Acta clinica Croatica
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
ASPARTATE AMINOTRANSFERASE AND GAMMA-GLUTAMYL TRANSFERASE: INTRIGUING CLINICAL BIOMARKERS IN DISCRIMINATION OF HEPATIC LESION BETWEEN HEPATITIS C INFECTED PATIENTS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS.
Over 1.5 million new cases of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection occur each year, infecting an estimated 58 million people worldwide. We aimed to find differences in peripheral blood count, liver enzymes and degradation products between HCV infected and healthy controls, and their impact on detection of the disease and discrimination of the diseased from non-diseased subjects. We performed laboratory testing for peripheral blood count, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) and bilirubin in 40 HCV patients and 40 healthy controls. ⋯ On logistic regression, only AST [p=0.0112, odds ratio (OR)1.2161, area under the curve (AUC) 0.887] and γ-GT (p=0.0283, OR 1.1041, AUC 0.815) showed a statistically significantly positive predicting value when discriminating healthy subjects and diseased patients. In conclusion, HCV titer, granulocytes and total bilirubin did not show a statistically significant impact on hepatic lesion expressed by γ-GT, whereas only AST and γ-GT showed a statistically significant positive predicting value to discriminate infected patients from healthy controls. Each unit increase in AST and γ-GT resulted in 21.6% and 10.4% higher possibility of HCV infection, respectively.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS IN PATIENTS WITH TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA - A PRELIMINARY STUDY.
Although earlier studies showed higher values of wall shear stress in neurovascular conflict, hemodynamic patterns in the blood vessel after microvascular decompression are unknown. This study aimed to analyze the hemodynamic features of the offending artery preoperatively and postoperatively using computational fluid dynamics. We retrospectively analyzed 11 patients with trigeminal neuralgia who were surgically treated in our department during 2022. ⋯ In all 11 patients, elevated values of wall shear stress were found in the area of neurovascular contact. Postoperatively, with improvement of the patient clinical status, there was also a decrease in wall shear stress. Computational fluid dynamics analysis of offending vessels in trigeminal neuralgia can be a useful tool in preoperative planning and in assessing treatment outcomes and prognosis.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
Observational StudyRETROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF VITAMIN D STATUS IN NEUROLOGICAL PATIENTS.
The main objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of insufficient serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level in a sample of neurological patients and to compare it to the estimate in the general Croatian population. The secondary aim was to test for the possible significant differences in vitamin D2 insufficiency between the groups of patients according to gender, season, region, vitamin D3 supplementation, and diagnosis of autoimmune disease. This retrospective study involved 371 neurological patients in one-year period. ⋯ The proportion of neurological patients with 25-hydroxyvitamin D insufficiency (<75 nmol/L) was estimated at 74.66% (95% confidence interval, p<0.0001), which is slightly lower than in the Croatian general population. There were no significant differences in 25-hydroxyvitamin D insufficiency according to gender, season and region. Significant differences in 25-hydroxyvitamin D insufficiency were found according to vitamin D3 supplementation and diagnosis of autoimmune disease.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
RELATIONSHIP OF MASTOID PNEUMATIZATION AND AGE WITH COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY MEASURED SPHENOID SINUS VOLUME.
The aim was to measure sphenoid sinus volume on the basis of computed tomography data post processing and to investigate the possible relationship with age, gender and mastoid pneumatization. Sphenoid sinus volume was measured using the semi-automatic post processing algorithm of MSCT DICOM datasets of 66 patients. There were 35 female and 31 male subjects. ⋯ In conclusion, volumetric measurements of paranasal sinuses may be accurately performed on the basis of MSCT data post processing. Sphenoid volume was positively correlated with mastoid pneumatization and age. Virtual endoscopy and 3D volume rendering may accurately display anatomic structures of sphenoid sinuses.
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Sexuality is a complex process, a natural biological human need that is present throughout life. Closely related to sexuality is the sex drive (libido), which is the basis of human sexual activity. An important aspect of sexuality in both sexes is also the experience of orgasm. ⋯ More than half experienced clitoral orgasm most often. The factors that bother the respondents most in their sex life were too little foreplay, too little passion, and too short sex. Sexual satisfaction is experienced by people very individually and depends on many factors, such as the quality, frequency, and pleasure attributed to sexual activities, but also on general health and well-being.