Biosimilar Candidate CT-P42 in Diabetic Macular Edema: 24-Week Results from a Randomized, Active-Controlled, Phase III Study.

Objective: To demonstrate the therapeutic similarity of CT-P42 compared with reference aflibercept (Eylea) in adult patients with diabetic macular edema (DME).

Design: Randomized, active-controlled, double-masked, phase III clinical trial PARTICIPANTS: Patients with a diagnosis of either type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus with DME involving the center of the macula.

Methods: Patients were randomized (1:1) to receive either CT-P42 or reference aflibercept (2 mg/0.

Chloroprocaine 3% Gel as a Novel Ocular Topical Anesthetic: Results from a Multicenter, Randomized Clinical Trial in Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery.

To compare the efficacy and safety of a novel ophthalmic anesthetic, chloroprocaine 3% gel to tetracaine 0.5% eye drops in patients undergoing cataract surgery with phacoemulsification. This was a prospective, randomized, multicenter, active-controlled, masked-observer, parallel group competitive equivalence study.

Biomedical research brings mTBI biomarkers a step closer to the bedside - implementation in clinical practice.

Research in the field of TBI (traumatic brain injury) has long been focused on severe brain injury, while the number of mild injuries far overweigh severe injuries. Mild head injuries constitute up to 95% of all traumatic head injuries. The purpose of this work is to identify mTBI (mild traumatic brain injury) patients who are unlikely to benefit from CT (computed tomography) scanning.

The "real-world" effectiveness and safety of omalizumab in patients with uncontrolled persistent allergic asthma in Slovakia: a subgroup analysis of the eXpeRience study.

Introduction: Omalizumab was proven to be effective and safe in patients with moderate-to-severe allergic asthma. However, there is no direct evidence of the benefits of add-on omalizumab in real-life practice in the Slovakian population.

Aim: This subgroup analysis assessed the real-life effectiveness and safety of omalizumab in Slovakian patients with severe allergic asthma enrolled in the eXpeRience registry.

Alternative forms of portal vein revascularization in liver transplant recipients with complex portal vein thrombosis.

Background & Aims: Complex portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a challenge in liver transplantation (LT). Extra-anatomical approaches to portal revascularization, including renoportal (RPA), left gastric vein (LGA), pericholedochal vein (PCA), and cavoportal (CPA) anastomoses, have been described in case reports and series. The RP4LT Collaborative was created to record cases of alternative portal revascularization performed for complex PVT.

Analysis of von Willebrand Disease in the "Heart of Europe".

 von Willebrand disease (VWD) is a genetic bleeding disorder caused by defects of von Willebrand factor (VWF), quantitative (type 1 and 3) or qualitative (type 2). The laboratory phenotyping is heterogenic making diagnosis difficult.  Complete laboratory analysis of VWD as an expansion of the previously reported cross-sectional family-based VWD study in the Czech Republic (BRNO-VWD) and Slovakia (BRA-VWD) under the name "Heart of Europe," in order to improve the understanding of laboratory phenotype/genotype correlation.

International eDelphi Study to Reach Consensus on the Methotrexate Dosing Regimen in Patients With Psoriasis.

Importance: A clear dosing regimen for methotrexate in psoriasis is lacking, and this might lead to a suboptimal treatment. Because methotrexate is affordable and globally available, a uniform dosing regimen could potentially optimize the treatment of patients with psoriasis worldwide.

Objective: To reach international consensus among psoriasis experts on a uniform dosing regimen for treatment with methotrexate in adult and pediatric patients with psoriasis and identify potential future research topics.

Infectious diseases screening approach among refugees: results from a single-center study.

Introduction: Our aim was to evaluate a screening program, with active case-finding and treatment for active tuberculosis (TB), latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), blood-borne viruses (BBV), and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among refugees living in facility centers.

Methodology: We collected data on refugees arriving to our attention in migrant centers in Sardinia, Italy. Socio-demographical data, anamnesis, and clinical features were collected.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy changes in the brainstem in patients after mild traumatic brain injury with loss of consciousness.

Introduction: Loss of consciousness (LOC) is used as a diagnostic feature of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). However, only 10% of concussions result in LOC. There are only a limited number of in-vivo studies dealing with unconsciousness and structural and functional integrity of the brainstem in patients with MTBI.

Advanced Reconstruction of Vesicourethral Support (ARVUS) during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy: first independent evaluation and review of other factors influencing 1 year continence outcomes.

Purpose: Anterior and posterior reconstructions of pelvic structures are used during a robot-assisted radical prostatectomy to obtain better continence outcomes. This study was conducted to evaluate the Advanced Reconstruction of Vesicourethral Support (ARVUS), a novel postprostatectomy reconstruction technique.

Methods: The study was designed as a prospective, controlled, partially randomized and blinded experiment.

Impact of hand hygiene knowledge on the hand hygiene compliance.

Aim Hand hygiene practice is still burdened by inadequate compliance, whether in the professional sphere by health professionals or in the non-professional sphere by lay population. Aim of this study was to map the hand hygiene knowledge and its compliance in the monitored group of people. Methods The research was conducted at the Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin of Comenius University in Bratislava (JFM CU) among seventy 3rd year students of General Medicine (medical study program), and Nursing, Midwifery and Public Health (non-medical study programs).

Risk factors for periprosthetic joint infection of the hip and knee.

Aim To investigate risk factors for the development of prosthetic joint infection. Methods A group of 50 patients with periprosthetic infection was compared with a group of 100 randomly selected patients with total hip or knee arthroplasty without infectious complications. Twelve risk factors in both groups were analysed.

The most common etiological agents of prosthetic joint infections in orthopaedics.

Aim To determine the spectrum of causative agent of prosthetic joint infections in orthopaedics. Methods In the group of 50 patients with periprosthetic infection the results of microbiological analysis of minimally two samples gained intraoperatively were analysed. Results The only pathogen in the group of acute infection was .

Results of pars plana vitrectomy for primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment with PVR grades A and B in high-myopic eyes.

Purpose: To evaluate the results of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) without adjuvant buckling procedures for the primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) with PVR grades A and B in high-myopic eyes.

Methods: A retrospective review included 291 eyes treated for primary RRD from 2008 to 2016. The single surgery success rate (SSSR), the total number of surgeries, outcomes and complications were analysed between group of 67 eyes with high axial myopia (group A) and group of 224 eyes without high myopia (group B).

Occupational skin diseases: actual state analysis of patient management pathways in 28 European countries.

Background: Work-related skin diseases (WSD) are caused or worsened by a professional activity. Occupational skin diseases (OSD) need to fulfil additional legal criteria which differ from country to country. OSD range amongst the five most frequently notified occupational diseases (musculoskeletal diseases, neurologic diseases, lung diseases, diseases of the sensory organs, skin diseases) in Europe.

Laparoscopic left and right adrenalectomy from an anterior approach - is there any difference? Outcomes in 176 consecutive patients.

Introduction: Traditionally, in open surgery, right adrenalectomy is considered technically more demanding than its left-sided counterpart. This belief is supposed to be attributable mainly to different anatomic characteristics of the adrenal veins. Whether this opinion is also correct for laparoscopic adrenalectomy remains elusive.

Effects of early and late cheiloplasty on anterior part of maxillary dental arch development in infants with unilateral complete cleft lip and palate.

Objectives. The objective of this study is to compare the impact of early and late reconstruction of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate on the growth and development of the front of the dentoalveolar arch. Methods.

Systematic review of treatment effectiveness and outcome measures for enthesitis in psoriatic arthritis.

Enthesitis is a characteristic feature of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and is important in disease pathogenesis and classification. Use of clinical outcome measures for enthesitis is heterogeneous, and only 1 measure has been specifically developed and validated in PsA. Ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging assessments of enthesitis may have advantages over clinical examination but are insufficiently studied.

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and microvascular angina pectoris in 500 consecutive patients referred to coronarography.

Objective: This work was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of insulin resistance (IR) and metabolic syndrome in a large cohort of 40-60 years old patients with cardiovascular symptoms.

Methods: A total of 500 consecutive males and females referred to coronarography and coronary catheterization, because of spontaneous or after load precordial pain plus denivelisation of ST segment by electrocardiography, were included. Besides standard clinical examinations, ergometry, echocardiography, fundamental laboratory tests, and several other laboratory examinations were also performed, including oral glucose toleration test (OGTT), total and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, apoprotein A1 and B, apolipoprotein (a), uric acid, fibrinogen, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), cytokines (tumor necrosis factor α, TNFα, interleukin-1, IL-1, interleukin-6, IL-6), endothelin-1, as well as hormones (insulin, C peptide, leptin, growth hormone, cortisol).

The levels of soluble adhesion molecules in diabetic and nondiabetic patients with combined hyperlipoproteinemia and the effect of ciprofibrate therapy.

Cell adhesion molecules are thought to play a role in atherosclerosis. Several clinical trials have shown that fibrate treatment leads to a reduction in coronary events, although the mechanisms are not fully understood. Soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and soluble E-selectin plasma concentrations were measured in 10 obese dyslipidemic men (group A), in 10 obese dyslipidemic type 2 diabetic men without coronary artery disease (CAD) (group B), and in 10 dyslipidemic type 2 diabetic men with angiographically documented CAD (group C) before and after 12 weeks of treatment with ciprofibrate.

Immune system parameters in children of Central and Eastern Europe: the CESAR study.

Objective: of this paper is to compare observed values of immune parameters obtained in the CESAR study (The Central Europe Study of Air Pollution and Respiratory Health, funded by EC PHARE program) with ranges derived from other large population-based studies.

Study Design: Data were collected in healthy school children aged 9-11 years, in 6 countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic with the same standard approach in 1996. Random samples of 85 children per country, from 19 communities were selected from children having completed the health questionnaire, in total 495 children were analyzed.

Management of bipseudophakia with implantation of an iris claw lens.

We discuss a case of bipseudophakia with secondary dislocation of a posterior chamber intraocular lens (IOL) into the anterior chamber that was managed by explantation of the anterior and posterior chamber IOLs and implantation of an iris claw IOL.

Cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration in canine aortic endothelial cells lining the polyester arterial prosthesis.

A rise in baseline cytosolic free Ca2+ in canine vascular endothelial-like cells (VEC) lining the luminal surface of the polyester arterial prosthesis is described. In one, three and six month implantation experiments we employed six adult mongrel dogs, polyester arterial prostheses Arteknit Ra K, fluorescent Ca2+ indicator Fura-2 and digital imaging microscopy to study cytosolic free Ca2+ in cultured VEC. The electron microscopy scanning of the luminal surface in different regions of the graft were also performed.