Zahorec index or Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, valid biomarker of inflammation and immune response to infection, cancer and surgery.

BACKGROUND: For many years, the physicians are searching for easily measurable marker of immune response to the stress and inflammation. More than, 20 years ago Zahorec (2001) proposed neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as an easy available and valid biomarker of inflammation, stress, and activation of immune system. METHODS: In this narrative review we focused on the utility of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (Zahorec's index) in clinical practice of general medicine (inflammation and infection), intensive medicine (sepsis), oncology (prediction of prognosis in cancer of solid organs), surgery and perioperative medicine (diagnosis of complications, and prediction of clinical outcome). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We provide many evidences of clinical research which confirm that Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is a very sensitive marker of inflammation, stress reliable and valid parameter in everyday clinical practice. NLR (Zahorec index) is an effective tool for diagnosis of infection and severity of disease of variable etiologies. NLR reflect the grade of inflammation in cancer disease, which has a significant impact on the prognosis of cancer patients. Zahorec index should be used routinely in emergency medicine, surgery and perioperative medicine as a marker of the severity of affliction, infection, and complications in general. NLR may help physicians in decision making process for early diagnosis and therapy. NLR should be investigated frequently in acute states (sepsis, shock, peritonitis, stroke, trauma) on a daily basis, in subacute states few times per week (during hospital stay), and few times per year in chronic disease (cancer, diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, psychiatry disorders). NLR has a deep biological sense connecting together function of three suprasystems: immune, endocrinne and autonomous nervous system (Tab. 2, Fig. 3, Ref. 86).

Suicide attempts as a cause of pelvic injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: We decided to compare the incidence and spectrum of pelvic fractures in 2020 affected by the anti-pandemic measures due to COVID-19 with previous years 2018 and 2019. METHODS: This retrospective study included 391 patients treated at the author's clinic for pelvic fractures. From the medical records we recorded gender, age, mechanism of injury, trauma energy, fracture type based on the AO classification and severity of injury. RESULTS: As expected, we observed no difference in the number of fractures caused by simple falls. However, we failed to prove a reduction in the number of high-energy injuries. In contrary, we observed an increase in the number of high-energy injuries in the period between lockdowns (p=0.0375). A surprising result was a dramatic increase in suicide attempts as a cause of pelvic fractures, with 6 (2.2 %) in 2018 and 2019 compared to 13 (10 %) in 2020 alone (p=0.0017). CONCLUSION: We observed the increased number of suicidal attempts only on a limited number of specific patients with pelvic fractures; therefore, we cannot formulate any general conclusions regarding the incidence of suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, we consider this to be a warning signal highlighting the worsened population mental health due to COVID-19 pandemic (Tab. 2, Fig. 1, Ref. 34).

Data Sharing: A New Editorial Initiative of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Implications for the Editors' Network.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides recommendations to improve the editorial standards and scientific quality of biomedical journals. These recommendations range from uniform technical requirements to more complex and elusive editorial issues including ethical aspects of the scientific process. Recently, registration of clinical trials, conflicts of interest disclosure, and new criteria for authorship- emphasizing the importance of responsibility and accountability-, have been proposed. Last year, a new editorial initiative to foster sharing of clinical trial data was launched. This review discusses this novel initiative with the aim of increasing awareness among readers, investigators, authors and editors belonging to the Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology.

Neurobiology of cancer: Interactions between nervous, endocrine and immune systems as a base for monitoring and modulating the tumorigenesis by the brain.

The interactions between the nervous, endocrine and immune systems are studied intensively. The communication between immune and cancer cells, and multilevel and bi-directional interactions between the nervous and immune systems constitute the basis for a hypothesis assuming that the brain might monitor and modulate the processes associated with the genesis and progression of cancer. The aim of this article is to describe the data supporting this hypothesis.

Neurobiological principles in the etiopathogenesis of disease: when diseases have a head.

There is no doubt that the nervous system is involved in the etiopathogenesis of various pathological states and diseases. Interactions between the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems might represent the anatomical and functional basis for understanding the pathways and mechanisms that enable the brain to modulate the progression of disease. The aim of this article is to encourage us to shift our current opinion of the etiopathogenesis of disease to one of highly complex interactions between peripheral tissues and the brain and in this way introduce new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Data Sharing: A New Editorial Initiative of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Implications for the Editors' Network.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides recommendations to improve the editorial standards and scientific quality of biomedical journals. These recommendations range from uniform technical requirements to more complex and elusive editorial issues including ethical aspects of the scientific process. Recently, registration of clinical trials, conflicts of interest disclosure, and new criteria for authorship - emphasizing the importance of responsibility and accountability -, have been proposed. Last year, a new editorial initiative to foster sharing of clinical trial data was launched. This review discusses this novel initiative with the aim of increasing awareness among readers, investigators, authors and editors belonging to the Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology.

Data Sharing: A New Editorial Initiative of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Implications for the Editors' Network.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides recommendations to improve the editorial standards and scientific quality of biomedical journals. These recommendations range from uniform technical requirements to more complex and elusive editorial issues including ethical aspects of the scientific process. Recently, registration of clinical trials, conflicts of interest disclosure, and new criteria for authorship - emphasizing the importance of responsibility and accountability - have been proposed. Last year, a new editorial initiative to foster sharing of clinical trial data was launched. This review discusses this novel initiative with the aim of increasing awareness among readers, investigators, authors and editors belonging to the Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology.

Data Sharing: A New Editorial Initiative of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Implications for the Editors' Network.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides recommendations to improve the editorial standards and scientific quality of biomedical journals. These recommendations range from uniform technical requirements to more complex and elusive editorial issues including ethical aspects of the scientific process. Recently, registration of clinical trials, conflicts of interest disclosure, and new criteria for authorship -emphasizing the importance of responsibility and accountability-, have been proposed. Last year, a new editorial initiative to foster sharing of clinical trial data was launched. This review discusses this novel initiative with the aim of increasing awareness among readers, investigators, authors and editors belonging to the Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology.

Data Sharing: A New Editorial Initiative of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Implications for the Editors´ Network.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides recommendations to improve the editorial standards and scientific quality of biomedical journals. These recommendations range from uniform technical requirements to more complex and elusive editorial issues including ethical aspects of the scientific process. Recently, registration of clinical trials, conflicts of interest disclosure, and new criteria for authorship -emphasizing the importance of responsibility and accountability-, have been proposed. Last year, a new editorial initiative to foster sharing of clinical trial data was launched. This review discusses this novel initiative with the aim of increasing awareness among readers, investigators, authors and editors belonging to the Editors´ Network of the European Society of Cardiology.