Репозиторий Университета

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Introduction and aim: Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin (CDT) is one of the most used biomarkers for monitoring alcohol use in pregnancy. However, its effective application in this context is hampered by the demonstrated physiological progressive increase during pregnancy (even in abstinent women) of CDT values, which in the third trimester can reach values close or exceeding the cut-offs usually adopted in clinical and forensic diagnostics. The present work was aimed at the re-assessment of CDT reference values in pregnancy. Materials and methods: The CDT analysis was performed by a validated HPLC-UV Vis method on 284 serum samples of women with a physiological pregnancy and on 370 sera of non-pregnant woman from the general population (control group). All the samples were tested also for GGT for excluding alcohol abuse. The statistical analysis was performed using the MedCalc® Statistical Software. Results: The re-definition of the specific reference concentrations was carried out according to the Horn and Pesce Robust Method. The resulting CDT upper reference values were 1.45%, 2.01% and 2.05% in the first, second, and third trimester, respectively. Conclusions: In order to prevent the development of maternal and fetal prenatal alcohol exposure complications, the use of alcohol biomarkers, including CDT, has been proposed. However, this biomarker, in the monitoring of alcohol use in pregnancy, has so far been applied adopting the same cut-off used for general population without taking into consideration the progressive physiological increase of its value throughout the pregnancy. In the present study, a specific re-assessment of the CDT reference concentrations of each trimester is reported.

© 2018, Slovenska Vzdelavacia Obstaravacia. All rights reserved. The approach to studying society in the postmodernist framework is relevant to understand postmodernist paradigm in contemporary philosophy. The rapid development of computerization and mass media in postmodern culture has been destroying the quality of human interaction with the surrounding environment and social reality, causes a feeling of losing touch with reality. This is due to the emergence of many virtual realities. The purpose of the article is to analyze the anthropological ideas in the philosophy of postmodernism. Postmodern anthropology is realized not only in the context of scientific revolution and internal form of culture but also as self-consciousness of modern civilization. Postmodernists prefer to discuss human beings as not whole self-contained individuals, units that may be broken down (divided), and call them ‘dividuals,’ beings or persons significantly distinct from their modern descendants, this being the best characteristic of the modern social state and contrasting to a Cartesian tradition. Methodologically the article is based on a systematic approach combining structural-functional, dialectical and hermeneutical methods. This approach allows us to reveal essential aspects of postmodern philosophy in their dialectical interrelation, to overcome constraints inherent in the heuristic potential of certain methodologies. The survey covers issues related both directly to the field of general theoretical postmodern philosophy and social sciences and makes a review on the researches on the human identity in the postmodern era. The analysis conducted made it possible to distinguish the main characteristics of postmodernism. The main intention of postmodernism considered is the crushing criticism of traditional values: humanism, rationalism, radicalism towards social structure and development, its rejection, denial of individuals' ability to be responsible for their actions, their inability to resist the power of supranational structures.