The results of the treatment of right ventricle myocardial infarction

AIM: To present the results and experience in diagnosing and treating of patients with acute right ventricle infarction, during the period of hospitalization of one month, with adjuvant analyses of the obtained results in the period of fifteen years. METHODS: Acute right ventricle infarction porved clinicaly, enzymologicaly, by ECG, echochardiographically or scintigraphically we treated with thrombolitic therapy within first six hours after admittion, with salvaged PTA in case of the cardiogenic shock or AV block II degrees-III degrees despite of thrommbolitic therapy, or with postponed PTA within first month of intrahospital treatment. RESULTS: In the period from 1990 to 2004, 3 225 patients of both sexes were treated for acute myocardial infarction at the different localization in patients' at the mean age of 53.7 +/- 5.8. One-hundred-thirty-nine (43.9%) patients were treated with thrombolitic therapy according to the speed up protocole. Heparin was administered to 160 (50.7%) patients with water load, and 17 (5.4%) patients had the primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PPTCA), so that the mechanical blood flow could be established, by the implantation of a stent when necessary. In 316 patients with right ventricle infarction, 58 (18.3%) had postponed and salvaged percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Twenty-two (15.8%) patients had thrombolitic therapy, whereas 36 (22.5%) patients were treated with heparin. We had a successful balloon dilatation in 21 (36.2%), whereas 32 (55.2%) patients had 1-3 intracoronary stents inplanted, depending upon the necessity, and 5 (8.6%) patients from this group were sent to surgical intervention. In the group of 214 (67.7%) patients treated with heparin or thrombolitic therapy combined therapy, with PTCA, 12 (5.7%) patients died, whereas in the group of 124 (39.3%) patients treated only with heparin 26 (16.2%) patients died, statistically significant difference (p < 0.001, chi2 = 18.423). Was noticed n the group of 1 204 patients with inferoposterior infarction, 122 (10.1%) patients died. In the group of 316 patients with right ventricle infarction, 38 (12%) died. In the group of 888 control patients with inferoposterior infarction, but without right ventricle infarction, 84 (9.4%) patients died. In the group of 2 021 patients (62.2%) with anterior infarction, 248 (12.3%) died. CONCLUSION. The obtained results showed that the patients with right ventricle infarction, due to the great expansion of necrosis and the involvement of the inferoposterior wall of the left ventricle, as well as the ischemia of sinus and AV nodes, were the patients of a high risk. That was why it was essential to do urgent widening of the artery to reestablish blood flow either by using drugs or by means of mechanical methods.     

Quality of life predictors in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is a chronic disease which can lead to many functional impairments, and like most other chronic disorders it might significantly affect quality of life (QoL). Information about QoL in patients with CIDP from developing countries is still lacking. We, therefore, sought to complete these data mosaic by investigating QoL in patients with CIDP from Serbia and surrounding countries. Our study comprised 106 patients diagnosed with CIDP. QoL was investigated using the Serbian version of the SF-36 questionnaire. The Medical Research Council 0–5 point scale, INCAT motor and sensory scores, Krupp’s Fatigue Severity Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory were also used. Factors that significantly correlated with SF-36 total score in univariate analysis were included in the multiple linear regression analysis. Physical domains of the SF-36 were more affected than mental, and the overall score was 56.6 ± 25.4. Significant predictors of worse SF-36 score in our patients with CIDP were severe fatigue (β = ? 0.331, p < 0.01), higher INCAT motor score (β = ? 0.301, p < 0.01), depression (β = ? 0.281, p < 0.01), being unemployed/retired (β = ? 0.188, p < 0.05), and shorter duration of CIDP (β = + 0.133, p < 0.01). QoL was reduced in CIDP patients, especially in physical domains. Patients with presence of fatigue and depression, with more severe motor disability, unemployed/retired ones, and those with shorter duration of the disease need special attention of clinicians since they could be at higher risk to have worse QoL.     

Clinical and epidemiological features of Guillain‐Barré syndrome in the Western Balkans

The aim of this study was to define features of Guillain‐Barré syndrome in a large cohort of patients from three Western Balkans countries. Data from adult Guillain‐Barré syndrome (GBS) cases from 2009 to 2013 were retrospectively obtained from all tertiary health care centers. During the 5‐year period, 327 new cases of GBS were identified with a male to female ratio of 1.7 : 1. The most common GBS variants were demyelinating (65%) and axonal (12%). At nadir 45% of patients were chair‐bound, confined to bed, or required assisted ventilation, while 5% died. The crude incidence of GBS in Serbia and Montenegro was 0.93 per 100,000 population, and age‐adjusted incidence according to the world standard population was 0.86 per 100,000. Incidence was particularly high in 50‐ to 80‐year‐old men. Statistically significant seasonal variations of GBS were not observed. This study of patients with GBS in the Western Balkans allows us to prepare the health system better and to improve the management of patients. This study also opens opportunities for international collaboration and for taking part in the multinational studies on GBS.     

The complex enterprise of modelling prenatal exposure to cigarettes: what is ‘enough’?

While there is a burgeoning body of research linking smoking during pregnancy to problem behaviour in offspring, a major criticism of this work has been the crude measurement of exposure in these studies (e.g. retrospective, self-reported only) that could lead to biased estimates. To address this issue, we used a pregnancy cohort with repeated prospective measures of exposure as well as biological assays to generate estimates of exposure patterns using a range of modelling techniques. In this paper we report on the analytical approaches we have developed, including patterns of exposure over time and best-estimate approaches that combine self-report and cotinine measures, and compare their predictive value in relation to different dimensions of fetal growth as a first step towards examining the utility of greater precision of exposure measurement.
Surprisingly, in this sample the more complex assessments of exposure, including biological measures, generally did not perform better than simple indicators of exposure based on repeated self-report measures, with one exception: a combined self-report cotinine 'best estimate' of third trimester exposure was uniquely associated with lower brain : body ratio. Further study is needed using more sophisticated cotinine assays and testing prediction of a range of outcomes to ascertain whether these findings represent true differences or are specific to the sample, methods and outcomes used. Such research will inform the development of guidelines for adequate exposure characterisation in developmental studies.     

Physiological correlates of burnout among women

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the immune, endocrine, and metabolic correlates of burnout among women. METHODS: Forty-three participants with high and 20 participants with low scores for the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire were compared in terms of subjective symptoms, job strain, social support, plasma levels of prolactin, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), C-reactive protein (CRP), neopterin, serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAs), progesterone, estradiol, cortisol, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) in whole blood. RESULTS: Besides reporting more job strain, less social support at work, and higher levels of anxiety, depression, vital exhaustion (VE), and sleep impairments, participants with high burnout manifested higher levels of TNF-alpha and HbA1C, independent of confounders including depression. CONCLUSIONS: Among women, burnout seems to involve enhanced inflammatory responses and oxidative stress.     

The influence of smoking and parity on serum markers for Down's syndrome screening.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of smoking and number of previous births on maternal serum levels of alpha-fetoprotein and free beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (free beta-hCG). METHODS: The study included 3,252 completed unaffected singleton pregnancies that proceeded beyond 37 weeks' gestation and resulted with a birth of healthy child. Smoking status of mothers and data concerning gravidity and parity were collected at the sampling date. Serum markers were measured between 13 and 22 gestational weeks, corrected for maternal weight, and converted to multiples of median (MoM) for unaffected pregnancy of the corresponding gestational age. Median MoM values for both markers were examined in relation to both: smoking habits and number of previous births. RESULTS: Smokers had significantly decreased free beta-hCG MoM values compared to nonsmokers (p < 0.001). The median levels showed a negative relationship with the number of previous births. The significance of a decreasing trend was proved, both in smokers (p < 0.001) and nonsmokers (p < 0.001). The median maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein MoM values did not show any significant dependence, neither with regard to smoking (p = 0.65) nor with regard to parity (p = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: The recommendable adjustment of serum markers to smoking habits, especially concerning the free beta-hCG levels, would be worthwhile. The evidence of the coexisting influence of parity on serum levels of free beta-hCG, both in smokers and nonsmokers, should perhaps be a stimulus for reconsideration of which corrections the screening performance is dependent on.