Serum levels of OPG and RANKL and their clinical correlations were analyzed in 66 newly-diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma (MM). RANKL and RANKL /OPG ratios were significantly increased in advanced clinical stages and high grade myeloma bone disease (MBD), while OPG showed a tendency to decrease. Renal failure modified the expression of OPG. RANKL and RANKL/OPG ratios are informative markers for myeloma tumor burden and MBD. Haematologica 2007; 92:1000-1001 OPG/RANKL system is a critical regulator of bone metabolism. A serious imbalance of the system has been found in multiple myeloma (MM). Myeloma cells participate directly in this process. They induce RANKL expression by the bone marrow stromal cells and osteoblasts and most probably produce certain amounts of RANKL themselves. On the other hand myeloma cells bind, internalize and degrade OPG, 1 and inhibit the activity of osteoblasts. While the experimental data for OPG/RANKL system in MM are well-founded, there are few clinical studies on the problem in MM patients.To contribute to the understanding of the role of OPG/RANKL system in myeloma patients, we analyzed the serum levels of OPG and RANKL in 66 newly-diagnosed patients with MM and 32 healthy controls, their expression in the clinical stages and grades of myeloma bone disease (MBD), the influence of renal failure on their levels and their correlations with basic parameters of disease activity. Mean age of the patients was 61.3±9.2 years, 29 males and 37 females. Fifty-three percent were in clinical stage III (ISS). Renal failure (RF) was confirmed in 40.9% and MBD in 84.8% (graded according to the Merlini scale). Analyses were carried out with ELISA (Biomedica, Vienna kits). Statistical analyses were carried out using the Mann-Whitney test, one-way ANOVA and Spearman's correlations. OPG levels were significantly higher in MM patients compared with the controls, but the OPG/creatinin ratio eliminates the difference. Literature reports three possible types of results: low levels of OPG, 2-4 high 5-7 and no difference with controls. 8 In MM patients, the levels of RANKL and RANKL/OPG ratio were more than two times higher than controls (p<0.001). This agrees with most other studies.4,8,9 OPG shows a tendency to decrease in the advanced clinical stages (NS) and in high grade MBD (S). The lowest OPG level was measured in patients with severe bone lesions (4.26±0.36 pmol/L). RANKL and RANKL/OPG ratios significantly increase in advanced clinical stages and in patients with severe bone lesions. They are highest in clinical stage III and in MBD grade 2+3 (Table 1). Reasonably OPG and OPG/creatinin ratios correlate reversely with MBD and bone marrow infiltration. RANKL and RANKL/OPG ratios have positive correlations with the clinical stage, grade of MBD, percentage of bone marrow infiltration and LDH. The strongest correlation was found between the RANKL/OPG ratio and MBD (Table 2). OPG is high in early clinical stages and in patients with minimal bone lesions because, as in the patients with MGUS and beni...

Abstract. The paper discusses some aspects of a work in progress aimed at the development of technologies for digitization of Bulgarian folk music and building a digital library with Bulgarian folk songs presented with their music, texts and notes. This library provides digital preservation of the sound recordings, lyrics and notations of more than 1000 Bulgarian folk songs and tools for various types of search and analysis of the available resources. The presentation is focused on the subject ontology especially developed for the occasion and its application in the implementation of a tool for semantics oriented search in the lyrics of songs.

Persistent cytokine imbalance in patients compared with controls is a marker for Th1-mediated CNS demyelination. Anti-inflammatory TGFβ1, IL4 are indicators of immune response intensity. The deficit severity does not depend on changes of the tested cytokines, but correlates with 25(OH)D levels during periods of relapse and remission.

Abstract. The paper analyzes some current trends of research and development in the field of digital libraries. The presentation is focused on the main features of two new generations of digital libraries -the so-called semantic digital libraries and social semantic digital libraries. The design characteristics, principles of functioning and some implementation details of a particular academic digital library have been discussed as an illustration of the suggested ideas.

No abstract