The town of Cabar, Croatia, a high risk area for multiple sclerosis--analytic epidemiology of dietary factors.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is demyelization disease of central nervous system of unidentified causes. Analytic epidemiological research of 19 patients, clinically approved cases of MS and 25 controls, autochthonic inhabitants of town of Cabar, Croatia, the high-risk zone for the disease, was made. The research plan included case-control investigation--the "door to door" questionnaire--about nutrition habits.

Region with persistent high frequency of multiple sclerosis in Croatia and Slovenia.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS), and to determine the clinical characteristics and the occurrence of familial MS in the Gorski kotar-Kocevje region, which was previously considered to be a region of high prevalence of MS.

Methods: All clinically and laboratory supported definite cases of MS according to Poser's criteria, living residents of the chosen area on June 1, 1999 were included in the study. The patients were ascertained through national case registers for MS at the University Medical Centers (Rijeka and Ljubljana), registries of the national associations of MS patients, as well as from the medical records of regional outpatient clinics.

Intravascular lymphoma and thyroid gland.

Intravascular lymphoma (IVL) is a rare disease characterized by the proliferation of neoplastic cells in the small blood vessels that frequently goes undiagnosed until the time of autopsy. The neoplastic cells are usually of B-cell origin. The clinical course was examined to determine factors that would facilitate antemortem diagnosis.