Evolution of Management and Investigations of Cerebrovascular Diseases in Croatia

The author presents the history of management of cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) in Croatia since the beginning of medical health service in the country in the 19th and its evolution to the end of the 20th century. The foundation of the Zagreb School of Medicine in 1917 had paramount importance for the development of neurology, during the first period within the common specialty of neuropsychiatry. The interest for the CVD in Croatia became evident in the sixties of the past century, particularly when neurology has become a separate specialty in 1974. Fast progress in the field of CVD resulted from clinical applications of basic research and after discovery of risk factors in their occurrence. These advances and the appearance of a new medical specialty: intensive medicine, stimulated in Croatia the organization of the first Neurological Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in 1971. Clinical experience and investigations of the first neurological ICU stimulated this approach to CVD in other big hospitals in Croatia and in the surrounding countries. The results of new management were presented on national and international meetings, especially on 5 Zagreb Symposia on CVD. The concept of comprehensive care for CVD patients was promoted, as a continuum of prevention, early treatment – if necessary in the ICU, followed by modern rehabilitation. The described efforts were stopped due to the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the last decade of the 20th century. The process has been reinstated with new enthusiasm and new teams at the beginning of the 21st century after the postwar consolidation in Croatia and in the region

Telemedicina i teleneurologija

Telemedicine is one of the most important and fastest developing branches of medical technology. The use of computer technology in medicine is a precondition for the development of infrastructure allowing for significant progress and better basis for team work. Over the past decades, the role of telemedicine has greatly expanded both worldwide and in Croatia. Its wide popularity has been supported by an ever growing number of projects revealing the possibilities and achievements of current medical technology. Employing telecommunication and computer technologies, telemedicine has opened way for remote diagnosis, therapy and follow-up of patients. Teleneurology has an important place in telemedicine. Neurology is a specialty the activities of which are closely linked to other specialties (radiology, neurosugery, vascular surgery), thus the exchange of experience among various specialists being of utmost importance. A special role of teleneurology implies the possibility of connecting small hospitals with large centers and departments. In such a configuration, telemedicine would provide an opportunity for the initial assessment of the patient’s condition, based on the contact with the physician of the patient himself, followed by appropriate triage decision and possible patient transfer from one to another center. In addition, this system would allow for the patient’s clinical follow-up by physicians from small hospitals, at the same time serving as a sophisticated and inexpensive form of education (making use of the material from large centers, information exchange, etc.).Telemedicina je jedna od najvažnijih i najbrže razvijajućih grana unutar medicinske tehnologije. Upotreba informatičke tehnologije u medicini preduvjet je za stvaranje infrastrukture koja omogućuje velik napredak i bolju osnovu za timski rad. Posljednjih nekoliko godina značenje telemedicine poprimilo je velike razmjere, kako u svijetu tako i u našoj zemlji. Njezinoj popularnosti pridonosi sve više projekata u kojima se pokazalo kakve su mogućnosti i dosezi današnje medicinske tehnologije. Uporabom telekomunikacijskih i informatičkih tehnologija telemedicina omogućava dijagnostiku, liječenje i kliničko praćenje bolesnika. Teleneurologija ima istaknuto mjesto unutar telemedicine. Naime, neurologija je struka rad koje je usko povezan s drugim strukama (radiolozi, neurokirurzi, vaskularni kirurzi), te je razmjena iskustava između stručnjaka raznih profila neophodna. Posebno značenje teleneurologije je mogućnost povezivanja manjih bolnica s većim centrima i klinikama. U kontaktu s manjim centrima uloga telemedicine bila bi učiniti početnu hitnu procjenu stanja bolesnika na temelju kontakta s liječnikom ili bolesnikom, te nakon toga donijeti odluku o trijaži i mogućem prijevozu bolesnika iz jednoga u drugi centar. Usto, ovaj bi sustav omogućio liječnicima iz manjih medicinskih centara kliničko praćenje bolesnika, a ujedno bi poslužio kao suvremen i jeftin način izobrazbe (upotreba materijala iz većih centara, razmjena informacija itd.)

An impact of Croatian journals measured by citation analysis from SCI-expanded database in time span 1975–2001

The aim of this research is to gain an insight into international recognition of the STM (Science, Technology, and Medicine) Croatian journals measured by citations in SCI-expanded database. The sample for the research was a citation analysis of 142 journals in time span 1975– 2001 for papers published in 1975– 1998. More than 90% of those journals are not indexed by SCI-expanded. For the purpose of this research we introduced a new scientometric indicator Normalized number of Citations per 100 Papers (NCP) that allows us direct comparison of the journals from various categories (NCP = 100C/P / IF1989). We chose the year 1989 as a mean value for time span 1975– 2001. By citation analysis we established the influence of errors on recognition of Croatian journals and their articles. Obtained results show that an article-to-article link is not found for 32% of cited items. The most frequent type of error is journal title, 37%, which indicates that approximately one third of Croatian journals can not be found when searching by journal title only. Some Croatian journals, even not indexed by SCI-expanded, showed relatively high rank in an impact, i.e. their NCP is higher than 100, and number of citations per paper is higher than 1