Acta clinica Croatica
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2021
PREDICTIVE FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL PROSTHETIC REHABILITATION AFTER VASCULAR TRANSTIBIAL AMPUTATION.
Lower extremity amputation is a very common amputation and successful prosthetic rehabilitation is a desirable outcome. The aim of this study was to determine which factors affect the success of prosthetic rehabilitation after transtibial vascular amputation. The study included 61 patients who had undergone transtibial amputation (mean age, 64.2±10.4 years; 50 (82%) males). ⋯ Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictive factors of successful prosthetic rehabilitation. The model included all variables explaining up to 59.8% of variance, however, only age, absence of functional patency of the popliteal artery and compromised wound healing made significant contribution to the model. In conclusion, good general condition of the patient and sustained patency of the popliteal artery reliably led to clinical improvement and realization of full capacity of rehabilitation after below-knee amputation.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2021
EFFECT OF ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS ON P300 EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS IN PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY.
Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent chronic neurological diseases, affecting about 70 million people worldwide. Patients with epilepsy often encounter cognitive dysfunction, which is influenced by different factors including age at the onset of epilepsy, etiology of epilepsy, type of seizures, seizure frequency and duration, psychiatric comorbidity, and antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy. Event-related potentials are useful, noninvasive, objective clinical and research instrument for evaluation of cognitive functions in patients. ⋯ Cognitive evoked P300 potentials were recorded in all study subjects using auditory 'oddball' paradigm. The results showed the patients taking AED polytherapy to have a significantly longer P300 latency and significantly lower N200-P300 amplitude. These results indicate that AED polytherapy might worsen cognitive impairment in patients with epilepsy.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2021
CLINICAL RELEVANCE OF EXTENDED PLATELET INDICES IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF IMMUNE THROMBOCYTOPENIA.
Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder. Besides platelet count, immature platelet fraction (IPF) can be used as a tool to predict megakaryocytic activity in ITP patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the utility of extended platelet indices in ITP diagnosis and their association with disease persistence and severity. ⋯ Pearson correlation revealed negative relationship between platelet count and IPF in all patient groups. With the advent of new, sophisticated hematologic analyzers, the IPF and other platelet parameters provide simple, reliable and easier tools for predicting platelet disorders such as ITP, and to some extent the disease severity. Besides IPF, the MPV and P-LCR seemed to predict disease severity, treatment responsiveness, and duration of the disease to some extent.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2021
EFFECTS OF A BREASTFEEDING EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS AFTER 6 MONTHS.
Breastfeeding attitudes are already being formed in the years of preadolescence-adolescence, which means that the educational program should be focused on this age group. For this purpose, many authors suggest that school should be used as an established educational institution and therefore they are developing different education programs. The authors offered an educational program adapted to the cultural, sociological, legal, health, and other specificities of the community to which the students belong. ⋯ However, 6 months after the education, their knowledge and intentions were less positive than shortly after education, as described in a previous report. The authors suggest that a team of experts be gathered to design a structured educational program that would be interesting to secondary school students. This program should also be adapted to students' age and interest.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2021
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN APOLIPOPROTEIN E POLYMORPHISMS AND EPILEPSY IN CHILDREN.
Apolipoprotein E (APOE) plays an important role in lipid metabolism and is a proven risk factor for development of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of the study was to determine the possible connection between particular APOE alleles, blood lipid profile and different types of epilepsy in children. Alleles of the APOE gene, blood cholesterol (total, high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were analyzed in blood samples of 111 children with epilepsy and 118 age- and sex-matched children without epilepsy. ⋯ There were statistically significant differences in the levels of total cholesterol (Z=2.09; p<0.05) and LDL cholesterol (Z=2.05; p<0.05) according to the type of epilepsy in favor of symptomatic epilepsy. The study confirmed that there was no connection between APOE and type of epilepsy in children and showed the children with epilepsy to have lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels. Interestingly, this also held true for children with idiopathic epilepsy compared to those with symptomatic condition.