Risk Factors in Asthmatic Patients in Croatia

The aim of this case-control study was to investigate whether some factors, that are associated with development of asthma, are significantly more present in the observed group of asthmatic patients, in comparison to the control group. Participants included 111 cases with asthma, and 108 controls with no asthma. Data obtained from cases and controls were compared according the sex. The study was performed using a specially developed questionnaire and data were collected from medical documentation of cases. Results showed that a significantly high proportion of cases had lower socio-economic status, higher proportion of atopic diseases, and were more exposed to dampness in working environment, and passive smoking, both at home and at work. Cases also exibited poorer sustainment of physical strains and psychological stresses, and considered their life quality was greatly reduced by asthma. Among asthmatic participants, there were fewer current smokers and non-smokers, and more ex-smokers

Building New University Hospital – What Citizens Know and Policy Makers Should be Aware of

Survey of citizens’ attitudes in the process of strategic decision making is one of the most important methods for determining health care priorities. We describe the results of a survey carried out in December 2001, with an aim to collect and analyze the attitudes of the citizens and health care professionals toward the possibilities and strategies of construction of the University Hospital in Blato, Zagreb. The first referendum on the construction of the new hospital was conducted among Zagreb citizens in 1982, when they agreed that the new University Hospital was much needed. Zagreb citizens confirmed once again their attitudes toward and opinions on the need to continue the construction of new hospital in the city outskirts. By 1992, when the construction of the hospital was halted due to insufficient financial means, Zagreb citizens had already invested over 150 million in the project. It is interesting that today, 89.4% of the citizens and 74.5% of physicians agree that the new hospital building should be completed. Also, 66.7% of the citizens and 88% of physicians think that this hospital should be a University hospital that could offer the most complex treatments and medical education. To finish the construction of the new hospital further 200 million needs to be invested. Survey showed that 71% of citizens and 82.2% of physicians think that funds should be raised from some form of credit or budget rather than by special local tax, additional tax or voluntary tax. This project will significantly determine the future of hospital and health care system in Croatia due to its capacities in terms of space, technology, and staff. Before the decision to continue with the new hospital construction be made, the expected future needs, demands, and supply of the health care services in hospital sector in Zagreb and Croatia should be provided using SWOT analysis for each of existing the facilities

The number of eggs in 1 kg of fish-roe of some warm-water fish species

This article discusses our analysis of over 2,000 articles published within 20 top business and management journals. The article empirically demonstrates how little attention is being paid by the work published within these journals to contemporary political issues across the globe. We also demonstrate the extent to which the same is true of `critical' journals such as Organization . To this end we argue that mass scholarly ranking mechanisms, such as the British Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), create a general state of myopia on the part of business and management scholars towards a variety of political issues, even making a virtue out of ignorance in this regard. We suggest that this is not simply a problem for critical management studies and proceed to raise the question of what the responsibility of business and management academia actually is

Oral Antibiotic Prescription in Ambulatory Care in 1999 – A Contribution to the Development of Methods for Drug Consumption and Prescription Surveillance Monitoring

The aim of the study was to estimate the consumption of antibiotic in ambulatory care. Oral antibiotic consumption in 1999 was analyzed in four pharmacies in the Zagreb area. The use of oral antibiotics in comparison with total drug consumption, the share of individual subclasses of oral antibiotics and the respective shares of individual products were also analyzed. The results obtained were expressed in terms of both the defined daily doses (DDD) and US$, and were compared with available national and international data. The study demonstrated a high share of oral antibiotics in the overall drug consumption, especially of newer and more expensive agents within individual subclasses of antibiotics. Further research is required to assess the rationale of such prescribing practices, especially in view of the current financial pressure on the Croatian health care system

Optimal waste cooking oil dosage in blends containing aged binder

This paper focuses on the influence of Waste Cooking Oil (WCO), as an alternative recycling agent, on physical and rheological properties of blends containing aged binder recovered from Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). The objective is to determine the WCO dose that would allow the blends to achieve the same characteristics as the Virgin Binder (VB) in terms of penetration, softening point, viscosity and rheological properties. In order to achieve this, the RAP binder (RAPB) is blended with the VB (penetration grade 50/70) in three different proportions, 15%, 30% and 45% of the total binder mass. Three different doses of WCO are added in blends with 30% and 45% RAPB, while no WCO was added in the blend with 15% RAPB. Results show that the optimal WCO dose is lower when tests producing lower strains in samples (Dynamic Shear Rheometer and penetration) are used, compared to tests producing higher strains (viscosity)

Influence of bio-based additives on RAP clustering and asphalt binder rheology

The use of high Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) content in Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) allows developing innovative materials for the construction and/or rehabilitation of sustainable infrastructures. The chemo-physical phenomena occurring during production of HMA containing high RAP content should be investigated and considered for the mix design optimization. In fact, when additives are used as rejuvenators of the aged bitumen, these phenomena can be affected causing significant variations in the mixture characteristics. This paper aims at studying the influence of two bio-based additives specifically on RAP clustering, phenomena which can significantly affect the performance of high-content RAP asphalt mixtures. The influence of the two additives on the clusters formation was evaluated as well as how these would change the rheological properties of the recovered binder. Results shows that selected additives decrease viscosity and complex modulus of the aged bitumen, while both of them significantly increase amount of new cluster

Fatigue resistance of a grid-reinforced asphalt concrete using four-point bending beam test

This paper presents an experimental study of the influence of a reinforcement system on fatigue resistance of asphalt concrete. For purpose of this research, unreinforced and grid-reinforced asphalt specimens were tested. Both groups of specimens were manufactured using non-standard method. A 1-ton roller had been used to prepare two-layered slabs with total height of 70 mm. Further, slabs were sawed to obtain beams 6 cm wide and 400 mm long. The total height of each beam was 50 mm, including 20 mm of the bottom layer and 30 mm of the upper layer. The reinforced specimens contained self-adhesive geosynthetic grid between layers. The four-point bending beam test, according to EN 12697-24:2012, was used for fatigue testing, while results were analyzed using various failure criteria. The experiment helped to quantify the extension of fatigue life that can be obtained by reinforcement, depending on the selected testing conditions and fatigue criteria