A case of chronic myeloid leukemia without Ph1 translocation

A case of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with a short survival (11 months) is described. Cytogenetic peculiarities of the bone marrow cells analyzed by G-banding consisted of a Ph1 chromosome with no translocation and a translocation t(5;13). Hematological characteristics were marked leukocytosis and massive splenomegaly. After treatment with busulfan complete hematological remission was achieved, followed by the appearance of a normal clone. However, 6 months later the patient entered the blastic crisis and a hyperdiploid clone appeared. The usual chemotherapy was given, but the patient responded only partially and died with a prevalence of pathologic myeloblasts in the bone marrow, corresponding to progression of the hyperdiploid clone.     

Premature mortality in former Yugoslavia

To evaluate the level of health attained before the war started, premature mortality from all causes in the former Yugoslavia was analyzed by republics and provinces in two respective periods. Premature mortality, measured by the crude rate of years of potential life lost, fell from 12,762.6 in 1970 to 6,320.1 per 100,000 population aged 0-64 in 1990 (50% decrease). Age-adjusted rates of republics/ provinces declined during the same period to various degrees (30% to 70%).     

A simple spectrophotometric method for estimation of plasma angiotensin I converting enzyme activity.

The procedure described is rapid, fairly simple, and inexpensive. The method may easily be used even in a small clinical laboratory. This method, based on a specific reaction which gives a product, hippuric acid azlactone, which absorbs in the visible region, avoids the interference of reagents and solvents encountered in the UV spectrophotometric assay, in which hippuric acid is determined directly.     

Natural History of Endemic Dermatophytoses in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia: Untersuchungen zu den endemischen Dermatophytosen in Bosnien und Herzegovina, Jugoslawien

Summary: Long term morbidity studies on endemic ringworm revealed that such infections were very stable and did not undergo significant changes over the years. The slight variations noted could be attributed to improved living conditions. But the most dramatic changes only occured after mass treatments with griseofulvin had been initiated. The therapeutic measures lowered the number of infected persons to such a negligible number that they did not pose a public health problem.
Zusammenfassung: Bei langfristigen Morbiditätsuntersuchungen über endemische Dermatophytosen konnte festgestellt werden, daß diese Infektionen sehr stabil waren und über Jahre keine signifikanten Veränderungen aufwiesen. Leichte Abweichungen konnten verbesserten Lebensbedingungen zugeschrieben werden. Sehr ausgeprägte Veränderungen traten erst nach Massenbehandlungen mit Griseofulvin auf. Durch diese therapeutische Maßnahme sank die Anzahl infizierter Personen so weitgehend, daß sie kein öffentliches Gesundheitsproblem mehr darstellte.     

Evaluation of the admission procedure and academic performance on the Medical Faculty in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia

The data about the applicants and medical students who matriculated at the Medical Faculty of Ljubljana during the period from 1962–63 to 1969–70 by admission procedure were reviewed.
A higher proportion of women than men was accepted, but men went on from year to year more regularly (  P<0.05  ). Women graduated significantly later (  P<0.05  ). More than half the students came from Ljubljana and its surrounding area.
Academic success was correlated with general success in secondary school and with the raw scores at the admission examinations. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated and their values varied greatly between men and women, as well as among single cohorts.
The multiple regression analysis showed that the best predictor for academic performance was the average success in secondary school (gymnasium) and in addition, the raw scores in biology and foreign language obtained at the admission examination.
The results also showed the standardized regression coefficients β and these variables should therefore be retained in the admission procedure in future.
The cumulated coefficient of determination could explain about 11% to 15% of the variability of dependent variables—i.e., average academic success (mean mark of all examinations) and average academic success standardized to the duration of study.
The psychological test was of the least importance and could be omitted in future admission procedures. The mean mark in mathematics in secondary school and the mean mark in somatology (the study of the anatomy and physiology of the body) at the admission examination correlated highly with other admission criteria and could also be omitted in future.     

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation: A microneurographic and perceptual study

With the aim of studying peripheral physiological mechanisms involved in transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for the suppression of pain, the authors have examined 14 healthy volunteers in the perceptual part and 8 in the microneurographic part of this study. For pain suppressing stimulation they have used ring electrodes and stimulators capable of producing rectangular, sine wave, triangular and hybrid wave forms. Pain was induced with electrical stimuli on the distal phalanx of the middle finger.TENS with rectangular, sine wave and triangular pulses activates mainly Aβ, but also some Aδ fibres. Pain suppressing capacity of different wave forms used was the same and was achieved with stimuli close to the threshold for pain. Pain was most effectively dimished when noxious and pain suppressing stimuli were applied to the same finger; this effect was smaller with the two stimuli on neighbouring fingers and very weak when pain suppressing stimulus was applied to the contralateral hand. Increases in stimulus frequency resulted in an increased and variable latency as well as intermittent blocking of those spike components which had been near threshold at low frequency stimulation. This is interpreted as being due to local changes in excitation threshold. In surface-recorded averaged electroneurograms this effect was seen as amplitude decrement and increased response duration, but was not due to impulse transmission failure in Aδ fibres as seen microneurographically. On continuous high frequency stimulation, the intensity of sensation elicited diminished, although there was no change in the microneurogram.The authors conclude that the peripheral contribution to the analgesic effects of TENS seems to be unimportant.     

Did the 1991–1995 Wars in the Former Yugoslavia affect Sex Ratio at Birth?

Proportion of males at birth (commonly referred to as the sex ratio) has been investigated for countries of former Yugoslavia that were affected by the 1991–1995 wars. Number of live births for Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina with Serbian Republic, and Serbia and Montenegro were obtained from the official vital statistics data and analysed with the Chi-square test. Results yielded no difference in the sex ratio associated with the war for the entire data set. However, country level data analysis revealed a significant increase in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Serbian Republic, where proportion of male births during the wartime reached as high as 0.523 (compared to 0.516 in the pre-war and 0.515 in the post-war period). Countries that were involved in either mild or intermediate level of warfare did not exhibit a significant increase in the sex ratio (e.g. Slovenia and Croatia). Although war in Croatia lasted a year longer than in Bosnia and Herzegovina, analysis of the most intensive wartime periods in Croatia did not yield significant change. It seems that a hypothetical threshold of the warfare intensity combined with duration has to be reached (e.g. as in case of Bosnia and Herzegovina), in order for war to influence the sex ratio.     

Self-help hypertensive groups and the elderly in Yugoslavia

This study examines aging in Yugoslavia in the context of rapid demographic and social changes over the last several decades. Since this time, urbanization and the population aging of the society have begun to place a stress on the ability of the family and the formal health care system to deal with the needs of the elderly. Responses to this stress have included new types of residences for the elderly and various types of self-help groups dealing with a variety of health care needs. This paper focuses on the development and functioning of self-help groups to deal with the problem of hypertension among the elderly in the Republic of Croatia. Preliminary results indicate that such groups have been relatively successful in regulating blood pressure and slightly reducing mortality. However, the success of groups requires a long term commitment from public health institutions and a recognition of how such groups must be adapted to different social environments.     

Prolonged atrial conduction

We describe a patient, in whom electrophysiologic study revealed a "negative" P-A interval in the His bundle electrogram, a prolonged intraatrial conduction time and a prolonged spike to the P wave interval during atrial pacing. The abnormalities were due to extensive sinuatrial disease.     

Recent papers

Although much media attention has been devoted to the conflict in former Yugoslavia, the historical roots that led to it are not widely understood. However, the astonished disbelief that the Western world naturally feels for the atrocities committed can give way to understanding once the origins of deep prejudice embedded in the mentality of Balkan peoples become apparent. Thus, the division of the Roman Empire in the fourth century sowed the seeds of opposition between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East; the centuries‐long occupation of the area by the Ottoman Turks established deep distrust between (especially) the Orthodox Serbs and the Muslims; the artificial assembly of the different southern Slav peoples under an essentially Serb monarchy as Yugoslavia contributed to the tension; the Croatian puppet Nazi government during the Second World War committed awful crimes mainly against other Slavs; the communist rule of Tito recognized but failed to resolve the underlying nationalist tensions; and finally the piecemeal, self‐centred attempts to form nation states out of the complex ethnic mix in the early 1990s precipitated the present conflict. It is suggested that as a result (and a cause) of this long bloody history a majority from each group involved in the crisis sustains a strong belief in the inherent bad faith of the other parties. This attitude in turn makes armed ‘defence’ seem a reasonable option and justifies violence against the ‘evil’ enemies that any outsider would consider an unjustifiable atrocity.