Biomedical subjects

Lidija Bilić-Zulle

Publications and source records attributed to Lidija Bilić-Zulle.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Prognostic values of IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10 in acute pancreatitis.

GOALS: The prognostic importance of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, and IL-10 in the prediction of acute pancreatitis severity. BACKGROUND: Early assessment of severity in acute pancreatitis could help the patients who are at risk of developing complications. Unfortunately, the used prognostic scoring systems generally are only moderately accurate in assessing disease severity. STUDY: We studied 117 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis admitted to our hospital during the past 2 years. Laboratory parameters and cytokines were analyzed from serum taken routinely on admission. Severity criteria were noted for each patient using Ranson, Glasgow, and APACHE II scoring systems. Local and systemic complications, developed during a follow-up period, were classified by Atlanta criteria. RESULTS: IL-6 was the only parameter that statistically significantly predicted complicated acute pancreatitis (P<0.05). IL-8 and IL-10 and the 3 prognostic scoring systems used did not properly assess complicated versus noncomplicated acute pancreatitis. CONCLUSIONS: Our prospective study supported the potential importance of IL-6 in the early assessment of complicated acute pancreatitis, but also suggested that pancreatitis classified as complicated in a large number of patients could not be correctly predicted with the Ranson, Glasgow, and APACHE II scoring systems.

APACHE↗

PubMed2006

[Correlation and regression].

Correlation and regression are statistical methods that help us determine interactions of variables. Both are being used in statistical analysis of basic and clinical research. Correlation (r) is a measure of linear relationship between two numerical measurements made on the same set of subjects and it is represented by correlation coefficient. Values of correlation coefficient range between -1 and 1. Pearson's and Spearman's coefficients of correlation are the most often used correlation coefficients. Correlation can be linear and non-linear. We calculate the significance of correlation (P) in an effort to determine significance of correlation coefficient. Regression is a statistical method that allows us to predict values of one variable from another. The simplest regression is linear regression. The success of regression equation is valued by analysis of residuals. Multiple regression is used to predict one variable from several known variables.

Factor Analysis, Statistical↗

PubMed2005

Prevalence of plagiarism among medical students.

AIM: To determine the prevalence of plagiarism among medical students in writing essays. METHODS: During two academic years, 198 second year medical students attending Medical Informatics course wrote an essay on one of four offered articles. Two of the source articles were available in an electronic form and two in printed form. Two (one electronic and one paper article) were considered less complex and the other two more complex. The essays were examined using plagiarism detection software "WCopyfind," which counted the number of matching phrases with six or more words. Plagiarism rate, expressed as the percentage of the plagiarized text, was calculated as a ratio of the absolute number of matching words and the total number of words in the essay. RESULTS: Only 17 (9%) of students did not plagiarize at all and 68 (34%) plagiarized less than 10% of the text. The average plagiarism rate (% of plagiarized text) was 19% (5-95% percentile=0-88). Students who were strictly warned not to plagiarize had a higher total word count in their essays than students who were not warned (P=0.002) but there was no difference between them in the rate of plagiarism. Students with higher grades in Medical Informatics exam plagiarized less than those with lower grades (P=0.015). Gender, subject source, and complexity had no influence on the plagiarism rate. CONCLUSIONS: Plagiarism in writing essays is common among medical students. An explicit warning is not enough to deter students from plagiarism. Detection software can be used to trace and evaluate the rate of plagiarism in written student assays.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Acne vulgaris: myths and misconceptions among patients and family physicians.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the health beliefs and knowledge about acne among acne patients and family physicians. A total of 100 patients referred to a dermatologist for management of acne vulgaris and 120 family physicians completed questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of questions about health beliefs, the natural course of the disease, the causes of acne, and a set of questions about the knowledge of acne therapy. Acne was considered as a trivial and transitory condition by 52% of the acne patients and 44% of the family physicians. The overall score of correct answers pertaining to the causes of acne among the acne patients and family physicians was 11 and 15%, respectively. The percentage of correct answers regarding the natural course of the disease was 6% for both subsets of subjects. Acne was believed to be curable by 96% of acne patients. Most patients (66%) believed that acne would improve immediately after the first treatment. The knowledge of isotretinoin teratogenecity was reasonable among family physicians (55% correct answers), but it was much lower for other side effects (9%). The overall score of correct answers regarding antibiotic therapy among family physicians was only 21%. Impact of the disease was underestimated by family physicians and also by acne patients. Overall knowledge pertaining to the causes, natural course and therapy was very low. Myths and misconceptions still exist among patients but also among family physicians.

Acne Vulgaris↗

PubMed2003

Factors influencing medical informatics examination grade--can biorhythm, astrological sign, seasonal aspect, or bad statistics predict outcome?

AIM: To investigate whether and to what extent various parameters, such as individual characteristics, computer habits, situational factors, and pseudoscientific variables, influence Medical Informatics examination grade, and how inadequate statistical analysis can lead to wrong conclusions. METHODS: The study included a total of 382 second-year undergraduate students at the Rijeka University School of Medicine in the period from 1996/97 to 2000/01 academic year. After passing the Medical Informatics exam, students filled out an anonymous questionnaire about their attitude toward learning medical informatics. They were asked to grade the course organization and curriculum content, and provide their date of birth; sex; study year; high school grades; Medical Informatics examination grade, type, and term; and describe their computer habits. From these data, we determined their zodiac signs and biorhythm. Data were compared by the use of t-test, one-way ANOVA with Tukey's honest significance difference test, and randomized complete block design ANOVA. RESULTS: Out of 21 variables analyzed, only 10 correlated with the average grade. Students taking Medical Informatics examination in the 1998/99 academic year earned lower average grade than any other generation. Significantly higher Medical Informatics exam grade was earned by students who finished a grammar high school; owned and regularly used a computer, Internet, and e-mail (p< or =0.002 for all items); passed an oral exam without taking a written test (p=0.004), or did not repeat the exam (p<0.001). Better high-school students and students with better grades from high-school informatics course also scored significantly better (p=0.032 and p<0.001, respectively). Grade in high-school mathematics, student's sex, and time of year when the examination was taken were not related to the grade, and neither were pseudoscientific parameters, such as student zodiac sign, zodiac sign quality, or biorhythm cycles, except when intentionally inadequate statistics was used for data analysis. CONCLUSION: Medical Informatics examination grades correlated with general learning capacity and computer habits of students, but showed no relation to other investigated parameters, such as examination term or pseudoscientific parameters. Inadequate statistical analysis can always confirm false conclusions.

Astrology↗

PubMed2003

Publishing scientific papers based on Master's and Ph.D. theses from a small scientific community: case study of Croatian medical schools.

AIM: To evaluate publishing activity of medical doctors after they have obtained Master's or Ph.D. degree at the Rijeka and Zagreb University Schools of Medicine in Croatia, and establish the number of journal articles based on these theses. METHODS: Data on Master's and Ph.D. theses defended at the Rijeka and Zagreb University Schools of Medicine in the 1990-1999 period were collected by hand-search of the archive. MEDLINE and Current Contents databases were searched for journal articles resulting from the theses. RESULTS: During the 10-year period, 1,535 Master's and 634 Ph.D. theses were defended at the Rijeka and Zagreb University Schools of Medicine (253 Master's and 138 Ph.D. theses from Rijeka and 1,282 Master's and 496 Ph.D. theses from Zagreb). There were 201 (14%) Master's and 218 (34%) Ph.D. theses that resulted in articles published in journals indexed in MEDLINE (13% of Master's and 11% of Ph.D. theses from Rijeka, and 14% of Master's and 41% of Ph.D. theses from Zagreb). Also, 97 (6%) Master's and 129 (20%) Ph.D. theses that resulted in articles published in Current Contents journals (8% of Master's and 6% of Ph.D. theses from Rijeka, and 6% of Master's and 24% of Ph.D. theses from Zagreb). There was no significant difference between the two Universities with respect to published articles based on Master's theses, but there were significantly more articles from Ph.D. theses in Zagreb (p<0.001). Most of the theses resulted in a single publication (95%), 19 (5%) in 2, and 2 in 3 publications. Out of all 453 journal articles, 31% were published in Croatian and 69% in international journals. CONCLUSION: Most Croatian Master's and Ph.D. theses are not made available to the scientific community. There should be more institutional effort directed at the stimulation of postgraduate students to publish their scientific work.

Academic Dissertations as Topic↗

PubMed2002

Evaluation of medical informatics curriculum at the Rijeka University School of Medicine in Croatia.

This paper presents preliminary results from the study to evaluate the Medical Informatics curriculum at the Rijeka University School of Medicine, Rijeka, Croatia. Evaluation is based on the written anonymous. survey filled out by students after passing the exam. Questionnaire consisted of questions considering basic data (age, gender, study year, etc.), as well as students' opinions and marks on informatics, computer usage and teaching skills during the lessons. In total 459 students from five consecutive generations (from 1996/97 to 2000/01) were evaluated. Collected data define guidelines for teachers to improve organization and contents of curriculum. This study proved that, from one generation to the next, students show more and more interest in Medical Informatics, more of them have their own computer and more of them use Internet and e-mail communication.

Croatia↗