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
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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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.
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The aim of this study was to assess whether COVID-19 affects thyroid function. The effect of COVID-19, which has involved the whole world in the last two years, on thyroid function is currently unknown. With the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, 69,000 patients who presented to our hospital in the last 18 months and had the COVID-19 test were screened. ⋯ The levels recorded in COVID-19 positive patients (thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) 2.54±14.54 µIU/mL, free triiodothyronine (fT3) 0.84±1.49 pg/mL, free thyroxine (fT4) 0.99±0.42 ng/dL, antithyroid peroxidase antibody (anti TPO) 140.04±276.55 IU/mL, and antithyroglobulin antibody (anti TG) 16.31±22.99 IU/mL) were compared with those measured in COVID-19 negative patients (TSH 1.90±8.22 µIU/mL, fT3 0.78±1.60 pg/mL, fT4 0.99±0.42 ng/dL, anti TPO 122.55±263.39 IU/mL, and anti TG 56.25±185.64 IU/mL). There was no significant difference between COVID-19 positive patients and COVID-19 negative cases in terms of thyroid function (TSH, p=0.66; fT3, p=0.24; fT4, p=0.93; anti TPO, p=0.52; and anti TG, p=0.39). For now, it may be some consolation for us that the coronavirus disease, which affects almost all body systems, does not seem to affect thyroid function.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
ReviewMANAGEMENT OF ACUTE APPENDICITIS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN CROATIA: A SINGLE-CENTER STUDY.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of patients presenting to the emergency room with acute appendicitis and subsequent results of surgical treatment. Our single center retrospective study was conducted in Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center, Zagreb, Croatia. ⋯ The results showed a statistically significant increase in the ratio of open laparotomies (p=0.006) and ratio of perforated appendicitis (p=0.047) during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to the pre-pandemic period. The time between symptom onset and hospitalization, measured in days, did not demonstrate a statistically significant increase (p=0.379), and minor increase in the postoperative length of stay was not statistically significant either (p=0.879).