A large cross-sectional study of health attitudes, knowledge, behaviour and risks in the post-war Croatian population (the First Croatian Health Project).

As the liberation of occupied Croatian territories ended the war in the country in 1995, the Ministry of Health and Croatian Health Insurance Institute have agreed to create the new framework for developing a long-term strategy of public health planning, prevention and intervention. They provided financial resources to develop the First Croatian Health Project, the rest of the support coming from the World Bank loan and the National Institute of Public Health. A large cross-sectional study was designed aiming to assess health attitudes, knowledge, behaviour and risks in the post-war Croatian population. The large field study was carried out by the Institute for Anthropological Research with technical support from the National Institute of Public Health. The field study was completed between 1995-1997. It included about 10,000 adult volunteers from all 21 Croatian counties. The geographic distribution of the sample covered both coastal and continental areas of Croatia and included rural and urban environments. The specific measurements included antropometry (body mass index and blood pressure). From each examinee a blood sample was collected from which the levels of total plasma cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), HDL-cholesterol (High Density Lipoprotein), LDL-cholesterol (Low Density Lipoprotein), lipoprotein Lp(a), and haemostatic risk factor fibrinogen (F) were determined. The detailed data were collected on the general knowledge and attitudes on health issues, followed by specific investigation of smoking history, alcohol consumption, nutrition habits, physical activity, family history of chronic non-communicable diseases and occupational exposures. From the initial database a targeted sample of 5,840 persons of both sexes, aged 18-65, was created corresponding by age, sex and geographic distribution to the general Croatian population. This paper summarises and discusses the main findings of the project within this representative sample of Croatian population.

Olive by-products in pig fattening.

The utilisation in pig fattening of diets with various proportions of dried olive cake, i.e., olive by-product resulting from centrifugal separation, was investigated in 60 Swedish Landrace x Large White crossbreds (30 castrates and 30 gilts). The pigs were divided into three equal groups (10 + 10): two experimental groups, fed with a fodder mix containing 50 g/kg and 80 g/kg respectively of dried olive cake, and a control group, fed with the same mix but minus the cake. The experiment last 90 days. For the first 45 days the pigs were given the starter, and for the second 45 days the finisher, mix. Throughout the whole period, pigs in both experimental groups achieved greater average body mass and mass gain than the control animals. Concurrently, castrates in all three groups, became heavier and demonstrated greater mass gain than did the gilts. While supplied respectively with the finisher mix throughout the whole test period, pigs fed mixes with 50 g/kg of dried olive cake demonstrated significantly greater feed consumption than those fed without the cake and than those fed mixes with 80 g/kg of cake. While supplied with the starter mix, pigs fed mixes with 50 g/kg of dried olive cake achieved the lowest feed conversion rate, whereas those supplied with the finisher mix achieved the highest. Throughout the entire period no significant differences were observed in feed conversion rate among pig groups.