Authorship: from credit to accountability. Reflections from the Editors' Network.

The Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology provides a dynamic forum for editorial discussions and endorses the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to improve the scientific quality of biomedical journals. Authorship confers credit and important academic rewards. Recently, however, the ICMJE emphasized that authorship also requires responsibility and accountability. These issues are now covered by the new (fourth) criterion for authorship. Authors should agree to be accountable and ensure that questions regarding the accuracy and integrity of the entire work will be appropriately addressed. This review discusses the implications of this paradigm shift on authorship requirements with the aim of increasing awareness on good scientific and editorial practices.

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.

The prevalence of hypertension among Croatian hospitalized coronary heart disease patients.

The aim of this article was to investigate the prevalence of hypertension with selected anthropometric variables in a sample of hospitalized coronary heart disease (CHD) patients in Croatia. This study investigated patients hospitalized in the period of October 1st 2007 until January 7th 2010 because of acute or chronic CHD in various hospitals in Croatia (N = 1,298). Prevalence of hypertension in surveyed patient population was high: 70.1% of participants had raised blood pressure (BP) or previously diagnosed hypertension. Men had statistically significantly higher mean diastolic BP values than women (78.91 +/- 8.97 vs. 77.12 +/- 10.61 mmHg, p = 0.011). Prevalence of hypertension was statistically significantly more frequent in women (80.6% vs. 65.8%, p < 0.001). Hypertension still represents an important problem among hospitalized Croatian CHD patients. Its prevalence, unfortunately, continues to increase in this population, suggesting that there is still great potential for improvement of preventive cardiology standards and measures that have already been undertaken.

[Therapy of acute myocardial infarction in primary care and emergency medicine: experience acquired in the National Interventional Cardiology Program]. / Terapijski pristup akutnom infarktu miokarda u primarnoj i hitnoj medicini: iskustva stecena u Nacionalnom programu intervencijske kardiologije.

Since the highly efficient treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) depends on the time elapsed from the occurrence of symptoms, the speed and accurate diagnosis as well as risk stratification highly influence the outcome of treatment and life prognosis. The basis of prehospital diagnosis of AMI is history, clinical examination and pre-hospital 12-lead electrocardiography performed within 10 minutes from establishment of the first contact with a health institution. Care of patients suffering from AMI by emergency service or primary care physicians needs to include monitoring, use of emergency medicines and transportation to the institution that can put the most efficient treatment strategy in place depending on the length of difficulties, type and localization of AMI, and degree of risk in each individual patient. In Croatia, the integrated diagnostic-therapy-organizational systems of care for "real-world" patients with AMI within the National Interventional Cardiology Program have been applied since the mid-2005. This treatment strategy including prehospital notification and activation of cardiac catheterization laboratory uses primary percutaneous coronary intervention, aimed at more effective life saving and disability reduction than in case of traditional pharmacology-based strategy. Apart from coordination between out-of-hospital healthcare and secondary and tertiary institutions, an adequate support and financial resources provided by local community are required. The purpose of this paper is to present implementation of a modern strategy of prehospital management of all patients with AMI, which, in the conditions of integrated medical care, requires appropriate choice of treatment according to the risk.

Authorship: from credit to accountability. Reflections from the Editors' Network.

The Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology provides a dynamic forum for editorial discussions and endorses the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to improve the scientific quality of biomedical journals. Authorship confers credit and important academic rewards. Recently, however, the ICMJE emphasized that authorship also requires responsibility and accountability. These issues are now covered by the new (fourth) criterion for authorship. Authors should agree to be accountable and ensure that questions regarding the accuracy and integrity of the entire work will be appropriately addressed. This review discusses the implications of this paradigm shift on authorship requirements with the aim of increasing awareness on good scientific and editorial practices.

Authorship: From Credit to Accountability Reflections From the Editors´ Network.

The Editors´ Network of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) provides a dynamic forum for editorial discussions and endorses the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to improve the scientific quality of biomedical journals. Authorship confers credit and important academic rewards. Recently, however, the ICMJE emphasized that authorship also requires responsibility and accountability. These issues are now covered by the new (fourth) criterion for authorship. Authors should agree to be accountable and ensure that questions regarding the accuracy and integrity of the entire work will be appropriately addressed. This review discusses the implications of this paradigm shift on authorship requirements with the aim of increasing awareness on good scientific and editorial practices.

Authorship: From credit to accountability - Reflections from the Editors' network.

The Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) provides a dynamic forum for editorial discussions and endorses the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to improve the scientific quality of biomedical journals. Authorship confers credit and important academic rewards. Recently, however, the ICMJE emphasized that authorship also requires responsibility and accountability. These issues are now covered by the new -(fourth) criterion for authorship. Authors should agree to be accountable and ensure that questions regarding the accuracy and integrity of the entire work will be appropriately addressed. This review discusses the implications of this paradigm shift on authorship requirements with the aim of increasing awareness on good scientific and editorial practices.

Authorship: From credit to accountability. Reflections from the Editors' Network.

The Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) provides a dynamic forum for editorial discussions and endorses the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to improve the scientific quality of biomedical journals. Authorship confers credit and important academic rewards. Recently, however, the ICMJE emphasized that authorship also requires responsibility and accountability. These issues are now covered by the new (fourth) criterion for authorship. Authors should agree to be accountable and ensure that questions regarding the accuracy and integrity of the entire work will be appropriately addressed. This review discusses the implications of this paradigm shift on authorship requirements with the aim of increasing awareness on good scientific and editorial practices.

Authorship: From credit to accountability - Reflections from the Editors' network.

The Editors' Network of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) provides a dynamic forum for editorial discussions and endorses the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to improve the scientific quality of biomedical journals. Authorship confers credit and important academic rewards. Recently, however, the ICMJE emphasized that authorship also requires responsibility and accountability. These issues are now covered by the new -(fourth) criterion for authorship. Authors should agree to be accountable and ensure that questions regarding the accuracy and integrity of the entire work will be appropriately addressed. This review discusses the implications of this paradigm shift on authorship requirements with the aim of increasing awareness on good scientific and editorial practices.

La Red de Editores de la Sociedad Europea de Cardiología (SEC) proporciona un foro dinámico para debates editoriales y respalda las recomendaciones del Comité Internacional de Editores de Revistas Médicas (ICMJE) para mejorar la calidad científica de las revistas biomédicas. La autoría confiere crédito e importantes recompensas académicas. Recientemente, sin embargo, el ICMJE enfatizó que la autoría también requiere responsabilidad y compromiso. Estos problemas ahora están cubiertos por el nuevo (cuarto) criterio de autoría. Los autores deben aceptar ser responsables y garantizar que las preguntas sobre la precisión y la integridad de todo el trabajo será abordado adecuadamente. Esta revisión discute las implicaciones de este cambio de paradigma en requisitos de autoría con el objetivo de aumentar la conciencia sobre las buenas prácticas científicas y editoriales.

[Guidelines for diagnostics and treatment of arterial hypertension. Practical recommendations of the Croatian Working Group for Hypertension. Consideration on the ESH-ESC 2007 guidelines]. / Smjernice za dijagnosticiranje i lijecenje arterijske hipertenzije. Prakticne preporuke hrvatske radne skupine i osvrt na smjernice ESH/ESC 2007.

ESH/ECS guidelines for diagnostics and treatment of arterial hypertension 2007 is a basic paper for all physicians who treat hypertensive patients. Since publishing, this article has been the most cited medical paper. According to ESH/ECS guidelines some local peculiarities in each country should be considered when diagnosing and treating hypertensive patients. Practical recommendations of the Croatian working group for the diagnostics and treatment of hypertension are in agreement with ESH/ECS guidelines. However, few additional issues are added and further discussed in this paper (hypertensive crisis, treatment of hypertension in patients undergoing dialysis and in renal transplanted patients, role of family physicians, role of nurse). We believe that this paper will contribute better control of hypertension in Croatia. All medical societies and institutions that took part in writing this document, have to consider this paper as an official statement.

[Risk factors as prognostic factors of hospital mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction]. / Cimbenici rizika kao predskazatelji intrahospitalnog letaliteta u bolesnika s akutnim infarktom miokarda.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there are any differences in the prevalence of risk factors between survivors and nonsurvivors among acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients hospitalized in a county hospital. METHODS: Case histories of AMI patients treated at Department of Medicine, Bjelovar General Hospital from July 1, 1996 until December 31, 2000 were retrospectively analyzed. AMI was diagnosed using the World Health Organization definition. Demographic factors (age and sex), smoking habits, clinical and laboratory results (hypertension, diabetes, blood lipids--total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides), personal history of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction and stroke and family history of atherothrombotic disease were considered as potential risk factors. Comparisons were made between survivors and nonsurvivors during hospital treatment. On group comparisons Student's t-test and chi2-test were used. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. DISCUSSION: In a total of 396 study patients, there were 316 (79.8%) survivors, showing male predominance (87.1% vs 67.3% of women; p<0.011). The patients aged under 65 were mainly male (79.6%), and among those older than 65 both sexes were equally represented (male 50.7% vs female 49.3%). Hypertension was more common in women (55.1% vs 42.6%; p=0.016), and smoking in men (31.7% vs 5.4%; p<0.001). The group survivors showed a higher prevalence of hypertension (50.3% vs 35.0% in nonsurvivors; p=0.014) and smoking (25.9% vs 6.3%; p<0.001). The prevalence of diabetes, previous myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, previous stroke and family history of atherothrombotic disease showed no statistically significant differences between survivors and nonsurvivors. Furthermore, a greater number of patients with increased levels of total cholesterol (> or =5.0 mmol/L) and LDL-cholesterol (> or =3.0 mmol/L) were found in the group of survivors than among nonsurvivors. The latter were 8 years older than survivors (71.0+/-9.3 vs 63.0+/-11.9 years; p<0.001). Analysis according to age groups also showed a rise of hospital mortality with age group in both sexes (men: 4.6% in <55 age group vs 22.6% in > or =75 age group; women: 7.1% in <55 age group vs 43.7% in > or =75 age group). A higher percentage of men nonsurvivors were smokers in comparison to female nonsurvivors that also had a lower level of total cholesterol. The prevalence of hypertension showed no significant sex difference. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of risk factors, especially the most important ones, i. e. hypertension, smoking and abnormal lipid values in AMI patients should be considered according to sex and age. The impact of these factors on patient outcome, i. e. survival rate during hospital treatment, can only be analyzed taking into account sex and age.

Application of EuroSCORE in "Heart center Sarajevo".

Our aim was to evaluate risk stratification model, European System for Cardiac Risk Evaluation (logistic EuroSCORE) for patients treated in clinical hospital. EuroSCORE is useful to separate patients into risk groups so that the mortality and morbidity risk can be compared. From 1st January 2006 to 31st July 2006 the total of 124 adults have been operated and were classified according to the EuroSCORE algorithm. We have compared correlation of the predicted mortality and observed mortality (as death within the 30 days following the operation) and frequency of postoperative complications. All patients were divided into three risk groups. The low risk group had 30 patients with 0 death (0%) and 1 morbidity (3,33%). The medium risk group had 59 patients with 0 death (0%) and 4 morbidity (6,77%). The high risk group had 35 patients with 2 death (5,71%) and 5 morbidity (14,28%). Mortality in our clinic is much less than predicted mortality and we can be satisfied with our results. Incidence of complications after cardiac surgery is between 25 and 40% (STS database). Our results are within that range. We recommend logistic version of EuroSCORE as good and simple method to predict postoperative prognosis.

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.

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. Resumo O Comitê Internacional de Editores de Revistas Médicas (ICMJE) fornece recomendações para aprimorar o padrão editorial e a qualidade científica das revistas biomédicas. Tais recomendações variam desde requisitos técnicos de uniformização até assuntos editoriais mais complexos e elusivos, como os aspectos éticos do processo científico. Recentemente, foram propostos registro de ensaios clínicos, divulgação de conflitos de interesse e novos critérios de autoria, enfatizando a importância da responsabilidade e da responsabilização. No último ano, lançou-se uma nova iniciativa editorial para fomentar o compartilhamento dos dados de ensaios clínicos. Esta revisão discute essa nova iniciativa visando a aumentar a conscientização de leitores, investigadores, autores e editores filiados à Rede de Editores da Sociedade Europeia de Cardiologia.

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.