Asthma is the most common chronic illness in children and adolescents. The pediatric "Asthma School" has been established to improve the health and quality of life of children with asthma through education and support. The purpose of work is evaluation of efficiency education adolescents, children and parents in prevention, adequate use medications and control of asthma. It was operational investigation. The study was enrolled 70 participants from 7 cities in FBiH, which were attended "Asthma School". Evaluations of efficiency of education program have been done through questionnaires using 5-point scale. Observing variables were: attitude about quality of education and level of knowledge about asthma at the end of the educational round. "Asthma School" attended 62 parents and 8 adolescents. The age of children was 6-14 years. The most of participants were with middle school education (64.3%). Successfulness of seminar was score with highest point of scale by 79%. Access to health information was important for patients in adequate treating illness (80.6%) and in prevention of asthma (15%). There was a significant improvement for 38,4% in the basic knowledge of asthma among participants, from 2.7 before to 3.8 after education. Among 20 children that have learned proper technique breathing there was not register worsening symptoms of asthma by 83.4%. There was a significant improvement in the condition of patient, following by greater value PEF (72.3% participants). The results implicate necessity of continuity such action in order to make life of young asthma patient.

INTRODUCTION Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most frequent childhood malignancy in the western countries. Epidemiological reports and animal observations suggest a possible association between maternal viral infections during pregnancy and subsequent development of childhood ALL. A maternal viral infection during pregnancy, which is transferred to the foetus in a critical time during foetal hematopoesis, could initiate a preleukemic clone. A postnatal molecular event, during maximum stress on lymfocyte precursor proliferation, could then expand the preleukemic clone. A possible infectious agent should be able to cross the placenta and induce genomic instability in the foetal lymphocytes, without causing severe foetal abnormalities. Candidate viruses could be the Human Polyoma viruses (JC Virus and BK virus), Human Parvovirus B 19, Human Herpes virus 6 (HHV 6), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) or Cytomegalo virus (CMV). In order to investigate if children who later develop ALL were prenatally infected with these viruses, Guthrie cards taken at birth were analysed by PCR. PATIENTS, MATERIAL AND METHODS Capillary blood routinely collected at 3–5 days of age and stored on Guthrie cards, were retrieved from 54 patients who later developed ALL. A total of 50 of these children had been diagnosed as pre-B ALL (either CD10+, CD20+, FAB LI or L2) and four were diagnosed as T-ALL (CD3+ or CD8+). The median age of diagnosis was 5 years (range from 9 months to 17 years, mean 5,9 years). These children had been admitted for treatment at four different Paediatric Oncology Swedish Centres from 1980–2001. The control group were 47 healthy controls matched for age and birth place. DNA was extracted from the original Guthrie cards, using Minimal Essential Medium (MEM) to eluate the blood. Presence of BKV and JCV DNA were analysed by a nested PCR, amplifying a 176 and 173 bp segment respectively. Presence of Parvovirus B19 DNA was analysed by the NS1-PCR, amplifying a 284 bp segment. Presence of HHV 6 DNA was analysed by a nested PCR, amplifying a 173 bp segment. Presence of EBV DNA was analysed by a nested PCR, amplifying a 208 bp segment. Presence of CMV DNA was analysed by a Real Time PCR. To exclude the possibility of negative results due to failure to extract DNA, all samples were tested by a HLA-DQ PCR. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In order to detect if a viral in utero infection could initiate the development of ALL we analysed presence of BKV, JCV, HHV 6, Parvorirus B19 and CMV by PCR in from Guthrie cards at birth, in 54 patents that later developed ALL and 47 matched healthy control patients. No viral DNA was detected in the samples from ALL patients or in the healthy controls. All samples contained amplifiable DNA when tested by HLA-DQ PCR. Thus, it is less likely that childhood ALL is associated to an in utero infection of BKV, JCV, HHV 6, Parvorirus B19, EBVor CMV. However, it is not possible to exclude an association with a latent utero infection with very low levels of circulating virus at birth. In view of the epidemiological evidence between childhood ALL and infection, the search for a viral etiology must continue.

The war in the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995 destroyed the mainly hospital-based mental health care system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This report summarizes the situation before and after the war and describes efforts to rebuild and reform mental health services under politically and economically challenging conditions. As a result of these efforts, there are now 39 multidisciplinary community mental health centers that are linked to primary care and that aim to provide prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of mental disorders. The reform process has been supported by international initiatives and is now continuing in collaboration with other countries in South Eastern Europe.

Radical tumor resection is the treatment of choice for patients suffering from meningioma. However, recurrence of these tumors is a problem. Tumor recurrences are attributed to residual nests of meningioma within the regional dura. Therefore, complete removal of all tumor-infiltrated dura is important. Meningioma and normal dura were studied by Raman microspectroscopy to assess the possibility of developing an in vivo Raman method for guidance of meningioma resections. Pseudocolor Raman maps were constructed of cryosections of dura and meningioma, obtained from 20 patients. Comparison of these maps with histopathology enabled assignment of the spectra to either meningioma or dura. Large differences exist between the Raman spectra of dura and meningioma, because of the high collagen content of dura and the increased lipid content of tumors. A classification model for dura and tumor tissue based on linear discriminant analysis of Raman spectra yielded an accuracy of 100%. A first attempt was made to determine the minimum amount of meningioma in dura that is detectable by Raman spectroscopy. It is concluded that Raman spectra enable meningioma to be distinguished from dura, which makes Raman spectroscopy a viable candidate for guidance of surgical resection of meningioma.

BACKGROUND Diabetics have a 3-fold risk for cardiovascular diseases compared with non-diabetics. This study was designed to evaluate cerebral hemodynamic changes related to type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) with transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD). TCD is a highly sensitive and specific method of quick bedside assessment of cerebrovascular circulation hemodynamics. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a prospective study, we compared a group of 100 patients with the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (aged 48 to 67 years) and an age- and sex-matched control group of 100 healthy subjects without diabetes mellitus. We measured flow velocities (Vm) and the Gosling pulsatility index (PI) of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). RESULTS The rate of TCD abnormalities was significantly higher in diabetic patients than in healthy control subjects (55% vs. 11%, P<0.05). The PI was significantly higher in diabetic patients than in healthy controls (P<0.001). Atherosclerotic changes were found in 34.0% and 71.4% of patients suffering from diabetes for <5 and ≥5 years, respectively. CONCLUSION This study suggests that TCD is a useful marker for the detection of diabetic cerebrovascular changes. The duration and type of diabetes were found to have an impact on the development of pathologic cerebrovascular changes.