measurement could give a new diagnostic opportunities which may reduce the number of unnecessary thyroid procedures. In this study, using a qPCR, we have examined the nuclear cf-DNA and mitochondrial cf-DNA in the plasma of 32 patients. We have found that the level of nuclear cf-DNA is almost 2-fold increased (median 3 089 vs. 1 872, p = 0.022), whereas mitochondrial cf-DNA content was significantly decreased in respect to healthy controls (median 44 992 vs. 92 220, p = 0.010). The ROC curve analysis showed high specificity for nuclear cf-DNA and mitochondrial cf-DNA, which may serve as a useful tool to decrease the number of unneeded surgeries. Our study reports the first epidemiological evidence for lower mitochondrial cf-DNA content in the patient group, what suggests that apart from nuclear cf-DNA also mitochondrial cf-DNA is affected by disease development.

PurposeThe aim was to find whether the presence of Hürthle cells (HC) in a smear influences the categorization of FNA results or the risk of malignancy (RoM) of particular categories of cytological diagnosis.Methods25,220 FNA performed in a single center in years 2005–2017 were analyzed. Almost all the examined patients were exposed to moderate iodine deficiency for most of their lives. The distribution of FNA outcome categories was compared between two groups: with or without HC (HC and non-HC). The RoM was evaluated on the basis of postoperative histopathological examination (3082 patients).ResultsHC were found in 7.5% of diagnostic FNA. HC nodules were classified into categories II (78.2% vs. 91.9%, p < 0.0000) and VI (0.4% vs. 1.2%, p = 0.0017) less often than non-HC nodules, but more frequently to categories III (14.4% vs. 5.8%, p < 0.0000), IV (11.2% vs. 0.9%, p < 0.0000) and V (1.5% vs. 0.8%, p = 0.0013). There were no significant differences in RoM between HC and non-HC nodules. The RoM in HC and non-HC nodules of particular categories of the Bethesda system was as follows: II: 1.8% vs. 0.8%, III: 9.7% vs. 3.8% when only the last FNA was considered and 10.8% vs. 6.4% when the category III in any performed FNA was considered; IV: 12.7% vs. 10.9%; V: 41.7% vs. 58.2%; and VI: 100% vs. 96.9%.ConclusionsHC nodules are classified into categories of equivocal cytological outcomes more often than nodules without HC. Nevertheless, the presence of HC in a smear does not significantly affect the RoM of FNA categories.