Search

Introduction: Intensive exercising may significantly damage muscles which is reflected in pain, fatigue and the increase of muscle proteins concentrations in blood such are creatinin kinase (CK), lactic dehydrogenase (LD), myoglobin (MB) and other biochemical parameters including urea serum concentration (SU). Biochemical markers vary with age, sex, race, muscle mass, physical activity and climate conditions. They also assist us in determining the limit between the capacity for adaptation to given training process which results in supercomepensation and in condition of overtraining (OT), in the case of load that exceeds the physiologic potential of regeneration. Concerning the problem of diagnosis and explanation of the symptoms of overtraining, markers that can apply reliably and with sufficient sensitivity and simplicity of interpretation in the praxis are sought. It is critical to take into account difference among individuals and groups that could hamper the interpretation. The most frequently used markers: The most frequently used biomarkers that provide us with the information on physical activity and on the amount of load through exercise are CK, SU and LD. Level of serum retaining kinas has been measured and interpreted for years as part of different scientific and professional investigations and presents one of basic parameters for determining the level of muscle damage. It reaches maximal concentration of the fourth day of exercising which depends on the type of exercise and the nature of stress triggered by exercise but also on individual characteristics. The level of serum urea presents marker of nitric compounds metabolism and is the principle chemical substance in the urine of mammals. It is thus possible to draw a parallel between the increases of serum urea concentration on increased degradations of proteins. Significant fall of serum amino acid levels occurs after sixty to seventy minutes of exercising with the increase of urea and free tyrosine and these changes have high correlation with the duration and intensity of. LD changes are important index of well-trained sportsmen and their capability to withstand the pace and force during strain in the training process. The level of LD is a good index of exercise intensity and marker of metabolic exchange in tissues whose concentration in serum is dependent of cell damage. Conclusion: There is not a single, unique parameter that would provide enough valuable information for the estimation of the quality of exercising, amount of load and identification of overtraining. Delayed measurement of biomarkers is far from ideal, but it is obvious that the amount of stress/ load in training is the most important factor for the development of state of overtraining. Daily body weight control, diet, biochemical indices values and the input of water should be known and standardized before measurements. For the most of parameters determination of basal levels are needed in specific populations for more accurate interpretation and evaluation of results. The sampling process itself should be under the most strict conditions of standardization by repeating measurement at least every third day. Dependence of mentioned parameters (SU, CK, LD) on exercise intensity varies among individuals and without these additional measurements and subpopulation evaluations it is difficult to come to conclusions with certainty as well as to come to conclusions on causative correlations of training load and dynamic in biochemical parameters., Sample size refers to the number (N) of subjects in a sample, and minimal sample size is defined as the minimal number of subjects per study group(s) needed to support a statistical significance of association or difference with appropriate power. Sample size should be determined before the start of the study by using power analysis. In statistical data analysis, the power of a test is defined as a probability of finding the statistical significance of association or difference between the variables in study groups (namely, an effect) if the same effect is present in the population (rough statistical vocabulary defines power as probability to reject the null-hypothesis when alternative one is true). Effect describes the relationship, and effect size measures its quantity (e.g., the difference in blood glucose levels of 4.5 ± 1.2 and 5.6 ± 1.2 mmol/L between two groups has an effect size of 1.1 mmol/L). While effect size in typical biomedical research is usually presented using non-standardized measures (an absolute effect size, such as the exact difference between the two groups in the previous example, and Pearson, Spearman or similar correlation coefficients as absolute association measures), the use of standardized measures of effect (e.g., Cohen's d) or effect size categories (small, medium or large effect) is most often suggested in sport and social sciences. In a typical experiment comparing measurements performed in two or more study groups, the effect size is determined using a 5% significance level (alpha error = 0.05) and at least 80% power (beta error = 0.2; power defined as 1–beta). It should be noted that the significance of an association/difference (alpha in hypothesis testing) is not the same as the strength (beta); therefore, both values should be known along with the expected effect size to calculate a minimal sample size. These calculations may be performed using free Internet sources (e.g., http://www.stat.ubc.ca/~rollin/stats/ssize/). The number of study groups does not depend on the study type and research field and determines the choice of appropriate statistical test. For example, if high and low glucose groups are compared with a control group, there are three groups in the study (for example, ANOVA test is required) rather than two, as might be reported (control vs. study groups, compared using t-test; and low vs. high glucose group, compared using another t-test)., Competitive demands on professional athletes affect musculosceletal system which can be damaged as a consequence of mechanical injury as well as some metabolic factors. Mechanical injury represents a direct damage to the muscle tissue, while an example of an indirect damage is limited vasodilatation and ischemia due to hypokaliemia subsequent to excessive sweating. Regular and moderate exercise provides beneficial health effects, but maximal exercise shows some adverse effects. Increased exercise intensity results in “blebs” creation on the myocytes plasma membrane surface, and release of cytoplasmatic contents without necrosis. In intensive training or in exercise of untrained people, when ischemia lasts longer, the blebs grow and cell necrosis occurs. The most useful markers of direct muscle damage are markers of muscle tissue functional status like creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LD), myoglobin, aldolase, and carbonic anhidrase III (CA-III). Usual increase of markers after exercise are up to 4-fold for CK and myoglobin, 2-fold for LD and AST while troponin shows a minimal increase. Daily training may result in increase in serum CK apparent as a higher baseline value in athletes. After exercise, CK and LD increase is higher in untrained subjects than in trained ones. The highest post-exercise serum enzyme activities are found after long competitive excercise like marathon. AST levels decrease within 24 hours, while level of CK and LD varies depending on the training type and rest protocols included in preparing for the next competition. Aldolase is used to evaluate muscle adaptation to training together with CK, especially because CK has no significant linear correlation with muscle functions following exercise. In training, myoglobin increases within 30 minutes and remains increased for 5 days so it is a good marker for monitoring the effectiveness of workload on muscle. Troponin T is released after exercise, and intense exercise shows bigger increase than prolonged exercise at moderate intensity. CA-III is a very good marker, present in skeletal muscle and not in myocardium, and its decrease is more rapid than for all mentioned enzymes. Markers of indirect damage are linked to oxidative stress (malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione, superoxide dismutase) and are not determined routinely. Urinary markers complete the estimation of muscle stress after exercise as myoglobinuria and haemoglobinuria appear 24–48 hours after excercise and usually disappear after 72 hours of rest. Using blood and urinary markers for assessing the muscle damage gives us a better understanding of beneficial and adverse effects of training., Every exercise lasting at least six minutes causes an acute phase inflammatory response. Exercise induced inflammatory response is mediated by an increase of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6. Levels of IL-6 increase up to 100-folds during exercise and decrease during post-exercise period. Inflammatory response is also characterized by an increase of anti-inflammatory cytokines, cytokine inhibitors IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) and soluble TNF receptor (sTNF-R). Summarized, exercise induces increase of IL-6 followed by an increase of IL-1RA and IL-10 and causes balance between proand anti-inflammatory exercise responses. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that IL-6 from miocytes inhibits endotoxin induced TNF-alpha production. The effects of different types and duration of exercise on inflammatory markers were examined in numerous studies. Reported serum CRP levels immediately after training were significantly higher in relation to baseline levels before the start of the exercise. The effect of exercise on CRP depended on the type of exercise but the levels after exercise were significantly lower in professional athletes than in untrained control subjects (except in soccer players). Furthermore, CRP levels in circulation could be a useful serum marker for estimation of athletes’ physical condition during the training program as well as the balance between physical capacity and intensity of exercise. Intensive aerobic exercise despite of CRP results in significant increase of sedimentation rate and leukocyte count with neutrophile predomination. Elevated levels of fibrinogen and IL-6 were also reported. All markers tend to decrease even below baseline levels during resting period. Stated above is the proof that regular physical activity reduces the risk of diseases associated with chronic systemic inflammation. Regular and moderate exercise therefore provide beneficial health effects, but exhausting exercise may cause overtrain syndrome and musculoskeletal sports injuries which impair homeostatic inflammatory responses to exercise. Overtrained athletes have low blood leukocyte count with depletion of neutrophils. CBC monitoring could provide a useful screening tool to determine when exercise is becoming too stressful. Exercise causes a large release of neutrophils from the bone marrow and too too intense, training program could deplete the bone marrow of its reserves of mature neutrophils. This is likely to make overtrained individuals more susceptible to infection. The homeostasis between beneficial and harmful inflammation that inhibits muscle regeneration after injury may depend on the local environment and presence of oxidative stress., During the past three decades, the field of redox biology of exercise has witnessed many remarkable developments and our knowledge about the biological implications of exercise-induced oxidative stress has expanded rapidly. Oxidative stress is defined as “a disturbance in the prooxidant/antioxidant balance in favor of the oxidants, leading to a disruption of redox signaling and control and/or molecular damage”. A common approach to assess exercise-induced oxidative stress in biological systems involves the measurement of the increase or decrease in a redox-sensitive molecule that responds to oxidative stress. In general, reliable laboratory markers of exercise-induced oxidative stress possess the following qualities: 1) chemically unique and detectable, 2) increased or decreased during periods of oxidative stress, 3) possess relatively long half-lives, and 4) not impacted by other cellular processes. Thus exercise alters redox homeostasis across body fluids, organs and tissues it is often characterized by the following parameters: 1) increase in the formation of radicals and other oxidants, 2) decrease in small-molecular-weight and/or lipid-soluble antioxidants, 3) disturbance in cellular redox balance, and 4) oxidative damage to cellular components. Hence, laboratory biomarkers of exercise-induced oxidative stress typically fall into one of four categories. Indeed, during exercise reactive oxygen species attack of lipids, protein, or DNA generates uniquely oxidized biomolecules that can be used as “fingerprints” to detect oxidative stress in cells. Common measures of bio-oxidation include the measurement of protein carbonyls as an indicator of protein oxidation; assessment of isoprostanes, malondialdehyde, and 4-hydroxyl-2-nonenol as signs of lipid peroxidation; and evaluation of DNA oxidation by assaying the levels of the oxidized base, 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine. With the necessary modifications, exercise is capable of inducing redox homeostasis alterations in all fluids, cells, tissues and organs studied so far. More importantly, exercise-induced oxidative stress is not specifically associated with a particular type of exercise, tissue or species. Rather, oxidative stress constitutes a ubiquitous fundamental biological response to the alteration of redox homeostasis imposed by exercise. Indeed, it is now appreciated that while high levels of free radicals can damage cellular components, low-to-moderate levels of oxidants play multiple regulatory roles in cells such as the control of gene expression, regulation of cell signaling pathways, and modulation of skeletal muscle force production. Redox biology of exercise, by nature multidisciplinary with integrative and comparative approaches, has been recognized as one of the key themes that will drive the exercise science in the future.

The Faculty of Health Studies, University of Rijeka in Croatia introduced a new course called Evidence based midwifery (EBM) for the university study course of Midwifery in 2015. The learning objectives of the course are improving medical education using evidence based medical databases researches and introducing the emerging category of the Internet of Things (IoT). The goal is to follow the improvement and frequency use of e-health tools by students during the next five years. At the basic level the course instructors introduced students to the definition, origin and purpose of evidence-based medicine, evidence-based midwifery and highlighting e-health applications as up-and-coming tools in midwifery. Through the course various examples of IoT in midwifery are provided to explain how e-health tools works providing smarter and more efficient experiences to users (patients). At the beginning of the course no one of the 25 students were introduced to EBM and no one student know what IoT means (N=25) and have never used an e-health tool. All midwifery students (N=25) were for the first time introduced in using e-health tools for patients: surveillance of expectant mothers (1), controlling medicines (2), baby monitoring (3) and reminder bottles (4). Students used individually a tool for surveillance based on monitoring conditions of expectant mothers at home and in hospitals on their Smartphone (N=17). All students learned how to use e-health tools improving patients’ surveillance. All students who attended the course expressed their satisfaction with the new gained knowledge in the field of medical informatics. The integration of real world application of IoT into midwifery education is a very important topic improving students’ knowledge and ICT skills.

Uvod: Mnogi karcinomi nastaju na mjestu infekcije, kronične iritacije i upale, a novija istraživanja pokazuju da sistemska upalna reakcija ima vrlo važnu ulogu u njihovom razvitku i širenju. Stanice karcinoma luče različite kemokine koji privlače upalne stanice kao što su neutrofilni granulociti, monociti i limfociti. U početku, upalne stanice potiču karcinom na rast tako što stvaraju povoljno mikrookruženje za njegov razvitak i angiogenezu. Međutim, upalni odgovor bi trebao imati i protutumorski učinak, ali u bolesnika s razvijenim karcinomom taj je odgovor promijenjen. Cilj: Cilj rada bio je ispitati postoji li razlika između omjera NLR i PLR u bolesnika s plućnim karcinomima i zdravih ispitanika te mogu li se omjeri NLR i PLR koristiti kao biljezi od dijagnostičke važnosti. Ispitanici i metode: Retrospektivno smo sakupili podatke o neutrofilnim granulocitima, limfocitima i trombocitima kod 449 bolesnika s karcinomom pluća i 47 zdravih ispitanika, te smo izračunali omjere NLR i PLR dijeljenjem apsolutnog broja neutrofilnih granulocita, odnosno trombocita s apsolutnim brojem limfocita. Rezultati: U svih bolesnika pronašli smo statistički značajne razlike između omjera NLR (P

Aim. To measure attitude toward plagiarism and personality traits of biomedical scientists’ to determine which personality traits predict plagiarism. Participants and Methods. The survey study was conducted during years 2012 and 2013 among 177 scientists, 131 research fellows and 46 authors of an article submitted to Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ). Scientists fulfilled three questionnaires: The Attitude Towards Plagiarism, The Dark Triad D3-27 and The Social Desirability Scale. The questionnaires were available on-line through SurveyMonkeyTM web service. Results. The total attitude towards plagiarism was moderate (58±16), approval attitude was moderate (25±8), disapproval attitude was high (30±4) and subjective norm for plagiarism was moderate (21±5). The incidence of plagiarism has been estimated from 32% to 46%, self-plagiarism from 26% to 32%, and 2% of respondents admitted plagiarism. Significant predictors of plagiarism were psychopathy and Machiavellianism. Psychopathy predicts disapproval attitude (8.41%) and subjective norm (3.61%) toward plagiarism while Machiavellianism predicts approval attitude toward plagiarism (2.56%). Predictor variable of disapproval attitude was also the country of provenience (2.56%). Social desirable responding was high. Conclusions and implications. Propensity to plagiarism was moderate to low, but given the high social desirability, the tendency can be interpreted as moderate. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism were significant predictors of the attitude towards plagiarism. Plagiarism can be predicted in cases of a high degree of psychopathy, visible from low disapproval attitude, in case of high Machiavelism present in approval attitude and in case of high subjective norm based on lack of moral values and less incentive environment.

Introduction. With the development of information technology, the collection of data has changed and during the years we have used different methods of survey collecting data: classical and online. The aim of this study was to compare different methods of data collection checking their advantages and disadvantages. Methods. We have been investigating the attitude toward plagiarism among university students and biomedical researchers. Attitude Towards Plagiarism Questionnaire (ATPQ) was used to measure students' (2009) and researchers' (2010 and 2013) attitudes with two different methods. The first method was classical directly paper-and- pencil method of collecting data used in 2009 (N=239). The second method was online data collection used in 2010 (N=295) and 2013 (N=177). We used the web-service SurveyMonkeyTM (SurveyMonkey, Palo Alto, California) to make our questionnaire easily accessible on-line for all the participants. Participants get an e-mail with an invitation to participate in the research. Every two weeks after the first invitation we send a reminder to fulfill the questionnaire. Results. Collecting data time was three months for every method of collection. Paper and pencil method required more organization and three interviewers in different places, and every survey took up to one hour with a high cost for questionnaire printing and interviewers payments. Response rate was 99% (N=238). We manually carried collected data into an MS Excel table, which requires four days of work and two researchers (because of the check). Online data collection required one researcher and one hour to send all the surveys. The collection data period was longer (up to two weeks), and because of the low response rates we had to repeat the survey three to four times. At all, the response rate was 38% (N=295) in 2010 and 29% (N=177) in 2013. Collected data were ready for statistical analysis. Discussion. Information technology has improved research methodology quality. We have reduced collecting data time and organizational efforts using online data collection services. However, response rate remains the main disadvantage of Internet data collection.

Tijekom akademske godine 2014./2015. na Fakultetu Zdravstvenih studija u Rijeci, za sveučilišni studijski smjer Primaljstva uveden je novi kolegij "Primaljstvo temeljeno na dokazima". Osnovni cilj kolegija bio je unaprijediti i osuvremeniti nastavu kroz usvajanje koncepata medicinske prakse temeljene na dokazima i korištenje medicinskih baza podataka temeljenih na dokazima u kliničkoj praksi primaljstva. Kolegij se sastoji od 10 sati predavanja i 5 sati seminarske nastave u sklopu koje studenti samostalno izrađuju seminarski rad prema prethodno odabranim temama iz Primaljstva temeljenog na dokazima. Studenti se upoznaju s definicijom, nastankom i svrhom medicine temeljene na dokazima i primaljstvom temeljenom na dokazima kao njezine izvedenice. Studenti također dobivaju uvid u medicinske baze podataka koristeći napredne strategije pretraživanja kao izvora relevantnih medicinskih informacija u pronalaženju dokaza. Nastava iz kolegija upoznaje studente teoretski i praktično s pretraživanjem baza podataka, prikupljanjem značajnih podataka kao što su standardni operacijski postupci, protokoli, kliničke smjernice, algoritmi te se studenti upućuju na samostalno traženje dokaza putem mrežnih pretraživača. Kako bi lakše savladali i bolje razumjeli organizaciju baza podataka studenti se upoznaju i s vrstama znanstvenih istraživanja, vrstama dokaza te hijerarhijom dokaza. Tijekom nastave savladavaju različite načine pretraživanja baza podataka. Aktivno sudjelovanje studenta u nastavi potiče se praktičnim radom u bazama podataka. Kao prvom koraku dobre kliničke prakse utemeljene na dokazima studenti se podučavaju postavljanju kliničkog pitanja prema PICO modelu (prema engl. Patient, Intervention, Comparison i Outcome), zatim traženjem dokaza. Klinička pitanja samostalno postavljaju unutar baze podataka PubMed Clinical Queries (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/clinical) i u bazi podataka temeljenoj na dokazima UpTo Date (http://www.uptodate.com/contents/search). Nakon što svladaju strategije pretraživanja medicinskih baza podataka, studente se podučava probiranju informacija i njihovom tumačenju. Posebice se uče kritičkoj prosudbi valjanosti i relevantnosti dokaza. Dakle, uče se evaluaciji dobivenih informacija kako bi s naučenim znanjima i vještinama uspostavili odnos između primalja i rodilja temeljen na dokazima. Prva generacija studenta iskazala je zadovoljstvo kolegijem i načinom predstavljanja gradiva.

Transplantacija krvotvornih matičnih stanica (KMS) je metoda koja se više od 30 godina koristi u liječenju kongenitalnih i stečenih zloćudih bolesti krvotvornog i imunosnog sustava. Razlikuje se transplantacija alogenih i autolognih KMS. U 28 bolesnika u razdoblju 2014.–2015. protočnom citometrijom u KB Dubrava odredili smo udio CD34+ KMS u leukocitnom koncentratu te smo uspostavili kratkotrajnu staničnu kulturu prastanica usmjerenih u granulocitne (CFU-GM, od engl. colony forming unit granulocyte macrophage) kolonije. Cilj ovog istraživanja je: prikupiti podatke o apsolutnom broju CD34+ KMS i CFU-GM kolonija u presatku bolesnika te prikazati navedene parametre u ovisnosti o brzini hematološkog oporavka mjerenog dostizanjem koncentracije neutorfila ≥0, 5 x 109/L u perifernoj krvi.

Cilj rada je usporediti pojavnosti i značajke plagiranja hrvatske i međunarodne znanstvene zajednice. Sustavnim pregledom i meta-analizom anketnih istraživanja utvrdit će se pojavnost i značajke plagiranja u međunarodnoj znanstvenoj zajednici, a potom će se osmisliti i provesti slično anketno istraživanje u hrvatskoj znanstvenoj zajednici. Dobiveni rezultati će se međusobno usporediti. U svrhu određivanja pojavnosti i značajki plagiaranja u međunarodnoj znanstvenoj zajednici putem sustavnog pregleda literature pretraženo je 35 bibliografskih baza i pet baza sive literature. Odabrana su anketna istraživanja koja mjere pojavnost i značajke znanstvenog plagiranja na način da postavljaju dva ključna pitanja ispitanicima: jesu li počinili oblik plagiranja i jesu li svjedočili obliku plagiranju kolege znanstvenika. Meta-regresijskom analizom istražena je povezanost pojedinih karakteristika ispitanika i metodoloških karakteristika istraživanja na pojavnost plagiranja. Po uzoru na anketna istraživanja prikupljena u sustavnom pregledu, izrađena je anketa i provedeno istraživanje u RH, preciznije pri Sveučilištu u Rijeci, kojim se određuje pojavnost i značajke plagiranja hrvatskih znanstvenika. Sustavnim pregledom znanstvene literature identificirano je 12 460 potencijalnih znanstvenih radova od kojih je, nakon čitanja sažetaka i cijelovitih tekstova radova, 17 anketnih istraživanja o pojavnosti i značajkama plagiranja uključeno u meta-analizu. Meta-analitički rezultati pokazuju da u međunarodnoj znanstvenoj zajednici 1, 7% znanstvenika priznaje vlastito plagiranje i 29, 6% znanstvenika priznaje da su svjedočili plagiranju kolege. Međunarodni znanstvenici s manje radnog iskustva (doktorandi) češće plagiraju od iskusnijih znanstvenika. Pojavnost plagiranja veća je u anketnim istraživanjima koja ne koriste izraz "plagiranje", koriste manje izravna pitanja i koja su osobno uručene, a ne poslane poštom. Tijekom posljednja tri desetljeća se smanjuje stopa prijavljivanja vlastitog plagiranja dok je stopa prijavljivanja svjedočenju plagiranja ostala nepromijenjena. Anketno istraživanje za mjerenje pojavnosti i značajki plagiranja u RH poslano je na 1 232 adresa e-pošte znanstvenika zaposlenih pri Sveučilištu u Rijeci od čega je 237 (19, 2%) znanstvenika ispunilo anketu. Ispitanici koji su odgovorili na anketu dolaze sa svih sastvnica Sveučilišta, no većina ih je zaposlena pri tri najveće sastavnice: Medicinski, Tehnički i Filozofski fakultet. Većina ispuitanika, njih 114 (48, 1%), se znanstvenim istraživanjima bavi više od 5, a manje od 20 godina. U hrvatskoj znanstvenoj zajednici utvrđeno je da 3, 8% znanstvenika priznaje vlastiti oblik plagiranja, dok 30, 4% priznaje da su svjedočili plagiranju kolege. Nisu pronađene statistički značajne razlike u učestalosti plagiranja s obzirom na znanstvenu disciplinu i radno iskustvo ispitanika. Hrvatski znanstvenici češće priznaju vlastito plagiranje i svjedočenje plagiranju kolege od znanstvenika iz međunarodne znanstvene zajednice (većinom iz SAD-a i UK-a). Hrvatski znanstvenici podjednako prijavljuju plagiranje s obzirom na godine radnog isustva i znanstvenu disciplinu, dok je kod međunarodnih znanstvenika veća zastupljenost plagiranja kod mlađih znanstvenika i podjednaka s obzirom na znanstvenu disciplinu.

Aim To construct and test the factorial structure and psychometric characteristics of a questionnaire measuring attitude towards plagiarism. Methods For the first versions of the questionnaire 67 statements were developed based on the relevant literature, after expert revisions the number of statements decreases to 36. For the validation process a research was conducted from March to June 2009. Participants were 227 undergraduates and graduate students (128 women and 99 men) from three Croatian universities, with a median age 21 years (range 18 to 48). Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to find out the factor structure of the questionnaire and to measure construct validity. The number of factors to retain was determined by the Scree-test and interpretability criteria. Results A three-factor structure was disclosed addressing different aspects of attitudes towards plagiarism: factor I - approving attitude towards plagiarism (12 items) ; factor II - disapproving attitude towards plagiarism (7 items) ; and factor III - subjective norms towards plagiarism (10 items). The final version of the questionnaire consisted of 29 items. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to confirm the reliability of the scale: factor I, a = 0.83 ; factor II, a = 0.79 ; and factor III, a = 0.85. Correlations among factors were: –0.37 between I and II, –0.41 between I and III and +0.31 between II and III. Conclusion Attitudes Towards Plagiarism (ATP) questionnaire has been developed with good psychometric requirements. The Croatian version of the ATPQ has been retested in 2013, confirming the obtained factor structure. The English version was used in different researches measuring attitudes towards plagiarism in USA, SAR, Thailand, Pakistan, Malaysia, Latvia, Philippines, Indonesia...etc. It will be still used in future research as a standardized tool for measuring attitudes towards plagiarism.

Cilj i ustroj studije: Cilj ovog rada je ispitati korisnost programa za poslovnu inteligenciju (BI) u upravljanju podatcima i procesima u medicinsko- biokemijskom laboratoriju. Cilj je da se primjenom programa za poslovnu inteligenciju dohvate informacije na temelju velikog broja podataka koje bi na bilo koji drugi način bilo gotovo nemoguće iscrpsti. Postupci: Istraživanje je provedeno u Kliničkom bolničkom centru Rijeka, Kliničkom zavodu za laboratorijsku dijagnostiku (KZLD) koji u svom radu koristi laboratorijski informacijski sustav BioNET LIS, tvrtke In2, Zagreb, koji obuhvaća i modul za poslovnu inteligenciju (BI modul). Laboratorijski podatci sadrže velike količine informacija pa je priređena podatkovna kocka, na temelju koje su se postavili željeni upiti. Analizirani su podatci svih laboratorija KZLD KBC Rijeka u razdoblju od 1. lipnja do 31. prosinca 2014. godine. Rezultati: Analizom podataka utvrđeno je da se samo kod 12% bolesnika sa sumnjom na infarkt miokarda poštuju stručne smjernice o mjerenju troponina. Nadalje, udio uzoraka s povišenom koncentracijom kreatin kinaze vrlo je mali na odjelima: Odjel za neurologiju Klinike za pedijatriju, Klinika za neurokirurgiju – kirurško liječenje bolesti živčanog sustava, Hitna pedijatrijska ambulanta, 2 (0, 002%) bolesnika, što čini upitnim mjerenje tog analita. Analizom broja pretraga prema liječnicima, pronađeno je da najviše zahtjeva za hematološkim pretragama dolazi od pojedinog liječnika s Odjela za hematologiju i onkologiju Klinike za pedijatriju (41.976), dok za biokemijskim pretragama najveća potražnja pristiže od pojedinog liječnika s Odjela reumatologije i kliničke imunologije Klinike za internu medicinu (152.100). Od ukupnih nalaza, najveći udio patoloških imali su bolesnici iz Centra za hitnu medicinu lokaliteta Rijeka, 53, 196 (7%) te Centar za hitnu medicinu lokaliteta Sušak, 64.130(8%). Najveće vršno opterećenje laboratorijskog prijema uzoraka jest u 8 sati ujutro. Nakon 12 sati zatraženo je 7% od svih zahtjeva za mjerenjem koncentracije željeza u krvi, a koje nisu bile hitne pretrage što upućuje na upitnu opravdanost takvih zahtjeva. Zaključci: Sustavi za poslovnu inteligenciju vrlo su korisni za uspješno upravljanje laboratorijem. Upotreba sustava za poslovnu inteligenciju ne znači samo analize velikih količina već prikupljenih laboratorijskih podataka, nego su učinkovit alat u optimizaciji laboratorijskih procesa. Osim što su potpora rutinskom radu i medicinskom odlučivanju, sustavi za poslovnu inteligenciju su korisni za gospodarska i strateška odlučivanja i u sustavu zdravstva.

(1) Istražiti i vrednovati nastavni izvedbeni program i sustava ocjenjivanja studenata tijekom nastave izrađenog po kriterijima Bolonjskog procesa sukladno Pravilniku o studiju Sveučilišta u Rijeci.(2) Ispitati zadovoljstvo studenata sa sadržajem i organizacijom kolegija te sustavom vrednovanja rada studenata. Rezultati istraživanja primijenit će se u nastavi medicinske informatike slijedeće akademske godine (2009./2010.) na studente svih studija Medicinskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci s ciljem poboljšanja kvalitete nastave i prilagođavanja nastave studentima.U istraživanju su sudjelovali studenati preddiplomskog sveučilišnog studija Organizacija, planiranje i upravljanje u zdravstvu tijekom ak. g. 2008./2009. (N=28, 23 žene, dob 19(18-20) i 2007./2008. (N=22, 20 žena, dob 19(18-33). Podatci su prikupljeni s pomoću anonimnog upitnika s pitanjima o demografskim značajkama, uporabi računala i interneta, zadovoljstvu organizacijom i sadržajem nastave iz Medicinske informatike i biostatistike. Upitnik je ispunilo 27 od 28 studenata 2008./2009. i 17 od 22 studenta 2007./2008. akademske godine. Svi studenti pohađali su nastavu prema izvedbenom programu sukladnim s Bolonjskim procesom, a samo je skupina 2008./2009. i vrednovana sukladno novom sustavu. Mišljenja studenata o kvaliteti bolonjskog sustava obrazovanja prikupljena su s pomoću SWOT (od engl. Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) obrasca u 2008./2009. ak. g. podijeljenog u četiri dijela, dva za unutarnje čimbenike (prednosti i nedostaci) i dva za vanjske (mogućnosti i opasnosti). Prema upitniku, razlike u demografskim značajkama između dvije studentske skupine nema. Svi studenti rekli su da se koriste računalom, internetom i e-poštom. Ocjena organizacije nastave iz dijela kolegija medicinska informatika statistički se ne razlikuje među dvije studentske skupine (4, 3± 0, 8 za 2007./08. vs. 4, 2± 0, 8 za 2008./09. ; P=0, 755) kao niti ocjena organizacije nastave iz dijela kolegija biostatistika (4, 2± 0, 8 za 2007./08. vs. 4, 2± 0, 8 za 2008/09 ; P=0, 835). Zadovoljstvo sadržajem nastave iz medicinske informatike (4, 0± 0, 9 za 2007./08. vs. 4, 0± 0, 8 za 2008./09. ; P=0, 926) i iz biostatistike (4, 3± 0, 7 za 2007./08. vs. 4, 1± 0, 8 za 2008./09. ; P=0, 417) statistički se ne razlikuje u dvije studentske skupine. Statistička razlika u ocjeni organizacije nastave između dijela kolegija medicinska informatika i biostatistika za 2008./09. nije pronađena (P=0, 537), kao niti u zadovoljstvu sadržajem nastave (P=0, 591). Studenti 2008./09. akademske godine ocjenjivali su zadovoljstvo sustavom vrednovanja za medicinsku informatiku (3, 6± 1, 1) i za biostatistiku (3, 8± 1, 0) te korisnost seminarskog rada u malim skupinama do pet studenata (4, 2± 1, 1). Studenti skupine 2007./08. imaju značajno višu (P=0, 002) ukupnu ocjenu kolegija nakon prvog izlaska na ispit (3, 5± 0, 7) od studenta iz skupine 2008./09. (2, 7± 0, 8). SWOT obrazac ispunilo je 20 studenata skupine iz 2007./2008. Najčešće nabrojene prednosti su: kontinuirano provjeravanje i vrjednovanje studenata na vježbama i seminarima, kontinuirani rad i praćenje nastave te dobra komunikacija s nastavnicima i ostalim studentima tijekom nastave. Najčešći nedostaci su: premalo vremena za usvajanje složenijih informacija (kratko trajanje nastave), loša informiranost nastavnika i studenata o Bolonjskom procesu, slaba organizacija i rascjepkanost nastave tijekom cijelog dana što ne ostavlja dovoljno vremena za kvalitetno učenje. Nabrojeni vanjski čimbenici podudarni su mogućnostima koje nudi bolonjski sustav poput mobilnosti studenata, mogućnost usvajanja velikog dijela gradiva na vježbama i seminarima, osnivanje studentskih udruga za dodatno usavršavanje i interdisciplinarnost studija razdvajanjem na dvije razine (preddiplomski i diplomski), dok su najčešće opasnosti slijedeće: loše infrastruktura koja NE prati promjene u obrazovanju, nedostatna komunikacija s voditeljima studija i mentorima, nemogućnost opravdanog izostanka s nastave te prebrzi ritam i prekratko trajanje turnusne nastave.Rezultati upitnika upućuju na zadovoljstvo studenata organizacijom i sadržajem nastave, ali u slobodnom izražavanju stava (SWOT) istaknuti su nedostatci. Složenost sustava i loša obaviještenost i studenata i nastavnika, neprimjerena programska računalna potpora nastavu čini iznimno napornom svima, a studenti pri tom ne osjete poboljšanja. Studenti vrednovani na način potpuno prilagođen bolonjskom sustavu ostvarili su značajno niže ocjene od studenata koji su vrednovani tradicionalnim sustavom.

Procijeniti vrijednost programske računalne potpore (eTBlast, WCopyfind i Deja vu) za usporedbu teksta i otkrivanje plagiranja za istraživanje učestalosti plagiranja i samoplagiranja znanstvenih radova u postupku objavljivanja na primjeru časopisa Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ). Studija je ustrojena kao pilot istraživanje znanstvenog projekta MZOŠ-a: "Učestalost i stavovi o neovlaštenom preuzimanju autorskog vlasništva". Programskom potporom provjereni su radovi zaprimljeni u časopis CMJ. Postupak se provodio u tri dijela. U prvom dijelu sažetci radova provjereni su eTBlast mrežnom uslugom koja provjerava podudarnost s već objavljenim sažetcima dostupnim u bazi podataka Medline. Rezultat pretraživanja jest popis pronađenih sličnih radova poredanih prema udjelu podudarnog teksta s istaknutim dijelovima koji se podudaraju. Radovi s podudarnim sažetcima ispitani su u cijelosti s pomoću programa WCopyfind. WCopyfind ne pretražuje mrežu, već raščlanjuje tekstove koje zadaje korisnik, međusobno uspoređujući dva ili više tekstova tražeći istovjetne dijelove. Završni dio raščlambe sastoji se u pregledavanju pronađenih podudarnih dijelova teksta od strane istraživača kako bi se utvrdilo koji je dio teksta podudaran i na koji dio članka se odnosi. Autori članaka sumnjivih na plagiranje provjereni su u Deja vu bazi podataka o dvostrukim i podudarnim publikacijama. Uporabom programa utvrđeno je postojanje podudarnog teksta u četiri članka od ukupno 30 radova zaprimljenih u postupak recenzije u CMJ od siječnja do ožujka 2009. g. Rad s najvećim udjelom podudarnog teksta sadrži sažetak s 35% podudarnosti, a u cjelovitom tekstu 15% podudarnosti s već objavljenim radom pronađenim eTBlast-om. Podudarni tekst nalazi se najvećim dijelom u odjeljku materijali i metode te manje u rezultatima i zaključcima. U drugom je primjeru pronađeno samoplagiranje, udio prepisanog teksta u sažetku iznosio je 5%, a cjelovitom tekstu 17% u usporedbi s već objavljenim člankom prvog autora. Tekst rada poslanog u CMJ u uvodu sadrži značajne dijelove teksta iz zaključaka već objavljenog rada i veću podudarnost u materijalima i metodama. Mali udio podudarnog teksta pronađen je u trećem slučaju, 2 % u sažetku i 3% u cjelovitom radu uspoređujući s već objavljenim radom istih autora. U četvrtom članku pronađeno je 30% podudarnog teksta u sažetku s objavljenim radom drugih autora, međutim cjeloviti tekst rada nije imao podudarnosti (0%). Prilikom tumačenja rezultata dobivenih računalnom obradbom provjereno je u kojem dijelu rada se nalazi podudarni tekst (opis standardnih metoda ili podudarni literaturni izvori ne mogu smatrati jednakima kao podudarnost u rezultatima, raspravi ili zaključcima) i završna ocjena o podudarnosti moguća je samo nakon procjene istraživača. Autori pronađenih podudarnih članaka pretraženi su u Deja vu bazi podataka, rezultati upućuju kako nitko od ispitivanih do sada nije registriran kao autor dvostrukih i podudarnih publikacija. eTBlast i WCopyfind programi su pogodni za otkrivanje plagiranja u svrhu probiranja, no rezultate treba obvezno provjeriti pregledom podudarnog teksta i tumačiti. Programska potpora još se uvijek ne može pouzdano rabiti bez provjere stručnjaka. Nastavkom istraživanja ispitat će se učestalost plagiranja i samoplagiranja radova u časopisu CMJ što će omogućiti izradbu smjernica urednicima za uporabu dostupne programske potpore za otkrivanje plagiranja u postupku objavljivanja.

Research integrity is fundamental value of both scientists and science, medical especially, because results usually have immediate impact on human health. Thus, integrity and honesty of scientific work are its inherent characteristics that define the meaning of science, whilst dishonesty and fraud restrain it. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty, “illegitimate appropriation of intellectual property, ideas, methods, results, text, speech or thought for the purpose of displaying as its own.” Plagiarism does not enlarge human knowledge at all, but brings to perpetrator (author) undeserved credits. The problem has been recognized worldwide, as well as at the Rijeka University by the Forum for Ethics and Development of Science and Higher Education by expressing the view that plagiarism is a "sign of universal prostitution in which cheating becomes legitimate way to earn money." Act of plagiarizing has been explored by our team from the Department of Medical Informatics for the past fifteen years. Following our previous research we set three-year study with three main objectives: to measure attitude of scientists towards plagiarism and identify factors that determine it, in parallel by measuring personality characteristics, to research the prevalence of plagiarism in three Croatian biomedical journals (Croatian Medical Journal, Biochemia Medica, and Acta Stomatologica Croatica), and to determine the characteristics of scientific plagiarism in overall international scientific community by systematic review and meta-analysis of published scientific studies that measure the prevalence of plagiarism using questionnaires or computer programs to detect plagiarism. Design of the study will be presented with expected research objectives, methodology and proposed statistical analysis of data. (Study is supported by the project 13.06.1.2.29 of the Rijeka University.)

Integrity is fundamental value for scientists, especially for medical science which results have immediate impact on health. Plagiarism is form of dishonesty, “illegitimate appropriation of intellectual property, ideas, methods, results, text, speech or thought for the purpose of displaying as its own.” Plagiarism can be prevented by using software (computer installed, on Internet) for examination of all scientific papers before publication or reviewing process and education. This article explains past and future research projects of our Department.

Cilj Izmjeriti stav o plagiranju znanstvenika s područja biomedicine i utvrditi njihove namjere plagiranja. Odrediti postoji li razlika u stavu između znanstvenih novaka i autora znanstvenih članaka. Metode i ispitanici Za mjerenje stavova o plagiranju korišten je upitnik Stav o plagiranju (SoP), koji mjeri ukupan stav i faktore koji ga tvore: pozitivan i negativan stav i subjektivnu normu za plagiranje. Ispitani su znanstveni novaci s područja biomedicine u Hrvatskoj i skupina autora koja je poslala rad za objavu u časopisu Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ autori) tijekom 2009. godine. Od ukupno 771 pozvanih na sudjelovanje u istraživanju upitnik je u cijelosti ispunilo 239 ispitanika. Znanstvenih novaka bilo je 171, a CMJ autora 68. Žena je bilo 139, muškaraca 100. Prosječna dob ispitanika iznosila je 32 godine s rasponom od 24 do 71 godine. Rezultati Izmjereni stav o plagiranju znanstvenika bio je umjeren i iznosio je 60 bodova. Pozitivan stav i subjektivna norma znanstvenika za plagiranje bili su umjereni (26 bodova i 22 boda), dok je negativan stav bio visok (29 bodova). Znanstveni novaci su iskazali značajno niži stav o plagiranju od CMJ autora (56 vs. 65 bodova ; P=0, 020). Zaključak Ispitani znanstvenici iskazali su umjerenu sklonost plagiranju, što je izuzetno zabrinjavajuće, jer se od akademske zajednice očekuje znanstveno poštenje. CMJ autori skloniji su plagiranju od znanstvenih novaka. Dobiveni rezultati potkrepljuju nužnost edukacije o znanstvenoj čestitosti ne samo tijekom obrazovanja znanstvenika već i kasnije tijekom njihovog radnog vijeka sa svrhom prepoznavanju i suzbijanja znanstvenog nepoštenja.

The etiology and epidemiology of obstructive jaundice in Continental Croatia has been studied in 174 patients. The objective of this research was also to explore the importance and efficiency of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) as a non-surgical method of treatment of obstructive jaundice in the population of Continental Croatia. Obstructive jaundice is the illness of elderly population which is also confirmed by the information on the average age of our patients. The frequency of illness is higher among female population, and the most frequent cause of obstructive jaundice are gallstones (54.1% of patients). In 29.8% of patients the primary or secondary malignant disease was the cause of blockage in gall flow and subsequent jaundice, and the most frequent malignant cause of obstructive jaundice is pancreas cancer in 11.5% of patients. The mean value of serum concentrations of total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and gamma glutamiltransferase 24 hours before the biliary decompression by ERCP has been significantly above the upper referential value, and 24 hours after the ERCP it has dropped to normal with their statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001). The normal values of markers for synthetic liver function (total proteins and prothrombin time) have been noticed as well as elevated values of inflammatory markers in obstructive jaundice independently of etiology. Out of the total number of patients, 37.7% required the surgical treatment while 60.3% of patients were treated by ERCP, i.e. either the stone extraction or the implantation of endobiliary stent was performed.

We conducted the first systematic review of data assessing the prevalence of plagiarism and the perception of its causes among the scientific community.

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major medical health problem associated with significant morbidity and mortality. VTE is a multifactorial disease, resulting from a complex interaction of genetic and acquired factors. The incidence and characteristics of VTE in Croatia has not been well described. Aims: To investigate non inherited causes of VTE among newly diagnosed patients with secondary VTE in Croatia. Methods: Croatian Cooperative Group for Hematologic Diseases (CROHEM) conducted observational non interventional epidemiological study from January 1st until December 31st 2011 analyzing medical records of newly diagnosed patients with VTE from 5 major general hospitals (Sibenik, Knin, Koprivnica, Slavonski Brod, and Varazdin) in 4 different Croatian counties (Sibenin-Knin County, Koprivnica-Krizevci County, Brod-Posavina County, and Varazdin County). Study was approved by a medical ethics committee of each hospital. Methods: There were 642 new cases of VTE in 2011 ; 389 (60.59%) of them with deep vein thrombosis (DVT), 218 (33.96%) with pulmonary embolism (PE), and 35 (5.45%) cases of both conditions. There were 280 (43.6%) males (median age 65 years) and 362 (56.4%) females (median age 74 years, P < 0.001 compared to male). Among them, 371 (57.8%) were secondary and 271 (42.2%) were idiopathic VTE. Recidivism of VTE was diagnosed in 78 patients (12.15%). There was no difference in recidivism between secondary and idiopathic VTE. Although patient population with VTE was in general old (median age 71 years), patients with secondary VTE were younger than those with idiopathic VTE (median age 69 vs. 74 years, P < 0.001). There was no gender difference between them. The most frequent causes of secondary VTE were cancer (40.4% of secondary VTE) and trauma, surgery and immobilization (37.5% of secondary VTE), while other causes of secondary VTE were less frequent (other diseases (e.g. neurological diseases with paralysis, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases) (17.9%), sepsis (9.7%), central venous catheter (3.25%), pregnancy [2.16% of secondary VTE]). More than one non inherited risk factor for VTE had 43.40% of patients with secondary VTE. Among all 642 VTE patients, 69 (10.75%) died, 35 (50.73%) of them having VTE as a main cause of death. More patients died among secondary VTE (55 deaths of 371 secondary VTE, 14.8%) than among idiopathic VTE patients (14 deaths of 271 idiopathic VTE, 5.2%) (P < 0.001). Summary/Conclusion: Many cases of secondary VTE had more than one underlying non inherited condition for development of VTE. The most common risk factors for VTE were malignancy, trauma, surgery, and immobilization. Secondary VTE had higher mortality than idiopathic VTE. As non inherited risk factors for VTE, such as surgery and cancer, are applicable to more people, improved thromboprophylaxis in these settings might substantially lower the incidence of VTE.

The aim was to develop standard operating procedure for detecting plagiarism in the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ). The procedure was developed on the basis of previous investigations of plagiarism prevalence in CMJ during 2009.-2010. In this investigation, manuscripts were first automatically checked with eTBLAST and CrossCheck. Then, manuscripts that were derived from published sources more than 10% of text were analyzed with WCopyfind software, and those with more than 10% of similar text were afterwards manually verified to confirm plagiarism. Names of the authors were checked in the Déjà vu database. All together, during those two years, 754 manuscripts were checked, whereas 11% of them were found to be plagiarized, 3% self-plagiarized. Only 1% of authors of suspected manuscripts were found in the Déjà vu database. Ten plagiarism reports (in Croatian) were sent to the editors to make a final decision about the manuscript. Standard operating procedure for detecting plagiarism was modified from the initial model. The CrossCheck was more powerful than eTBLAST (98% vs. 33%) in detecting similar text and CrossCheck only is used to scan manuscripts submitted in CMJ now. The check in the Déjà vu database is also omitted. The plagiarism report is in English and is sent to all authors along with the decision about the manuscript. The explanation for high level of text similarity is asked from all authors that have 50% or more text similarity in their manuscripts according to the COPE flowchart.The institution is also notified about the case.

Duplication is easily detected by software, yet it remains a problem. Ten experts explain how to stamp it out.

Razvoj računalnih tehnologija omogućuje jednostavan pristup informacijama, ali i njihovu zlouporabu. Problem se posebno ističe u djelatnostima poput znanosti, informatike ili književnosti. Plagiranjem se smatra preuzimanje tuđih ideja ili teksta bez navođenja izvora, i prikazivanje preuzetoga vlastitim. Kao odgovor na plagiranje, 80-ih godina prošlog stoljeća počinju se razvijati računalni programi za otkrivanje plagiranja u tekstovima. Danas postoje programi koji otkrivaju akademsko i znanstveno plagiranje. TurnitIn i SafeAssign su najučinkovitiji kod otkrivanja akademskog, a CrossCheck i eTBLAST kod znanstvenog plagiranja. Programi se sastoje od algoritma za otkrivanje sličnosti, pripadajuće baze podataka i mrežnih stranica s kojima uspoređuju promatrani rad. Unatoč brojnim prednostima, računalni programi za otkrivanje plagiranja još uvijek imaju značajne nedostatke koje treba nadvladati.

Računalni programi za usporedbu teksta pronalaze podudarnost u dijelovima teksta, a plagiranim se smatra podudaran tekst u nizu od 6 i više riječi. Ako program pretražuje i Internet, zovemo ga mrežnom uslugom. Program WCopyfind uspoređuje predočene tekstove bez obzira na jezik te izračunava udio podudarnog teksta. Mrežna usluga eTBLAST uspoređuje tekst sa sažetcima u bazi podataka Medline, a kao rezultat daje podudarne sažetke. Mrežna usluga CrossCheck omogućuje pretraživanje znanstvenih sadržaja na internetu i u bazi podataka CrossCheck (25 mil. radova iz 48 tis. časopisa). Istraživanje je nastavak pilot-istraživanja iz 2009. g., željeli smo usporediti najviše korištene računalne programe za usporedbu znanstvenog teksta u svrhu provjere pojavnosti, vrsta i učestalosti plagiranja prilikom zaprimanja znanstvenih radova na primjeru medicinskog časopisa Croatian Medical Journal. Tvoriva: Svi radovi (N=754) zaprimljeni u Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) tijekom 2009. i 2010. god. uspoređeni su s objavljenim znanstvenim sadržajem programima za usporedbu teksta (eTBLAST, CrossCheck, WCopyfind). Postupci: U postupku utvrđivanja pojavnosti plagiranja korištena su dva kriterija. Prvi kriterij je podudarnost 6 i više istovjetnih riječi u nizu. Drugi kriterij je udio podudarnosti teksta veći od 10%. Postupak se provodio u tri dijela. Prvi dio obuhvaća probir sumnjivih radova programima eTBLAST (prema 1. kriteriju) i CrossCheck (prema 2. kriteriju). Drugi dio uključuje utvrđivanje točnog udjela podudarnosti tekstova sumnjivih radova programom WCopyfind. Radovi s udjelom podudarnosti većim od 10% smatraju se sumnjivim te raščlanjuju po odjeljcima WCopyfind-om.Odjeljci s više od 10% podudarnosti teksta smatraju se plagiranim. Završni dio obuhvaća pregled sumnjiva rada i izvornika od strane istraživača kako bi se donio zaključak je li rad plagijat. Od ukupno 754 zaprimljenih radova 105 (14%) radova s više od 10% podudarnosti teksta pronađeno je mrežnim uslugama eTBLAST i CrossCheck te smatrano sumnjivim na plagiranje. Po završetku pregleda teksta sumnjivih radova i izvornika od strane istraživača zaključeno je da je 85 (11%) radova plagirano. Od 85 plagiranih radova, 63 rada su plagirana, 22 samoplagirana. Raspon udjela podudarnog teksta u plagiranim radovima bio je od 11%-82%, prosječno 25% (95% CI 25%-37%) teksta rada. Podjednak udio podudarnosti teksta nađen je u plagiranim i samoplagiranim radovima (P=0, 633). Računalni programi za usporedbu teksta mogu se koristiti u svrhu probira radova sumnjivih na plagiranje, no rezultate treba dodarno provjeriti usporedbom i tumačenjem podudarna teksta. Programi za provjeru pojavnosti plagiranja vrijedna su pomoć i njihova se uporaba može preporučiti kao standardna metoda za sprječavanje objavljivanja plagiranih tekstova.

The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of the undergraduate grade point average in prediction of scientific production of research trainees during their fellowship and later in career. The study was performed in 1,320 research trainees whose fellowships from the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports were terminated between 1999 and 2005. The data were analyzed using logistic regression. The results indicated that undergraduate grade point average was negatively associated with scientific productivity both during and after the fellowship termination. Other indicators, such as undergraduate scientific productivity exhibited much stronger positive association with scientific productivity later in career and should be given more weight in candidate selection process in science and research.

Prevalence of Plagiarism in Medical Journal

Attitudes Towards Plagiarism among Students in Croatia

Dental age estimation is common in clinical orthodontics, pedodontics, paleodontology and forensic dentistry. The aim of this study was to assess chronological course of pre-eruptive and eruptive development phase of third molars and to establish parameters for a sample of Croatian population in clinical and forensic dentistry. Materials and Methods: Sample of this study consisted of 1249 standard OPGs ; there were 530 (42.4%) male and 719 (57.6%) female subjects whose OPGs were used, aged 10 to 25 years. Eruptive phases were classified in 4 stages, from A to D according to Olze et al. Results: results on third molar eruption are in accordance with earlier publications on Caucasoid. Conclusion: results of this study can be used in clinical and forensic research on samples of Croatian population.

Pilot study included 84 abstracts of manuscripts submitted to Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ ; www.cmj.hr). eTBLAST software was used to compare the abstracts with those in Medline and WcopyFind program was used to compare full text manuscripts among themselves. Seven papers were suspected of plagiarism. Electronic plagiarism detection may have to be introduced as standard procedure in biomedical journals.

Mrežne bibliografske baze podataka u znanosti usustavljuju, obraduju i klasificiraju najbolje znanstvene članke za što jednostavniji i brži pristup. Potrebitost postojanja znanstvenih bibliografskih baza je neupitna, one su vrelo medicinskog znanja i istovremeno temelj buducih istraživanja i otkrica u biomedicini. Razvoj informatickih tehnologija olakšao je neovlašteno prisvajanje autorskog vlasništva jednostavnim pristupom znanstvenim clancima na Internetu. Stoga nastaje potreba za izradivanjem znanstvenih baza podataka koje posjeduju zaštitu od neovlaštenog preuzimanja autorskog vlasništva, odnosno sustav provjere koji utvrduje izvornost znanstvene publikacije.

Posljednjih se godina sve učestalije pojavljuje problem plagiranja u svim znanostima, pa tako i u medicini. Pod pojmom plagiranja razumijeva se neovlašteno preuzimanje tuđih ideja, postupaka ili teksta bez odgovarajuće naznake s nakanom da se prikažu kao vlastita. Veliki broj znanstvenih članaka dostupnih preko mrežnih stranica, tj. interneta, olakšao je neovlašteno preuzimanje članaka u cijelosti ili pojedinih dijelova kako bi se stvorili "novi" znanstveni članci. Stoga je podučavanje znanstvene čestitosti u akademskoj zajednici postalo neophodno. Osvješćivanje liječnika o mogućem problemu plagiranja i samoplagiranja treba započeti prije no što se oni počinju baviti pisanjem znanstvenih i stručnih radova. Na sva četiri medicinska fakulteta u nas postoji obvezatni kolegij koji buduće liječnike i znanstvenike podučava načelima znanstvenoistraživačkog rada s posebnim naglaskom o odgovornoj provedbi istraživanja i intelektualnom vlasništvu. Za očekivati je kako će osviješteni znanstvenici znati prepoznati znanstvene suradnike, kritički promišljati znanost, te se služiti znanstvenom metodologijom koja zasigurno u sebi ne uključuje plagiranje ili druge sumnjive postupke.

Plagiranje je neovlašteno preuzimanje tuđih ideja, postupaka ili teksta bez odgovarajuće naznake s nakanom da se prikažu kao vlastita. Preuzimanje već objavljenih vlastitih ideja ili preuzimanje vlastitog već objavljenog teksta prikazujući ga novim i originalnim naziva se samoplagiranjem i smatra se jednako lošim kao i plagiranje. Učestalost plagiranja je u porastu, razvoj informacijsko-komunikacijske tehnologije olakšava neovlašteno preuzimanje teksta, no istovremeno, zahvaljujući istoj tehnologiji, razvijaju se računalni programi i mrežne usluge za otkrivanje plagiranja. Za provjeru tekstova i činjenice jesu li oni plagirani postoje različita programska rješenja. Većina se zasniva na konkordanciji, tj. usporedbi teksta pri čemu program iznalazi i označava podudarne dijelove teksta i izračunava njegov udio s obzirom na cijeli tekst. Neki od programa, osim što uspoređuju tekstove, pretražuju internet radi iznalaženja tekstova s podudarnim sadržajem. Svi programi mogu uspoređivati tekstove napisane na istom jeziku; međujezično pretraživanje nije moguće uz pomoć programske potpore. Primjeri programa su računalni programi (WCopyfi nd) i mrežne usluge (eTBlast, CrossCheck). Prednost mrežne usluge je mogućnost pronalaženja mogućeg teksta izvornika. eTBlast je besplatna mrežna usluga za pronalaženje podudarnih i vrlo sličnih sažetaka znanstvenih radova (pretražuje i bazu podataka Medline) koja je poslužila kao temelj za izradbu baze podataka Déjà vu. Mrežna usluga CrossCheck dostupna je samo članovima (akademske ustanove i časopisi), a korištenjem računalnog algoritma za pronalaženje sličnosti Then cate tvrtke iParadigms (Oakland, CA, SAD) provjerava podudarnost teksta ispitivanog članka s cijelovitim tekstovima sadržanim u bazi podataka CrossCheck ustrojenom suradnjom uredništva i izdavača znanstvenih časopisa koji objavljene članke pridružuju bazi podataka, što omogućuje nesmetano pretraživanje sadržaja zaštićenog pretplatom. Vrlo je važno prepoznati plagiranje i podučavati o njemu u akademskoj zajednici na svim nivoima obrazovanja. Urednici znanstvenih časopisa i znanstvenici trebaju se zajedno boriti protiv neetičnih istraživanja koja su suprotna znanstvenoj ideji i štetna za znanstvenu i opću zajednicu, kritički čitati i provjeravati znanstvenu publicistiku, prijavljivati plagiranje i ostale sumnjive postupke u istraživanjima uredništvima časopisa i nadležnim tijelima., Plagiarism is unauthorized appropriation of other people’s ideas, processes or text without giving correct credit and with intention to present it as own property. Appropriation of own published ideas or text and passing it as original is denominated self-plagiarism and considered as bad as plagiarism. The frequency of plagiarism is increasing and development of information and communication technologies facilitates it, but simultaneously, thanks to the same technology, plagiarism detection software is developing. There are diff erent software solutions for checking plagiarism. Most of them are based on concordance, i.e., comparison of text where program tools isolate and mark correspondent parts of the text and calculate its rate regarding the whole text. Several programs, besides comparing the texts, also search the Internet aiming for text with corresponding content. All programs can compare text written in the same language but translingual comparison with plagiarism detection software is not yet possible. The software is available through computer programs (WCopyfi nd) or Web Services (eTBlast, CrossCheck). Their advantage is in the possibility of fi nding the original source paper. eTBlast is the free of charge web based service for searching corresponding and highly similar scientific paper abstracts (it searches also Medline database), which served as the ground for constructing Déjà vu database. Web based service CrossCheck is accessible only for members (academic institutions and journals) and by using computer similarity algorithm iThen cate of company iParadigms (Oakland, CA, USA), it checks accordance of the given text with the complete texts in the CrossCheck database. It is organized by collaboration of journal editorial boards and publishers who pass the published papers to the base and enable searching of content usually protected by subscription. The importance of recognizing and teaching plagiarism in the academic community at all levels of education is enormous. Scientific journal editors and scientists should fight together against unethical researches which are opposite to the scientific idea and harmful for scientific community and society, critically read and examine scientific publications, report plagiarism and other suspicious research misconduct to journal editorial boards and institutional authorities.

Uvod: Akademske god. 2008./09. obnovljena je nastava kolegija „Statistike” na prvoj godini studija FBF (oba studija, Farmacija i Medicinska biokemija). Kolegij sadrži trideset sati, osam predavanja i sedam seminara u dvostrukom školskom satu. Zajedno s ispitom, program nastave je u najvećem dijelu prilagođen gradivu udžbenika Essential Statistics for the Pharmaceutical Sciences Philipa Rowea (Wiley, 2007). Postupci: Uspješnost kolegija procijenjena je anketiranjem studenata na završnom predavanju, i to ocjenjivanjem organizacije i sadržaja nastave (ocjene 1–5) i pitanjima znanja, te ispitnom ocjenom. Od ukupno 183, anketu je ispunilo 135 studenata, a ispitu su pristupila 142 studenata (I. ispitno razdoblje). Rezultati su iskazani prosječnim vrijednostima (aritmetička sredina, standardna devijacija) i udjelima. Rezultati: Studije FBF upisali su učenici s visokom prosječnom srednjoškolskom ocjenom 4, 90 ± 0, 31. Anketom su iskazali očekivanu ispitnu ocjenu 3, 67 ± 0, 83 (N = 135), a na ispitu je ostvarena ocjena bila statistički značajno bolja, 4, 19 ± 1, 07 (N = 145, P < 0, 001). Organizacija nastave „Statistike" ocijenjena je s 4, 48 ± 0, 66 (značajno bolja prema ocjeni organizacije nastave svih ostalih kolegija prvog semestra: 2, 39 ± 0, 78, P < 0, 001), a zanimljivost nastavnih sadržaja s 3, 89 ± 0, 94 (značajno bolje prema svim ostalim kolegijima prvog semestra: 3, 26 ± 0, 75, P < 0, 001). Vlastito znanje usvojeno tijekom nastave studenti ocjenjuju s 3, 18 ± 0, 69, ali na četiri probna statistička pitanja s ponuđenim odgovorima u anketi točno odgovaraju redom: 52% (pitanje o standardnoj devijaciji), 90% (uzorak), 99% (povezanost podataka) i 100% (nasumični odabir). Na slična pitanja većina studenata na prvom (uvodnom) predavanju ne zna odgovoriti, tj. jasno u raspravi iskazuje nepoznavanje temeljnih biostatističkih pojmova. Zaključak: Rezultati potvrđuju dobru organizaciju nastave i primjerenu zanimljivost sadržaja kolegija.

Objective is to assess attitudes in laparoscopic colorectal surgery (LCS) among general (abdominal) surgeons in Croatia. A questionnaire was sent to general surgeons of Croatian Association of Digestive Surgery, Croatian Society for Endoscopic Surgery and Croatian Society of Coloproctology. A total of 121 questionnaires were sent and 102 (84%) surgeons responded. In Croatia almost all general surgeons perform laparoscopic surgery. Each of these surgeons performs an average of 77 laparoscopic procedures per year and nearly all are doing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (97% surgeons). Although first LCS in Croatia was performed 1994., this type of laparoscopic operation is performed by only 25% surgeons. According to obtained data 2600 abdominal colorectal operations is performed per year in Croatia. The average number of abdominal colorectal procedures yearly performed by each surgeon (laparotomy and laparoscopy) is 34 (range 0-200). Each of surgeons performing LCS has average of 7 LCS per year (range 1-35). On average, each of the surgeons who performs LCS has done a total of 22 (range 1-80) laparoscopic colorectal operations. Thirty eight percent of surgeons who perform LCS have done between 1 and 10, 23% have done 11-20, 15% have done 21 - 30 and 23% more than 30 laparoscopic operations. Less than half (40%) of members of Croatian Society for Endoscopic Surgery have performed LCS. The most performed LCS procedure is left hemicolectomy (92%) followed by abdominoperineal resection (76%). Thirty eight percent of surgeons have taken a LCS training course but of these 59% are doing LCS. Surgeons were asked if they would choose to undergo laparoscopic surgery if they had adenoma or colorectal tumor. Eighty eight of the respondents would themselves undergo to LCS for a cecal villous adenoma but 61% would do so for distal-third rectal carcinoma. In Croatia almost all general surgeons perform laparoscopic procedures, mainly laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In spite of 13 years of experinece in LCS the uptake into the surgical community is surprisingly slow. The number of surgeons doing LCS and the number of patients submitted to laparoscopic colorectal operations is slowly increasing year by year. Presently only 25% surgeons are doing LCS.

Dental age determination is required in various clinical and scientific disciplines. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research was to estimate the chronological course of wisdom teeth eruption in Croatian Caucasian population. METHODS: The evaluated sample consisted of 1.249 orthopantomograms of Croatian Caucasian patients between 10 and 25 years and 530 males and 719 females in terms of gender. The following staging system was used for classification of wisdom teeth eruption from stage A: occlusal plane covered with alveolar bone to stage D: complete emergence in occlusal plane. RESULTS: The minimum age of occlusal plane covered (stage A) with alveolar bone was 10 years and mean age was 12.5 years for both genders. The corresponding standard deviation range was 1.5 years. The minimum age of alveolar emergence of wisdom teeth (stage B) was 12 years for females, and 12 to 13 years for males. The mean age of alveolar emergence ranged from 15.9 to 16.2 years for males and from 15.7 to 16.1 years for females. The corresponding standard deviation ranges were 1.8-1.9 and 1.9-2.2 years. In the stage C, the minimum age of gingival emergence in this study was 15 years for both genders. The corresponding standard deviation range was 2.0 – 2.2 years for males, and 2.2 years for females. In the stage D, the minimum age of complete emergence of the wisdom teeth in the occlusal plane was 17 years in both genders. The mean age of complete emergence ranged from 21 to 21.5 years for males and from 21.4 to 21.5 years for females. The corresponding standard deviation range was 1.7 – 1.9 years for males, and 1.9 – 2.0 years for females. CONCLUSION: The results on the emergence of wisdom teeth contribute to the forensic dentistry practice while determining the dental age at the same time.

Objectives: Estimating the dental age of the adult human remains can often be of great importance in forensic identification cases, and also provides valuable data in paleodontology. The aim of the present study was to compare chronological age with estimated dental age by the method according to Johanson, published in 1971. Material and Methods: 140 permanent intact teeth without dental fillings and/or dental cavity were taken. The known age was ranging from 18 to 80 years. The average age was 45 years. For the dental age estimation the method according to Johanson was used. Every tooth was subject to longitudinal section of the midpulpal area in a vestibulo-lingual plane. Six variables were analyzed: secondary dentin, attrition, cementum apposition, root resorption, periodontal recession, and root translucency. The results of the chronological and the estimated age have been statistically compared using Person’ s correlation coefficient and regression analysis. Results: The results showed strong correlation coefficient r=0.85 ; p

Genome-wide multilocus heterozygosity (MLH) can have considerable effects on biological quantitative traits, especially those that are highly polygenically determined or mediated by rare genetic variants. We investigated the effects of MLH on biochemical markers of hemostasis and inflammation in 1, 041 individuals from the island of Vis, Croatia, where consanguinity is prevalent and there is a wide range of MLH values in the population. Assessment of MLH was based on genome-wide scans using 800 microsatellite (STR) and 317, 000 single nucleotide (SNP) polymorphic markers in each examinee. Additionally, for each individual we defined ?personal genetic history? (PGH) based on genealogical records. The association between PGH and MLH and fibrinogen, D-dimer (Dd), von Willebrand factor (vWF), tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) was performed with multiple linear regression, while controlling for possible confounding effects. PGH was a significant predictor only for tPA (P