SUMMARY -Stroke is the second leading cause of death and the most important cause of adult disability worldwide and in Croatia. In the past, stroke was almost exclusively considered to be a disease of the elderly; however, today the age limit has considerably lowered towards younger age. The aim of this study was to determine age and gender impact on stroke patients in a Croatian urban area during one-year survey. The study included all acute stroke patients admitted to our Department in 2004. A compiled stroke questionnaire was fulfilled during hospitalization by medical personnel on the following items: stroke risk factors including lifestyle habits (smoking and alcohol), pre-stroke physical ability evaluation, stroke evolution data, laboratory and computed tomography findings, outcome data and post-stroke disability assessment. Appropriate statistical analysis of numerical and categorical data was performed at the level of p<0.05. Analysis was performed on 396 patients, 24 of them from the younger adult stroke group. Older stroke patients had worse disability at hospital discharge and women had worse disabilities at both stroke onset and hospital discharge, probably due to older age at stroke onset. Younger patients recovered better, while older patients had to seek secondary medical facilities more often, as expected. The most important in-hospital laboratory findings in young stroke patients were elevated lipid levels, while older patients had elevated serum glucose and C-reactive protein. Stroke onset in younger patients most often presented with sudden onset headache; additionally, onset seizure was observed more frequently than expected. Stroke risk factor analysis showed that women were more prone to hypertension, chronic heart failure and atrial fibrillation, whereas men had carotid disease more frequently, were more often smokers and had higher alcohol intake. Additionally, age analysis showed that heart conditions and smoking were more prevalent among older stroke patients. In conclusion, considerable differences were established between age and gender stroke patient groups, confirming the need of permanent national stroke registry and subsequent targeted action in secondary care, and prevention with education on risk factors, preferably personally tailored.

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This work challenges the widely accepted model of sensory gating as a preattention inhibitory process by investigating whether attention directed at the second tone (S2) within a paired‐click paradigm could affect gating at the cortical level. We utilized magnetoencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging and spatio‐temporal source localization to compare the cortical dynamics underlying gating responses across two conditions (passive and attention) in 19 healthy subjects. Source localization results reaffirmed the existence of a fast processing pathway between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and bilateral superior temporal gyri (STG) that underlies the auditory gating process. STG source dynamics comprised two gating sub‐components, Mb1 and Mb2, both of which showed significant gating suppression (>51%). The attention directed to the S2 tone changed the gating network topology by switching the prefrontal generator from a dorsolateral location, which was active in the passive condition (18/19), to a medial location, active in the attention condition (19/19). Enhanced responses to the attended stimulus caused a significant reduction in gating suppression in both STG gating components (>50%). Our results demonstrate that attention not only modulates sensory gating dynamics, but also exerts topological rerouting of information processing within the PFC. The present data, suggesting that the cortical levels of early sensory processing are subject to top‐down influences, change the current view of gating as a purely automatic bottom‐up process.

Background. Usually both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are related to the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease development. The relationship between subclinical hypothyroidism has been widely investigated but the findings remain controversial. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the lipid profile in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SHypo) in comparison to controls and to determine the association of SHypo and dyslipidemia in attempt to find importance of small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL-C) in atherosclerosis.Material and methods. In this study we included 100 women, aged 30 to 70 years that were divided into subgroups according to their age. According to the values of levels of thyroid hormones they were divided into euthyroid (control) group (n = 64) and (newly discovered) subclinical hypothyroidism (SHypo) group (n = 36). A high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and lipid profile, including small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL-C) were determined. Body weight and height were measured and BMI calculated. History of the current illness, medication, alcohol consumption and cigarettes smoking were noted.Results. Changed lipid profile as well as elevated triglycerides and sdLDL-C were observed in the group with subclinical hypothyroidism compared to the control group.Conclusions. It is important to determine serum lipid levels, especially serum sdLDL-C levels at an early stage of subclinical hypothyroidism, since they represent atherogenic LDL particles and are better indicators for dyslipidaemia in subclinical hypothyroidism and the development of atherosclerosis with potential complications such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Hippocrates is one of the most influential medical doctors of all times. He started observing and experimenting in times of mysticism and magic. He carried a holistic and humanitarian approach to the patient with examination as the principal approach-inspection, palpation and auscultation are still the most important tools in diagnosing algorithms of today. He had immense experience with the human body most likely due to numerous wound treatments he had performed; some even believe he performed autopsies despite the negative trend at the time. Hippocrates identified the brain as the analyst of the outside world, the interpreter of consciousness and the center of intelligence and willpower. Interestingly, Hippocrates was aware of many valid concepts in neurology; his treatise On the Sacred Disease was the most important for understanding neurology and epilepsy. His other ideas pioneered modern day neurology mentioning neurological diseases like apoplexy, spondylitis, hemiplegia, and paraplegia. Today, 10 % of neurological Pubmed and 7 % of neuroscience Scopus reviews mention Corpus Hippocraticum as one of the sources. Therefore, Hippocrates may be considered as the forefather of neurology.