The effects of severe burn injuries on the cardiovascular system, specifically the atria and auricles of the heart, were investigated. The potential benefits of using lyophilized xenodermotransplants as a treatment option were also evaluated. The experiments were conducted on adult guinea pigs divided into three groups: intact animals, animals with burns, and animals with burns who underwent early necrectomy followed by wound closure with lyophilized xenodermotransplants. Third-degree burns caused significant ultrastructural changes in atrial cardiomyocytes, leading to long-term destructive changes in the structural components of the atria. However, the use of lyophilized xenodermotransplants had a positive effect on the atrial ultrastructure over time. This study highlights the complex and varied effects of burn injuries on the body and the potential benefits of lyophilized xenodermotransplants in treating severe burn injuries. By preventing destructive changes in the heart and activating regenerative processes, lyophilized xenodermotransplants can improve the condition of the heart after thermal injury. Further research and development in this area are necessary for understanding the potential of lyophilized xenodermotransplants in tissue repair and regeneration. 

This review aims to analyze Mentha piperita L. as a potential raw material for the development of new health promoting products (nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products). A lot of scientific publications were retrieved from the Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases which enable the study and generalization of the extraction procedures, key biologically active compounds of essential oil and extracts, biological properties, and therapeutic potential of M. piperita, along with perspectives on the development of its dosage forms, including combinations of synthetic active substances and herbal preparations of M. piperita. The results of this review indicate that M. piperita is a source rich in phytoconstituents of different chemical nature and can be regarded as a source of active substances to enhance health and to develop medicinal products for complementary therapy of various conditions, especially those related with oxidant stress, inflammation, and moderate infections. Essential oil has a broad spectrum of activities. Depending on the test and concentration, this essential oil has both anti- and prooxidant properties. Gram-positive bacteria are more sensitive to the essential oil of M. piperita than Gram-negative ones. This review also considered some facets of the standardization of essential oil and extracts of M. piperita. Among the identified phenolics of extracts were caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, eriocitrin, luteolin derivates (luteolin-7-O-rutinoside, luteolin-7-O-glucoronide), and hesperidin. The concentration of these phenolics depends on the solvent used. This review also considered the relationships between the chemical component and biological activity. The results showed that the essential oil and extracts reduced inflammation in vitro by inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and in vivo by reducing the paw edema induced using carrageenan injection in rats. Therefore, herbal preparations of M. piperita are promising medicinal and cosmetic preparations for their usage in skincare and oral cavity care products with antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, and wound-healing properties. This plant can also be regarded as a platform for the development of antibacterial preparations and combined anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective medicinal products (synthetic active substances plus herbal preparations). This review could be considered for the justification of the composition of some medicinal products during their pharmaceutical development for writing a registration dossier in the format of Common Technical Document.

UDC 616.12-008.331.1:616.379-008.64:616.988:578.834

The aim of this study was to assess the level of nitric oxide production and arginase activity in patients with arterial hypertension and type II diabetes mellitus during infection with SARS-CoV-2. The study groupsvincluded patients with arterial hypertension, patients with arterial hypertension combined with a severe course of COVID-19 and patients who, in addition to arterial hypertension and COVID-19, were suffering from type II diabetes mellitus. The volunteers without any clinical signs of diseases and normal blood pressure formed the control group. It has been established that arterial hypertension, combined with COVID-19 occurs along with reduced L-arginine, nitric oxide, superoxide dismutase activity and increased arginase activity. At the same time, the presence of arterial hypertension in patients with diabetes and coronavirus disease is accom-panied by a decline in the content of L-arginine and arginase activity. Our study’s results may help scientists find new pharmacological targets in the future treatment of coronavirus disease and comorbid disorders.

This book is aimed at studying the fundamentals of biochemical processes in the human body under normal conditions and in pathology. It can be used by students of medical universities and colleges, as well as students in biological specialties. However, the particular feature of this book is that it aligns with the curriculum for the study of biological chemistry in medical institutions in Ukraine.

The first part of the book consists of 16 chapters. The first chapter introduces the objectives of biochemistry as a science and briefly describes its history and research methods. Chapters 2-3 focus on enzymology, providing essential information about enzymes. Chapter 4 deals with vitamins, with particular emphasis on the biological functions of water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins and vitamin-like substances. Chapters 5-6 discuss the production and utilization of energy in various metabolic pathways of carbohydrates, lipids, and amino acids. Chapters 7-10 describe the main carbohydrate metabolism pathways under normal and pathological conditions. Chapters 11-13 cover lipid metabolism, while chapters 14-16 delve into amino acid metabolism. The continuation of the book will be available in Part 2 soon

The aim:  To perform a comparative analysis of VTE in patients with acute surgical abdominal pathology before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Materials and methods:  Retrospective study covered 53062 patients operated in the surgical clinic (Lviv city emergency hospital) in 2000-2019. Prospective analysis was based on the results of treatment of 546 patients operated at the same surgical clinic from April 2020 (1st surgical patient with COVID-19) till December 2021. The study analyzed 48 (8.8%) patients operated for acute abdominal pathology and confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19.
Results:  In the 1st group, heparin prophylaxis was used in 42.3% of patients, of which non-fractionated heparin were used in 58.6% and low molecular weight heparin - in the remaining patients. From 2020 to 2021, pharmacoprophylaxis was used in 84.5% of cases, of which 67.2% - low molecular weight heparins, 20.1% - non-fractionated heparins and 12.7% - modern oral anticoagulants. The results were unexpected: with a significant increase in the ve­ nous thromboembolism prevention in the 2nd group, a decrease in the number of episodes of thromboembolic complications was not observed. In contrast, pulmonary artery embolism was recorded in 10.6% of patients in the 1st group and 23.5% - in 2nd group, which is a 2.2-fold increase in fatal cases of venous thrombosis (p<0.05) in patients with COVID-19.
Conclusions:  Increase of mortality due to pulmonary artery embolism more than twicefold in patients with COVID-19 operated for acute surgical abdominal pathology is an objective evidence of a potentiated, uncontrolled risk of venous thromboembolism and requires further in-depth study.
KEYWORDS:  venous thrombosis and embolism, COVID-19, thromboembolic complications, acute surgical abdominal pathology