A cost-effectiveness evaluation of a high-sensitivity troponin I guided voluntary cardiovascular risk assessment program for asymptomatic women in Croatia.

Background: To estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a high-sensitivity troponin I (hsTnI) guided cardiovascular risk assessment program in women in Croatia.

Methods: An observational study of a voluntary program for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment in women aged above 45 years with no specific symptoms, no confirmed or known coronary artery disease was conducted (WHP). Participants were stratified into three categories according to their hsTnI level.

The Role of Ambulatory Cardiac Rehabilitation in Improvement of Quality of Life, Anxiety and Depression.

Background: Psychological reactions may adversely affect recovery after major cardiac events. This study investigates the role and frequently negligible importance of ambulatory cardiac rehabilitation (ACR) in improvement of quality of life (QoL), anxiety and depression at patients with various cardiac pathology.

Subjects And Methods: This prospective study included subjects treated for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), those with performed elective revascularization, and OTHERS (after valve replacement, implanted pacemaker or other device, with stable heart failure and coronary artery disease).

Retrorenal fat predicts grade C pancreatic fistula after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Background: Pancreatic fistula after pancreaticoduodenectomy is one of the most severe complications with mortality rates as high as 45%, and the prediction of most severe form of fistula (grade C) is crucial for successful management of patients who are to undergo cephalic pancreatoduodenectomy. It has been found that the amount of abdominal fat may predict grade C postoperative pancreatic fistula. In this study, we analysed the value of retrorenal fat thickness in the prediction of grade C pancreatic fistula.

Validation of a clinical score in predicting pancreatic fistula after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Background: Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is one of the most severe complications after cephalic pancreaticoduodenectomy, with mortality as high as 30%. Risk scores may help predict the risk of POPF. Multiple external validations substantially improve generalized clinical acceptability of a scoring system.

The Influence of Corticosteroids on Heart Rate Variablity in Acute Cervical Spinal Cord Injury.

Heart rate variability (HRV) gives information on the sympathetic-parasympathetic autonomic balance. The aim of the study was to analyze sympathovagal balance after acute spinal cord injury (SCI), demonstrated by linear measures in time and frequency domain of HRV and to analyze the effect of corticosteroids on HRV parameters in SCI. The study included 40 tetraplegic patients with acute SCI and 40 healthy subjects as control group.

Atypical cause of radiculopathy - Intradural spinal arachnoid cyst.

Intradural spinal arachnoid cysts are a relatively uncommon lesion that may be either intra, or extradural, and intradural spinal arachnoid cysts are even less common. Arachnoid cysts are cerebrospinal fluid collections in the spine that can present with neurological symptoms. The objective of this paper is to describe a rare case of radicular pain due to a spinal arachnoid cyst.

Control of heart rate by the autonomic nervous system in acute spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury may cause loss of cardiovascular reflexes mediated by sympathetic drive due to interruption in the supraspinal control of spinal sympathetic motoneurons. The aim of this study was to analyze sympathovagal balance after acute spinal cord injury demonstrated by linear measures in time and frequency domain of heart rate variability (HRV). The study included 40 tatraplegic patients after acute spinal cord injury and 40 healthy subjects as controls.

Heart rate variability and nonlinear dynamic analysis in patients with stress-induced cardiomyopathy.

Complexity-based analyses may quantify abnormalities in heart rate variability (HRV). The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and prognostic significances of dynamic HRV changes in patients with stress-induced cardiomyopathy Takotsubo syndrome (TS) by means of linear and nonlinear analysis. Patients with TS were included in study after complete noninvasive and invasive cardiovascular diagnostic evaluation and compared to an age and gender matched control group of healthy subjects.

CSM-SD: methodology for contrast set mining through subgroup discovery.

This paper addresses a data analysis task, known as contrast set mining, whose goal is to find differences between contrasting groups. As a methodological novelty, it is shown that this task can be effectively solved by transforming it to a more common and well-understood subgroup discovery task. The transformation is studied in two learning settings, a one-versus-all and a pairwise contrast set mining setting, uncovering the conditions for each of the two choices.

The "Chaos Theory" and nonlinear dynamics in heart rate variability analysis: does it work in short-time series in patients with coronary heart disease?

Background: Dynamic analysis techniques may quantify abnormalities in heart rate variability (HRV) based on nonlinear and fractal analysis (chaos theory). The article emphasizes clinical and prognostic significance of dynamic changes in short-time series applied on patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) during the exercise electrocardiograph (ECG) test.

Methods: The subjects were included in the series after complete cardiovascular diagnostic data.