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The aim was to explore the factors associated with the financial burden (FB) of medical care, dental care, and medicines among older-aged people in Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia using EU-SILC 2017. The highest frequency of FB of medical care and medicines was in Croatia (50% and 69.1%, respectively) and of dental care in Slovenia (48.5%). The multivariate logistic regression analysis with FB as an outcome variable showed that the FB of medical care was associated with being married (OR: 1.54), reporting not severe (OR: 1.51) and severe limitations in daily activities (OR: 2.05), having higher education (OR: 2.03), and heavy burden of housing costs (OR: 0.51) in Slovenia, with very bad self-perceived health (OR: 5.23), having the slight (OR: 0.69) or heavy (OR: 0.47) burden of housing costs, making ends meet fairly easily or with some difficulty (OR: 3.58) or with difficulty or great difficulty (OR: 6.80) in Serbia, and with being married (OR: 1.43), having heavy burden of housing costs (OR: 0.62), and making ends meet fairly easily or with some difficulty (OR: 2.08) or with difficulty or great difficulty (OR: 2.52) in Croatia. The older-aged have the FB of healthcare, especially the poorest or those with health problems.

Objectives: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare malignancy in children. The aim of this study was to provide analysis of children with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated in a single institution., Methods and Materials: Between 1999 and 2016, fourteen pediatric patients with a diagnosis of undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma were treated in our institution, and the patients' clinical characteristics, treatment modality, outcome, and toxicity were analyzed., Results: The median age at diagnosis was 15,5 years. The gender ratio was 1:1. The majority of patients had regionally and/or locally advanced tumors and one had bone metastases at the time of diagnosis. All patients received chemotherapy before radiotherapy, with partial response in thirteen patients and complete response in one. Radiation dose to the primary tumor and involved cervical lymph nodes was 55-60 Gy, uninvolved cervical and supraclavicular regions received prophylactic radiation with dose of 45-50 Gy. Ten patients received adjuvant chemotherapy. Three-year progression-free rate and three-year overall survival (OS) rates were 75% and 73% respectively. Five-year progression-free rate was 65% and OS 63% respectively, and after ten years progression-free rate and OS remained the same. At the end of follow-up period, ten patients were alive, and four died. All of the patients that had distant metastases died. Most common late complications were skin fibrosis and xerostomia., Conclusions: Multimodal therapy of children with nasopharyngeal carcinoma is associated with long-term survival. It is expected that further advances in the management of these patients, with improved radiotherapy and chemotherapy, will reduce acute and late toxicity and improve quality of life of treated children., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Hop varieties that are mainly grown in Serbia are Magnum (German variety) and Aroma, which is grown only in the Vojvodina region. About the use of hops extracts as an auxiliary remedy there are divergent opinions. Our findings indicate that extracts of Magnum and Aroma varieties, among the others, enhance and prolong the analgesic action of paracetamol. For this reason we undertook a study of the effects of these extracts alone and in combination with paracetamol, along with the action of paracetamol alone, on the activity of the antioxidant enzymes GSHPx, CAT, Px, XOD, GSHR, glutathione content, LPx intensity, as well as activities of AST and ALT. Paracetamol in the dose applied exerted no influence on the investigated parameters and neither did ethanolic extract of Magnum variety. On the other hand, ethanolic extract of Aroma hops caused a significant reduction of GSH content. In combination with paracetamol, extracts of both Magnum and Aroma varieties reduced significantly the LPx intensity, activities of CAT and GSHPx, as well as GSH content in the liver homogenate. A significant increase in the AST value with respect to control was also observed. These findings indicate the disturbance in the functioning of hepatocytes, probably by decelarating metabolism and elimination of paracetamol.