ABSTRACT Background: Towards preparation for a possible influenza pandemic, investigation of the molecular characteristics of the circulating avian H5N1 influenza virus strains is of crucial importance. These H5N1 viruses continue to spread, to infect animals and humans and to evolve and diversify providing so an ever-looming pandemic threat.Aim: To identify genetic structure and molecular biological characteristics of BiH's isolates of H5N1 HPAI as well as to assess the level of pathogenicity, phylogenetic origin and host- specificity of the isolates.Material and Methods: SPF embryonated chicken eggs were used for virus isolation. Viral RNA extracted using QIAamp viral RNA kit and manufacturer’s protocol (QIAGEN®) was used for PCR amplification. cDNA synthesis and PCR amplification of the coding region, using gene specific primer sets (primer sequences available on request), were carried out for all eight viral RNA segments separately. The Prism Big Dye Terminator v1.1 cycle sequencing kit (Applied Biosystems) was used and products were analyzed on an automatic ABI PRISM 3130 genetic analyzer (Applied Biosystems). Nucleotide sequences were analyzed using Bioedit software (v. 7.0.9.0) with an engine based on the ClustalW 1.4 algorithm. MEGA software (v. 4,0), using the neighbor joining tree inference analysis with the Tamura-Nei γ-model, was used to estimate phylogenies and calculate bootstrap values from the nucleotide sequences.Results: Full-length nucleotide sequences of the A/Cygnus olor/BIH/1/2006 (H5N1) strain were deposited in EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database under accession nos. FN186008 to FN186014 and FM20943. The pathogenicity and host specificity of this strain, as polygenic traits, are determined in silico by the structure of its proteins, especially surface glycoproteins, HA and NA. Multibasic amino acid stretch PQGERRRKKR/GLF, marker of strains highly pathogenic to poultry, was present at the HA cleavage site of BiH strain. The RBS was typical for avian influenza viruses and contained Gln and Gly at positions 238 and 240 (H5 numbering) that is,226 and 228 according to H3 numbering with seven potential glycosylated sites but with increased binding to alpha2-6 sialoglycans thanks to substitutions, as follows, 110N, 171N, 171N, 172A, 205R and 251P. NA structure assigned this strain to the Z genotype, characterized also by the deletion of the five amino acid residues of the NS1 protein (positions 80-84). Amino acid residues, typical for the avian influenza viruses, were revealed in 40 out of 43 positions of M1, M2, NP, PA, PB2 and HA, determining the host range specificity. Phylogenetic analysis of the HA gene revealed that BiH isolates belonged to genetic clade 2.2., and presence of aspartic acid at the position of 403 of HA locate BiH isolates in 2.2.2. sub-clade.Conclusions: The BiH’s isolates were determined as HPAI virus with genes sequences closely related to A/Cygnus olor/Astrakhan/Ast05-2-10/2005 (H5N1). Three residues (M2 - 28V and 78K, NP - 33I), typical of human influenza viruses, were found, indicating a certain degree of intercurrent evolutionary adaptive changes in BiH isolates. Sequence comparison of HA and NA segments with relevant sequences in GenBank revealed that the BiH isolates and the ones from the southern Russia (Astrakhan region) group together phylogenetically, forming a monophyleticcluster in both genes indicating that these isolates have evolved from the same origin. Sequence derived phenotype markers of NA protein (E99, V129, D131, R136, H255 and Y256) as well as of M2 protein (26L, 27V, 30A, S31 and G34) showed that the isolates have an oseltamivir and amantadine sensitive genotype. 

Background: Colonization is the presence of bacteria in the intestines, skin, nose, throat or anywhere in the human body without any signs of infection but with increased risk for spreading bacteria to other patients and the emergence of new infections. Screening of colonized patients is used as part of the prevention and control of multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections caused by agents such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis and multi-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Material and methods: Data from 169 screened respondents hospitalized at the University Clinical Center Tuzla, between October 1, 2018, and May 1, 2019, were analyzed. Swabs were taken from nostrils, throat, axilla and groin area for all patients, and also from the anorectal area for 157 of them. Identification of MDR bacteria was done by phenotypical methods, according to the recommendations of EUCAST Clinical Breakpoint Table v.8.0, 2018. Results: Out of 169 patients, negative screening test results were found in 93 examinees (55.02%), and positive in 76 (44.97%). The largest number of patients undergoing screening was hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (Surgical Block), 73/169 (43.19%). The average screening time was 2.2 days or 53 hours. In 18/76 (23.68%) of patients with positive screening, prior to screening regular microbiological testing was done, and in the remaining 58/76 (76.3%) screening was performed first. Analyzing respondents with positive screening, 27 (35.53%) had negative findings during regular microbiological testing of different biological samples and for 49 (64.47%) different/same strains of MDR bacteria were isolated.Conclusion: Knowing the phenotypic profile of bacteria colonizing patients in intensive care units is a very useful tool in preventing their spread intra- and inter-hospitals.

Although prior research is congested with constructs intended to capture consumers’ dispositions toward globalization and global/local products, their effects appear to replicate with difficulty, and little is known about the underlying theoretical mechanisms. This investigation revisits the relationship between prominent consumer dispositions (consumer ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism, global/local identity, globalization attitude) and perceived brand globalness as determinants of consumer responses to global brands. Drawing on selective perception and social identity theories, the authors consider several theory-based model specifications that reflect alternative mechanisms through which key consumer dispositions relate to brand globalness and affect important brand-related outcomes. By employing a flexible model that simultaneously accounts for moderating, mediating, conditional, and direct effects, we empirically test these rival model specifications. A meta-analysis of 264 effect sizes obtained from 13 studies with 23 unique data sets and a total sample of 1,410 consumers raises concerns regarding the (potentially overstated) utility of consumer dispositions for explaining consumer responses to global brands. It also reveals a need for further conceptual contemplation of their function in international consumer research and managerial practice.

Introduction: Inflammatory fibroblast tumor is rare tumor that most often occurs in younger people, usually 30 years old or younger, but most commonly in children age 6-10 years. It usually affects gastrointestinal tract and the lungs but it can also occur in several places at the same time. Clinical manifestations vary depending of the affected system of the body so it is very difficult to determine diagnosis without surgical extirpation and patohistological analysis. Complete surgical resection is curative in most patients and recidivism is rare. Liver abscesses more common occur in females with risk factors and medical history of diabetes, previous liver disease and less likely in patients with granulomatous diseases. Liver abscesses mortality in developing countries is 2-12%, increasing due to open surgical drainage.Case report: We present a 35 years-old patient who was treated at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases University Hospital Mostar and University Hospital Sarajevo, Clinic for Infectious Diseases in August and September 2018 and Clinical Hospital Merkur, Zagreb Surgery Clinic in December 2018. Data was used from medical documentation. Young, immunocompetent patient who was addmited to a hospital following high fever, chills and poor general condition was diagnosed with multiple focal necrotic lesions, differential-diagnostically most likely liver and spleen abscesses with high suspicion of liver malignancy. Liver biopsy was performed and patohistological analysis confirmed the diagnosis of multiple liver abscesses in the IV and VI liver segment, and inflamatory fibroblast tumor in the IV liver segment. Eight weeks of conservative treatment resulted in a complete regression of liver abscesses and inflamatory fibroblast tumor was surgically extirpated at the Clinic Hospital Merkur, Surgery Clinic in the Zagreb in December 2018.Conclusion: An approach to a patient with a multiple liver abscesses and liver tumor requires sub-specialists experience and urgent multidisciplinary diagnostic and treatment approach to prevent further complications and deadly outcome. 

Construction materials have a direct impact on the environment, on people, and their health. In addition, building insulation plays a decisive role in terms of energy consumption of buildings and regarding CO2-emissions over their whole life cycle. In order to achieve a holistic concept for green building worldwide, it is necessary to develop ecological insulating materials and to scientifically examine them in terms of their technical properties, as done with particleboards from agricultural waste presented in this article. This study aims to characterize the properties’ tensile and compressive strength, modulus of rupture (MOR), and elasticity (MOE) and thermal conductivity of particleboards affected by parameters, such as waste type (rice straw or flax shives), particleboard density, resin type, and content, as well as the use of treated rice straw. Particleboards made from flax shives had superior properties compared to the rice straw particles. The mechanical properties of the boards increase with an increasing resin content, except for the MOR and MOE, which decrease with an increasing resin content, and reach their peak value at a resin content of 10%.

Abstract Background: Drug-drug interactions are defined as modifications of the drug action that result from the simultaneous administration of another individual drug or several drugs. Nowadays, potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are most frequently detected and analyzed using personal digital assistant software programs (online interaction checker tools). Objective: To determine the risk factors for the emergence of all drug-drug interactions in surgical patients with particular emphasis on clinically significant interactions. Patients and methods: This was a retrospective cohort analysis of patients treated at the Surgical Clinic of the Clinical Center Kragujevac. Three interaction checkers were used to reveal drug-drug interactions: Medscape, Epocrates and Micromedex. Results: The study included total of 200 patients, aged 58.54±17.08 years. Average number of drug-drug interactions per patient was between 10.50±9.10 (Micromedex) and 18.75±17.14 (Epocrates). Number of prescribed drugs, antidepressive therapy, antiarrhythmic therapy, number of pharmacological/therapeutic subgroups (2nd level of ATC classification) prescribed, delirium or dementia, diabetes, heart failure, and number of physicians who prescribed drugs to single patient were identified as risk factors for drug-drug interactions while length of hospitalization in days and age of patient in years emerged as protective factors. Conclusion: Drug-drug interactions are relatively common in surgical patients and predisposed by factors such as number of prescribed drugs or drug group per patient, number of physicians who prescribed drugs, antidepressive therapy, antiarrhythmic therapy, presence of delirium or dementia, diabetes and heart failure. On the other hand, prolonged hospitalization and higher age are factors that reduce the risk of interactions in surgical patients.

This paper presents performance analysis of an adaptive peak cancellation (PC) method to reduce the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) for OFDM systems, while keeping the out-of-band (OoB) power leakage as well as an in-band distortion power below the pre-determined level. In this work, the increase of adjacent leakage power ratio (ACLR) and error vector magnitude (EVM) are estimated recursively using the detected peak amplitude. We present analytical framework for OFDM-based systems with theoretical bit error rate (BER) representations and detection of optimum peak threshold based on predefined EVM and ACLR requirements. Moreover, the optimum peak detection threshold is selected based on theoretical design to maintain the pre-defined distortion level. Thus, their degradations are restricted below the pre-defined levels which correspond to target OoB radiation. We also discuss the practical design of peak-cancellation signal with target OoB radiation and in-band distortion through optimizing the windowing size of the PC signal. Numerical results show the improvements with respect to both achievable BER and PAPR with the PC method in eigen-beam space division multiplexing (E-SDM) systems under restriction of OoB power radiation. It can also be seen that the theoretical BER shows good agreements with simulation results.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are notoriously power- and time-consuming when implemented on conventional von Neumann computing systems. Recent years have seen an emergence of research in hardware that strives to break the bottleneck of von Neumann architecture and optimise the data flow; namely to bring memory and computing closer together. One of the most often suggested solutions is the physical implementation of ANNs in which their synaptic weights are realised with analogue resistive devices, such as resistive random-access memory (RRAM). However, various device- and system-level non-idealities usually prevent these physical implementations from achieving high inference accuracy. We suggest applying a well-known concept in computer science -- committee machine (CM) -- in the context of RRAM-based neural networks. Using simulations and experimental data from three different types of RRAM devices, we show that CMs employing ensemble averaging can successfully increase inference accuracy in physically implemented neural networks that suffer from faulty devices, programming non-linearities, random telegraph noise, cycle-to-cycle variability and line resistance. Importantly, we show that the accuracy can be improved even without increasing the number of devices.

Artificial neural networks are notoriously power- and time-consuming when implemented on conventional von Neumann computing systems. Consequently, recent years have seen an emergence of research in machine learning hardware that strives to bring memory and computing closer together. A popular approach is to realise artificial neural networks in hardware by implementing their synaptic weights using memristive devices. However, various device- and system-level non-idealities usually prevent these physical implementations from achieving high inference accuracy. We suggest applying a well-known concept in computer science—committee machines—in the context of memristor-based neural networks. Using simulations and experimental data from three different types of memristive devices, we show that committee machines employing ensemble averaging can successfully increase inference accuracy in physically implemented neural networks that suffer from faulty devices, device-to-device variability, random telegraph noise and line resistance. Importantly, we demonstrate that the accuracy can be improved even without increasing the total number of memristors. Designing reliable and energy-efficient memristor-based artificial neural networks remains a challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate a technology-agnostic approach, committee machines, which increases the inference accuracy of memristive neural networks that suffer from device variability, faulty devices, random telegraph noise and line resistance.

Objective – The aim of this article is to present a case of POTS, which was diagnosed quickly with Holter ECG and whose symptoms improved promptly and dramatically with non-pharmacological therapy. Case Presentation – A 15-year-old female patient mother was admitted because of unusual episodes of dizziness, syncope with spontaneous recovery and palpitations. Most of these symptoms occurred fairly frequently on standing. The Holter ECG was done with recommendation to perform some activities during recording, such as to stand for ten minutes in the presence of another person and to write symptoms. It was noticed on the Holter ECG that she had increase in heart rate more than 60 beats per minute during these ten minutes followed by symptoms. The patient was diagnosed with POTS and nonpharmacological therapy was advised which was successful. Conclusion – POTS is a disabling condition with heterogeneous and atypical symptoms which mostly affects the young females. Sometimes, a long period of time is necessary to diagnose POTS. Therefore, it is important to diagnose quickly and to start with appropriate therapy which is unique for every POTS patient. Delay in diagnosis and treatment can lead to further disability in patients affected by POTS and their poor quality of life.