Back to normal

RAD 552. Medical Sciences 58-59 (2022) : 8-9 www.rad-med.com 8 June 2022 Vol 552 = 58-59 In all of our editorials in the last two years, the Covid-19 pandemic issue was present. Finally, the day has come for the title of one of our editorials – Brighter Light at the End of the Tunnel (RAD CASA 547=54-55, 2021) – to come true. Dear readers. From the glance at the double issue of our journal currently in front of you, it is obvious that we have indeed returned to normal. This becomes evident looking at the number and diversity of the published articles and particularly at the socalled social section of our journal entitled NEWS and EDUCATION. The list of book reviews follows: Vladimir Medved (editor): Measurement and Analysis of Human Locomotion, Springer Nature Switzerland Ag 2021; Vanja Bašić-Kes, Vida Demarin: MIGRENE, Medicinska naklada, Zagreb, 2022; Mirna Šitum, Vedrana Bulat and associates: Psoriasis, CASA and Medix, Zagreb, 2022; Marko Pećina, Stella Fatović-Ferenčić (editors): Discussions and Materials for the History of Science, Book 21, CASA, Zagreb, 2021. Let us now list the reviews of the scientific and professional symposia held recently, which were mainly organised by members of the Department of Medical Sciences: Mind & Brain, Pula Congress (Vida Demarin); Summer Stroke School Dubrovnik (Vida Demarin); CroVascular Event (Mislav Vrsalović); Brain Week (Ivica Kostović); Hypertension (Bojan Jelaković); PNEI (Vida Demarin); Cardiology Colloquium in Dubrovnik (Davor Miličić). Let us come back to the principal contents of our issue 58-59. We proudly mention six original articles – of high quality in our as well as the reviewers’ opinion – written as a result of the authors’ research. There follow three Reviews, three Reviews – Case Reports, and two Case Reports. Authors outside Croatia (from Slovenia and Northern Macedonia) wrote three out of fourteen articles. We take great pleasure in the fact that the wider region has accepted our journal well. In this context, we will continue conducting our activities, that is to say stimulating cooperation with authors outside Croatia. However, despite the optimistic title of this editorial, BACK TO NORMAL, we are convinced that in the issues to come, we will increasingly publish articles tackling the topic of the so-called Post-covid era: The new and unknown field, which is the title taken over from an earlier issue of our journal (RAD CASA 547=54-55: 120-123, 2021). We are all aware of the need for conducting studies to confirm or refuse the trigger effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the disorders of nearly any human organic system. In particular, the Post Covid Neurological Syndrome (PCNS), with examples of patients developing a certain COVID brain fog, and various neurological symptoms, such as headache and the problem with smell and taste and dizziness in the post-Covid-19 period. We take pride in having the opportunity to publish the article entitled Overview and management of different post-Covid conditions in this issue. Our thanks go to a group of authors – rather distinguished experts – for choosing our journal to publish their latest knowledge regarding the pressing post-Covid problematics in. Here we quote the Conclusion of the said article: The multi-organ sequelae of COVID-19 beyond the acute phase of infection are increasingly being recognized. Continuation of research, including the identification and characterization of key clinical, serological, imaging and epidemiologic features of COVID-19 in the acute, subacute and chronic phases of disease, will help us to better understand the natural history and pathophysiology of this new disease entity. Currently, healthcare professionals caring for patients after acute COVID-19 have the key role of recognizing, documenting, investigating and managing ongoing or new symptoms, as well as following up organ-specific complications that developed during acute illness. Interdisciplinary cooperation is needed for comprehensive care of these patients in the outpatient setting. Given the global scale of this pandemic, it is apparent that the healthcare needs for patients with sequelae of COVID-19 will continue to increase for the foreseeable future, which will substantially burden the existing outpatient infrastructure. Thus, the development of scalable healthcare models and integration across disciplines for improved mental and physical health of survivors of COVID-19 in the long term is needed.