Vampires in the village Žrnovo on the island of Korčula: following an archival document from the 18th century

Središnja tema rada usmjerena je na raščlambu spisa pohranjenog u Državnom arhivu u Mlecima (fond: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) koji se odnosi na događaj iz 1748. godine u korčulanskom selu Žrnovo, kada su mještani – vjerujući da su se pojavili vampiri – oskvrnuli nekoliko mjesnih grobova. U radu se podrobno iznose osnovni podaci iz spisa te rečeni događaj analizira u širem društvenom kontekstu i prate se lokalna vjerovanja.The main interest of this essay is the analysis of the document from the State Archive in Venice (file: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) which is connected with the episode from 1748 when the inhabitants of the village Žrnove on the island of Korčula in Croatia opened tombs on the local cemetery in the fear of the vampires treating. This essay try to show some social circumstances connected with this event as well as a local vernacular tradition concerning superstitions

Neonatal cranial ultrasonography as predictor of 2 year outcome of very low birthweight infants

Abstract Real time ultrasound scans using an ATL 300C sector scanner with 5–7.5 MHz transducer were performed on days 1, 4, 7 and thereafter as clinically necessary on 153 consecutively discharged very low birthweight (VLBW) infants. One hundred and forty-six long-term survivors were assessed fully at 2 years. The prevalence of cerebroventricular haemorrhage (CVH) in these survivors was 34.2% (grade 1—21.2%; grade 2—4.8%; grade 3—3.4%; grade 4—4.8%), ventricular dilatation 19.9% (including 4.1% with ventriculoperitoneal shunt), and ischaemia 9%. Impairments at 2 years were classified as nil, mild, moderate, severe or multiply severe, based on the criteria of Kitchen et al. Overall, 120 infants (82.2%) were unimpaired and 6.2% had mild, 3.4% had moderate, 4.1% had severe and 4.1% had multiply severe impairment. The major factors associated with impairment were gestational age < 28 weeks, birthweight < 1000 g, vaginal delivery, respiratory distress syndrome, mechanical ventilation, pulmonary air leaks and CVH. When these factors were reanalysed in a logistic regression model for odds ratios, only CVH (P < 0.005) and birth by spontaneous vaginal delivery (P < 0.05) were significant. The prevalence of impairment was 11.4% with no CVH, 6.5% grade 1, 71% grade 2, 20.0% grade 3 and 100.0% grade 4 CVH. The sensitivity of CVH of grade 2 or greater as a screening test was 64.7% for impairment, 78.6% for cerebral palsy and 70% for severe intellectual handicap. The mean general quotient (GQ) (Griffiths) at 2 years for infants with CVH was 89.1, and 97.5 for those without CVH (P < 0.001). Although infants with ventricular dilatation had an average GQ that was 13.1 units less than those with normal ventricles, the difference was only significant in those with a CVH of grade 2–4. The study shows the sonographic diagnosis of CVH and ventricular dilatation, but not ischaemia, to be a useful adjunct in predicting impairment and intellectual performance in VLBW infants but does not replace the need for multidisciplinary follow-up