Personality, depression and anxiety in primary Sjogren's syndrome - Association with sociodemographic factors and comorbidity.

Objective: Patients with primary Sjögren's Syndrome (pSS) have diminished health quality and fatigue, arthralgia along with dryness of the mouth and eyes have major impact on their psychological and social aspects of life. The purpose of this study was to determine psychological features of patients with pSS. We analyzed personality, depression and anxiety of patients with primary Sjögren's Syndrome (pSS) in comparison with patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy controls (HC) and assessed their association with sociodemographic factors and comorbidity.

Correlation of structural defects in the ascending aortic wall to ultrasound parameters: benefits for decision-making process in aortic valve surgery.

Background: Histopathological changes in the ascending aorta wall in patients with severe tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) stenosis were graded and correlated to echocardiographic parameters. Objective was to associate threshold echocardiographic values with structural defects in the ascending aorta providing a tool to improve decision-making process in cases when simultaneous aortic valve replacement (AVR) and ascending aorta replacement is considered.

Methods: Biopsies from 108 TAV stenosis patients subjected to AVR were graded into three grades according to severity of aortic wall changes.

Multiobserver Reliability of Ultrasound Assessment of Salivary Glands in Patients with Established Primary Sjögren Syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate the multiobserver reliability of salivary gland ultrasonography (SGUS) for scoring greyscale (GS) parenchymal inhomogeneity and parenchymal color Doppler (CD) signal in patients with established primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS).

Methods: The study comprised 2 multiobserver reliability assessments in patients with pSS in 2 European centers. The first reliability exercise was performed on 24 patients with pSS and 8 controls who were independently evaluated with GS and CD US by 5 observers at the Institute of Rheumatology, Belgrade, Serbia.

Demographic and socio-economic factors associated with multiple health risk behaviours among adolescents in Serbia: a cross sectional study.

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and engaging in multiple risk behaviours among adolescents in Republic of Serbia.

Methods: This study presents a cross sectional study of 683 adolescents aged 15 to 19 attending high school. The database from the 2006 National Health Survey was used.

A comprehensive morphometric analysis of the internal thoracic artery with emphasis on age, gender and left-to-right specific differences.

Aims Of The Study: The aim of this analysis was the morphometric description of the internal thoracic artery (ITA) with an emphasis on age, gender and left-to-right specific differences, as well as on age and atherosclerosis related changes of the elastic skeleton.

Methods: Forty eight arteries were obtained during forensic autopsies from 32 persons who had died of non-vascular causes. The following morphometric parameters were analyzed: thickness of the intima, the medial layer and the wall, the intima-to media-ratio and the elastic skeleton parameters.

Impact of triple pelvic osteotomy on contact stress pressure distribution in the hip joint.

Purpose: We studied changes of contact stress distribution in the hip joint after Tonnis triple pelvic osteotomy applied in the treatment of dysplasia and hip joint incongruence in adolescents.

Methods: In a group of 75 patients, 54 (72 %) female, who underwent surgery by triple pelvic osteotomy in adolescence for developmental disorder of the hip and avascular necrosis of the femoral head, a three-dimensional hip joint model was used based on the radiography of the pelvis with hips. The following biomechanical parameters were calculated: resultant hip force normalised to body weight (R/Wb), inclination of the resultant hip force (θ-R), the position of the stress pole (θ), peak contact hip stress (Pmax), and peak contact hip stress normalised to body weight (Pmax/Wb).

Ultrasonography of major salivary glands could be an alternative tool to sialoscintigraphy in the American-European classification criteria for primary Sjogren's syndrome.

Objective: To test the diagnostic accuracy of modified American-European classification criteria (AEC) for primary SS (pSS) by replacing sialoscintigraphy (sSC) with ultrasonography of the major salivary glands.

Methods: One hundred and ninety subjects were evaluated for the diagnosis of pSS, including US of the salivary glands. We tested the diagnostic accuracy of the three different sets of five diagnostic criteria for pSS.

Advantages and limitations of the autofluorescent diagnostics of the laryngeal cancer and precancerosis.

Any endoscopic diagnostic procedure that is capable of giving exact information on laryngeal lesions without damaging the tissue has essential advantages over standard biopsy. Tissue autofluorescence is defined as a natural ability of tissue to fluoresce when exposed to a certain light wavelength. This feature is a consequence of the presence of fluorophores in the tissues, which are activated by a narrow wavelength range.

Diagnostic value of salivary gland ultrasonographic scoring system in primary Sjogren's syndrome: a comparison with scintigraphy and biopsy.

Objective: To compare an ultrasonographic (US) scoring system of salivary glands with scintigraphy and salivary gland biopsy, in order to evaluate its diagnostic value in primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS).

Methods: In 135 patients with suspected SS, the grades of 5 US measures of both parotid and submandibular salivary glands were scored (0-48 scale). Diagnosis of primary SS was established following the American-European Consensus Group criteria of 2002.

Blood pressure in non-critically ill preterm and full-term neonates.

The neonatal period is a time of extensive hemodynamic changes. It is expected that these changes are most prominent in premature infants during the first week of life. The aim of this study was to examine arterial blood pressure (BP) measured by an oscillometric device in the first month of life in a stable premature population admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and to evaluate the influence of gestational age, postnatal age, birth weight, gender, and sleep state on BP.

[Effect of diabetes mellitus in recovery and maintenance of sinus rhythm in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation].

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is frequently accompanied by cardiac rhythm disorders. On the other hand, atrial fibrillation is the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia in adult population [1, 2]. According to some of the large epidemiological studies diabetes mellitus is among independent risk factors for development and persistence of atrial fibrillation [3].