Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3)

Immune System Parameters in Children of Central and Eastern Europe: The Cesar Study

Timová S., Leonardi G.S., Hrubá F., Lochman I., Lochmanová A., Erdei E., Jazwiec-Kanyion B., Niciu E.M., Steerenberg P.A., van Loveren H.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):119-125  

Objective of this paper is to compare observed values of immune parameters obtained in the CESAR study (The Central Europe Study of Air Pollution and Respiratory Health, funded by EC PHARE program) with ranges derived from other large population-based studies.Study design: Data were collected in healthy school children aged 9-11 years, in 6 countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic with the same standard approach in 1996. Random samples of 85 children per country, from 19 communities were selected from children having completed the health questionnaire, in total 495 children were analyzed. Lymphocyte...

The 6th Nationwide Anthropological Survey of Children and Adolescents in the Czech Republic in 2001

Kobzová J., Vignerová J., Bláha P., Krejčovský L., Riedlová J.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):126-130  

The 6th nationwide anthropological survey (NAS) of children and adolescents was carried out in the Czech Republic in 2001 to continue the series of surveys repeated at 10-year intervals since 1951 (with the participation of the Slovak Republic up to 1991). The major objective was to find out the following body measurements of children and adolescents: body height and weight, and head, arm, waist and hip circumferences. Questionnaires were used to find out the body measurements of parents (body height and weight) and some socio-economic characteristics of the child's family (number of siblings, education of parents, breast feeding duration, birth weight...

The Results of Dietary Advice on Lipoprotein Levels among Patients Attending for Lipid-lowering drugs

Devroey D., Betz W.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):131-133  

The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in fasting lipoproteins levels before and after a dietary advice among the patients attending for a lipid-lowering treatment.In total 286 patients attending for reimbursement of a lipid-lowering drug were recorded at two regional health insurance offices. Lipid levels measured at least three months after the dietary advice were compared with those before the dietary advice.The mean age of the included patients was 61 years. The average fasting total cholesterol (TC) was 7.4 mmol/l before the dietary advice as well as after the dietary advice. Fasting TC did not decrease with the dietary advice...

Glycemic and Insulinemic Responses to Six Cereal Products in Healthy Adults

Ciok J., Dzieniszewski J., Lang V.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):134-140  

Glycemic index (GI) and insulin index (II) scores of six cereal-based foods (biscuits and shortbreads) were determined and the relationship between the glycemic and insulin responses of the foods was examined. The study was conducted using recommended by FAO/WHO methodology using glucose as a standard food. We obtained a range of GI scores from 49 to 68% and II scores from 51 to 75%. The test foods' blood insulin responses were in parallel to their glycemic responses although in every case the level of II was higher than the level of GI. The foods' II scores were closely related to their GI scores (r=0.80).

Molecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in Prague and South Moravia, Czech Republic: Genetic Analysis of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Isolates by IS6110-RFLP Fingerprinting and Spoligotyping

Kurepina N.E., Kreiswirth B.N., Shaskina E., Driscoll J.R., Polanecký V., Kozáková B., Mezenský L., Kubín M.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):141-150  

Objectives: To genetically characterize and compare Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates among culture-confirmed TB cases in two regions in the Czech Republic in 1998.Methods: Consecutive M. tuberculosis isolates from 111 TB patients in Prague and 120 patients in the South Moravia region were genotyped using the standardized IS6110 Southern blot hybridization method and by spoligotyping.Results: Eighty of the Prague patients (72.1%) had isolates with unique RFLP patterns, while 31 (27.9%) had isolates which belonged to 10 clusters. Seventy-eight (64.7%) of the South Moravia strains displayed unique RFLP pattern and 42 (35.3%) were assigned into...

Prevalence of Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato Genospecies in Host-seeking Ixodes Ricinus Ticks in Selected South Bohemian Locations (Czech Republic)

Danielová V., Daniel M., Rudenko N., Golovchenko M.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):151-156  

In selected localities of České Budějovice and Český Krumlov districts, well known by stable high incidence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) human cases but with low incidence of Lyme borreliosis, monitoring of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) in Ixodes ricinus ticks was performed. Research was also aimed at the spread of I. ricinus to mountain areas of this region (National Park Šumava), as well as at investigating this tick for B. burgdorferi s. l. genospecies and TBE virus infection. Altogether 498 nymphs, 88 females and 11 males of I. ricinus from lower locations and 58 nymphs from mountain locations (760 - 1080 m above sea level) were tested...

Influence of Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to Passive Smoking on Infants' Health During the First Six Months of Their Life

Kukla L., Hrubá D., Tyrlík M.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):157-160  

On the Czech set of European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC), we tried to verify whether it is possible to confirm the results of foreign studies which found out that the both prenatal and postnatal exposure of newborns to chemicals on cigarette smoke could influence the newborns'morbidity in the first six months of their life.Mothers, who served as sources of data about their smoking behaviour during the pregnancy and after the birth as well as information about the health status of the children after the birth (N=3,871) were divided into four groups: 1. women who never smoked (74.3%), 2. women who stopped smoking in pregnancy...

Structural Problems in the German Hospital System

Krukemeyer M.G.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):161-165  

The German health care system has been based on the Hospital Financing Act, which the German government introduced in 1972. According to that, the federal states plan hospitals and make investments. The health insurance funds finance the operating costs. But now the Hospital Financing Act is obsolete, because both the health insurance funds and the federal states are in financial trouble and try to avoid the costs, which are nevertheless rising. In order to freeze costs, the legislators have introduced a new remuneration system, called DRGs (Diagnosis Related Groups), which will be mandatory from 2007 onwards. In this system, the treatment provided...

Life Cycle Approach to Child and Adolescent Health

Kudlová E.

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):166-170  

Young people are our human capital for the future, therefore child and adolescent health has attracted considerable political and professional attention in recent years. Health is indivisible, requirs holistic approach throughout the individual's life. Healthy outcome at one point in the life cycle, provides a positive determinant for health elsewhere in the cycle. Health and development of the 0-19 age group links intimately, at both ends of the range, with reproductive health. Health during childhood is in part determined by the health of the mother, and affected also by factors such as the nutrition of adolescent girls and the avoidance of early...

Molecular Biology of Picornaviruses

Jindřich Jíra

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):171  

Lehrbuch der Entomologie

Jindřich Jíra

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):172-173  

Protistology

Jindřich Jíra

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):174  

Essential Cell Biology

Jindřich Jíra

Cent Eur J Public Health 2004, 12(3):175