The aim of the present study was to determine associations of thyroid hormone levels and different metabolic parameters and anthropometric measurements with volume of nodular and nonnodular thyroid as well as with prevalence of goiter and thyroid nodules in middle-aged euthyroid subjects.Methods. The study consisted of 317 euthyroid subjects aged 48-49 from the Kaunas Cardiovascular Risk Cohort study. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), and antithyroid peroxidase antibody (ATPO) levels, as well as anthropometric and metabolic parameters and smoking information, were evaluated.Results. In subjects with and without thyroid nodules, thyroid volume correlated with components of metabolic syndrome, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and TSH levels. In the nonnodular thyroid group, thyroid volume was also positively related to serum insulin and HOMA-IR, whereas a negative correlation between thyroid volume and leptin was identified in the nodular thyroid group. The goiter was identified in 12.3% of subjects. Female gender, thyroid nodules, smoking, BMI, and levels of TSH were independent predictors for goiter. Thyroid nodules were found in 31.2% of participants. Female gender, higher TSH levels, and thyroid volume were independent risk factors for thyroid nodules.Conclusions. Female gender, thyroid nodules, smoking, BMI, and TSH levels were identified as potential predictors of goiter. Female gender, TSH levels, and thyroid volume predicted the presence of thyroid nodules.

The study aimed to analyse emotional state, quality of life and cognitive functions in young hypogonadal men. Thirty-four males with hypogonadism (age 29.1 ± 10.5 years) and 34 age-matched healthy males (age 30.5 ± 11.0 years) were recruited. Their emotional state was evaluated by Profile of Mood States, quality of life - by WHO Brief Quality of Life Questionnaire - and cognitive functioning - by Trail Making Test and Digit Span Test of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. It was found that young men with hypogonadism had higher depression-dejection (13.1 ± 8.8 versus 7.4 ± 5.9, P = 0.003), fatigue-inertia (10.0 ± 5.8 versus 7.0 ± 4.9, P = 0.030), confusion-bewilderment (5.1 ± 4.6 versus 2.3 ± 3.1, P = 0.004) and lower vigour-activity (14.3 ± 5.1 versus 17.7 ± 4.3, P = 0.008) levels than age- and sex-matched controls. Quality of life psychological (13.1 ± 2.8 versus 15.1 ± 1.9, P = 0.005) and social (13.6 ± 2.4 versus 15.7 ± 2.0, P < 0.001) domains were significantly worse in men with hypogonadism than in controls. Cognitive functions were significantly worse (P < 0.001) in men with hypogonadism than in controls, showing worse executive function, attention, visual scanning abilities and psychomotor speed. A significant correlation was found between testosterone concentration and quality of life psychological domain. Cognitive functioning scores were significantly related with FT4 concentration. It is concluded that young hypogonadal patients have impaired emotional state and quality of life, but the most severe impairment was found in cognitive functioning.

The data on the childhood determinants of adult cardiovascular disease (CVD) are lacking in populations of Eastern Europe that are characterised by substantially high CVD mortality. From a public health perspective, it is important to identify high-risk individuals as early as possible in order to have the greatest benefit of preventive interventions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations of childhood and adulthood traditional risk factors with subclinical atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness in a Lithuanian cohort followed up for 35 years. The study cohort consisted of 380 adults aged 48–49 from Kaunas Cardiovascular Risk Cohort study, who were followed up since childhood (12–13 years). The baseline survey (1977) included blood pressure (BP) and anthropometric measurements and sexual maturity scale. In the follow-up survey (2012), BP, anthropometric and lipids measurements, interview about smoking, measurement of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and determination of pulse wave velocity (PWV) were performed. Two types of general linear models were applied to test the associations of childhood and adulthood risk factors with IMT and PWV. Model 1 included only childhood variables. In model 2, adulthood variables were added to childhood variables. In linear regression model with childhood variables childhood systolic BP (β = 0.014; p = 0.016) and BMI (β = 0.006; p = 0.003) were directly associated with IMT only in women. When adulthood variables were included into regression model, the association between childhood systolic BP and IMT remained significant (β = 0.013; p = 0.021), while childhood BMI was not associated with IMT (β = 0.003; p = 0.143). Additionally, association of adult smoking and IMT was found in women (β = 0.033; p = 0.018). IMT of men was directly related to adult systolic BP (β = 0.022; p = 0.018) and inversely to HDL cholesterol level (β = −0.044; p = 0.021). PWV was directly associated only with adult systolic BP in both genders (β = 0.729 for men and β = 0.476 for women; p = 0.001). Sex differences in the associations between childhood and adulthood risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis were found. The results of the study support efforts to reduce conventional risk factors both in childhood and adulthood for the primary prevention of atherosclerosis.

It is considered that 1 in 10 adults worldwide have diabetes. Diabetic foot ulcers are some of the most common complications of diabetes, and they are associated with a high risk of lower-limb amputation and, as a result, reduced life expectancy. Timely detection and periodic ulcer monitoring can considerably decrease amputation rates. Recent research has demonstrated that computer vision can be used to identify foot ulcers and perform non-contact telemetry by using ulcer and tissue area segmentation. However, the applications are limited to controlled lighting conditions, and expert knowledge is required for dataset annotation. This paper reviews the latest publications on the use of artificial intelligence for ulcer area detection and segmentation. The PRISMA methodology was used to search for and select articles, and the selected articles were reviewed to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Qualitative data were used to describe the methodologies used in individual studies, while quantitative data were used for generalization in terms of dataset preparation and feature extraction. Publicly available datasets were accounted for, and methods for preprocessing, augmentation, and feature extraction were evaluated. It was concluded that public datasets can be used to form a bigger, more diverse datasets, and the prospects of wider image preprocessing and the adoption of augmentation require further research.