[Chased health]
BÁNFALVI Attila
MARCH 21, 2008
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2008;18(03)
BÁNFALVI Attila
MARCH 21, 2008
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2008;18(03)
Lege Artis Medicinae
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Cardiovascular diseases, primarily the organic manifestations of atherosclerosis, such as coronary artery disease, ischaemic stroke, and peripheral arterial diseases, represent the largest healthcare problem in the developed countries, since the mortality, disability, and need for hospitalisation caused by them constitute a bigger burden than that caused by all other diseases combined. A modern, holistic approach to cardiovascular prevention should consider the complete cardiovascular continuum, including genetic predisposition, social-economicalcultural background, environmental factors, the integrated effect of atherosclerotic risk factors, the inhibition of progression of functional and morphologic damages that have already developed, and, if possible, the promotion of regression. Besides targeting the individual, prevention at the public and social level is also important.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Lung cancer is one of the most malignant human cancers because of its high incidence and high mortality rate. The 5-year relative survival rate for lung cancer at the initial diagnosis is 5-15%. Stage I or stage II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are considered early stage disease. Unfortunately, these two stages combined account for only 25 to 30% of tumours at the initial detection. At present, surgical resection remains the recommended treatment for patients with stage I and II NSCLC. Despite negative preoperative staging studies including mediastinoscopy, as many as one fourth of the patients will be found at surgery to have an occult N2 or one nodal station positive metastatic – stage IIIA – disease. Multimodality therapy is preferred for all subsets of stage IIIA patients. In stage IIIB and IV, surgical resection is possible and indicated only in selected cases, including Pancoast tumours, T4N0,1M0 tumours, the presence of satellite nodules in the same lobe, and certain solitary metastases. Patients with clinical stage T1-2 N0 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) may benefit from surgery for confirmation of diagnosis and improved local control when combined with chemotherapy. The mortality and morbidity rates of surgery in the treatment of lung cancer are reasonably low.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Almost 80 percent of poison-related deaths are caused by drugs. The overwhelming majority of today's clinical toxicological work is comprised of cases of toxic level drug overdose, drug mixups, adverse effects during therapeutic drug administration, as well as intoxication from drug abuse. A prerequisite of adequate therapy of intoxication is the qualitative and quantitative determination of the compounds causing it. The two elements of systematic toxicological analysis are the screening test and the confirmatory test. The review touches on the toxicologic use of the hyphenated chromatographic-spectroscopic instruments and on the alternative biological matrices. It is known that the effects and toxic side-effects of many drugs show substantial interindividual differences even in the same doses. One of the possible causes of this phenomenon is a genetically determined polymorphic drug metabolism. Some pharmacogenetically determined anomalies in drug administration, particularly enzyme inhibition and induction, are of clinical toxicological importance.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
Clinical Neuroscience
[The well-known gap between stroke mortality of Eastern and Western European countries may reflect the effect of socioeconomic differences. Such a gap may be present between neighborhoods of different wealth within one city. We set forth to compare age distribution, incidence, case fatality, mortality, and risk factor profile of stroke patients of the poorest (District 8) and wealthiest (District 12) districts of Budapest. We synthesize the results of our former comparative epidemiological investigations focusing on the association of socioeconomic background and features of stroke in two districts of the capital city of Hungary. The “Budapest District 8–12 project” pointed out the younger age of stroke patients of the poorer district, and established that the prevalence of smoking, alcohol-consumption, and untreated hypertension is also higher in District 8. The “Six Years in Two Districts” project involving 4779 patients with a 10-year follow-up revealed higher incidence, case fatality and mortality of stroke in the less wealthy district. The younger patients of the poorer region show higher risk-factor prevalence, die younger and their fatality grows faster during long-term follow-up. The higher prevalence of risk factors and the higher fatality of the younger age groups in the socioeconomically deprived district reflect the higher vulnerability of the population in District 8. The missing link between poverty and stroke outcome seems to be lifestyle risk-factors and lack of adherence to primary preventive efforts. Public health campaigns on stroke prevention should focus on the young generation of socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods. ]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Three decades ago, LAM was launched with the goal of providing scientific information about medicine and its frontiers. From the very beginning, LAM has also concerned a special subject area while connecting medicine with the world of art. In the palette of medical articles, it remained a special feature to this day. The analysis of the history of LAM to date was performed using internationally accepted publication guidelines and scientific databases as a pledge of objectivity. We examined the practice of LAM if it meets the main criteria, the professional expectations of our days, when publishing contents of the traditional printed edition and its electronic version. We explored the visibility of articles in the largest bibliographic and scientific metric databases, and reviewed the LAM's place among the Hungarian professional journals. Our results show that in recent years LAM has gained international reputation despite publishing in Hungarian spoken by a few people. This is due to articles with foreign co-authors as well as references to LAM in articles written exclusively by foreign researchers. The journal is of course full readable in the Hungarian bibliographic databases, and its popularity is among the leading ones. The great virtue of the journal is the wide spectrum of the authors' affiliation, with which they cover almost completely the Hungarian health care institutional system. The special feature of its columns is enhanced by the publication of writings on art, which may increase Hungarian and foreign interest like that of medical articles.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most frequently used pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, a number of studies emphasized that NSAIDs were damaging not only the gastrointestinal (GI), but also the cardiovascular (CV) system, could increase the blood pressure, the frequency of coronary events (angina, myocardial infarction) and stroke incidence, as well as they might deteriorate renal functions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) did not find evidence that administering NSAIDs could increase the risk of developing COVID-19 or worsened the condition of COVID-19 patients. However, unwanted effects of specific drugs differ substantially in their occurrence and seriousness as well. It seemed to be for a long time that the NSAIDs provoked higher GI-risk was closely related to the COX1/COX2 selectivity, like the cardiovascular (CV) risk to the COX2/COX1 selectivity, however, the recent data did not prove it clearly. Based on the available literature while pondering the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular adverse events, among all NSAIDs the aceclofenac profile seemed to be the most favourable.]
Clinical Neuroscience
Interest in the hippocampal formation and its role in navigation and memory arose in the second part of the 20th century, at least in part due to the curious case of Henry G. Molaison, who underwent brain surgery for intractable epilepsy. The temporal association observed between the removal of his entorhinal cortex along with a significant part of hippocampus and the developing severe memory deficit inspired scientists to focus on these regions. The subsequent discovery of the so-called place cells in the hippocampus launched the description of many other functional cell types and neuronal networks throughout the Papez-circuit that has a key role in memory processes and spatial information coding (speed, head direction, border, grid, object-vector etc). Each of these cell types has its own unique characteristics, and together they form the so-called “Brain GPS”. The aim of this short survey is to highlight for practicing neurologists the types of cells and neuronal networks that represent the anatomical substrates and physiological correlates of pathological entities affecting the limbic system, especially in the temporal lobe. For that purpose, we survey early discoveries along with the most relevant neuroscience observations from the recent literature. By this brief survey, we highlight main cell types in the hippocampal formation, and describe their roles in spatial navigation and memory processes. In recent decades, an array of new and functionally unique neuron types has been recognized in the hippocampal formation, but likely more remain to be discovered. For a better understanding of the heterogeneous presentations of neurological disorders affecting this anatomical region, insights into the constantly evolving neuroscience behind may be helpful. The public health consequences of diseases that affect memory and spatial navigation are high, and grow as the population ages, prompting scientist to focus on further exploring this brain region.
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Clinical Neuroscience
Alexithymia is associated with cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson’s disease3.
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Clinical Neuroscience
Cases of inborn errors of metabolism diagnosed in children with autism2.
Clinical Neuroscience
[The first Hungarian patient with Guillain-Barre syndrome after COVID-19]3.
Clinical Neuroscience
Retinal morphological changes during the two years of follow-up in Parkinson’s disease4.
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