Medical University of Varna

About: Medical University of Varna is a education organization based out in Varna, Varna, Bulgaria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 1199 authors who have published 1273 publications receiving 32940 citations. The organization is also known as: MU-Varna & Higher Medical Institute of Varna.

Effectiveness of a family-, school- and community-based intervention on physical activity and its correlates in Belgian families with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus: the Feel4Diabetes-study

Abstract: The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the European Feel4Diabetes intervention, promoting a healthy lifestyle, on physical activity and its correlates among families at risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus (based on the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score) in Belgium. The Feel4Diabetes intervention involved three components: family, school and community component, with the family component consisting of 6 counseling sessions for families at risk. Main outcomes were objectively measured physical activity levels and its subjectively measured correlates. The final sample consisted of 454 parents (mean age 39.4 years; 72.0% women) and 444 children (mean age 8.0 years; 50.1% girls). Multilevel repeated measures analyses were performed to assess intervention effectiveness after 1 year. In parents, there was no significant intervention effect. In children, there were only significant negative effects for moderate to vigorous physical activity (p = 0.05; ηp2 = 0.008) and steps (p = 0.03; ηp2 = 0.006%) on weekdays, with physical activity decreasing (more) in the intervention group. The F4D-intervention lacks effectiveness on high-risk families’ physical activity and its correlates in Belgium. This could partially be explained by low attendance rates and a large drop-out. To reach vulnerable populations, future interventions should invest in more appropriate recruitment (e.g. more face-to-face contact) and more bottom-up development of the intervention (i.e. co-creation of the intervention with the target group). The Feel4Diabetes-study was prospectively registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02393872 on 20 March 2015.

The state of primary medical care in Bulgaria.

Abstract: This paper describes the state of primary medical care in Bulgaria and related issues. This component of the state health system is based on the so-called principle of the 'district physician'. It is built on the idea of establishing long-lasting contact between the physician and the patients. Primary care is provided by a district therapist (for populations of up to 3000 inhabitants), a paediatrician (for 800-1200 children aged up to 14 years) and an obstetrician-gynaecologist (for 16,000-18,000 female inhabitants), as well as by numerous freely accessible narrow-profile specialists. The main disadvantages of the existing system of primary medical care are the lack of opportunity for personal choice of physician, division of responsibilities among numerous physicians and other medical staff, expensive medical care owing to abundant polyclinical specialists, reduced physician's motivation and hampered users' influence on the quality of medical care. Questions about the future status of polyclinics and both children's and female health centres, as well as about the optimal ratio between family physicians and specialists, remain unresolved.

Preauricular Sinus: A Tale of Forgetful Rediscovery.

Abstract: The preauricular sinus (PAuS) is a congenital foramen, opening or invagination, usually located on the crus of the auricular helix and is considered a congenital malformation and component of multiple syndromes The structure can be present unilaterally or bilaterally, with the possibility of more than one fistula present on one ear, predominantly on the auricular tags As a well-defined and established clinical entry, PAuS has a very strictly laid-out history However, different works of art give us a glimpse into the structure before its first true clinical description, showing that the PAuS was known to man long before it was first clinically described, such as those of Hieronymous Bosch, with the first medical descriptions being attributed to Heusinger and Virchow In modern times, the condition is considered both an individual malformation and a component of several genetic syndromes

Endovascular prostheses for aortic aneurysms: a new era for vascular surgery

Abstract: The chapter describes the pathology of aneurysms and explains the technique of endovascular aortic repair. The development of stent grafts is reviewed and a number of different types are described and evaluated. The use of branched stent grafts and in situ fenestration techniques for patients with more challenging anatomies is discussed.

Bulgarian hospital reform and the new public management model. A change of role of state or a change of mind

Abstract: Nothing is simple in planning, financing, and delivering health care. Whatever changes in the system, it has both anticipated and unexpected consequences, which may be positive or negative. This makes reforming health care extremely challenging. Reforming the hospitals in Bulgaria is a difficult task, especially combined with the difficult transition process in all countries of Eastern Europe and the tendencies like growing costs of care, ageing of the population, higher levels of chronic disease and disability, increased availability of new treatments, rising public expectations, increased pressure to spend more on health care and use the available resources more efficiently. The present work uses the example of hospital change process started in newly accepted in EU European countries, particularly in Bulgaria, and proposes discussion about the potential of the New Public Management model as a mean of improvement the capacity of state to adopt the contractual approach of regulation. In conclusion, we stress that if the control by state was not the best solution, market regulation have also some limits so there could be a third way - the supervised competition a possible cure for the success of hospitals and health care reform in Bulgaria. Scripta Scientifica Medica 2013; 45(4): 20-30.