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Aim: To determine whether cigarette smoking, as a risk factor for CAD, affects (anti)oxidant status., Material and Methods: The study included patients with CAD, divided according to their smoking status and the number of cigarettes smoked during a day. Biological markers of oxidative stress (concentration of oxidants and activity of antioxidant enzymes) were measured in all subjects., Results: The study included 300 patients with CAD, (average age of 63 ± 11 years), predominantly males. Of the total, 34.0% were active smokers, 23.0% were former smokers, and 43.0% were non-smokers. Most of the active smokers smoked 1-20 cigarettes/day. In terms of concentration of oxidants (MDA and HP) there was not a significant difference between smokers versus non-smokers. As for the activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT and GPX), a statistically significant difference was found in the activity of GPX among the active smokers with CAD and the non-smokers with CAD (p = 0.039)., Conclusion: Smoking as a risk factor for CAD is closely associated with increased oxidative stress, and the number of cigarettes smoked plays an important role in increasing the level of oxidative damage and reducing antioxidant defence.

Background: Acute first-ever ischemic stroke (FIS) is a heterogeneous, polygenic disorder. The contribution of vascular genetic variants as inherited causes of ischemic stroke has remained controversial., Aim: To examine the association of genetic variants in vascular factors with the occurrence of FIS., Material and Methods: The current research was performed in a group of 39 patients with FIS (study group) and 102 healthy volunteers (control group). We analyzed the prevalence of vascular genetic variants in following genes: factor V, prothrombin, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), factor XIII, plasminogen activator 1, endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR), apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein E, β-fibrinogen, human platelet antigen 1, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and lymphotoxin alpha ., Results: It was found that heterozygous LTA 804C>A and FXIII V34L Leu/Leu were significantly more frequent in patients with FIS than in control group (p = 0.036 and p = 0.017, respectively). The frequency of FXIII V34L Val/Val was significantly lower in patients with FIS than in control group (p = 0.020). Other frequencies of vascular gene variants in patients with FIS and in control group were not significantly different., Conclusions: This is the first comprehensive study to present data indicating that polymorphism of vascular genes in the prevalence of acute FIS exists in the Albanian population from the Republic of Macedonia. Variations in these genes have been detected in patients with acute FIS, suggesting that their combination might act in a susceptible or protective manner in this Albanian population.

Background: Patients with schizophrenia have severe problems with personal and social relations which affect their quality of life., Aim: The aim of the paper was to monitor personal and social relations in patients with schizophrenia and to find out the differences regarding socio-demographic characteristics and ambulatory and day hospital treatment., Material and Methods: The investigation included 120 subjects each with diagnosis F20 according to ICD 10 criteria; divided into two groups of 60 patients regarding their actual treatment (the first group received ambulatory care whereas those from the second group had a day hospital treatment). Patients were of different age and gender, receiving regular antipsychotic therapy. They were included in individual and group psychosocial therapeutic procedures during the day hospital treatment. The investigation utilised the following diagnostic instruments: standardised clinical interview and Personal and social performance scale (PSP scale), a non-standardized questionnaire of socio-demographic data, family support and existence of mental disorder in other family members., Results: The results have shown better personal and social functioning in patients who had family support, in those who are employed, in those with no mental disorder in other family members and in patients on day hospital treatment against patients receiving ambulatory care., Conclusion: Day hospital treatment, family support and social support improve the ability for personal and social contacts of patients with schizophrenia.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze relative citation ratio (RCR) of top twenty Macedonian biomedical scientists with a new metric that uses citation rates to measure influence at the article level., Material and Methods: Top twenty Macedonian biomedical scientists were identified by GoPubMed on the base of the number of deposited abstracts in PubMed, corrected with the data from previously published paper, and completed with the Macedonian biomedical scientists working in countries outside the Republic of Macedonia, but born or previously worked in the country. iCite was used as a tool to access a dashboard of bibliometrics for papers associated with a portfolio., Results: The biggest number of top twenty Macedonian biomedical scientists has RCR lower than one. Only four Macedonian biomedical scientists have bigger RCR in comparison with those in PubMed. The most prominent RCR of 2.29 has Rosoklija G. RCR of the most influenced individual papers deposited in PubMed has shown the biggest value for the paper of Efremov D (35.19). This paper has the biggest number of authors (860)., Conclusion: It is necessary to accept top twenty Macedonian biomedical scientists as an example of new metric that uses citation rates to measure influence at the article level, rather than qualification of the best Macedonian biomedical scientists.

Aim: The aim of this study was to show how to verify plagiarism of the paper written in Macedonian and translated in foreign language., Material and Methods: Original article "Ethics in Medical Research Involving Human Subjects", written in Macedonian, was submitted as an assay-2 for the subject Ethics and published by Ilina Stefanovska, PhD candidate from the Iustinianus Primus Faculty of Law, Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje (UKIM), Skopje, Republic of Macedonia in Fabruary, 2013. Suspected article for plagiarism was published by Prof. Dr. Gordana Panova from the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Goce Delchev, Shtip, Republic of Macedonia in English with the identical title and identical content in International scientific on-line journal "SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGIES", Publisher "Union of Scientists - Stara Zagora"., Results: Original document (written in Macedonian) was translated with Google Translator; suspected article (published in English pdf file) was converted into Word document, and compared both documents with several programs for plagiarism detection. It was found that both documents are identical in 71%, 78% and 82%, respectively, depending on the computer program used for plagiarism detection. It was obvious that original paper was entirely plagiarised by Prof. Dr. Gordana Panova, including six references from the original paper., Conclusion: Plagiarism of the original papers written in Macedonian and translated in other languages can be verified after computerised translation in other languages. Later on, original and translated documents can be compared with available software for plagiarism detection.

Introduction: Glucose-6-phospahte dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD) is one of the most common inherited disorders affecting around 400 million people worldwide. Molecular analysis of the G6PD gene identified more than 140 distinct mutations, the majority being single base missense mutations. G6PD Mediterranean is the most common variant found in populations of the Mediterranean area., Aim: The aim of our study was to perform molecular characterization of G6PD deficiency in families from the Republic of Macedonia and correlate the findings to disease phenotype., Patients and Methods: Six patients and seven other family members were selected for genetic characterization, the selection procedure involved clinical evaluation and G6PD quantitative testing. All patients were first screened for the Mediterranean mutation, and subsequently for the Seattle mutation. Mutations were detected using PCR amplification and appropriate restriction endonuclease cleavage., Results: Four hemizygote and 3 heterozygous carriers for G6PD Mediterranean were detected. All G6PD deficient patients from this group showed clinical picture of hemolysis, and in 66.6% neonatal jaundice was confirmed based on history data. To our knowledge, this is the first study concerned with molecular aspects of the G6PD deficiency in R. Macedonia., Conclusion: This study represents a step towards a more comprehensive genetic evaluation in our population and better understanding of the health issues involved.

Background: IgE may be considered the hallmark of allergic disorders. It is easily detected in serum and can be measured as total IgE and as allergen-specific IgE. In fact, the serum IgE assay is used to diagnose an allergy., Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate, investigate and present the distribution of total serum IgE levels, determined with UniCap system, in food-allergy suspected patients in a Republic of Macedonia., Material and Methods: In this study we analyzed retrospectively 8898 consecutive patients that were admitted for allergy testing at the Institute of Immunobiology and Human Genetics during the ten year period between 01.01.2001 and 01.01.2011. Total IgE levels in patient sera were detected with the in vitro system UniCAP100 (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden)., Results: When we analyzed the number of patients according to the total IgE groups, we noted that most of the patients have normal levels of total IgE in serum. However, we also discovered a group of patients with elevated levels of total IgE that are greater than 200 kU/L. The average concentration of total serum IgE is higher in women in the age group 6 (6-7 years), followed by a steep decrease in the age group 9 (9-10 years), and after that the average concentrations of total IgE were mostly constant with the exception of a partial increase in the age group 21 (65-69 years). For men, the average serum concentrations of total IgE were highest in the age group of 6 (6-7 years), which was significantly higher than the average concentrations of total IgE in all other age groups., Conclusion: The large number of enrolled patients, a particular strength of this study, revealed that average concentrations of total IgE in men are higher than in women and that total IgE did not decrease with age. On the contrary, increased total IgE levels were found in patients aged 65 and 69 of both genders. We continue our work with analyses of the specific IgE antibodies values toward food and the correlation with total IgE values.

Background: The successful treatment of patients with active tuberculosis is one of the priorities in the Tuberculosis Control Programs., Aim: The aim was to establish whether there was a statistically significant difference in the treatment outcome in patients with tuberculosis who began their initial treatment phase and/or pursued it as inpatient, as opposed to patients with tuberculosis who underwent their entire treatment regime as outpatient. Moreover, our goal was to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference in the outcome from the treatment between patients with tuberculosis who were hospitalized up to one month, two months, or more than two months., Materials and Method: The study includes 355 patients, divided into two groups. The first group, which consists of 219 patients, began their initial treatment phase as inpatient, and then they continued the treatment as outpatient. The second group, 136 patients, underwent their entire treatment as outpatient. The treatment outcome is determined with every patient (cured, treatment completed, treatment default, treatment failed, died, treatment in progress). For the statistical data analysis and for establishing the significance of the findings regarding the differences between the two groups we used the Pearson Chi-Square Test and the Yates Corrected Test., Results: The statistical analysis with the Pearson Chi-Square Test showed that the treatment outcome does not significantly depend on the model of treatment (p = 0.31). The statistical data analysis showed that there is no statistically significant difference in the achievement of conversion of the bacterial result of the sputum at the end of the initial phase of treatment regarding the studied groups (p = 0.89). The statistical data analysis showed that the length of inpatient treatment affects the outcome of the treatment and that the difference is statistically highly significant (p < 0.00005)., Conclusion: There are no statistically significant differences in the sputum conversion and the treatment outcome among inpatient/outpatient with tuberculosis or outpatient only; however, the length of inpatient treatment is statistically significant regarding its effect on the treatment outcome.

Genetic variation in the regulation, expression and activity of genes coding for Phase I, Phase II drug metabolizing enzymes (DMEs) and drug targets, can be defining factors for the variability in both the effectiveness and occurrence of drug therapy side effects. Information regarding the geographic structure and multi-ethnic distribution of clinically relevant genetic variations is becoming increasingly useful for improving drug therapy and explaining inter-individual and inter-ethnic differences in drug response. This study summarizes our current knowledge about the frequency distribution of the most common allelic variants in three broad gene categories: the Phase I oxidation-cytochrome P450 (CYP450) family (CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP3A5, CYP2D6); the Phase II conjugation (GSTT1, SULT1A1; UGT1A1) and drug target (TYMS-TSER, MTHFR and VKORC1) in the population of the Republic of Macedonia and compares the information obtained with data published for other indigenous European populations. Our findings define the population of the Republic of Macedonia as an ethnic group with a highly polymorphic genetic profile. These results add to the evidence regarding the distribution of clinically important variant alleles in DME and drug target genes in populations of European ancestry.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze current scientific impact of Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, Republic of Macedonia in the Scopus Database (1960-2014)., Material and Methods: Affiliation search of the Scopus database was performed on November 23, 2014 in order to identify published papers from the Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje (UC&M), Republic of Macedonia. A total number of 3960 articles (3055 articles from UC&M, 861 articles from Faculty of Medicine, UC&M, and 144 articles from Faculty of Pharmacy, UC&M) were selected for analysis (1960-2014). SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) and h-index were calculated from the Scopus database., Results: The number of published papers was sharply increased with maximum of 379 papers in 2012 year. The largest number of papers has been published in Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, Journal of Molecular Structure, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Acta Pharmecutica, and Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. The biggest SJR and SNIP has journal Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. First three places of the top ten authors belong to Dimirovski GM, Gavrilovska L, and Gusev M. Top three places based on Scopus h-index (total number of published papers) belong to Kocarev L, Stafilov T, and Polenakovic M. The majority of papers originate from UC&M, but significant numbers of papers are affiliated to Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, and Institute of Chemistry as members of UC&M, as well as Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Articles are the most dominant type of documents followed by conference papers, and review articles. Medicine is the most represented subject., Conclusion: Officials of the Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje should undertake more effective and proactive policies for journal publishers and their Editorial Boards in order to include more journals from UC&M in the Scopus database.