Auto-adaptive positive airway pressure improves lung function and arterial stiffness parameters in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome over a 1 year follow-up.

Objective: Auto-adaptive positive airway pressure (APAP) is an emerging therapeutic modality for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. However, their associated physiological effects have not been well-defined. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the impact of a 1 year APAP treatment on lung function and arterial stiffness parameters.

Normative equations for central augmentation index: assessment of inter-population applicability and how it could be improved.

Common reference values of arterial stiffness indices could be effective screening tool in detecting vascular phenotypes at risk. However, populations of the same ethnicity may differ in vascular phenotype due to different environmental pressure. We examined applicability of normative equations for central augmentation index (cAIx) derived from Danish population with low cardiovascular risk on the corresponding Croatian population from the Mediterranean area.

Effects of mandibular advancement device treatment on arterial stiffness and glucose metabolism in patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea: a prospective 1 year study.

Study Objectives: An independent association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and cardiovascular events has been reported, suggesting that OSA may lead to cardiometabolic dysregulation. We prospectively investigated the effect of mandibular advancement device (MAD) treatment on arterial stiffness, glucose metabolism, and certain inflammatory markers as predictors of cardiometabolic risk in mild to moderate OSA patients.

Methods: A total of 18 patients with mild to moderate OSA were prospectively enrolled in the study to determine the effects of MAD treatment at 3 months and 1 year following initiation of the treatment.

Acute application of antioxidants protects against hyperoxia-induced reduction of plasma nitrite concentration.

We investigated the effects of acute intake of antioxidants on hyperoxia-induced oxidative stress, reduction of plasma nitrite and change in arterial stiffness. Twelve healthy males randomly consumed either placebo or an oral antioxidant cocktail (vitamin C, 1000 mg; vitamin E, 600 IU; alpha-lipoic acid, 600 mg). Every therapy was consumed once, a week apart, in a cross-over design, 30 min before the experiment.

The impact of consecutive freshwater trimix dives at altitude on human cardiovascular function.

Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) diving is regularly associated with numerous asymptomatic changes in cardiovascular function. Freshwater SCUBA diving presents unique challenges compared with open sea diving related to differences in water density and the potential for dive locations at altitude. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of freshwater trimix diving at altitude on human cardiovascular function.

Clinical scoring systems in predicting health-related quality of life of children with injuries.

The aim of the study was to explore the association between Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Paediatric Index of Mortality (PIM2) and Injury Severity Score (ISS), and the long-term outcome of children with injuries. The health related quality of life (HRQL) was assessed by using the Royal Alexandra Hospital for children Measure of Function (RAHC MOF), 12 months post discharge. Out of 118 children with injuries (9% of all patients), 75 had injury of the head as the leading injury.

Can genetics aggravate the health of isolated and remote populations? The case of gout, hyperuricaemia and osteoarthritis in Dalmatia.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate whether genetics may be considered an additional risk factor for health in isolated and remote populations, compared with their populations of origin. In this study, two remote island population samples from Croatia (from the islands of Vis and the Korcula) were compared with mainland controls from the coastal city of Split. The analyses focused on gout, hyperuricaemia and osteoarthritis, as examples of complex, multifactorial diseases.

A complex pattern of agreement between oscillometric and tonometric measurement of arterial stiffness in a population-based sample.

Objective: Arterial stiffness can be estimated by several noninvasive methods. In a large population-based sample we performed an agreement analysis of the set of arterial stiffness indices (ASIs) measured by tonometric (SphygmoCor) and oscillometric (Arteriograph) techniques.

Methods: Central augmentation index (cAIx) and peripheral augmentation index (pAIx), as well as central SBP (cSBP) were measured in 1012 participants from a population-based study.

Sex-specific association of anthropometric measures of body composition with arterial stiffness in a healthy population.

Background: Anthropometric measures of body composition and arterial stiffness are commonly used as indicators of cardiovascular risk. Little is known, however, about the association of the anthropometric measures with arterial stiffness, especially in a healthy, generally non-obese population.

Material/methods: In a sample of 352 healthy subjects (200 premenopausal women), 3 arterial stiffness indices were analyzed (pulse wave velocity, augmentation index and central systolic blood pressure) in relation to 5 anthropometric measures of body composition (body mass index - BMI, body fat percentage by skinfold measurements -%BF, waist circumference - WC, waist-hip ratio - WHpR, and waist-height ratio - WHtR).

Association between chromosome 9p21 variants and the ankle-brachial index identified by a meta-analysis of 21 genome-wide association studies.

Background: Genetic determinants of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) remain largely unknown. To identify genetic variants associated with the ankle-brachial index (ABI), a noninvasive measure of PAD, we conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association study data from 21 population-based cohorts.

Methods And Results: Continuous ABI and PAD (ABI ≤0.

Antioxidant and vasodilatory effects of blackberry and grape wines.

In contrast to the well-described various biological effects of grape wines, the potential effects of commonly consumed blackberry wine have not been studied. We examined in vitro antioxidant and vasodilatory effects of four blackberry wines and compared them with the effects of two red and two white grape wines. Although some blackberry wines had lower total phenolic content relative to the red grape wines, their antioxidant capacity was stronger, which may be related to a higher content of non-flavonoid compounds (most notably gallic acid) in blackberry wines.

Effects of successive air and nitrox dives on human vascular function.

SCUBA diving is regularly associated with asymptomatic changes in cardiac, pulmonary and vascular function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in vascular/endothelial function following SCUBA diving and to assess the potential difference between two breathing gases: air and nitrox 36 (36% oxygen and 64% nitrogen). Ten divers performed two 3-day diving series (no-decompression dive to 18 m with 47 min bottom time with air and nitrox, respectively), with 2 weeks pause in between.

Comparison of acute effects of red wine, beer and vodka against hyperoxia-induced oxidative stress and increase in arterial stiffness in healthy humans.

Objective: We determined and compared acute effects of different alcoholic beverages on oxygen-induced increase in oxidative stress plasma marker and arterial stiffness in healthy humans.

Methods: Ten males randomly consumed one of four tested beverages: red wine (RW), vodka, beer (0.32 g ethanol/kg body wt) and water as control.

New loci associated with central cornea thickness include COL5A1, AKAP13 and AVGR8.

Central corneal thickness (CCT) is a highly heritable trait, which has been proposed to influence disorders of the anterior segment of the eye. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of CCT was performed in 2269 individuals from three Croatian and one Scottish population. In the discovery set (1445 individuals), two genome-wide significant associations were identified for single nucleotide polymorphisms rs12447690 (β = 0.

Association of nephrolithiasis and gene for glucose transporter type 9 (SLC2A9): study of 145 patients.

Aim: To investigate the association of nephrolithiasis and solute carrier family 2, facilitated glucose transporter, member 9 (SLC2A9), also known as glucose transporter type 9, Glut9.

Methods: A total of 145 participants were recruited in the period April-October 2008 from the Department of Mineral Research of the Medical School Osijek, Osijek, Croatia; 58 (40%) had confirmed nephrolithiasis and 87 (60%) were asymptomatic. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from the SLC2A9 gene were genotyped in both groups (rs733175, rs6449213, rs1014290, and rs737267).

Predictive value of 8 genetic loci for serum uric acid concentration.

Aim: To investigate the value of genomic information in prediction of individual serum uric acid concentrations.

Methods: Three population samples were investigated: from isolated Adriatic island communities of Vis (n=980) and Korcula (n=944), and from general population of the city of Split (n=507). Serum uric acid concentration was correlated with the genetic risk score based on 8 previously described genes: PDZK1, GCKR, SLC2A9, ABCG2, LRRC16A, SLC17A1, SLC16A9, and SLC22A12, represented by a total of 16 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP).

Genome-wide association study of biochemical traits in Korcula Island, Croatia.

Aim: To identify genetic variants underlying biochemical traits--total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, albumin, and fibrinogen, in a genome-wide association study in an isolated population where rare variants of larger effect may be more easily identified.

Methods: The study included 944 adult inhabitants of the island of Korcula, as a part of larger DNA-based genetic epidemiological study in 2007. Biochemical measurements were performed in a single laboratory with stringent internal and external quality control procedures.

Apocrine adenoma of the breast coexistent with invasive carcinoma.

We describe a case of apocrine adenoma with simultaneous occurrence of invasive ductal carcinoma in the breast of a 53-year-old woman. Apocrine adenoma affecting the breast is very rare. The lesion is composed of back-to-back ducts and papillary fronds covered with apocrine cells, and it is sharply demarcated from the surrounding breast tissue.