University of Patras

About: University of Patras is a education organization based out in Pátrai, Greece. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 13372 authors who have published 31263 publications receiving 677159 citations. The organization is also known as: Panepistímio Patrón.

Complications and risk factors related to the extent of surgery in thyroidectomy. Results from 2,043 procedures.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the rate of complications and the risk factors in relation to the extent of surgery in patients undergoing thyroidectomy in a tertiary university center. DESIGN: Data were collected retrospectively from 2,043 consecutive patients who underwent thyroid surgery for various thyroid diseases at the University Hospital of Patras, Greece, between January 1996 and December 2007. recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (rLNP) and hypoparathyroidism were set as the primary end points, while hematoma and wound infection were set as the secondary endpoints. rESULTS: Total, near-total and subtotal thyroidectomy was performed in 1,149, 777 and 117 patients, respectively. Transient rLNP occurred in 34 (1.6%) and permanent in 19 (0.9%) patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that extended resection (Or-odds ratio-1.6), Graves’ disease (Or 2.7), thyroiditis (Or 2.1), recurrent goiter (Or 2.3) and thyroid malignancy (Or 1.7) were all independent risk factors for transient rLNP, whereas Graves’ disease (Or 2.2) and recurrent goiter (Or 1.7) emerged as independent risk factors for permanent rLNP. The rates of transient and permanent hypoparathyroidism were 27.8% and 4.8%, respectively. Multivariate analysis for transient hypoparathyroidism revealed that the extent of surgical resection (Or 2.2), Graves’ disease (Or 2.1), recurrent goiter (Or 1.7), female gender (Or 1.5) and specimen weight (Or 1.6) were independent predictors. However, the extent of surgical resection (Or 2.7), Graves’ disease (Or 1.8), recurrent goiter (Or 1.5) and malignant disease (Or 1.5) were independent risk factors for permanent hypoparathy roidism. Postoperative wound infection and hematoma occurred in 6 (0.3%) and 27 (1.3%) patients, respectively. No correlation was observed between wound infection or postoperative hemorrhage and the extent of surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the higher morbidity, total thyroidectomy is emerging as an attractive surgical option even for benign thyroid disease due to the risk of subclinical (occult) malignancy, the possibility of goiter relapse as well as of the increased risk of complications following reoperation.

Bcl-2 overexpression corrects mitochondrial defects and ameliorates inherited desmin null cardiomyopathy.

Abstract: One of the hallmarks of cardiomyopathy and heart failure is pronounced and progressive cardiomyocyte death. Understanding the mechanisms involved in cardiomyocyte cell death is a topic of great interest for treatment of cardiac disease. Mice null for desmin, the muscle-specific member of the intermediate filament gene family, develop cardiomyopathy characterized by extensive cardiomyocyte death, fibrosis, calcification, and eventual heart failure. The earliest ultrastructural defects are observed in mitochondria. In the present study, we have demonstrated that these mitochondrial abnormalities are the primary cause of the observed cardiomyopathy and that these defects can be ameliorated by overexpression of bcl-2 in desmin null heart. Overexpression of bcl-2 in the desmin null heart results in correction of mitochondrial defects, reduced occurrence of fibrotic lesions in the myocardium, prevention of cardiac hypertrophy, restoration of cardiomyocyte ultrastructure, and significant improvement of cardiac function. Furthermore, we have found that loss of desmin also diminishes the capacity of mitochondria to resist exposure to calcium, a defect that can be partially restored by bcl-2 overexpression. These results point to a unique function for desmin in protection of mitochondria from calcium exposure that can be partially rescued by overexpression of bcl-2. We show that bcl-2 cardiac overexpression has provided significant improvement of an inherited form of cardiomyopathy, revealing the potential for bcl-2, and perhaps other genes in the family, as therapeutic agents for heart disease of many types, including inherited forms.

A Weighted-Efficiency-Oriented Design Methodology of Flyback Inverter for AC Photovoltaic Modules

Abstract: An innovative design methodology that optimizes the weighted efficiency of a single-phase, single-stage flyback inverter for ac-photovoltaic (PV) module applications is proposed. This novel approach combines the essential advantages of the flyback topology with high-efficiency design in the direction of a reliable, cost-effective, and high-performance PV system. The proposed methodology focuses exclusively on choosing the inverter design parameters, taking into consideration the PV module characteristics and the topology operation constraints. In order to meet this goal, an analytical losses calculation should be performed. Since the problem is complicated, special effort is given to manipulate the equations and variables in such a way to minimize the number of parameters. The proposed methodology is also verified experimentally.

Inhibition of breast cancer cell proliferation by style constituents of different Crocus species.

Abstract: Among the different species of Crocus, only C. sativus has been extensively studied for the composition and the biological properties of its styles, since these constitute the well-known spice saffron, which is widely used in the Mediterranean, Indian and Chinese diet. With high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and UV/vis spectroscopy, the presence of hydrophilic carotenoids in the styles of three other Crocus taxa, endemic in Greece, C. boryi ssp. tournefortii, C. boryi ssp. boryi and C. niveus, is reported for the first time. Incubation of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells for 48 h with different concentrations of all four Crocus style extracts showed a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on cell proliferation measured by the MTT assay. The antiproliferative effect was not related to the presence of estrogen receptors. Studies on the effect of trans-crocin-4 (the main carotenoid constituent of C. sativus styles, digentibiosylester of crocetin), crocetin and safranal showed that the antiproliferative effect is attributed to the constituent crocins irrespective of the degree of glycosylation. These results show that the styles of the various Crocus taxa merit further investigation of their composition and mechanisms of action of their carotenoid constituents in order to establish if they could be used as chemopreventive or anticancer agents.