[In honour of Asclepius and Orpheus - ten years of activities on the popularization of connections between medicine and music].

Art is defined as the expression or application of the human creative skill and imagination, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. "Ars medica" and "Ars musica" represent two concepts which have been mutually intertwined since the ancient times. Through history, many extraordinary physicians have shown talent towards making and performing music.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Abdominal Ultrasound for Diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of abdominal ultrasound (US) for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA), in terms of sensitivity, specificity and post-test probabilities for positive and negative result.

Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane library and Science Citation Index Expanded from January 1994 to October 2014 was performed. Two authors independently evaluated studies for inclusion, extracted data and performed analyses.

Epidemiological study of visual functions--refractive errors, macular degeneration and glaucoma in children in the Karst area of Opatija.

Authors of earlier studies examined the epidemiological characteristics of certain eye diseases: age-related macular degeneration (AMD), refractive errors and glaucoma in the area of Primorsho-goranska County (the island of Rab, Novi Vinodolshi and Delnice). It was found that the occurrence of AMD is most common on the island of Rab, followed by Novi Vinodolski and it is least common in Gorshi Kotar. This fact is associated with the intensity of solar radiation in the UV-A and UV-B fields.

Refractive errors in children of Primorsko-Goranska County--epidemiological study.

Three institutions: Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorsko-Goranska County, Croatian Association "Albert Einstein" and Eye Clinic "Dr B.Vojnikovid" Rijeka agreed a five-year project to study children's health status of vision at Primorsko-Goranska County. Main task was the study of damage of vision in children due to prolonged sun exposure.

Cancer and cardiovascular diseases nutrition knowledge and dietary intake of medical students.

The aims of this study were to determine medical students' knowledge regarding the association between dietary factors and the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases and to investigate if this knowledge has an impact on their dietary intakes. Three hundred and ninety medical students (males and females) were included in a study and grouped according to their daily fibre and fat intakes. For diet-disease knowledge, questions from the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire for Adults were used and dietary assessment was done with Food Frequency Questionnaire.

Perception of arterial hypertension and myocardial infarction in hypertensive and normotensive men and women.

The research aims were to test perception of arterial hypertension and myocardial infarction in hypertensive and normotensive men and women as well as to test perception of arterial hypertension and myocardial infarction as predictors of blood pressure control in hypertensives. In the research 470 subjects of 4 general practices from Rijeka, Croatia participated, hypertensive group from the list of hypertensive patients without cardiovascular complications and other major chronic conditions, normotensive group from the list of patients without chronic conditions. Each group had 235 subjects, 128 men and 107 women.

Inequalities in health related quality of life in Primorsko-goranska County, Croatia. How healthy are people using primary health care?

We present a cross sectional study on health related quality of life and EQ5D questionnaire practical use in Primorsko-goranska County in Croatia and inequalities in health between its sub regions with a potential application in regional policies social and healthcare organisation. Of 1066 participants that were patients at 42 family health physician's waiting room, women stood for 636 (59.7%) and men for 430 (40.