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Biomedical subjects

N Sikić

Publications and source records attributed to N Sikić.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Some etiologic factors of speech comprehension disturbances.

Disturbances of speech comprehension were analyzed in a prospective study of 97 children, aged from 23 to 77 months. Pregnancy, birth and early psychomotor development were normal for all the children and no focus of neurological deficit was found. A tonal audiometer did not detect any auditory disturbances, and psychological testing with non-verbal tests showed normal mental functioning for the age. In this group of selected subjects, family and personal case histories were taken. In addition, a detailed neurological physical examination, standard EEG and auditory evoked potentials, and a psychiatric examination were performed during several appointments. The results showed that disturbances in speech comprehension were more frequent in boys, and that in 13.4% of cases it was caused by pervasive developmental disturbances and in 41.24% of cases by external stimulating factors of speech development (pedagogy, social and emotional stimulation and growing up in a multilingual community). The study emphasizes the importance of non-verbal methods for the study of speech and the use of auditory evoked potentials.

Child↗
PubMed2001

War abdominal trauma: usefulness of Penetrating Abdominal Trauma Index, Injury Severity Score, and number of injured abdominal organs as predictive factors.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze predictive factors for developing complications or lethal outcome in war abdominal trauma. DESIGN: Retrospective study. METHODS: We analyzed 93 cases of war penetrating abdominal trauma treated at the General Hospital Karlovac, Croatia. The following potential predictor variables were analyzed: age, sex, type of wound, Penetrating Abdominal Trauma Index (PATI), Injury Severity Score (ISS), and number of injured abdominal organs (NIAO). RESULTS: A total of 10.8% of wounded patients died and 25.8% developed complications. The overall average number of injured intra-abdominal organs was 2.0; in the group of patients with complications, the average was 3.0, and in the group of deceased patients, the average was 3.5. The most frequently injured organs were the small and large bowels. The significant predictors of developing complications as well as death outcome were the PATI, the ISS, and the NIAO. The best diagnostic efficiency (79.57%) for predicting complications was with the NIAO, whereas the best model for the prediction of death outcome combined all three variables (Z = -13.0776 + 0.1561 x PATI + 0.281 x ISS - 0.5234 x NIAO), with diagnostic efficiency of 92.47%. CONCLUSION: These models may be used as important prognostic factors in war abdominal injuries.

Abdominal Injuries↗
PubMed2001

Importance of early drug treatment in prognosis of the Landau-Kleffner syndrome.

An expert team conducted a ten-year survey of eight children with Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS) identified among children referred to Polyclinic "SUVAG" in Zagreb because of hearing disturbances. Although LKS is a rare disorder it is extremely important to detect it because early diagnosis and prompt medicinal treatment may improve the prognosis, whereas neglect and late diagnosis result in language disability. Standard diagnostic criteria must be established to enable timely treatment.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed2000

Primary suture vs. T-tube after common bile duct exploration (our 25 years of experience).

PURPOSE: The aim of our retrospective study is to return confidence in primary suture (PS) procedure after common bile duct exploration (CBDE). The first CBDE was performed in 1884 using PS. T-tube drainage was introduced 10 years later, and PS procedure has been abandoned today. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In the course of the last 25 years (1974-1999 period) 4971 cholecystectomy have been performed with 682 (13.5%) CBDEs. There have been 201 (30%) T-tubes, 238 (34%) PS, 219 (32%) biliodigestive anastomosis (BDA) and only 24 (3%) papillotomies (PT) performed. Intraoperative choledochoscopy has been performed as a routine intraoperative method, too. RESULTS: In 439 patients, operated either using PS or T tube procedure were as follows: retained stones 6:16 (2.5%:8%), billiary complications 4:14 (1.6%:7%) and mortality 1:6 (0.3%:3%), respectively. PS is a significantly less expensive procedure, spending less medicaments, i.v. fluids, X-ray and laboratory tests, with a shorter postoperative hospital stay. CONCLUSION: PS is unjustly abandoned operative procedure. The advantages of the method are lower complications rate as well as lower costs. Present progress in surgery, less operative aggression, must be considered, especially during laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Psychopathological differences among three groups of school children affected by the war in Croatia.

The consequences of extreme violence such as war torture affect children in different ways and may immediately manifest at the physical and/or psychologic level, or may remain hidden and unrecognized for years. The victims are usually very reluctant to speak about their traumatic experiences, and try to deny the existence of psychological disturbances. They often seek help for somatic problems. Taking these physical complaints seriously helps to progressively reach the psychological effects of violence. Therefore, identification of such children should be directed to more complete evaluation of their symptomatology and functioning. This can be done by: a) individual evaluation to get enough information on the historical events, functioning and symptoms of these children; and b) standardized instruments which may allow the children to disclose more about their psychological experiences during the war. In this study rating scales and assessment instruments for children aged < 15, such as CPRS with General Scoring Sheet (Fish, 1985), were used to assess the broad spectrum of psychopathology in this age group. These questionnaires were used in a large group of school children (N = 1888), 989 girls and 899 boys aged 7-16 years. The sample was divided into 3 groups: 843 non-displaced, 377 displaced and 669 refugee children. Results of statistical analysis (arithmetical mean and standard deviation of discriminative variables transformed in Z-values with F-ratio) showed the three groups of children (non-displaced, displaced and refugees) to significantly differ in 13 out of 15 psychopathologic clusters. Discriminative cannonic analysis of the 3 groups of children (non displaced, displaced and refugees) also showed significant differences. The first discriminative function (80.24% of total variance) indicated depression, violence and antisocial behavior to be rare in non-displaced children, more pronounced in displaced, and most pronounced in refugee children. The second discriminative function (19.76% of total variance) showed hyperactivity, anxiety and psychosomatic disturbances to be rare in non-displaced children; more frequent in refugee, and most expressed in displaced children. According to the results, the authors concluded that war is very painful for a large group of children, among whom the displaced and refugee children are most affected by psychopathologic disturbances.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Personality traits in school children with epilepsy.

An alternative way of looking at epilepsy has been restricted to the observation of personality characteristics and behavioral cognitive impairments, as these are the most important secondary handicaps. The term "behavioural disorders" is connected with the problem of the development of personality. For this reason, in clinical work a sensitive and standardized psychometric instruments for measuring personality constructs are required. One of the most frequent used instruments in our child neurowork is Eysenck's Personality Inventory (EPI--junior questionnaire), based on Eysenck's theory. In this study, EPI-junior questionnaire was given to a group of 60 boys and girls aged 10-14 years with various forms of epilepsy (single partial seizures--N = 28; complex partial seizures--N = 18; typical absence--N = 8; atypical absence--N = 6. All children were receiving anticonvulsant drugs in doses within or below therapeutic limits. The possible influence of drug administration on personality characteristics of these children was not specifically analyzed for insufficient data in their medical histories. Results of personality characteristics obtained on the EPI junior test of the children with epilepsy were compared to the results of "normal" school children matched by age, sex and social conditions. Its was found (on the "extroversion-introversion" scale) that the children with epilepsy were more introverted than the control group children, which is contrary to the common clinical experience. On the other hand, there were no statistical differences between these two groups in the category of "neuroticism". Finally, the children with epilepsy had significantly higher results on the "lie scale", which indicated greater unreliability of their results obtained on EPI-junior "lie" scale as compared to the control group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗