Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for stroke, but it is unclear whether stroke is different in diabetic and nondiabetic individuals. The aim of the study was to compare characteristics of stroke in ...patients with and without diabetes mellitus.
This study included 833 acute stroke patients (697 84% had ischemic stroke, and 52% were females) admitted at the Department of Neurology Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from January 1st 2003 to December 31st 2003. Risk factors, stroke severity (Scandinavian Stroke Scale, SSS)), stroke type, etiology, lesion topography and the outcome at 1 month (mortality and handicap) were assessed in all patients.
Overall, diabetes mellitus was present in 194 patients (23.5%). Females were overrepresented in the diabetic group of stroke patients (66% vs 48%, p = 0.0001). Initial stroke severity and lesion topography were comparable between the two groups. The diabetic patients reported a significantly lower current smoking (21% vs 29%) and alcohol intake (4.5% vs 9%) (p < 0.05). Patients with diabetes mellitus compared with patients without diabetes had more frequently atherothrombotic stroke (62% vs 33%, p < 0.0001), but less frequently embolic stroke (10% vs 17.5%, p = 0.02) and intracerebral hemorrhage (10% vs 18.5%, p = 0.005). Mortality at 1 month was higher in patients with diabetes mellitus (38% vs 26%, p = 0.001), and diabetes increased the relative death risk by 1.53 (95% confidence interval, 1.19 to 1.96). At the other hand, handicap (Rankin Scale) in surviving patients was insignificantly higher in diabetic group (2.7 vs 2.4, p = 0.07). Older age (70 vs 66 years, p = 0.008), atherothrombotic stroke (76% vs 53%, p = 0.002), and severe strokes (SSS 20.5 vs 39, p < 0.0001) were more associated in died stroke patients with diabetes mellitus compared with surviving diabetic stroke patients.
Diabetes mellitus is present in one fourth of acute stroke patients. Stroke patients with diabetes mellitus are associated with specific patterns of stroke type, etiology and mortality but not with stroke severity and handicap.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a major health problem in South Eastern Europe (SEE). Available treatment options
are not efficient enough and the course is often chronic. Little is known ...about molecular mediators and moderators of pathogenesis
and therapy. Genetic and epigenetic variation may be one central molecular mechanism.
We therefore established a consortium combining clinical expertise on PTSD from SEE countries Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo,
Tuzla and Mostar), Kosovo (Prishtina) and Croatia (Zagreb) with genetic and epigenetic competence from Germany (Würzburg) in
2011 within the framework of the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst)-funded Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.
After obtaining ethical votes and performing rater trainings as well as training in DNA extraction from EDTA blood between
2011 and 2013, we recruited 747 individuals who had experienced war-related trauma in the SEE conflicts between 1991 and 1999.
236 participants had current PTSD, 161 lifetime PTSD and 350 did not have and never had PTSD.
Demographic and clinical data are currently merged together with genetic and epigenetic data in a single database to allow for
a comprehensive analysis of the role of genetic and epigenetic variation in the pathogenesis and therapy of PTSD. Analyses will be
done to a great degree by PhD students from participating SEE centers who in addition to participation in the project had an
opportunity to take part in spring and summer schools of the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) funded Research Training
Group (RTG) 1253 and thus meet PhD students from Germany and other countries
We are confident that our project will not only contribute to a better understanding of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of PTSD
as a basis for future individualized and personalized therapies, but also to the academic development of South Eastern Europe.
Multiple sclerosis is an insidious, intermittent or chronic progressive inflammatory, autoimmune disease of the central nervous system; it is a major cause of disability, especially in young adults. ...It affects women twice as often as men. The prevalence varies from 50 to 100 per 100,000 in moderate climate zones. Interferon beta-1b reduces frequency and severity of clinical attacks of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and prolonged time until the progression of disability and time patients suffering from secondary progressive multiple sclerosis become wheelchair-bound.
