HPV Vaccination and Cervical Cancer Screening Policies and Practices in 18 Countries, Territories and Entities across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Background: To assess readiness to achieve the WHO Global Strategy targets for HPV vaccination and cervical screening and to guide capacity building, the current status of these services in 18 Eastern European and Central Asian countries, territories and entities (CTEs) was evaluated.

Methods: In order to assess the current status of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening in these 18 CTEs, a 30 question survey tool was developed, covering: national policies, strategies and plans for cervical cancer prevention; status of cancer registration; status of HPV vaccination; and current practices for cervical cancer screening and treatment of precancerous lesions. As cervical cancer prevention comes within the mandate of the United Nations Fund for Population Development (UNFPA), the UNFPA offices in the 18 CTEs have regular contact with national experts who are directly involved in cervical cancer prevention actions and are well placed to provide the data required for this survey.

New software for collecting data from the organized cervical cancer screening program in Serbia. Are we on the threshold of a new screening registry? - A multicentric study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to present the Screening Registry and the results of organized cervical cancer screening program (OCCSP) in the Republic of Serbia using a database made as an output model, linked with the Screening Registry.

Methods: Data were respectively collected over a onemonth period from 3 state primary health care centers (and related hospitals/clinical center) in central Serbia in which OCCSP was conducted. The sample consisted of women of the target population (25 to 64 years old) who responded the call for Pap test.

Organised cervical cancer screening programme in the Belgrade municipality of Cukarica - Evaluation of process indicators.

Purpose: To evaluate the process indicators for monitoring the Organized Cervical Cancer Screening Programme (OCCSP) conducted in the Belgrade municipality of Cukarica within the first three-year interval, and to compare Pap test coverage for women aged 25 to 64 before and after implementing the organised programme.

Methods: We analyzed the coverage by invitation, compliance with invitation and coverage by Pap test for the first three-year interval of the OCCSP (20th Dec 2012 - 19th Dec 2015) as well as the results of opportunistic screening for the same period and coverage by Pap test for women aged 25 to 64 for the last three years prior to the implementation of the OCCSP.

Results: After the first three years of the OCCSP implementation, coverage by invitation was 42.

Clinical scores for the prediction of esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Introduction: Esophageal bleeding is one of the most important and dramatic complications of liver cirrhosis in our everyday practice. Considering the costs of repeated upper endoscopy (UE) there is an increasing number of studies focusing on noninvasive para-meters for the assessment of esophageal varices (EV).

Patients And Methods: Retrospective study included 74 patients with alcoholic and viral liver cirrhosis treated at Clinic of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Center of Serbia.

Performance indicators collected from primary health centres included in organised cervical cancer screening programme in the Republic of Serbia.

Purpose: To present the performance indicators for monitoring the cervical cancer screening process conducted in primary health centres (PHCs) and to identify any shortcomings in the implementation of the Organized Cervical Cancer Screening Programme (OCCSP).

Methods: This study included 16 PHCs participating in the OCCSP in the Republic of Serbia. The data were analysed from the moment the methodology in the PHCs has been accurately and consistently applied in accordance with the European guidelines (earliest from 20th December 2012 until 30th November 2014).

Mortality from cervical cancer in Serbia in the period 1991-2011.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze trends of death rates for cervical cancer (CC) on territory of The Republic of Serbia in the period 1991-2011.

Methods: In this descriptive epidemiological study, unpublished data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia were used for the analysis of mortality due to CC among women in Serbia, from 1991 to 2011. Three different types of rates were calculated: crude, age-specific and age-adjusted rates.

Alcoholic liver disease/nonalcoholic fatty liver disease index: distinguishing alcoholic from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Objective: The alcoholic liver disease (ALD)/nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (ANI) scoring system was constructed as a response to a clinical need for avoiding the risks of liver biopsy in diagnosing the etiology of fatty liver disease. The aim of this study was to test the reliability of ANI as a noninvasive method to distinguish ALD from NAFLD.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and thirty-five patients were classified into two groups, ALD and NAFLD, according to the pathohistological results.

Increasing incidence of rubella in Republika Srpska in the period 2006-2010.

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence rate of rubella in Republika Srpska in the period between 2006 and 2010. The total number of 1236 cases of rubella was reported during the reporting period with manifold increasing incidence from 0.5 in 2006 to 54.

Evaluation of health-related quality of life in patients with prostate cancer after treatment with radical retropubic prostatectomy and permanent prostate brachytherapy.

Aim: The aims of this study were to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and make the treatment decision less difficult.

Methods: Between 2007 and 2009 radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) was performed in 96 patients and permanent prostate brachytherapy (PPB) in 88 patients at our hospital. The general and disease-specific HRQOL was measured using two instruments, the Medical Outcome Study 8-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-8) and the expanded prostate index composite (EPIC).

Beta 2-microglobulinuria in a population exposed to Balkan endemic nephropathy: inferences from repeated cross-sectional studies.

Baseline data from a study run in 1974, which comprised beta 2-microglobulinuria (beta 2mu) measurements at monthly intervals from 416 members in 112 households from the BEN affected village of Petka, were compared with the results of two subsequent, cross sectional studies. In June 1988, retesting involved 320 available persons from the same households. Another collection of 284 urine specimens took place in October 1989.

Beta 2-microglobulinuria as a predictor of death in a population exposed to Balkan endemic nephropathy.

During the year 1974, urinary beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2mu) was measured at monthly intervals using the first-morning urine sample of randomly selected individuals from the BEN affected village of Petka (416 persons) and from the nearby situated control village of Stubica (216 persons). Initial compliance was complete; over 90% of villagers had at least 10 tests performed. beta 2mu, as assessed by radial immunodiffusion (RID), was repeatedly (at least twice) positive in 12% and 1.

Upper urothelial tumours and the Balkan nephropathy. Inference from the study of a family pedigree.

In an area heavily affected by both Balkan nephropathy (BN) and upper urothelial tumours (UUT), an outbreak of UUT (followed later by BN) affected at least four of five siblings. Their cousins developed BN in a high proportion but no one of them had any sign of UUT. It has been suggested that host factors determine the outcome of exposure to the same agent(s) responsible for both diseases.

Shunt thrombosis prevention in hemodialysis patients--a double-blind, randomized study: pentoxifylline vs placebo.

Previous studies demonstrated a high incidence of local thrombosis in patients in whom external arteriovenous shunts were used for vascular access. This procedure provides, therefore, a useful model for the evaluation of potential antithrombotic agents. The effect of the hemorheologically and hemostasiologically active drug Pentoxifylline on the incidence of thrombosis of arteriovenous shunts (Ramires shunt) was investigated in a long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 51 patients on chronic hemodialysis.

Clustering of the upper urothelial tumours in a family.

In a Balkan nephropathy endemic area, 5 siblings developed haematuria over a period of 10 years. 4 of them were operated on and pathohystological examination revealed papillary transitional cell tumours of the renal pelvis and/or ureters. Both these tumours and the Balkan nephropathy affected only 1 generation of the family members.