Health Systems and Their Assessment: A Methodological Proposal of the Synthetic Outcome Measure.

The effectiveness of health systems is an area of constant interest for public health researchers and practitioners. The varied approach to effectiveness itself has resulted in numerous methodological proposals related to its measurement. The limitations of the currently used methods lead to a constant search for better tools for the assessment of health systems.

The impact of antipsychotics as a risk factor for thromboembolism.

Patients with schizophrenia are predisposed toward developing cardiovascular disease. Although neuroleptics affect the cardiovascular system, it is also important to consider the consequences of the disease itself such as lower physical activity due to living on disability pension, inadequate nutrition, and/or nicotine addiction, being more common among patients with schizophrenia versus the general population. All these factors combined lead to an increased risk of death caused by cardiovascular conditions in schizophrenic patients.

Mapping Health Needs to Support Health System Management in Poland.

In Poland, following the example of other EU countries, the first maps of health needs prepared by the Ministry of Health were presented in 2016. The maps constitute a foundation for rational decision-making in the management of health care resources, being potentially useful for all actors in health system. This refers in particular to the institutions responsible for distribution of funds and contracting health service, but also for decision-makers, who determine the scope of funds to be utilized in the health system, or the structure of benefits provided to patients.

Assessing the serum concentration levels of NT-4/5, GPX-1, TNF-α, and l-arginine as biomediators of depression severity in first depressive episode patients with and without posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Neurotrophin-4/5 (NT-4/5) and glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPX-1) have been shown to play a major role in neuronal processes including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They protect the body from oxidative damage by affecting neuronal growth, development and plasticity. The aim of the study was to evaluate the concentrations of NT-4/5, GPX-1, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and l-arginine in patients suffering from varying levels of depression severity, PTSD, and depression comorbid with PTSD.

Melatonin and neurotrophins NT-3, BDNF, NGF in patients with varying levels of depression severity.

Background: Disrupted circadian rhythm of melatonin secretion in depression shows a relationship with the exacerbation of inflammatory processes. Proinflammatory mechanisms of depression are sustained by oxidative stress. This contributes to melatonin deficiency and to the malfunction of the defense mechanisms in the brain.

A study of chemokines, chemokine receptors and interleukin-6 in patients with panic disorder, personality disorders and their co-morbidity.

Background: Stress may induce inflammatory changes in the immune system and activate pro-inflammatory cytokines and their receptors by activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

Methods: 460 hospitalized patients with panic disorders (PD) and/or personality disorders (P) were studied. The study group comprised subjects with PD, avoidant personality disorder (APD), borderline personality disorder (BPD), obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), and concomitant (PD+APD; PD+BPD; PD+OCPD).

Sense of alexithymia in patients with anxiety disorders comorbid with recurrent urticaria.

Aim: Alexithymia is associated with limited cognitive processing of emotions by an individual suffering from recurrent urticaria and alexithymia and makes them focus on somatic manifestations of emotional arousal and on poorly controlled compulsive reactions to negative stimulation. Alexithymia is considered to be a personality trait, which, along with other factors, predisposes individuals toward developing somatic diseases. The aim of the study was to assess the measurement of alexithymic features in patients with recurrent urticaria and to assess the types of concurrent anxiety disorders and overall anxiety level.

The evolution of the health system outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe and their association with social, economic and political factors: an analysis of 25 years of transition.

Background: After the fall of communism, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe started the process of political, economic, and social transformation. In health system the reform directions were often similar, despite differences in transition dynamics and the degree of government determination to implement reforms. Nonetheless, for most post-communist countries, there is a gap in evidence regarding the effectiveness of implemented reforms and their impact on health system performance.

The privatization of spa companies in Poland - An evaluation of policy assumptions and implementation.

The aim of this article is to present the course of privatization of spa companies in Poland during the period 2001-2011. We discuss assumptions of the privatization process, as well as actual implementation, having identified the process as chaotic and inconsistent with prior legal provisions. We found that in its applied form the process resulted in limitation of the therapeutic potential of spas, and reduction of the State's ability to implement health policy in a legally determined form.

Serum concentrations of chemokines (CCL-5 and CXCL-12), chemokine receptors (CCR-5 and CXCR-4), and IL-6 in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder and avoidant personality disorder.

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be perceived as a psychoneuroimmunological disorder in which cytokines affecting the neurochemical and neuroendocrine functions of the body play an important role. Among cytokines, chemokines participating in activation of the inflammatory response are considered to be crucial.

Method: 220 men and women were enrolled in the study.