Comparison of perception of stress and consumption of anxiolytics in hospital and out-hospital conditions: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The workplace is a place where medical workers are exposed to extreme stress, particularly during medical emergencies or events of epidemic or pandemic proportions. Anxiolytic therapy is often used to overcome professional challenges. Deepening knowledge about the prevalence of the use of anxiolytics and the perception of stress among medical workers enables the timely recognition of problems and the preparation of measures to improve the working conditions and quality of life of medical workers.

Comfort level classification during patients transport.

Background: Passenger comfort is affected by many factors. Patient comfort is even more specific due to its mental and physical health condition.

Objective: Developing a system for monitoring patient transport conditions with the comfort level classification, which is affected by the patient parameters.

A comparison of methods for three-class mammograms classification.

Background: Mammography is considered the gold standard for early breast cancer detection but it is very difficult to interpret mammograms for many reason. Computer aided diagnosis (CAD) is an important development that may help to improve the performance in breast cancer detection.

Objective: We present a CAD system based on feature extraction techniques for detecting abnormal patterns in digital mammograms.

A retrospective, case-control study on traditional environmental risk factors in inflammatory bowel disease in Vukovar-Srijem County, north-eastern Croatia, 2010.

Background: Traditional environmental risk factors in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), were examined as part of the retrospective epidemiologic study conducted in Vukovar-Srijem County, north-eastern Croatia in 2010. The geographical variations in the frequency of IBD in Croatia have been observed, which is also the trend in the Central Eastern European region and Europe as a whole, indicating the influence of environmental and lifestyle factors. However, the data on the spread of environmental IBD risk factors are still limited.

Characteristics of NRS-2002 Nutritional Risk Screening in patients hospitalized for secondary cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation.

Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence and characteristics of nutritional risk in patients scheduled for cardiovascular rehabilitation.

Background: Knowledge concerning nutritional aspects of cardiovascular diseases is contemporary limited.

Methods: Nutritional risk screening using a standardized Nutritional Risk Screening-2002 (NRS-2002) questionnaire was performed on a cohort of consecutive patients scheduled for rehabilitation 1-6 months after treatment for ischemic, valvular, or combined causes of heart diseases.

Epidemiology and clinical presentation of inflammatory bowel disease in Zadar County, Croatia.

Results of the retrospective, population-based study, 2000-2010, on inflammatory bowel disease, ulceratice colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), from Zadar County, have been presented and compared with world experience and comparative data from Primorsko-Goranska and Vukovarsko-Srijemska Counties. The average incidence rates (per 100 000) were 8.2 and 8.

Clinical and seasonal variations of nutritional risk screening in patients scheduled for rehabilitation after heart surgery.

Background: Current knowledge on the pervasiveness of increased nutritional risk in cardiovascular diseases is limited. Our aim was to analyze the characteristics of nutritional risk screening in patients scheduled for rehabilitation after heart surgery. Prevalence and extent of nutritional risk were studied in connection with patients' characteristics and seasonal climate effects on weight loss dynamics.

Challenging the evidence based medicine principles among clinical obesity treatments.

Obesity is among the greatest health problems worldwide. However, there is a certain lack in regard to objective evidence-based clinical therapeutic algorithms. The conservative therapy (lifestyle changes, pharmacotherapy) often fails to attain clinically significant weight lost.

Effects of obesity reduction on cardiovascular risk factors: comparison of individual and group treatment--substudy of the Croatian Healthy Weight Loss Programme.

Prevention of obesity may help reduce the morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. In Croatia, over half of adult population is overweight. Aldo the basic medical principles of healthy weight-loss programmes are well known, it is believed that mainly because of the leak of successful therapeutic approach obesity remains the most challenging changeable cardiovascular risk factor in nowadays clinical practice.

Efficacy of healthy weight loss program in obesity treatment: Croatian experience.

We evaluated the efficiency of a six-month outpatient weight loss treatment program combining healthy diet, fat reduction, psychological counseling, exercise, and orlistat treatment, by measuring body weight and levels of cardiovascular risk factors in 476 subjects with BMI over 30 or 28 with increased blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar at the baseline and at the end of program. After four weeks of adjustment to a mild low-calorie diet (1600 kcal/day) and counseling, subjects started receiving orlistat (120 mg TID). The mean weight loss after 6 months was 10.

Left ventricle diastolic dysfunction in obese patients with newly diagnosed arterial hypertension.

Background: The frequent coexistence of obesity and arterial hypertension is well known. Although both conditions have been identified as independent risk factors for impaired left ventricular diastolic function, there is a paucity of data on the dysfunction among obese patients with newly diagnosed arterial hypertension. The study was performed to determine the prevalence of diastolic dysfunction in obese individuals with newly diagnosed arterial hypertension and to compare it with the prevalence in normotensive obese persons.