Jana Makuc

General Hospital Slovenj Gradec, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia · Department of Internal Medicine

The global prevalence for diabetes mellitus nearly doubled from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) is an NAD+-dependent deacetylase that is expressed in a variety of tissues. It modifies proteins that participate in DNA repair, stress, and inflammatory response. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between SIRT1 rs7...

Background Although the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN) is multifactorial, and the precise mechanisms are unclear, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that inflammatory processes and immune cells might be involved in the development and progression of DN. Leukotrienes (LTs) are a family of lipid mediators, which act as pro-infl...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a microvascular complication that affects up to 40% of diabetic patients and can lead to end-stage kidney disease. Inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 1 (IL-1), IL-6, IL-18 and tumor necrosis factor-α have been linked to the development and progression of DN. The aim of our study was to examine the relationship b...

Background: Our study was designed to test a possible association between polymorphisms of the SPP1 gene (rs4754, rs28357094) and markers of carotid atherosclerosis (CIMT, number of affected segments of carotid arteries, sum of plaque thickness, presence of carotid plaques, and presence of unstable carotid plaques) in subjects with T2DM. The secon...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major microvascular complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Several lines of evidence implicate the endothelin (ET) system in the pathophysiology of DN. The aim of the present study was to analyze if genetic polymorphisms of the ET-1 ( The study population consisted of 651 Caucasian subjects with T2DM of more...

Gene polymorphisms associated with the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) have been extensively studied in diabetic nephropathy (DN) patients, due to therapeutic potential of targeting the RAAS and slowing down the disease progression. The aim of our study was to examine the association between angiotensinogen (AGT) gene polymorphisms (rs6...

Kounis syndrome represents the concurrence of acute coronary syndromes or anginal pain with allergic, hypersensitivity, and anaphylactic reactions. It can be associated with normal coronary angiogram or preexistent coronary pathology. Idiopathic anaphylaxis is defined as anaphylaxis without any identifiable precipitating agent or event. We present...

Background: In-hospital hyperglycemia is common and associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality and extensive length of stay but there are only few studies on real-life hyperglycemia and diabetes management. Methods: In this cross-sectional, non-interventional, prospective study we analyzed medical charts on glycemia status at our...

TYPE 1 KOUNIS SYNDROME IN PATIENT WITH IDIOPATHIC ANAPHYLAXIS- case report

The platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1) plays an important role in many inflammatory processes, including the development of atherosclerosis. Polymorphism rs668 of the PECAM-1 gene (373C/G) is functional, and it was reported to be associated with increased serum levels of PECAM-1. We investigated the association between the rs66...

Pancreatogenic diabetes is an underdiagnosed form of secondary diabetes that is lacking official management guidelines. This paper reviews the recommended management strategies with additional data on the promising novel drugs.

Gastrointestinal symptoms are common in patients with diabetes mellitus. One possible cause for these symptoms is exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, and although several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the aetiology, the precise pathophysiological mechanisms remain to be elucidated. The prevalence and the clinical importance of exocrine pa...

Introduction: In-hospital hyperglycaemia is extremely common and associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality and extensive length of stay. There are few snapshots of real-life glycaemia and diabetes management published, but all show important discrepancies between real-life and clinical guidelines. Our aim was to evaluate glycaemia...

Background Adhesion molecules are involved in the development of atherosclerosis. An increased level of the ICAM 1 molecule is associated with numerous inflammatory diseases including atherosclerosis of carotid arteries. The rs5498 (K469E) polymorphism of the ICAM-1 gene leads to an increase in the level of serum ICAM. We investigated the associati...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of endstage renal disease (ESRD) in developed countries. Several environmental and genetic factors predict the development and progression of DN. The renin-angiotensin system was demonstrated to be involved in the development of DN. We evaluated the association between rs4340 of the angiotensin-convert...

Objectives . Platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) plays a key role in the transendothelial migration of circulating leukocytes during inflammation and in the maintenance of vascular endothelial integrity. We hypothesized that genetic variation in PECAM-1 gene could be associated with diabetic nephropathy (DN) and with the level o...

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a valuable diagnostic and therapeutic procedure in the management of pancreatic and extrahepatic biliary tract diseases. Although rare, it is related to several complications including retroperitoneal duodenal perforation. The perforation results in air accumulation in the retroperitoneal, pl...

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of a pocket-size imaging device in the hands of a noncardiologist as a screening tool for diagnosing aortic stenosis in individuals with newly discovered systolic murmur. Methods and results: A total of 200 consecutive patients with systolic murmur were included; a limited focused cardiac u...

The current study was designed to reveal possible associations between the angiotensin-converting- enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphisms (rs4646994 and rs4341) with markers of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a 4-year-long follow-up study. Five hundred and ninety- five T2DM subjects and 200 control subjects were...

AIM: To determine the impact of a clinical pathway (CP) on acute pancreatitis (AP) treatment outcome. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of medical records was performed. We compared the results of AP treatment outcome over two time periods in our centre, before (2006-2007) and after (2010-2012) the implementation of a CP. The CP comprised the follo...

AIM: To investigate impairment and clinical significance of exocrine and endocrine pancreatic function in patients after acute pancreatitis (AP). METHODS: Patients with AP were invited to participate in the study. Severity of AP was determined by the Atlanta classification and definitions revised in 2012. Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) was...

Introduction: Increased serum level of lowdensity lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is a well established risk factor for atherosclerosis development and progression. Genetic variation in the LDL receptor gene could modulate serum LDL level and response to statin treatment thus affecting atherosclerosis development and progression. The present study wa...

Background: Apolipoprotein B is a key structural component of all the atherogenic lipoproteins (LDL, VLDL and IDL). Genetic variations of the ApoB gene may affect plasma ApoB and lipid levels, thus influencing atherogenesis. The present study was designed to investigate the association of polymorphisms XbaI (rs693) and EcoRI (rs1042031) of the Apo...

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) can occur in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Incidence of EPI and its clinical significance remain poorly defined. The aim of our study was to determine whether exocrine pancreatic function is impaired in patients with DM. One hundred and fifty consecutive patients, mean age 59.0 (±12.0 years), with DM...

Background: Oxidative stress is a single mechanism relating all major pathways responsible for diabetic damage and plays an important role in diabetes development, progression and related vascular complications. To investigate the impact of oxidative stress related gene polymorphisms on development of diabetic nephropathy (DN), we tested 7 polymorp...

Background Diabetic animal models suggest the involvement of nitric oxide (NO)-producing enzymes in the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). While early stages of DN are associated with increased intrarenal NO, advanced DN is related to progressive NO deficiency. NO collaborates in reactive nitrogen compounds production, contributing to accele...

Export Date: 18 October 2014

A genetic component of diabetes and its complications (including diabetic nephropathy (DN)) is obvious, but the causative genes and mechanisms have not yet been satisfactorily identified. Oxidative stress is a single mechanism relating all major pathways responsible for diabetic damage. Numerous oxidative stress-related genes are positional candida...

In the absence of diagnostic imaging, chest pain can represent a diagnostic dilemma, especially, if the patient's condition requires immediate action. We present a case of a patient with signs of obstructive shock that turned out to result from an acute aortic dissection (AAD) and consequent cardiac tamponade. Before the correct diagnosis was...

BACKGROUND Following insulin aplication, diabetic patients can have a variety of problems. Among them,insulin allergy is very rare, but can have catastrophic consequences. METHODS and In this document, insulin allergy, diagnostics and treatment are presented. A case of aconclusions patient, allergic to all registered insulin preparations, is also d...

Human bladder urothelium is able to secrete tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). The aim of our study was to analyse localisation of tPA antigen in comparison to differentiation state of cells in samples of histologically normal urothelium and non-invasive tumours of the human urinary bladder. Twenty-five samples of normal urothelium and 31 non...

Iron metabolism might be involved in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. C282Y and H63D mutations in the hemochromatosis (HFE) gene are associated with increased serum iron levels and consequently with hereditary hemochromatosis. In the present study, we searched for a relationship between C282Y and...