The dead space fraction as a prognostic death indicator in patients with ARDS: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective:   Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a systemic disease with high morbidity and mortality. Dead space fraction (Vd/Vt) represents the volume of air that does not participate in gas exchange and accurately depicts the pathophysiology of ARDS due to ventilation and perfusion mismatch. In this study, we aim to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis regarding its usefulness for predicting mortality.

The Role of Religiosity and Personal Faith in Young People's Sexual Debut and Sexual Risk Taking: A Bayesian Approach.

Using a Bayesian statistical approach, this study aimed to provide a robust assessment of associations between religiosity and personal faith, timing of sexual initiation and sexual risk taking in young people. To produce posterior probability distribution of the estimation of associations, this study combined two population-based surveys of emerging Croatian adults and meta-analytical estimates pertaining to international studies published between 2000 and 2020. Regardless of the prior used, age at sexual debut was delayed by both religiosity (correlations ranged from 0.

How much stressful life events really matter? Conceptual and methodological difficulties in assessing the impact of self-reported events on adolescents' subjective stress.

Numerous studies have pointed to the strong impact of stressful life events on subjective stress and indirectly on the adolescents' mental health. However, the results of many such studies contain bias caused by the choice of measurement method or an incomplete theoretical framework. To estimate the extent of possible bias when using self-reports, we conducted research on a representative sample of 2201 Croatian adolescents aged 14-18 years.

Pentraxin-3 and neonatal sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The potential bond between pentraxin-3 levels and neonatal sepsis has been the center of research in many primary studies. The aim of the current meta-analysis is to examine whether there are differences among pentraxin-3 levels in septic and in healthy neonates. Our search strategy included the systematic search of the following databases: MEDLINE, Clinicaltrials.

A meta-analytic exploration of associations between religious service attendance and sexual risk taking in adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Findings since 2000 about the association between the frequency of religious service attendance (formal religiosity) and sexual risk taking in adolescents and emerging adults were explored. A systematic literature search (April 2020) focused on articles with data on religiosity and age at sexual debut, number of sexual partners, condom use at most recent sexual intercourse, and consistent condom use. A total of 27 studies with 37,430 participants ( = 18.

Vaccination Hesitancy Among Greek Orthodox Christians: Is There a Conflict Between Religion and Science?

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic vaccines were highly anticipated in order to help contain the spread of the virus and mitigate its impact. However, when the vaccination program began, some minorities were reluctant to get vaccinated for numerous reasons. Specifically, at that time in Greece many priests were opposed to getting vaccinated and proceeded to discourage their flock, in stark contrast to the decisions of Greek Orthodox religious leaders who endorsed the vaccination program.

Antitumorigenic Effect of Cannabidiol in Lung Cancer: What Do We Know So Far?–A Mini Review.

Lung cancer remains a major factor contributing to morbidity and mortality worldwide. cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol could serve as a specific treatment for lung cancer, owing to their essential role in lung cancer cell apoptosis. This review evaluated the antitumorigenic mechanisms of CBD in lung cancer cells.

Obesity as a risk factor for severe influenza infection in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Unlabelled: Obesity has been recently identified as a predisposing factor for a worse prognosis in viral illnesses such as SARS-CoV-2; however, its role in children with influenza is not yet clarified. The current systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess whether obesity is a risk factor for either hospitalization or a worse prognosis when hospitalized among children infected by influenza. We systematically searched the following databases using a structured algorithm: MEDLINE, Clinicaltrials.

Blood urea nitrogen to albumin ratio as a predictive factor for pneumonia: A meta-analysis.

Background Pneumonia remains a substantial cause of mortality worldwide. The need for markers that better categorize patients is growing. We have performed a meta-analysis of Blood Urea Nitrogen to Albumin (BUN/ALB) ratio as a predictive factor regarding patients with pneumonia.

Religious faith and sexual risk taking among adolescents and emerging adults: A meta-analytic review.

Rationale: Although there is some evidence that religious faith may offer protection against sexual risk taking in adolescence and emerging adulthood, no attempts have been made to systematically quantify the association.

Objective: Using data from studies conducted in the 2000-2020 period, this meta-analysis aimed to estimate the link between religious faith and four sexual risk-taking behaviors in samples of adolescents and emerging adults.

Methods: Five different search systems were used to conduct a systematic literature search in April 2020.

Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio and Gastrointestinal Involvement Among Henoch Schonlein Purpura Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio has been examined among several studies regarding Henoch Schonlein purpura patients with gastrointestinal involvement. The current meta-analysis aims to evaluate neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio differences between Henoch Schonlein purpura patients with and without gastrointestinal manifestations.An extensive search of the available literature was done using MEDLINE (1966-2020), Clinicaltrials.

Proadrenomedullin and neonatal sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy.

The association of proadrenomedullin and neonatal sepsis has been examined in numerous studies. The object of our meta-analysis is to evaluate differences in proadrenomedullin among neonates with sepsis and health neonates. We systematically searched the following databases: MEDLINE, Clinicaltrials.

The impact of stress and coping strategies on life satisfaction in a national sample of adolescents: A structural equation modelling approach.

Although stress strongly predicts life satisfaction, the psychosocial mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. To investigate the possible mediating role of coping, we conducted a cross-sectional study that assessed youths' life stress levels, propensity to engage in three different coping styles (i.e.

Mean platelet volume and neonatal sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy.

Aim: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of Mean Platelet Volume in neonatal sepsis.

Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE, Clinicaltrials.gov, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Google Scholar and WHO (International Clinical Trials Register Platform) databases from inception using a structured algorithm.

Red cell distribution width to platelet ratio for liver fibrosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy.

: Red cell distribution width to platelet ratio (RPR) may be a useful marker for the evaluation of liver fibrosis in chronic liver disease (CLD). We sought to investigate its value in fibrosis-related outcomes in a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy. : We searched MEDLINE (1966-2019), Clinicaltrials.

Working Memory in Patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Affective Disorder: Quantitative or Qualitative Differences?

Background: Some authors suggest that working memory may underlie most of cognitive deficits found in schizophrenia and contribute to the most salient features of the disorder. Many authors further believe that, despite the differences in magnitude, profile of cognitive impairment is quite similar across schizophrenia and affective psychosis. To test the hypothesis of profile similarity between SCZ and BPD compared to healthy individuals, we carried out a comparative study applying several working memory tasks.

Socioeconomic status, social-cultural values, life stress, and health behaviors in a national sample of adolescents.

Adolescence is a developmental period during which time individuals adopt health behaviors that affect their lifelong health and disease risk. Socioeconomic status, social-cultural values, and stress have all been hypothesized to play a role in this association, but very few studies have examined how these factors interrelate and explain differences in health behaviors in adolescence. To address this issue, we assessed youths' socioeconomic status, social-cultural values, life stress levels across seven domains, and health behaviors in a national sample of 1,830 high school seniors living in the four largest cities in Croatia.

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The immune system appears to be dysregulated in schizophrenia (SZ). The potential prognostic or diagnostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), an inexpensive proxy marker for a wide spectrum of conditions, has not been established in SZ. We seek to investigate a) whether NLR is increased in SZ patients, b) if this difference in more prominent in relapsed SZ or first-episode psychosis.

Reference intervals for six salivary cortisol measures based on the Croatian Late Adolescence Stress Study (CLASS).

Introduction: The aim of this nested study is to provide the reference intervals for already published measurements of salivary cortisol from the Croatian Adolescence Stress Study (CLASS).

Material And Methods: A total of 969 individuals (372 males and 597 females) were included in the reference sample (age range: 18-21 years). Salivary cortisol concentrations were determined by the enzyme immunoassay (LUCIO-Medical ELISA Salivary Cortisol Kit, Nal von Minden, Germany) in the Department of Medical Laboratory Diagnostics, University Hospital Split.

Weather conditions: a neglected factor in human salivary cortisol research?

There is ample evidence that environmental stressors such as extreme weather conditions affect animal behavior and that this process is in part mediated through the elevated activity of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis which results in an increase in cortisol secretion. This relationship has not been extensively researched in humans, and weather conditions have not been analyzed as a potential confounder in human studies of stress. Consequently, the goal of this paper was to assess the relationship between salivary cortisol and weather conditions in the course of everyday life and to test a possible moderating effect of two weather-related variables, the climate region and timing of exposure to outdoors conditions.

Daily salivary cortisol profile: Insights from the Croatian Late Adolescence Stress Study (CLASS).

Introduction: The aim of the study was to examine basal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and to determine associations of various covariates (gender, sleep-wake rhythm, demographic, academic, life style and health-related characteristics) with altered daily salivary cortisol profiles in late adolescence.

Materials And Methods: The total analytic sample consisted of 903 Croatian secondary school students aged 18 - 21 years (median 19 years). Salivary cortisol was sampled at home at three time points over the course of one week and its concentrations were measured by using the enzyme immunoassay.