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34-year old patient had history of muscular wasting, easy fatigability, pain in extremities and waddling gait since age of four. During the time, neuromuscular disease was suspected, but not confirmed. Elevated bone alkaline phosphatase as well as other bone turnover markers (osteocalcin, procollagen, telopeptide) indicated further skeletal evaluation. Symmetrical enhanced uptake on technetium methylene diphosphonate [99mTc]MPD bone scintigraphy at diaphyses of longitudinal bones and scull matched cortical thickening of long bones and sclerosis of the scull seen at radiograms. Those findings pointed to Camurati-Engelmann disease misdiagnosed for the long time. This rare genetic autosomal dominant disorder was retrospectively diagnosed in asymptomatic father too on the basis of bone scans done long time ago. Old family member scans confirmed heredity pattern of the disease.

Background: There is a need for better understanding and research of the comorbidity structure in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder., Objective: To assess the prevalence of somatic and psychiatric comorbidity in schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder treated at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb., Method: This retrospective study compares the prevalence of comorbid diagnosis of somatic and psychiatric disorders in 192 patients with schizophrenia and 97 patients with bipolar disorder. The diagnoses were established according to ICD-10 criteria. The data were collected from hospital medical documentation., Results: Patients with bipolar disorder had more both somatic (67.1% vs. 50.6%) and psychiatric (29.9% vs. 10.9%) comorbidity than patients with schizophrenia. The three most prevalent somatic comorbidites in patients with bipolar disorders were cardiovascular (22.6%), endocrinological (22.6%), and gastrointestinal (16.4%) disorders while neurological (11.4%), gastrointestinal (10.9%) and endocrinological (9.3%) disorders were the most frequent in patients with schizophrenia., Conclusion: The exact prevalence and nature of the somatic and psychiatric comorbidity in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is still unclear and further research is needed.

Background: The intragastric balloon is a widely used method in the treatment of obesity indicated for those patients who have failed to achieve and maintain the weight loss with conventional measures or for preparation of patients who are candidates for bariatric surgery., Methods: From April 2007 to April 2009, 171 consecutive patients (111 females, 60 males; mean age 39.2 ± 10.5, mean weight 123.2 ± 27.1 kg) were evaluated before and 6 months after bioenteric intragastric balloon (BIB) placement by assessment of anthropometric and biochemical parameters., Results: The mean BMI during balloon treatment declined from 41.9 ± 7.3 to 36.0 ± 7.9 kg/m² (p < 0.001) with a percentage of excess weight loss of 39.7 ± 23.6 and percentage of excess body mass index loss of 39.5 ± 25.1. A significant improvement in blood pressure, glycemia, and triglyceride level but not in total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels was seen., Conclusion: Results of this large prospective single center study confirmed that intragastric balloon is useful and safe method for promoting weight loss. Due to improvement of metabolic parameters, treatment with BIB results in reduction of cardiovascular risk and provides a sustained benefit on liver function in obese patients.

Objective: The objective is to determine any possible differences between haematological, biochemical and bone mineral density in vegetarians (vegans and lacto-ovovegetarians) and non-vegeterians., Methods: The examined group consisted of 100 individuals: 50 non-vegetarians and 50 vegetarians. The vegetarian group was further divided in 2 subgroups: 20 vegans and 30 lacto-ovovegetarians. In all participants, plasma levels of erythrocytes, haemoglobin, haematocrit, iron, low density lipoprotein, (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL) total cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose were measured. Quantitative ultrasound parameters of the right calcaneus were determined in all participants., Results: The results showed that lacto-ovovegetarians had statistically significantly higher red blood cell counts and haematocrit values than non-vegetarians. Vegans also had higher haematocrit values than non-vegetarians. Statistically significant differences were found between iron plasma levels in the examined groups. Iron levels were lower in non-vegetarians than in vegans and lacto-ovovegetarians. Non-vegetarians had much higher levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL than the other two groups, but there were no differences found between same values in vegans and lacto-ovovegetarians., Conclusion: A well planned and balanced vegetarian diet, with avoidance of risk factors, does not result in abnormalities in laboratory tests and bone status parameters.

Background: The 24-h urine sample is considered as the most reliable material for testing many but not necessarily all constituents in urine. However, its collection is tedious for both patients and research participants. The aim of this study was to compare concentrations of essential elements calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), potassium (K), and zinc (Zn) in 24-h and spot urine samples., Methods: Urine samples were collected from 143 generally healthy women, aged 30-79 years. Fasting spot urine was collected immediately after the end of the 24-h collection, therefore being of the same content as the first morning urine which ended the 24-h collection. Elements were analyzed by flame atomic absorption/emission spectrometry and expressed as mg/g and/or mmol/mol of creatinine (Cr). Spearman rank order correlations between 24-h and spot urine were carried out for each element. Ratios of elements in 24-h to spot urine samples were calculated to estimate the element-proportion of spot in the 24-h sample., Results: All coefficients of correlation between 24-h and spot urine of measured elements and Cr were significant (p<0.05): Zn (0.637), Mg (0.623), Ca (0.603), Na (0.452), K (0.396), and Cr (0.217). Ratios of 24-h to spot urine samples for each element (except K) were similar and close to 2, indicating uniform proportion of elements from spot urine sample in the 24-h sample. In addition, a high correlation between various pairs of elements was obtained in both 24-h and spot urine; the highest being between Na/Ca (0.435) and (0.578), respectively. This is in accordance with theoretical presumptions and previous findings regarding those relationships., Conclusions: Although replacing burdensome 24-h urine collection with spot urine sampling might not provide the solution in all cases, our results show that for the elements analyzed, spot urine could be a reliable alternative.