Correlation between ECG changes and early left ventricular remodeling in preadolescent footballers.

The aim of this study was to assess the early electrocardiogram (ECG) changes induced by physical training in preadolescent elite footballers. This study included 94 preadolescent highly trained male footballers (FG) competing in Serbian Football League (minimum of 7 training hours/week) and 47 age-matched healthy male controls (less than 2 training hours/week) (CG). They were screened by ECG and echocardiography at a tertiary referral cardio center. Sokolow-Lyon index was used as a voltage electrocardiographic criterion for left ventricular hypertrophy diagnosis. Characteristic ECG intervals and voltage were compared and reference range was given for preadolescent footballers. Highly significant differences between FG and CG were registered in all ECG parameters: P-wave voltage (p < 0.001), S-wave (V1 or V2 lead) voltage (p < 0.001), R-wave (V5 and V6 lead) voltage (p < 0.001), ECG sum of S V1-2 + R V5-6 (p < 0.001), T-wave voltage (p < 0.001), QRS complex duration (p < 0.001), T-wave duration (p < 0.001), QTc interval duration (p < 0.001), and R/T ratio (p < 0.001). No differences were found in PQ interval duration between these two groups (p > 0.05). During 6-year follow-up period, there was no adverse cardiac event in these footballers. None of them expressed pathological ECG changes. Benign ECG changes are presented in the early stage of athlete's heart remodeling, but they are not related to pathological ECG changes and they should be regarded as ECG pattern of LV remodeling.

Translation of the Medical Fear Survey to Serbian: psychometric properties.

BACKGROUND: Medical Fear Survey (MFS) is an instrument designed for measuring fear of medical and related treatments. OBJECTIVE: Aim of the present study was MFS translation into Serbian, measurement of its psychometric properties and MFS validation using other Blood-injury-injections and related stimuli instruments that have been translated from English into Serbian. METHOD: After obtaining permission from the author of the original MFS, double forward translation from English to Serbian and backward translation to English were conducted in ten steps, according to International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) guidelines. Reliability, factorial analysis and concurrent validation of Serbian version of MFS were conducted on a sample of 485 medical or pharmacy students at University of Kragujevac, Serbia. RESULTS: Serbian version of MFS showed high internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha 0.968 and good temporal stability after testing-and-retesting (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.838, and intraclass correlation coefficient 0.877). Factorial analysis confirmed the same five factors demonstrated in the original English version: fear of mutilated bodies (10 items), fear of blood (11 items), fear of injections and blood draws (9 items), fear of sharp objects (10 items), and fear of medical examinations and physical symptoms (10 items). The total score of MFS correlated significantly with the total scores of Injection Phobia Scale-Anxiety (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.391, p <0.001), Blood/Injection Fear Scale (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.502, p <0.001) and Medical Avoidance Survey (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.396, p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Serbian version of the 50-item MFS showed similar psychometric properties as the original English version of this scale, with the same factorial structure. It could be used for measurement of fear of medical and related treatments in Serbian socio-cultural milieu, preferably self-administered. Hippokratia 2016, 20(1): 44-49.

Cardiac autonomic nervous system in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate cardiac autonomic nervous system (ANS) in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). The function of ANS was studied in 20 patients with DM1 and 15 healthy controls. All subjects were investigated by a battery of six cardiovascular autonomic tests and power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Only one patient had normal autonomic function. Two (10%) patients had mild, 10 (50%) moderate and 7 (35%) severe autonomic dysfunction. Thirteen (65%) patients had vagal and 4 (20%) sympathetic hyperactivity. Seven (35%) patients had vagal and 15 (75%) sympathetic dysfunction. Eighteen (90%) patients had orthostatic hypotension. The 24-hour time domain parameters of SDNN (SD of the NN interval) and total power were significantly lower in DM1 patients than in healthy controls (p < 0.05). However, other parameters of HRV, such as SDANN (SD of the mean NN, 5-minute interval), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) power and the LF/HF ratio were somewhat lower in patients with DM1 than in controls, but this was not statistically significant. There was no significant relationship between autonomic dysfunction and the severity of the disease or CTG repeat length. There was also no correlation between HRV and age. Our findings suggest that sympathetic dysfunction and vagal predominance may both occur in patients with DM1.

TLM modeling of the circular cylindrical cavity loaded by lossy dielectric sample of various geometric shapes.

The modeling of the cylindrical metallic cavity with circular cross-section loaded by lossy dielectric sample of various geometric shapes is done by using the Transmission-Line Matrix (TLM) method. For modeling purposes, a hybrid symmetrical condensed node (HSCN) in cylindrical coordinates, developed and implemented in the appropriate software, is applied. The proposed TLM models for several characteristic geometric shapes of the lossy dielectric sample are described in detail, the modeling process is discussed and the influence of the load form on the resonant frequencies of the cavity is investigated. In addition, the applied TLM approach is experimentally verified for two cases of cavity load form.

[Whipple's disease. Case report]. / Morbus Whipple. Povodom jednog slucaja.

This is a case report on a 42 years old patient suffering from Whipple's disease. The patient had characteristic symptoms: high temperature, frequent bowel movement, melanoderma, arthralgia and enlarged lymph nodes. After detailed clinical researches, x-ray and endoscopic examination, bacteriology examination of faeces, absorptional tests, the diagnosis was made thanks to pathohistologic analysis of biopsy samples of the small intestine by light and electron microscopy. The differential diagnostic similarity with AIDS, especially at the early phase of the illness, required excluding HTLV III. We examined the aetiophathogenesis of the illness and discussed the clinical and laboratory presentation of the patient considering contemporary ideas regarding this disease.

Detection of massive pulmonary embolism by transesophageal echocardiography.

Transesophageal echocardiography is a new echocardiographic technique with indications that are still expanding and being redefined. Recently, the usefulness of transesophageal echocardiography in pulmonary embolism has been demonstrated in several case reports. In this article, we present 3 cases with pulmonary embolism diagnosed by transesophageal echocardiography and discuss its diagnostic value in this clinical setting.

[Malignant tumors in patients in our hospital 1985-1989]. / Maligni tumori digestivnog trakta u nasih stacioniranih bolesnika u periodu 1985-1989. godine.

An analysis was conducted concerning the data on malignant digestive-tract tumors which were treated in the period from 1985 to 1989 at the Department for Gastroenterology of the Clinical-Hospital Center in Zemun. The research results showed that malignant digestive-tract tumors are not in an increase, they are rare in persons which are younger than 40 years of age (10%) and are two times more frequent in males. The share of malignant tumors of the large intestine in overall morbidity is somewhat more frequent, they occur two times more in males and with 10.6% in persons younger than 40 years. The malignant tumors of the stomach are the only ones which are in a decrease, they are considerably less frequent in younger persons (3.7%), but are also two times more frequent in males. Malignant tumors of the pancreas are somewhat more represented in overall morbidity, they are very rare in young persons (3.7%) and are more frequent in males. The data on malignant tumors of the liver show that in the last few years they are somewhat more represented in overall morbidity, they are rare in persons younger than 40, and are more frequent in males.

[Cystic lymphangioma of the liver]. / Cisticni limfangiom jetre.

The authors presented a rare condition of cystic lymphangion of the liver in a female child of 14 months, comprising the whole left lobe leading to compression of the surrounding intestinal organs and partly of some chest organs. By a transversal supraumbilical laparotomy, the cystic tumor of the left liver lobe was identified, and a left lobectomy of the liver was made by removing all cystic formations. It was hystologically acknowledged that it was about a cystic lymphangiom of the liver. Postoperatively the course ran regularly and with no complications. The control examinations showed that the function of the liver was not damaged. The cystic changes of the liver are most frequently in the framework of the polycystic diseases when even other organs are invaded. All cysts of the liver can be divided into congenital cysts or acquired. The presented case was most probably about a congenital anomaly, which was getting augmented gradually and resulted to a compression of the surrounding organs.