Background/Aim. The era of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regimen in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) started in 2011. The aim of this study was to assess the antiviral efficacy and safety of DAA regimen, ombitasvir (OBV)/paritaprevir (PTV)/ritonavir (r) + dasabuvir (DSV) + ribavirin (RBV), in patients with chronic HCV infection, genotype 1. Methods. The real-life data were collected. The study was multicentric and included seven infectious diseases and hepatology departments in Serbia. A total of 21 patients were enrolled in the OBV/PTV/r + DSV + RBV early access program, 20 of which were previously treated with pegylated interferon + RBV, while 1 was treatment-naive. All patients received the adequate doses of these antiviral drugs. RBV was not given to the patients with HCV genotype 1b infection according to the therapeutic protocol. For the majority of patient, the treatment duration lasted for 12 weeks. For the patients with liver cirrhosis, who were infected with HCV genotype 1a, the duration of treatment was 24 weeks. Viremia was assessed at four points in time: at baseline, 4 weeks after the treatment beginning (rapid viral response, RVR), 12 or 24 weeks after the treatment beginning (end of treatment response ? ETR) and 12 weeks after the end of treatment (sustained viral response ? SVR). SVR, as a confirmation of the absence of HCV was considered as endpoint of successful treatment. Results. Complete RVR, ETR and SVR were achieved in 64.71%, 85.71% and 95.24% of the patients, respectively. Only 3 patients had mild adverse effects which did not required dose reduction. Conclusion. The treatment of the patients with a chronic HCV infection with OBV/PTV/r + DSV + RBV resulted in excellent antiviral activity and tolerability.

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the antiviral efficacy and safety of the direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) in therapy of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Methods: This real-life multi-centric study was performed at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, University Clinical Centre of the Republic of Srpska, Banja Luka and it included a total of 89 patients. All patients received the adequate doses of ombitasvir (OBV)/ paritaprevir (PTV)/ritonavir (RTV) + dasabuvir (DSV) plus ribavirin (RBV). RBV was given to all patients except to those with HCV sub-genotype 1b. DSV was not administered to patients infected with HCV genotype 4. For the majority of patients the treatment duration was 12 weeks. For ten patients with liver cirrhosis the duration of treatment was 24 weeks. Viraemia was assessed at three points in time: at baseline, 12 or 24 weeks after the beginning of treatment (end of treatment response ETR), and 12 weeks after the end of treatment (sustained viral response SVR). Results: Complete ETR after 12 weeks of treatment was achieved in 79 patients, while in 10 high-risk patients it was achieved after 24 weeks of treatment. Full SVR was recorded in 88 patients 12 weeks after the end of treatment. This therapy was well tolerated and mild adverse effects were recorded in only 10 patients. Conclusion: Treatment of patients with chronic HCV infection with OBV/PTV/ RTV+ DSV + RBV resulted in excellent antiviral activity and mild adverse events.

– Today, when looking at the quality of an online item, the feedback itself plays a very important role. Based on the feedback we can decide whether the desired item is good or not, get a picture of the seller and so on. Many companies that have online shops display the most positive feedback while hiding bad ones or display only a few of them. In this research, we will help people by automating the process of deciding whether a feedback is positive or negative, which will give them time for other jobs and save money for hiring people who will work on the feedback. Since feedback on online articles is very important today, the process of determining positive and negative feedback should be made as quick and easy as possible. In this research, we will show a very simple and fast way to classify feedback as positive or negative, which means that the main question of this research is how to facilitate and speed up the process of determining the polarity of the feedback. We will use NLP using Python’s library called TextBlob. The used algorithm is called Naïve Bayes, it gave the accuracy of around 80%.

Objective: This article aims to present the convergence analysis results for the Eastern Partnership EaP countries and the twenty-eight members of the European Union (EU). Research Design & Methods: The relationships between the selected macroeconomic variables and per capita GDP growth rate are econometrically tested to support this research. We analyse the convergence during the period of 2004-2017, but also include two sub-periods: 2004-2008 and 2009-2013. Findings: The empirical findings support the economic convergence hypothesis. The results show that the recent financial crisis negatively affected the absolute and conditional convergence process, when economic variables are included in the analysis. The negative effects of the crisis on conditional convergence with economic and socio-political variables are not identified. Implications & Recommendations: Poorer countries in the analysed group should do more to open their economies to attract investment, as gross fixed capital formation and economic openness have a positive impact on per capita growth, while general government debt, unemployment and inflation should be stabilised in the examined sample of countries. Contribution & Value Added: The contribution of this article is reflected in the fact that it examines a geographic and economic area that has been under examined. The analyses on the Eastern Partnership countries convergence process towards the European Union are almost nonexistent. Economic literature on convergence has focused on the EU Member States, while the analyses on the Eastern Partnership countries convergence process towards the EU are almost nonexistent. Article type: research article

The incidence of thyroid dysfunction in the area of central Bosnia with special reference to hyperthyroidism was being monitored. Considering that there were disagreements among earlier authors and even their contradictory results, the goal was to determine the percentage ratio between the thyroid hyperfunction and other dysfunctions and to identify the degree of correlation between thyroid hormones and the age structure of women. The study included 76 women aged 20 to 82 years with increased values of thyroid hormones and 49 women with reduced values of thyroid hormones. Thirty female patients with baseline thyroid hormone levels comprised a control group. Hyperthyroidism was observed in 60.8 % of women, with the highest percentage of getting ill in their fourth and fifth decade of life (64 %). The monitoring of TSH, FT4 and FT3 hormone values in thyroid dysfunction compared to women with thyroid gland hormone reference values by age groups showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the age group between 40 and 59 years (p < 0.05). For the age group of 60 years and older, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05). The TSH hormone value and the age of women are positively correlated and mutually dependent (p < 0.05). The observed reduction in the thyroid hormone values with an increase in women’s age can be considered an adaptation of the organism to the reduced need for energy and represents an important metabolic parameter of the biological process of aging.

Abstract In this paper analysis of the origin and mitigation measures of increased electric field at high voltage transmission lines in the electric power system of Bosnia and Herzegovina is given. In the analyzed period (2010–2017) in the electric power system of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased values of power frequency voltages was registered. The performed analysis shows that the increased voltages in the 400 kV nodes of the electric power system of Bosnia and Herzegovina are occurring during the night, mainly in the minimum consumption regimes. Increased voltages can occur throughout the year, but are most frequent during the spring and summer months. In the coming years, four 400 kV interconnection transmission lines to Serbia and Croatia will be built. Increasing of the voltage value causes the formation of the corona as well as energy losses. Taking into account the values of the energy losses due to the corona, it is important to determine the values of the electric field on the surface of the conductors and their immediate vicinity as well as the value of the corona onset electric field in order to know their values in the electric power system and to explore ways to mitigation them from the aspect of maintenance and management costs.

The aims of the present study were to validate the discriminatory potential of Cameriere's third molar maturity index (I3M) cut-off value of I3M < 1.1 and whether closed apices of permanent second mandibular molar (I2M = 0.0) and I3M < 1.1 indicate the legal age of 14 years and older. A digital orthopantomograms of 804 healthy South Indian children, aged between 10 and 18 years, were collected retrospectively, and mineralization of the third and second left mandibular molars was analyzed by Cameriere's method. The proportion of accurately classified (Ac) individuals using the cut-off value of I3M < 1.1 was 79.4% for males, with Bayes post-test probability (Bayes PTP) of 68.8%. For females, Ac was 79.9% and Bayes PTP was 70.9%. The sensitivity was 94.8% and 98.2% for males and females, and the specificity was 58.7% and 62.8%, respectively. The combination of both variables, I3M < 1.1 and I2M  = 0.0, increased the Ac to 87.2% and 94.4% in males and females, the specificity to 98.6% and 99.2%, and Bayes PTP to 98.2% and 94.4%, respectively. In conclusion, the suggested cut-off value of I3M < 1.1 is of moderate accuracy in discriminating individuals between 14 years or older from those under 14 years in the studied population. A combination of both variables, I2M = 0.0 and I3M < 1.1, the discriminating test achieves an excellent specificity and Bayes PTP, which is mandatory for the forensic and medicolegal purposes.