Assessment of the quality of life in diabetic patients in primary care

Cilj: Cilj je istraživanja utvrditi kvalitetu života dijabetičkih bolesnika te utvrditi postoji li razlika s obzirom na dob, spol, trajanje dijabetesa, tip dijabetesa, terapiju i komorbiditete. Nacrt studije: Provedena je presječna studija. Ispitanici i metode: U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 165 dijabetičkih bolesnika ordinacija obiteljske medicine Doma zdravlja Osijek. Za prikupljanje osnovnih podataka koristio se opći anketni upitnik, dok se za određivanje indeksa kvalitete života koristio standardizirani Ferrans i Powers anketni upitnik koji mjeri rezultate za sveukupnu kvalitetu života i 4 domene: zdravlje i funkcioniranje, socijalna i ekonomska, psihološka i duhovna domena i obitelj. Rezultati: Medijan ukupne kvalitete života je 23,2 (skala je od 0 do 30). Nema značajne razlike u ukupnoj skali kvalitete života ni pojedinim domenama u odnosu na spol ispitanika, duljinu trajanja dijabetesa te terapiju. Dob je značajno povezana s ukupnom kvalitetom života i domenom obitelji, odnosno povećanjem dobi smanjuje se kvaliteta života i kvaliteta domene obitelji. Slabiju kvalitetu zdravlja i funkcioniranja imaju ispitanici s dijabetesom tipa II i makroangiopatijom. Zaključak: Kvaliteta života zadovoljavajuća je kod osoba oboljelih od dijabetesa. Čimbenici koji smanjuju kvalitetu života jesu starija dob, dijabetes tipa II te prisutnost makroangiopatija.Objectives: The aim of the research is to determine the quality of life of diabetic patients and to determine whether there is a difference in age, sex, duration of diabetes, type of diabetes, therapy and comorbidities. Study design: The study is a cross-sectional study. Participants and methods: The study included 165 Diabetic Patients of the General Practicioners Department of the Osijek Health Centre. The general questionnaire was used to collect the basic questionnaire, while the standardized Ferrans and Powers questionnaire was used to determine the quality of life index, which measures the results of the overall quality of life and the quality of life in 4 domains: health and functioning, social and economic, psychological and spiritual domains and families. Results: Median of the overall quality of life is 23.2 (scale ranges from 0 to 30). There is no significant difference in the overall quality of life or individual domains as compared to sex, duration of diabetes and therapy. The age is significantly associated with the overall quality of life and the family domain, which means that by increasing age the quality of life and quality of the family domain decreases. Minor health and functioning quality have patients with type II diabetes and patients with macroangiopathy. Conclusion: Quality of life is satisfactory in people with diabetes. Factors that reduce the quality of life are age, type II diabetes and the presence of macroangiopathy. Key words: comorbidity, diabetes mellitus, quality of life, questionnair

Utjecaj stadija laktacije na hematološke i biokemijske pokazatelje u krvi lakon ovce

The research objective was to determine haematological and biochemical parameters in blood of 30 Lacaune dairy sheep during different stages of lactation (early: 60th, medium: 120th and late: 180th days). The sheep were on average 4 years old, in 3rd lactation. Haematological parameters were determined in whole blood (white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), haemoglobin (HGB) concentration, haematocrit (HCT) value, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and platelet (PLT) count), and a blood smear was used for determination of differential blood cell count. Determined biochemical parameters in blood serum were: concentration of minerals (Ca, P-inorganic, Mg and Fe), concentration of total proteins (TP), albumin (ALB), globulins (GLOB), urea, glucose (GUK), cholesterol (CHOL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides (TGC), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), enzyme activities (aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT), creatine kinase (CK), activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and total superoxide dismutase (SOD). With progression of lactation stages, sheep blood tests proved significant increase in WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT, monocytes, Fe, urea, TP, ALB, CHOL, HDL, LDL, BHB, AST, GGT and ALT as well as a decrease in lymphocytes, Mg, GUK and SOD. Determined changes in haematological and biochemical blood parameters of Lacaune dairy sheep during different lactation stages proved good quality nutrition of sheep and indicate the need to include this dairy breed/genotype in prospective schemes for definition of referential values for these indicators in sheep.Cilj je ovoga rada utvrditi hematološke i biokemijske pokazatelje u krvi 30 lakon ovaca tijekom različitih stadija laktacije (rani: 60., srednji: 120. i kasni: 180. dan). Ovce su bile prosječne dobi 4 godine u 3. laktaciji. U punoj krvi su utvrđeni hematološki pokazatelji (broj leukocita: (WBC), eritrocita (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), hematokrit (HCT), prosječni volumen eritrocita (MCV), prosječni hemoglobin u eritrocitu (MCH), prosječna koncentracija hemoglobina u eritrocitu (MCHC) i trombociti (PLT), a iz krvnih razmaza i diferencijalna krvna slika. Od biokemijskih pokazatelja u serumu utvrđeni su: koncentracije minerala (Ca, P-anorganski, Mg i Fe), ukupnih protein (TP), albumin (ALB), globulina (GLOB), uree, glukoze (GUK), kolesterola (CHOL), HDL-kolesterola (HDL), LDL-kolesterola (LDL), triglicerida (TGC), beta-hidroksibutirata (BHB) i neesterificiranih masnih kiseline (NEFA) te aktivnost enzima (aspartat aminotransferaze (AST), alanin aminotransferazee (ALT), alkalne fosfataze (ALP), γ-glutamil transferaze (GGT), kreatin kinaze (CK), glutation peroksidaze (GPx) i superoksid dismutaze (SOD). Utvrđeno je značajno povećanje WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT, Fe, urea, TP, ALB, CHOL, HDL, LDL, BHB, AST, GGT i ALT kao i smanjenje limfocita, Mg, GUK i SOD u krvi kako je laktacija odmicala. Utvrđene promjene u hematološkim i biokemijskim pokazateljima u krvi lakon ovaca tijekom laktacije ukazuju na kvalitetan obrok kojim su hranjene ovce, ali i potrebu uključivanja pasmine/genotipa osobito mliječnoga predznaka u buduće sheme izrade referentnih vrijednosti za navedene pokazatelje u ovaca

Assessment of the quality of life in diabetic patients in primary care

Cilj: Cilj je istraživanja utvrditi kvalitetu života dijabetičkih bolesnika te utvrditi postoji li razlika s obzirom na dob, spol, trajanje dijabetesa, tip dijabetesa, terapiju i komorbiditete. Nacrt studije: Provedena je presječna studija. Ispitanici i metode: U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 165 dijabetičkih bolesnika ordinacija obiteljske medicine Doma zdravlja Osijek. Za prikupljanje osnovnih podataka koristio se opći anketni upitnik, dok se za određivanje indeksa kvalitete života koristio standardizirani Ferrans i Powers anketni upitnik koji mjeri rezultate za sveukupnu kvalitetu života i 4 domene: zdravlje i funkcioniranje, socijalna i ekonomska, psihološka i duhovna domena i obitelj. Rezultati: Medijan ukupne kvalitete života je 23,2 (skala je od 0 do 30). Nema značajne razlike u ukupnoj skali kvalitete života ni pojedinim domenama u odnosu na spol ispitanika, duljinu trajanja dijabetesa te terapiju. Dob je značajno povezana s ukupnom kvalitetom života i domenom obitelji, odnosno povećanjem dobi smanjuje se kvaliteta života i kvaliteta domene obitelji. Slabiju kvalitetu zdravlja i funkcioniranja imaju ispitanici s dijabetesom tipa II i makroangiopatijom. Zaključak: Kvaliteta života zadovoljavajuća je kod osoba oboljelih od dijabetesa. Čimbenici koji smanjuju kvalitetu života jesu starija dob, dijabetes tipa II te prisutnost makroangiopatija.Objectives: The aim of the research is to determine the quality of life of diabetic patients and to determine whether there is a difference in age, sex, duration of diabetes, type of diabetes, therapy and comorbidities. Study design: The study is a cross-sectional study. Participants and methods: The study included 165 Diabetic Patients of the General Practicioners Department of the Osijek Health Centre. The general questionnaire was used to collect the basic questionnaire, while the standardized Ferrans and Powers questionnaire was used to determine the quality of life index, which measures the results of the overall quality of life and the quality of life in 4 domains: health and functioning, social and economic, psychological and spiritual domains and families. Results: Median of the overall quality of life is 23.2 (scale ranges from 0 to 30). There is no significant difference in the overall quality of life or individual domains as compared to sex, duration of diabetes and therapy. The age is significantly associated with the overall quality of life and the family domain, which means that by increasing age the quality of life and quality of the family domain decreases. Minor health and functioning quality have patients with type II diabetes and patients with macroangiopathy. Conclusion: Quality of life is satisfactory in people with diabetes. Factors that reduce the quality of life are age, type II diabetes and the presence of macroangiopathy. Key words: comorbidity, diabetes mellitus, quality of life, questionnair

Self-disclosure decision making based on intimacy and privacy

Autonomous agents may encapsulate their principals' personal data attributes. These attributes may be disclosed to other agents during agent interactions, producing a loss of privacy. Thus, agents need self-disclosure decision-making mechanisms to autonomously decide whether disclosing personal data attributes to other agents is acceptable or not. Current self-disclosure decision-making mechanisms consider the direct benefit and the privacy loss of disclosing an attribute. However, there are many situations in which the direct benefit of disclosing an attribute is a priori unknown. This is the case in human relationships, where the disclosure of personal data attributes plays a crucial role in their development. In this paper, we present self-disclosure decision-making mechanisms based on psychological findings regarding how humans disclose personal information in the building of their relationships. We experimentally demonstrate that, in most situations, agents following these decision-making mechanisms lose less privacy than agents that do not use them. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Deletion of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Receptor 1 (TNFR1) Protects against Diet-induced Obesity by Means of Increased Thermogenesis*

In diet-induced obesity, hypothalamic and systemic inflammatory factors trigger intracellular mechanisms that lead to resistance to the main adipostatic hormones, leptin and insulin. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is one of the main inflammatory factors produced during this process and its mechanistic role as an inducer of leptin and insulin resistance has been widely investigated. Most of TNF-α inflammatory signals are delivered by TNF receptor 1 (R1); however, the role played by this receptor in the context of obesity-associated inflammation is not completely known. Here, we show that TNFR1 knock-out (TNFR1 KO) mice are protected from diet-induced obesity due to increased thermogenesis. Under standard rodent chow or a high-fat diet, TNFR1 KO gain significantly less body mass despite increased caloric intake. Visceral adiposity and mean adipocyte diameter are reduced and blood concentrations of insulin and leptin are lower. Protection from hypothalamic leptin resistance is evidenced by increased leptin-induced suppression of food intake and preserved activation of leptin signal transduction through JAK2, STAT3, and FOXO1. Under the high-fat diet, TNFR1 KO mice present a significantly increased expression of the thermogenesis-related neurotransmitter, TRH. Further evidence of increased thermogenesis includes increased O2 consumption in respirometry measurements, increased expressions of UCP1 and UCP3 in brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, respectively, and increased O2 consumption by isolated skeletal muscle fiber mitochondria. This demonstrates that TNF-α signaling through TNFR1 is an important mechanism involved in obesity-associated defective thermogenesis