Predictors of Chronic Combat-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Group Psychotherapy Favorable Outcomes; A Prospective Cohort Study in Croatia.

Background: Combat-related chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a therapeutically resistant disorder of the fluctuating course. The success of a group psychotherapy is partial. The aim of this paper is to determine baseline characteristics of veterans for whom a group psychotherapy will be the effective psychotherapeutic treatment.

Cystatin C, renal resistance index, and kidney injury molecule-1 are potential early predictors of diabetic kidney disease in children with type 1 diabetes.

Background: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the main cause of end-stage renal disease in patients with diabetes mellitus type I (DM-T1). Microalbuminuria and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) are standard predictors of DKD. However, these predictors have serious weaknesses.

A pilot study of accelerated deep transcranial magnetic stimulation effects on cognitive functioning in patients diagnosed with treatment resistant major depressive disorder.

The purpose of this study was to assess cognitive functioning in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) treated with two different accelerated deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) modalities as an add-on to stable pharmacotherapy.A total of 32 adult psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with treatment resistant MDD were allocated by stratified randomization into two groups: a group treated with dTMS twice a day during 2 weeks, and a group treated with dTMS twice a day during 3 weeks. Clinical psychologists assessed participants´ cognitive functions (memory, visuospatial functioning, executive functions, psychomotor speed, verbal fluency) via a battery of instruments, after the inclusion, and by the end of treatment.

Is There a Place for Adjuvant Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer?

Findings on the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) of locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) after the concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) therapy were inconsistent, and the OUTBACK trial was expected to shed some light regarding the topic. Its results on ACT in LACC were negative, with the conclusion of not to use it. The objective of this review was to present the inconsistencies of previous studies, along with the OUTBACK trial in more detail, and to rethink whether its results provide an unambiguous and definite answer to the optimal position of ACT in the treatment of LACC.

Comprehensive Genomic Profiling in the Management of Ovarian Cancer-National Results from Croatia.

Today, in the era of precision medicine, the determination of genomic instability or other potentially targetable mutations, along with BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, is a crucial component of the diagnosis and treatment management of advanced ovarian cancer. Advanced technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) have enabled comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) analysis to become more feasible for routine use in daily clinical work. Here, we present the results for the first two years of an analysis of patients with advanced ovarian cancer on a national level.

Current Status of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in Croatia and in University Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan.

This article reviews the history, evolution, and current status of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in Croatia. University Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan experts performed the first rTMS in 2015 as a first treatment and research group in Croatia. In addition to being a leading center for rTMS in clinical trials and in treating depression, University Psychiatric Clinic Sveti Ivan TMS center continues to research rTMS for depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders and conditions, exploring novel stimulation parameters and individualized treatment protocols.

Association of Childhood Trauma and Personality Dimensions with the Duration of Untreated Psychosis.

Background: Understanding causes and consequences of untreated psychosis is important since the duration of psychosis prior to the treatment initiation is a potentially modifiable prognostic factor, and comprehending its impact on outcome may enhance therapeutic strategies.

Subjects And Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on a consecutive sample of 105 participants, 47 first episode participants and 58 with multiple episodes. Primary outcome was the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP).

Case Series: Managing Severe Mental Illness in Disaster Situation: the Croatian Experience After 2020 Earthquake.

On the 29th of December 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Petrinja in the Croatian Sisak-Moslavina County experienced a strong earthquake, resulting in a severe disruption in mental health service delivery. Specialized care community mental health teams were introduced days within the event with the aim to bridge the gap in psychiatric care that was severely disturbed in the region affected by the earthquake. Through a case series of patients with SMI, we describe how care was quickly deployed and delivered after a natural disaster and during a pandemic resulting in their functional recovery.

Periodontal status and the efficacy of the first-line treatment of major depressive disorder.

Objectives: The efficacy of treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) is not satisfactory. Systemic inflammation may play an important role in MDD pathogenesis and treatment outcomes. Periodontal disease is the systemic inflammatory condition.

Comparison of the Schein and Osdi Questionnaire as Indicator of Tear Film Stability in Patients with Schizophrenia.

Background: The aim of this research was to determine which of two chosen questionnaires for subjective symptoms of dry eye (Ocular Surface Disease Index and Schein questionnaire) is more reliable in the assessment of dry eye in patients with schizophrenia.

Subjects And Methods: Our research included 80 patients (160 eyes) of both sexes with schizophrenia ranging between the age of 25 and 55 who have been taking one of three antipsychotic drugs namely clozapin, olanzapin, quetiapin for five or more years and were in a stable phase of the disease or remission. All participants were required to satisfy all included and excluded criteria.

Precision Oncology in Metastatic Uterine Cancer; Croatian First-Year Experience of the Comprehensive Genomic Profiling in Everyday Clinical Practice.

Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) is gradually becoming an inevitable part of the everyday oncology clinical practice. The interpretation and optimal implementation of the results is one of the hot topics of modern-day oncology. According to the recent findings, uterine cancer harbors a high level of gene alterations but is still insufficiently explored.

Real-World Efficacy and Safety of Bevacizumab in the First-Line Treatment of Metastatic Cervical Cancer: A Cohort Study in the Total Population of Croatian Patients.

Background: Although today it is almost preventable, cervical cancer still represents a significant cancer burden, especially in some developing parts of the world. Since the introduction of bevacizumab in the first-line treatment of metastatic disease, improvements of the outcomes were noted. However, results from randomized controlled trials are often hard to recreate in the real-world setting.

Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 and the central nervous system.

We reviewed the pleiotropic beneficial effects of the stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, three very recent demonstrations that may be essential in the gut-brain and brain-gut axis operation, and therapy application in the central nervous system disorders, in particular. Firstly, given in the reperfusion, BPC 157 counteracted bilateral clamping of the common carotid arteries-induced stroke, sustained brain neuronal damages were resolved in rats as well as disturbed memory, locomotion, and coordination. This therapy effect supports particular gene expression in hippocampal tissues that appeared in BPC 157-treated rats.

Changes of neurocognitive status in patients with the first-episode psychosis after 18 months of treatment-A prospective cohort study.

Neurocognitive symptoms exert the most influence on treatment outcomes over the course of schizophrenia, starting from the first-episode of psychosis (FEP) onwards. Our aim was to analyze the neurocognitive status of FEP compared to healthy controls (HC), and its change after 18 months of treatment. We performed a study in a sample of 159 patients with FEP and 100 HC.

Treatment of gambling disorder: review of evidence-based aspects for best practice.

Purpose Of Review: Despite a significant body of literature related to the treatment of gambling disorder, there are still an insufficient number of evaluation studies regarding their effectiveness or firm conclusions on specific treatment elements that contribute to it. The aim of this article was to provide a review of scientific results regarding the treatment of gambling disorder, to present the most commonly applied modalities of treatment and to explore the elements of the most successful therapeutic interventions.

Recent Findings: A substantial body of literature has shown that the most successful therapeutic protocols are psychological interventions, especially based on cognitive-behavioral therapy/methods and/or motivational interviewing.

Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Combined With Brief Exposure for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Prospective Multisite Randomized Trial.

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is both prevalent and debilitating. While deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) has shown preliminary efficacy, exposure therapy remains the most efficacious, though limited, treatment in PTSD. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is implicated in extinction learning, suggesting that concurrent mPFC stimulation may enhance exposure therapy.

The heterogeneity of population with high risk for melanoma and other skin cancer: a latent class analysis.

Objective: To examine whether there is heterogeneity in the risk factors for skin cancer among the high-risk population in Slovenia, a Central European country with the second-largest age-standardized melanoma-related mortality rate in Europe.

Methods: We analyzed data collected during the 'Euromelanoma Day' 2010-2019. The outcome was the prevalence of newly suspected skin cancer.

COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Breast Cancer Diagnosis in Croatia: A Population- and Registry-Based Study.

Background: Our objective was to assess the effects of COVID-19 antiepidemic measures and subsequent changes in the function of the health care system on the number of newly diagnosed breast cancers in the Republic of Croatia.

Subjects, Materials, And Methods: We performed a retrospective, population- and registry-based study during 2020. The comparator was the number of patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer during 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Psychiatry Trainees' Attitudes, Knowledge, and Training in Addiction Psychiatry-A European Survey.

Although psychoactive substance use disorders (PSUDs) are a domain of mental health, addiction psychiatry is only formally recognized as a subspecialty in a few European countries, and there is no standardized training curriculum. A 76-item questionnaire was developed and disseminated through an online anonymous data-collecting system and hand-to-hand amongst psychiatric trainees from the 47 European countries of the Council of Europe plus Israel and Belarus. 1,049/1,118 psychiatric trainees from 30 European countries completed the questionnaire.

Antipsychotics-induced hyperprolactinemia and screening for macroprolactin.

Introduction: High prolactin (PRL) concentrations are found in laboratory test results of patients on majority of antipsychotic drugs. Prevalence rates and degrees of severity of hyperprolactinemia (HPRL) based on PRL concentration may depend on the presence of macroprolactin in the serum. The aim of the study was to investigate the difference between PRL concentrations before and after precipitation of macroprolactin and to examine if there were any changes in the categorization of HPRL between samples prior and after precipitation.

Real-World Safety and Efficacy of Nivolumab in Advanced Squamous and Nonsquamous Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Cohort Study in Croatia, Hungary, and Malta.

Background: There is a lack of real-world data on the safety and efficacy of nivolumab in patients with previously treated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) especially in South East Europe, a region with particularly high incidence and an unfavorable mortality-to-incidence ratio for lung cancer.

Objectives: To evaluate the real-world safety and efficacy of nivolumab in patients with previously treated advanced squamous and nonsquamous NSCLC in South East Europe.

Methods: This is a multicenter, retrospective cohort study on patients with stage IIIB or IV disease with at least one previous systemic treatment who received nivolumab through an expanded-access program between 2015 and 2017 in Croatia, Malta, and Hungary.

Telepsychiatry in the Time of the COVID-19 and Earthquake in Zagreb as Odysseus between Scylla and Charybdis.

In this paper we would like to reveal some of the many challenges during the time of the twofold simultaneous trauma; the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating earthquake in Zagreb. We described the functioning mode of two Day Hospitals for Early Intervention and Psychotic Disorders at Psychiatric Hospital "Sveti Ivan" during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We tried to find ways to ensure the necessary continuation of treatment and to provide continuity in times of uncertainty.