Effectiveness of Vaccination in Preventing COVID-19: A Community Study Comparing Four Vaccines.

The course of the COVID-19 pandemic has been critically altered by the availability of vaccines. To assess the risk of COVID-19 in the vaccinated, as compared to the unvaccinated population, as well as the comparative effectiveness of the BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm), BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech), Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) and ChAdOx1 (AstraZeneca) vaccines in the prevention of clinical infection, we carried out a retrospective study of the incidence of clinical COVID-19 in the Belgrade city municipality of Voždovac among both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals during a 4-month period between 1 July and 31 October 2021. The study included all individuals with a symptomatic infection confirmed by a positive PCR and/or antigen test.

School closures during the 2009 influenza pandemic: national and local experiences.

Background: School closure is a non-pharmaceutical intervention that was considered in many national pandemic plans developed prior to the start of the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic, and received considerable attention during the event. Here, we retrospectively review and compare national and local experiences with school closures in several countries during the A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic. Our intention is not to make a systematic review of country experiences; rather, it is to present the diversity of school closure experiences and provide examples from national and local perspectives.

Southeastern European Health Network (SEEHN) Communicable Diseases Surveillance: a decade of bridging trust and collaboration.

The communicable disease threats and changes that began emerging in south-east Europe in the early 1990s - after a decade of war and while political and health systems region-wide were undergoing dramatic changes - demanded a novel approach to infectious disease surveillance. Specifically, they called for an approach that was focused on cross-border collaboration and aligned with European Union standards and requirements. Thus, the Southeastern European Health network (SEEHN) was established in 2001 as a cooperative effort among the governments of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Public health preparedness for two mass gathering events in the context of pandemic influenza (H1N1) 2009--Serbia, July 2009.

Preparedness planning for two large mass gatherings events were considered in Serbia in the context of pandemic influenza (H1N1) 2009. Planning included approaches to prevention, detection and response in order to mitigate the situation at this early stage of the epidemic in Serbia. Cases of influenza A(H1N1)v were identified nationally immediately prior to the mass gatherings but also identified in association with both events, as expected in the context of the pandemic situation.

Aesthetic outcomes in patients undergoing breast conservation therapy for the treatment of localized breast cancer.

Localized breast cancer can be treated with lumpectomy and postoperative radiation therapy, also called breast conservation therapy, with an efficacy equivalent to that of mastectomy. Reports evaluating the effects of radiotherapy suggested that breast conservation therapy had "acceptable" cosmetic outcomes; thus, posttreatment evaluation for aesthetic impact has not been instituted as a standard of care. More recent reports have suggested that the effect of breast conservation therapy on aesthetic outcome is not minimal and that patients may benefit from reconstructive consultation.

Prevalence of malnutrition in patients in general practice.

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of malnutrition in patients living at home with cancer and chronic diseases. Patients (213) with cancer and 228 patients with chronic diseases were randomly selected from general practice registers. Nutritional status was determined from body mass index (BMI in kg/metre2), triceps skinfold thickness (TST), mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC) and population centiles.