Treatment pattern of familial hypercholesterolemia in Slovakia: Targets, treatment and obstacles in common practice.

Background And Aims: Maximal doses of potent statins are the cornerstone of treatment of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Despite this, a substantial proportion of FH patients are either under-treated or not treated at all. The aim of this work was to evaluate, in a retrospective study, the treatment of FH patients, the proportion of FH patients reaching low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals, and reasons for not reaching LDL-C goals, in 8 lipid clinics in Slovakia dealing with FH patients.

Clinical blood pressure measurement verification when comparing a Tensoval duo control device with a mercury sphygmomanometer in patients suffering from atrial fibrillation.

Aim: The aim of our study was to compare the accuracy of blood pressure measurements in patients with atrial fibrillation using simultaneous measurements by a mercury sphygmomanometer and an electronic device Tensoval duo control, produced by Hartmann-Rico, with dual control of the measurements (oscillometric and auscultation).

Materials And Methods: A total of 255 patients were examined at five clinics using two simultaneous measurements with a time interval of at least 3 min. The measurement accuracy analysis was carried out using a paired t-test, at several levels, throughout the whole group of patients, by considering the patient's sex and age and using a standard or larger cuff.

The mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule antibody PF-00547,659 in ulcerative colitis: a randomised study.

Background And Aims: Leucocyte migration to gut mucosa, mediated by integrin binding to mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule (MAdCAM), is a promising target for therapeutic intervention in inflammatory bowel disease. This first-in-human study of a monoclonal antibody to MAdCAM, PF-00547,659, aimed to explore the safety and preliminary efficacy of this gut-specific mechanism in ulcerative colitis.

Methods: In this randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled study, 80 patients with active ulcerative colitis received single or multiple (three doses, 4-week intervals) doses of PF-00547,659 0.

[Kidney diseases in pregnancy].

Knowledge of important morphological, functional and hemodynamic changes occurring in the kidneys during physiological pregnancy is a prerequisite for proper diagnostics and therapy of renal diseases in pregnancy. Kidney diseases may be kidney diseases complicating pregnancy in previously healthy women, or pre-existing or superposed kidney diseases. Knowledge of renal insufficiency management in pregnancy, including haemodialysis treatment and management of pregnancy in patients who have undergone transplantation, is also important.

[The prevalence of abdominal obesity in Slovakia. The IDEA Slovakia study].

Abdominal obesity represents an independent risk factor for subsequent severe cardiovascular events. It is one of the important diagnostic criteria for Metabolic Syndrome whose predictive value for severe cardiovascular events is similar to that of elevated LDL-cholesterol levels. The prevalence of abdominal obesity in the context of Metabolic Syndrome still has not been systematically monitored in Slovakia.