Microbial pathogens secrete small RNA (sRNA) effectors into plant hosts to aid infection by silencing transcripts of immunity and signaling-related genes through RNA interference (RNAi). Similarly, sRNAs from plant hosts have been shown to contribute to plant defense against microbial pathogens by targeting transcripts involved in virulence. This phenomenon is called bidirectional RNA communication or cross kingdom RNAi (ckRNAi). How far this RNAi-mediated mechanism is evolutionarily conserved is the subject of controversial discussions. We examined the bidirectional accumulation of sRNAs in the interaction of the hemibiotrophic rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae (Mo) with the grass model plant Brachypodium distachyon (Bd). By comparative deep sequencing of sRNAs and mRNAs from axenic fungal cultures and infected leaves and roots, we found a wide range of fungal sRNAs that accumulated exclusively in infected tissues. Amongst those, 20-21 nt candidate sRNA effectors were predicted in silico by selecting those Mo reads that had complementary mRNA targets in Bd. Many of those mRNAs predicted to be targeted by Mo sRNAs were differentially expressed, particularly in the necrotrophic infection phase, including gene transcripts involved in plant defense responses and signaling. Vice versa, by applying the same strategy to identify Bd sRNA effectors, we found that Bd produced sRNAs targeting a variety of fungal transcripts, encoding fungal cell wall components, virulence genes and transcription factors. Consistent with function as effectors of these Bd sRNAs, their predicted fungal targets were significantly down-regulated in the infected tissues compared to axenic cultures, and deletion mutants for some of these target genes showed heavily impaired virulence phenotypes. Overall, this study provides the first experimentally-based evidence for bidirectional ckRNAi in a grass-fungal pathosystem, paving the way for further validation of identified sRNA-target duplexes and contributing to the emerging research on naturally occurring cross-kingdom communication and its implications for agriculture on staple crops. Author Summary In the present work, we provide first experimental evidence for bidirectional RNA communication in a grass-fungal pathosystem. We deployed the monocotyledonous plant Brachypodium distachyon, which is a genetic model for the staple crops wheat and rice, to investigate the interaction-related sRNAs for their role in RNA communication. By applying a previously published bioinformatics pipeline for the detection of sRNA effectors we identified potential plant targets for fungal sRNAs and vice versa, fungal targets for plant sRNAs. Inspection of the respective targets confirmed their downregulation in infected relative to uninfected tissues and fungal axenic cultures, respectively. By focusing on potential fungal targets, we identified several genes encoding fungal cell wall components, virulence proteins and transcription factors. The deletion of those fungal targets has already been shown to produce disordered virulence phenotypes. Our findings establish the basis for further validation of identified sRNA-mRNA target duplexes and contribute to the emerging research on naturally occurring cross-kingdom communication and its implications for agriculture.

Measles are a highly contagious and communicable viral disease which may be prevented by a sustained vaccination program. Due to missed vaccination, two major epidemics of measles (1997–1999 and 2014–2015) have been recorded after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) with over 10,000 patients registered. According to the World Health Organization, BH is categorized as a country with endemic transmission of measles. The last measles epidemic was between 2014 and 2015, with 5,083 documented patients in the Federation of BH. In the first four months of 2019, more than 700 measles cases were registered in the same region. Significant transmission rate has been observed in Sarajevo Canton (SC) with 570 documented measles cases. Out of 570 measles cases in SC, 92.5% were unvaccinated. The most affected were children up to 6 years of age (62.8%), with one documented case of death (7-month old infant). In addition to this report, we discussed key stakeholders and possible circumstances responsible for the epidemic. The measles epidemic is still ongoing.

According to the oral tradition, four to five degrees of kinship back, at the locality of the village of Batočići, the hamlet of Bare, the municipality of Čajnice – Republic of Srpska in BiH, there was an appearance of a tree with atypical sympodial graft in the spiral or alternating position of annual growth with a different tendency of negative heliotropism. This tree reached a height of up to 20 m and dried at the age of about 170 years. According to the oral tradition, after a longer period, between two and three degrees of kinship backward, the appearance of new single beech trees with the same characteristics in the formation of habit was observed. These new trees appeared successively in a relatively narrow space around the first tree, which for this reason was called the "Mother of Fairy Beech". Morphological characteristics of tree habit in this beech population conform with the variety of "tortuous beech" Fagus sylvatica var. – tortuosa, as well partly conforming to the variety of "weeping beech" Fagus sylvatica var. pendula. In this research, the question of inheritance of irregular sympodial branching with a tendency of negative heliotropism in the population of "Fairy Beech from Čajniče" has been raised, regardless of the characterization of the varieties. Thus, in the population of Fairy Beech from Čajniče, which makes about 40 trees in relatively close surroundings, four trees aged over 30 years have been identified in order to determine whether their tree form is reproduced by vegetative cloning and generatively, by seed. The research was conducted in the period from 2014 to 2016 at the Institute for Genetic Resources of the University of Banja Luka. The results show that the form of habit of all four parent trees are conveyed by branching as well as by seed, which proves that there was a mutation of the first tree, i.e. the mother of Fairy Beech from Čajniče, which is transmitted to the offspring.

The aim of this paper is to present the application of quantitative methods in the analysis of foreign trade indicators of corn in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Subsequently, based on the analysis, the forecast of import and export parameters was created for the 2018-20 period which predicted that corn imports and exports would increase both in the natural and value form. Furthermore, it was established for the observed period that Serbia was the largest importer of this crop to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that Turkey was a country to which the corn from Bosnia and Herzegovina was mostly exported. The research in this paper can serve the purpose of further planning and development of both the production and the markets of this crop and agriculture as a whole.

U ovom radu sintetisana je serija segmentiranih poliuretanskih materijala primenom dverazličite vrste alifatičnih polikarbonatnih diola, oznaka T5651 (50% pentanskih i 50%heksanskih grupa kao ponavljajućih jedinica) i T4671 (30% butanskih i 70% heksanskihgrupa kao ponavljajućih jedinica u strukturi lanca). Segmentirani termoplastični poliuretanskimaterijali su ojačani nanočesticama glina sa slojevitom strukturom (montmorilonit ibentonit). Ispitivan je uticaj udela tvrdih segmenata i nanopunila na mehanička svojstva iapsolutno izduženje segmentiranih poliuretanskih elastomera i hibridnih materijala. Utvrđenoje da udeo tvrdih segmenata kod uzoraka na osnovu polikarbonatnog diola oznake T5651 neutiče na prekidnu čvrstoću, ali ima značajan uticaj na prekidnu čvrstoću elastomerastrukturiranih primenom polikarbonatne komponente oznake T4671. Smanjenje udela tvrdihsegmenata u znatnoj meri povećava prekidno izduženje. Dodatak 1 mas.% nanočesticaorganski modifikovanog bentonita utiče na znatno povećanje vrednosti prekidne čvrstoće iprekidnog izduženja poliuretanskih elastomera sa polikarbonatnom komponentom oznakeT5651, kao mekim segmentom (od 23.5 do 46.7 MPa i od 420 do 702%, redom). Elastomeristrukturirani primenom diola oznake T4671 i ojačani nanočesticama montmorilonita ibentonita pokazuju pogoršana mehanička svojstva u odnosu na neojačane poliuretane saistom vrstom polikarbonatne komponente kao mekog segmenta. Veću sposobnost izduženjapokazuju poliuretanski materijali strukturirani primenom polikarbonatnog prekursora oznakeT5651, usled veće pravilnosti u strukturi lanca polikarbonatnog diola koji sadrži isti brojpentanskih i heksanskih grupa.

The aim of the study was to evaluate reproductive parameters in a population of the Banija Spotted (BS) pig breed. A total of 69 breeding sows registered in the herdbook were analysed according to the Order of Parity (OP) (1st, 2nd, 3rd, joint 4th and 5th parity, and all parities). Basic descriptive statistical analyses were used to calculate reproductive parameters such as age at mating and farrowing, Age of the Boar (AB) at mating, gestation length and farrowing interval; the following parameters were analysed for Litter Size (LS): Total Number of Born (TNB), Number of Born Alive (NBA), Number of Still Born (NSB) and Number of Weaned (NW) piglets. Analyses were carried out using the GLM procedure in SAS, whereas the Pairwise Pearson PROC CORR procedure was used to calculate correlation coefficients (r) between LS traits. On average 8.26 TNB, 7.57 NBA, 0.67 NSB and 6.95 NW piglets were determined. Significant differences (P<0.05) were observed between 1st and 2nd, and 1st and 3rd OP for TNB and NBA. NW was significantly different (P<0.05) between 1st and 2nd OP, and between 3rd and joint 4th and 5th parities, with a significant (P<0.05) effect of Gestation Length (GL) and Farrowing Season (FS) on NBA in 2nd parity. A significant effect of Herd Group (HG) and AB on NBA was recorded in 3rd OP. Joint 4th and 5th parities with the lowest number of litters analysed showed a significant effect (P<0.05) of AB on TNB, NBA and NW, as well as of GL on NSB. High correlation coefficients (r = 0.7-0.9; P<0.05, per parity analysed) were found between TNB-NBA, TNB-NW and NBA-NW in all parities *Corresponding author: Prof. Krešimir Salajpal, DVM, PhD, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 25, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia, Phone: +385 1 2394 038; E-mail: ksalajpal@agr.hr DOI: 10.24099/vet.arhiv.0428

This study aimed to investigate the facilitative effect of observational practice combined with mental imagery on learning of soccer dribbling. 140 young boys with the average age of 14,52 (±2,96) and mental imagery score of 48,69 (±5,1), who were unfamiliar with the research task, voluntarily participated in this study. The participants were assigned to homogenous groups according to their pre-tests results as follow: 1- physical practice; 2- observational practice; 3-mental imagery practice; 4-physical-observational practice; 5-physical-mental imagery practice; 6- observational-mental imagery practice and 7- physical-observational-mental imagery practice. Then the participants completed three sessions including ninety trials. At the end of the final training session, an immediate retention test was conducted that followed by a delayed retention test after 48 hours. The results of One-Way ANOVA test indicated that in both immediate and delayed retention tests, the physical-observational-mental imagery group and the physical group had a better performance compared with other groups (p<.05). Furthermore, the combined physical-mental imagery group obtained higher scores in soccer dribbling task in comparison with the combined physical-observational group. The findings support the beneficial effects of cognitive interventions as well as physical practice.