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Copyright of Acta Stomatologica Croatica is the property of Acta Stomatologica Croatica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Collegium Antropologicum is the property of Croatian Anthropological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Before starting the implementation of integrated hospital information systems, the physicians' and nurses' attitudes towards computers were measured by means of a questionnaire. The study was conducted in Dubrava University Hospital, Zagreb in Croatia. Out of 194 respondents, 141 were nurses and 53 physicians, randomly selected. They surveyed by an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 8 closed questions about demographic data, computer science education and computer usage, and 30 statements on attitudes towards computers. The statements were adapted to a Likert type scale. Differences in attitudes towards computers between groups were compared using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney test for post-hoc analysis. The total score presented attitudes toward computers. Physicians' total score was 130 (97-144), while nurses' total score was 123 (88-141). It points that the average answer to all statements was between “agree” and “strongly agree”, and these high total scores indicated their positive attitudes. Age, computer science education and computer usage were important factors witch enhances the total score. Younger physicians and nurses with computer science education and with previous computer experience had more positive attitudes towards computers than others. Our results are important for planning and implementation of integrated hospital information systems in Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Collegium Antropologicum is the property of Croatian Anthropological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Collegium Antropologicum is the property of Croatian Anthropological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Dental age estimation of the adult human remains can often be of great importance in forensic identification cases. There are numerous existing methods for the dental age determination, as well as several statistical methods for estimation of dental age in adults available in contemporary forensic dentistry. The aim of the present study was to compare real dental age with dental age estimation by the method according to three different methods. The research was conducted on the 160 intact extracted human teeth with one and two roots of the known age and sex. The teeth were disinfected, dried and x-rayed. After that the section of the longitudinal cut through the teeth was performed in order to facilitate monitoring of all tissues and morphological characteristics of the teeth. The age was determined in three ways: Method 1 (Bang and Ramm, 1970) - analysis of the translucency of the root dentin, Method 2 ( Kvaal and Solheim, 1994)- analysis of the root and the root canal from the x-ray, Method 3 (Johanson, 1971) - analysis of six parameters on each teeth. All data were subject to the correlation and regression analysis which showed the following: all of the three applied methods were in the significant correlation with the real age, and the best of them proved to be Method 3 where the coefficient of correlation was 0.98, p<0.001. The teeth of the maxilla are more convenient for the age determination than the teeth of mandible. They are in the significant strong correlation with the known real age, and at the Method 3 the coefficient of correlation is 0.98, p<0.001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correlation is a statistical procedure applied to calculate association between two variables. The value of correlation is numerically shown by a coefficient of correlation, most often by Pearson's or Spearman's coefficient, while the significance of the coefficient is expressed by P value. The coefficient of correlation shows the extent to which changes in the value of one variable are correlated to changes in the value of the other. A sign preceding the coefficient of correlation(+or-) indicates the direction of correlation. The most frequent errors in calculating correlation are related to conditions for calculation, interpretation of the coefficient and correlation significance, high correlation coefficients, assumption of causal relationship, the strength of correlation (coefficient of determination), and comparison of two correlation coefficients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To investigate prognostic significance of several clinicopathologic parameters in patients with adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix. Methods We retrospectively studied 36 patients treated at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Zagreb University School of Medicine, Croatia, in the period from 1978-1998. Cox proportional hazard analysis was performed to examine the prognostic significance of menstrual status, clinical stage, architectural grade, nuclear grade, DNA ploidy, proliferative activity, and mode of therapy. Results The 5-year survival for this group of patients was 75%. The following parameters proved to be statistically significant in a univariate analysis: clinical stage (P = 0.042), architectural grade (P = 0.009), and nuclear grade (P = 0.002). In the multivariate analysis, the nuclear grade (P = 0.007) turned out to be the only statistically significant parameter. According to the nuclear grade, the five-year survival was 80% in the prognostically favorable and only 30% in the unfavorable group of patients. Conclusion Our data showed that in patients with adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix the nuclear grade, clinical stage, and architectural grade of the tumor represent the most important prognostic parameters. The analysis of DNA ploidy and proliferative activity had no prognostic significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To determine the prevalence of plagiarism among medical students in writing essays. Methods: During two academic years, 198 second year medical students attending Medical Informatics course wrote an essay on one of four offered articles. Two of the source articles were available in an electronic form and two in printed form. Two (one electronic and one paper article) were considered less complex and the other two more complex. The essays were examined using plagiarism detection software "WCopyfind," which counted the number of words from matching phrases with six or more words. Plagiarism rate, expressed as the percentage of the plagiarized text, was calculated as a ratio of the absolute number of matching words and the total number of words in the essay. Results: Only 17 (9%) of students did not plagiarize at all and 68 (34%) plagiarized less than 10% of the text. The average plagiarism rate (% of plagiarized text) was 19% (5-95% percentile=0-88). Students who were strictly warned not to plagiarize had a higher total word count in their essays than students who were not warned (P=0.002) but there was no difference between them in the rate of plagiarism. Students with higher grades in Medical Informatics exam plagiarized less than those with lower grades (P=0.015). Gender, subject source, and complexity had no influence on the plagiarism rate. Conclusions: Plagiarism in writing essays is common among medical students. An explicit warning is not enough to deter students from plagiarism. Detection software can be used to trace and evaluate the rate of plagiarism in written student assays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To estimate the attitudes of hospital nurses towards computers and the influence of gender, age, education, and computer usage on these attitudes. Methods: The study was conducted in two Croatian hospitals where integrated hospital information system is being implemented. There were 1,081 nurses surveyed by an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 8 questions about demographic data, education, and computer usage, and 30 statements on attitudes towards computers. The statements were adapted to a Likert type scale. Differences in attitudes towards computers were compared using one-way ANOVA and Tukey-b post-hoc test. Results: The total score was 120±15 (mean±standard deviation) out of maximal 150. Nurses younger than 30 years had a higher total score than those older than 30 years (124±13 vs 119±16 for 30-39 age groups and 117±15 for>39 age groups, P<0.001). Nurses with a bachelor's degree (119±16 vs 122±14, P=0.002) and nurses who had attended computer science courses had a higher total score compared to the others (124±13 vs 118±16, P<0.001). Nurses using computers more than 5 hours per week had higher total score than those who used computers less than 5 hours (127±13 vs 124±12 for 1-5 h and and 119±14 for <1 hour per day, P<0.001, post-hoc test). Conclusion: Nurses in general have positive attitudes towards computers. These results are important for the planning and implementing an integrated hospital information system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]