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Biomedical subjects

S Vuletić

Publications and source records attributed to S Vuletić.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Teleradiology in Croatia.

A teleradiology system connecting 35 workstations in 27 hospitals was established in Croatia. In two years of operation, 2071 consultations were conducted using the system at an average rate of four neurosurgical teleconsultations per day. Eighty patients required urgent transfer to the tertiary hospital and 181 required non-urgent transfer. An additional 181 patients remained in their local hospital and were treated under the supervision of the tertiary hospital. The avoidance of unnecessary patient transfer led to significant cost savings.

Angiography, Digital Subtraction↗
PubMed2000

The effect of a compulsory curriculum on ethical attitudes of medical students.

The purpose of the present study was to assess the influence of a compulsory curriculum on first-year medical students. The ethical attitude study was performed at the School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Croatia. The samples consisted of 171 medical students (68 males and 103 females) interviewed at the beginning of the first year of studies. Some of them, namely 143 (56 males and 87 females) were interviewed again at the end of the same academic year. Data were analysed by applying factor analysis under principal component model and varimax criterion as the rotation model. The results clearly show that the current compulsory curriculum without formal ethical education has a limited influence on first-year medical students. That points to the obvious necessity to implement the medical ethics in the course of medical education.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1999

Albuminuria, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects in a rural general practice.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of albuminuria in patients with and without diabetes mellitus, answering the question: 'How relevant for general practice are epidemiological findings that albuminuria is a significant risk indicator for the development of cardiovascular syndromes?'. METHOD: The relationship between albuminuria and vascular disease was studied in two groups of subjects: one group consisted of 138 patients with diabetes mellitus and the other of 160 patients without diabetes, randomly selected from a stratified sample comparable with known diabetics by age, sex and profession. The groups were examined in the same way and mortality was followed over 5 years (1994-1998). RESULTS: Albuminuria was significantly more often present in diabetics (P < 0.0001). Peripheral arterial occlusive disease was diagnosed in 27.3% of patients with diabetes mellitus, and in 8.8% of the control group (P < 0.001). In the diabetic group 40 (29%) had microalbuminuria, but only 20 (12.5%) of the other group had the condition. In the presence of albuminuria, the incidence of arterial occlusive disease was 53.6%, but in those without it was only 9.8%. CONCLUSIONS: Our study has demonstrated that albuminuria is frequently present with diabetes mellitus, peripheral arterial occlusive disease, hypertension, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidaemia and in cases with increased concentration of blood fibrinogen. The albuminuria was significantly more frequent in those who died in the observed 5-year period after first examination. Although albuminuria indicates higher risks of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in diabetics and in non-diabetics, it is necessary to study further how useful is this evidence for general practice.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Cancer incidence in eastern Adriatic isolates, Croatia: examples from the islands of Krk, Cres, Losinj, Rab and Pag.

As an extension of previous research this study investigates the incidence of cancer in five genetic isolate island populations of the Eastern Adriatic, Croatia. Thorough anthropological research over the past three decades has established some of those populations as outstanding examples of genetic isolates. A previous study which found higher cancer incidence in 5 Eastern Adriatic islands than in a control population supported a hypothesis that among the founders of these populations there were genetic variants (especially with recessive inheritance) responsible for genetic susceptibility to certain types of cancer. This study sought to investigate cancer incidence in 5 further island populations. All cancer cases in five island populations (Krk, Cres, Losinj, Rab and Pag) over the 20-year period (1971 to 1990) was extracted from the data of the Croatian Cancer Registry. The mainland populations of Istrian and Primorsko-Goranska County, characterized by similar environmental factors but an outbred genetic structure, represented a control population. After standardization by by sex and age, cancer incidence was higher in the island populations than in the control population in both sexes. The cancer sites primarily responsible for the excess incidence were prostate, stomach and pancreatic cancer in males, and ovarian, breast, stomach, bowel, and brain cancer in females. The reasons for the increased cancer incidence are uncertain and may be due to different environmental exposure between the two populations. However, it is possible that genetic isolation and inbreeding are important factors. Further investigations of cancer in these isolate populations are warranted to explore these findings further.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Surname as 'cancer risk' in extreme isolates: example from the island of Lastovo, Croatia.

The aim of this study was to analyze whether there are surnames which appear more frequently among the ancestors of cancer cases in a small isolate, in comparison to the ancestral surnames of the healthy controls, using the classic case-control design. The chosen setting was the island of Lastovo, Croatia, located more than 100 kilometers from the nearest coastal region. The period of study was 1970-1995, during which a total of 76 cancer cases were recorded in a population of approximately 800. The comparison of surname frequencies was performed in current and in five ancestral generations. The leading hypothesis was that, if inbreeding and common ancestry contributed to the development of the disease, then those phenomena should be reflected in increasing frequency of some surnames among ancestors, identifying the 'hidden' consanguinity, or 'following' cancer-promoting genes on the Y-chromosome. The results imply that there are surnames representing a classic "risk" for cancer, but also those "protecting" from its development, which all underscores the importance of founder effect and genetic predisposition to the disease in a small, reproductively isolated population. All of the results become more evident and increasingly significant when analyzed in more distant ancestral generations.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1999

Possibilities of See5 software in forecasting of life expectancy not achieving.

Results of application of See5 to epidemiological domain were presented. The aim of this paper is to find out if See5 can be used for forecasting whether life expectancy will be achieved or not. The basis for forecasting are data-attributes, predictors (anthropological data, living habits, laboratory data, blood pressure measured in years 1970/71, and the status of examinee--class (alive or dead) in 1990. Data were split at random into 10 blocks with approximately the same number of cases and the same distribution of classes. Results were given in the form of decision trees and rulesets, and tested through crossvalidation. The most interesting question--what are prediction-candidates for not achieving life expectancy estimated in the year of examination--did not give a satisfactory result: the accuracy of classification was about 70%. However, a very interesting fact is that each rule consists of at least one candidate predictor, usually considered as risk factor (e.g. high diastolic blood pressure and animal fat consumption).

Adult↗
PubMed1997

ILLM--inductive learning algorithm as a method for prediction of life expectancy achieving.

The aim of the paper was to use inductive learning algorithm ILLM in the field of epidemiology, for prediction the life expectancy achieving. Data base comprised results of epidemiological investigation in some regions of Croatia. Overall accuracies for different samples and corresponding rules produced by ILLM algorithm, showed some interesting results. Algorithm can be seen as having the capacity to forecast 'achieving the life expectancy'. In the same time algorithm was not able to make a good forecast for 'not achieving the life expectancy'.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Medical decision making based on inductive learning method.

Medical decision making based on inductive learning has been studied in order to collect experience necessary for practical use of such methods in clinical and epidemiological work. The decision trees have been constructed by using the modified Quinlan's approach based on choosing relevant attributes according to their informativity. An inductive learning software tool, ASSISTANT Professional, has been used for experimenting. The variability in results has been studied under varying learning conditions. Two sets of data have been chosen for learning experiments: from a study on rheumatoid factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and from an epidemiological investigation of aging. The results of this study indicate the necessity to determine inductive learning parameters for each particular problem. The pruning procedure is always recommended as it eliminates redundant elements in the tree. In problems with greater number of attributes, however, pruning itself is not guaranteeing satisfactory solutions. Interventions like the change of the minimal weight threshold might improve the situation. If these precautions are met, the method of inductive learning seems to be a useful guide in practical clinical and epidemiological decisions.

Aging↗
PubMed1976

Design and methodology of the Zagreb preliminary study: response rates at the study stages.

A procedure for recruitment of a trial cohort from a demographically defined population is described. Provision was made by means of a prescreening survey to determine demographic and attitudinal characteristics in the group invited to screening before the invitation was extended, thus providing information on non-participants as well as participants. Men who satisfied the criteria for borderline levels of one or more of the three risk factors on at least two of possible three occasions were invited to participate in a radomized multifactor treatment trial either being treated by medication for the appropriate risk factor [or factors], or observed during the same intervals in the same fashion as those treated. During follow-up attempts were made to measure adherence to the prescribed medication.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗