1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo, Zmaja od Bosne 33-35, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 2 Faculty of Chemistry and Technology, University of Split, Teslina 10, 21 000 Split, Croatia; 3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo, Zmaja od Bosne 33-35, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 4 Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo, Organizational unit Clinical chemistry and biochemistry, Bolnička 25, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 5 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sarajevo, Zmaja od Bosne 8, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; E-mail: islamovic.safija@gmail.com

This article describes the process of competence-based curriculum development in nursing education at Western Balkan (WB) universities. Nursing education in the WB has been noncompliant with the standard educational approaches of the European Union's directive on regulated professions. The overall aim of the TEMPUS project "Competency-Based Curriculum Reform in Nursing and Caring in Western Balkan Universities" was to bring curricular reform for bachelor's nursing education in the WB region in line with competence-based education and professional standards to demonstrate compliance with all member countries of the European Union.

The phenomenon of the increasing number of ageing people in the world is arguably the most significant economic, health and social challenge that we face today. Additionally, one of the major epidemiologic trends of current times is the increase in chronic and degenerative diseases. This paper tries to deliver a more up to date overview of chronic diseases and other limitations associated with old age and provide a more detailed outlook on the research that has gone into this field. First, challenges for seniors, including chronic diseases and other limitations associated with old age, are specified. Second, a review of seniors’ needs and concerns is performed. Finally, solutions that can improve seniors’ quality of life are discussed. Publications obtained from the following databases are used in this scoping review: Web of Science, PubMed, and Science Direct. Four independent reviewers screened the identified records and selected relevant publications published from 2010 to 2017. A total of 1916 publications were selected. In all, 52 papers were selected based on abstract content. For further processing, 21 full papers were screened.” The results indicate disabilities as a major problem associated with seniors’ activities of daily living dependence. We founded seven categories of different conditions - psychological problems, difficulties in mobility, poor cognitive function, falls and incidents, wounds and injuries, undernutrition, and communication problems. In order to minimize ageing consequences, some areas require more attention, such as education and training; technological tools; government support and welfare systems; early diagnosis of undernutrition, cognitive impairment, and other diseases; communication solutions; mobility solutions; and social contributions. This scoping review supports the view on chronic diseases in old age as a complex issue. To prevent the consequences of chronic diseases and other limitations associated with old age related problems demands multicomponent interventions. Early recognition of problems leading to disability and activities of daily living (ADL) dependence should be one of essential components of such interventions.

Introduction/Background Malignant ovarian germ cell tumors (MOGCTs) account for 2–5% of all ovarian cancers and among them pure embryonal cell cancer is rare condition.1 2 3 4 Methodology Aim: To show successful pregnancy after unilateral salpingooopherectomy and chemotherapy in a girl with embryonal carcinoma of ovary (ECO). Results Case report: A 11 year old girl presented in January 2008. with pain in abdomen and abdominal wall hardness. CT revealed a 12 × 10 × 11 cm heterodense mass. Right sided salpingoophorectomy, omentectomy, biopsy left sided ovary was done. Histopathology examination and immunohistochemistry revealed embryonal cell cancer of ovary. Patient had FIGO stage III c disease. After the surgical removal of the tumour, the patient underwent six cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin. Within eight year after the completion of chemotherapy she conceived spontaneously. At 39th gestational week, laparotomy as well as a C-section was done and the patient was managed successfully in giving birth to a healthy female baby (birth weight and lenth 3,430 gm/53 cm, Apgar score: 9/9). At the last follow-up visit (May 5, 2018), all the tumor markers were negative, and the control MRI and ultrasound examinations did not reveal tumor recurrence or pathological lymph nodes. Conclusion Fertility preservation surgery followed by chemotherapy may be considered as standard care of treatment in embryonal carcinoma of ovary in young girls, who want to retain fertility. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.

Abstract Localization of epileptogenic foci is an essential phase in surgical treatment planning using the earliest time detection of the seizure onset in the recordings of electroencephalogram (EEG). These recordings are defined as the areas of the brain which can be surgically removed to reach control of seizure. The characteristics of the brain area affected by partial epilepsy can be analyzed using focal and non-focal EEG signals. In this work, a method for the classification of focal and non-focal EEG signals is presented to compare different feature extraction methods combined with multi-scale principal component analysis (MSPCA) denoising and Random Forest (RF) as a machine learning technique. After de-noising, different feature extraction methods (EMD, DWT and WPD) are applied. The performance of RF classifier is measured according to accuracy, the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve (AUC) and F-measure. EEG based focal region localization with Wavelet Packet Decomposition (WPD) feature extraction and RF classifier reach 99.92% accuracy. Hence, WPD combined with RF machine learning classifier can be used to differentiate the focal and non-focal EEG signals.

Introduction/Background Aberrant Hedgehog (Hh) pathway signaling has been implicated in pathogenesis of several human cancers. Recent studies have indicated its active role in serous ovarian carcinomas. Smoothened protein (SMO), a transmembrane co-receptor in Hh pathway signal transduction, is inhibited in non-dividing cells, thus its disinhibition might be a trigger for uncontrolled cell proliferation and growth. Very few studies have explored the role of SMO in serous ovarian cancers. The aim of the study was to assess the expression of SMO protein and to explore the Smoothened gene promoter methylation in a cohort of serous ovarian carcinomas. Methodology SMO protein expression was immunohistochemically quantified in 40 high-grade serous carcinomas (HGSC), 12 low-grade serous carcinomas (LGSC), 20 normal ovarian and 9 normal fallopian tube samples (controls). SMO gene promoter methylation status was analyzed using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) in randomly selected HGSCs (n=10), LGSCs (n=10), and normal fallopian tube (n=9) samples. Kaplan-Meier survival plots were used to estimate the impact of SMO expression on patients‘ overall survival (OS). Results SMO nuclear expression was significantly higher in HGSCs and LGSCs compared with the fallopian tube samples (p=0.010 and p=0.003, respectively). LGSCs, compared with normal ovarian tissue, exhibited higher total, cytoplasmic/membrane and nuclear expression (p=0.000, p=0.001 and p=0.000, respectively). Comparing HGSCs and LGSCs, significantly higher total and cytoplasmic/membrane expression was found in HGSC (p=0.026 and p=0.030, respectively). SMO gene promoter was unmethylated in both LGSCs and HGSCs as well as in fallopian tube. In addition, the SMO protein expression had no significant impact on patients‘ OS (p=0.07). Conclusion Our data indicate the lack of SMO gene promoter methylation while a significant overexpression (particularly nuclear) of SMO protein characterized a substantial proportion of serous ovarian carcinomas. Further functional studies should elucidate the clinical relevance of these findings. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.

As the majority of cancers and gestational diseases are prognostically stage- and grade-dependent, the ultimate goal of ongoing studies in precision medicine is to provide early and timely diagnosis of such disorders. These studies have enabled the development of various new diagnostic biomarkers, such as free circulating nucleic acids, and detection of their epigenetic changes. Recently, extracellular vesicles including exosomes, microvesicles, oncosomes, and apoptotic bodies have been recognized as powerful diagnostic tools. Extracellular vesicles carry specific proteins, lipids, DNAs, mRNAs, and miRNAs of the cells that produced them, thus reflecting the function of these cells. It is believed that exosomes, in particular, may be the optimal biomarkers of pathological pregnancies and cancers, especially those that are frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage, such as ovarian cancer. In the present review, we survey and critically appraise novel epigenetic biomarkers related to free circulating nucleic acids and extracellular vesicles, focusing especially on their status in trophoblasts (pregnancy) and neoplastic cells (cancers).

This paper provides results on input–output Lp stability of networked control systems (NCSs) implemented over WirelessHART (WH). WH is a communication protocol widely used in process instrumentation. It is mainly characterised by its multi-hop structure, slotted communication cycles, and the possibility to simultaneously transmit over different frequencies. We propose a non-linear hybrid model of WH–NCSs that is able to capture these network functionalities, and that it is more general than existing models in the literature. Particularly, the multi-hop nature of the network is translated into an interesting mathematical structure in our model. We then follow the emulation approach to stabilise the NCS. We first assume that we know a stabilising controller for the plant without the network. We subsequently show that, under reasonable assumptions on the scheduling protocol, stability is preserved when the controller is implemented over the network with sufficiently frequent data transmission. Specifically, we provide bounds on the maximum allowable transmission interval (MATI) under which all protocols that satisfy the property of being persistently exciting (PE) lead to Lp stable WH–NCSs. These bounds exploit the mathematical structure of our WH–NCS model, improving the existing bounds in the literature. Additionally, we explain how to schedule transmissions over the hops to satisfy the PE property. In particular, we show how simultaneous transmissions over different frequency channels can be exploited to further enlarge the MATI bound.

Com melhores condições de vida e os avanços na medicina, a expectativa de vida do brasileiro está cada vez maior. A fim de promover melhorias de vida para uma parcela da população que está aumentando, o presente projeto buscou desenvolver um produto de moda que atenda às necessidades do público idoso, particularmente dos que apresentam limitações nos membros superiores. Em visitas feitas à abrigos de idosos, foram realizadas entrevistas, obtendo informações mais precisas para nortear a pesquisa de maneira eficiente, e assim contribuir para o desenvolvimento de um produto que facilita o ato de vestir, ergonômico, e com maiores chances de sucesso no mercado. A pesquisa é de natureza aplicada, de caráter exploratório e utiliza uma abordagem qualitativa. Além disso, os procedimentos técnicos utilizados foram bibliográficos e de pesquisa-ação, o que possibilitou uma investigação mais profunda e subjetiva do público-alvo, permitindo a compreensão de seus comportamentos e experiências individuais, culminando em um maior conhecimento sobre o grupo analisado. Ao final do projeto, foi criada uma peça eficiente destinada aos idosos, proporcionando conforto e facilidade de uso, facilitando seu dia-a-dia.

Abstract This paper presents a new method of data hiding using Catalan numbers and Dyck words. The proposed steganographic solution belongs to the category of techniques based on the key generating process, rather than steganographic techniques such as injecting or substituting bits. The complex stego key consists of three sets of values that provide the technique of a hidden message generation completely. Hidden message is generated based on the data carrier and an adequate complex stego key. An important characteristic of the proposed method is that the data carrier retains its original shape, without supplements or modifications. Proposed method is explained in detail through the general scenario and through concrete examples. State of the art steganographic analysis of the proposed solution is presented in this paper, as well as possible suggestions for application in business information systems, authentication and distribution of secret cryptographic keys.

Paper represents comparative analysis of SCRUM and Kanban on the example of building a Learning Management System. According to calculations Kanban gave better results when time is not limiting factor and the project would end two months earlier. On the other hand, when it is necessary to carry out detailed monitoring and focus on time Scrum has yielded slightly better results. These results provide guidance that can help decide the method for a particular project.