Abstract Innovation holds the potential for economic prosperity. Biotechnology (BT) has proved to be a viable vehicle for the development and utilization of technologies, which has brought not only advances to society, but also career opportunities to nation-states that have enabling conditions. In this review, we assess the current state of BT-related activities within selected new and preaccession EU countries (NPA) of CEE region namely Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, examining educational programs, research activity, enterprises, and the financing systems. The field of BT covers a broad area of activities, including medical, food and agriculture, aquaculture or marine, environmental, biofuels, bioinformatics, and many others. Under the European Commission (EC), member-states are to set their Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialization (RIS3), to identify priorities or strengths in order to develop knowledge intensive economies. As the four countries highlighted in this review are in the early stages of implementing RIS3 or have not yet fully formulated, it presents an opportunity to learn from the successes and failures of those that have already received major structural funds from the EC. A critical point will be the ability of the public and private sectors’ actors to align, in the implementation of RIS3 as new investment instruments emerge, and to concentrate efforts on a few select target goals, rather than distribute funding widely without respect to a long-term vision.

PurposeTo determine how concomitant medial collateral ligament (MCL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL) injuries affect outcome after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.MethodsPatients aged > 15 years who were registered in the Swedish National Knee Ligament Registry for primary ACL reconstruction between 2005 and 2016 were eligible for inclusion. Patients with a concomitant MCL or LCL injury were stratified according to collateral ligament treatment (non-surgical, repair or reconstruction), and one isolated ACL reconstruction group was created. The outcomes were ACL revision and the 2-year Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), which were analyzed using univariable and multivariable Cox regression and an analysis of covariance, respectively.ResultsA total of 19,457 patients (mean age 27.9 years, 59.4% males) met the inclusion criteria. An isolated ACL reconstruction implied a lower risk of ACL revision compared with presence of a non-surgically treated MCL injury (HR = 0.61 [95% CI 0.41–0.89], p = 0.0097) but not compared with MCL repair or reconstruction. A concomitant LCL injury did not impact the risk of ACL revision. Patients with a concomitant MCL or LCL injury reported inferior 2-year KOOS compared with isolated ACL reconstruction. The largest difference was found in the sports and recreation subscale across all groups, with MCL reconstruction resulting in the maximum difference (14.1 points [95% CI 4.3–23.9], p = 0.005).ConclusionNon-surgical treatment of a concomitant MCL injury in the setting of an ACL reconstruction may increase the risk of ACL revision. However, surgical treatment of the MCL injury was associated with a worse two-year patient-reported knee function. A concomitant LCL injury does not impact the risk of ACL revision compared with an isolated ACL reconstruction.Level of evidenceCohort study, Level III.

To describe the frequency and types of disease damage occurring with childhood‐onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as measured by the 41‐item Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (SDI), and to assess the SDI's ability to reflect damage severity.

Background: DNA methylation may be one of the mechanisms by which alcohol consumption is associated with the risk of disease. We conducted a large-scale, cross-sectional, genome-wide DNA methylation association study of alcohol consumption and a longitudinal analysis of repeated measurements taken several years apart. Methods: Using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip, DNA methylation measures were determined using baseline peripheral blood samples from 5,606 adult Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS) participants. For a subset of 1,088 of them, these measures were repeated using blood samples collected at follow-up, a median of 11 years later. Associations between alcohol intake and blood DNA methylation were assessed using linear mixed-effects regression models adjusted for batch effects and potential confounders. Independent data from the LOLIPOP (N=4,042) and KORA (N=1,662) cohorts were used to replicate associations discovered in the MCCS. Results: Cross-sectional analyses identified 1,414 CpGs associated with alcohol intake at P<10-7, 1,243 of which had not been reported previously. Of these 1,243 novel associations, 1,078 were replicated (P<0.05) using LOLIPOP and KORA data. Using the MCCS data, we also replicated (P<0.05) 403 of 518 associations that had been reported previously. Interaction analyses suggested that associations were stronger for women, non-smokers, and participants genetically predisposed to consume less alcohol. Of the 1,414 CpGs, 530 were differentially methylated (P<0.05) in former compared with current drinkers. Longitudinal associations between the change in alcohol intake and the change in methylation were observed for 513 of the 1,414 cross-sectional associations. Conclusion: Our study indicates that, for middle-aged and older adults, alcohol intake is associated with widespread changes in DNA methylation across the genome. Longitudinal analyses showed that the methylation status of alcohol-associated CpGs may change with changes in alcohol consumption.

A number of energetic ionic liquids (EILs) have been reported as promising hydrazine-replacement fuels for hypergolic rocket propulsion. However, most of these EILs were ignited using corrosive and hazardous concentrated fuming nitric acid. Very significant efforts were recently made to utilize “rocket grade” highly concentrated H2O2 (>90%) as a “green” alternative to fuming nitric acid and N2O4 oxidizers. Although “rocket grade” H2O2 is more challenging to use and less safe for storage than commercially available H2O2 (70%), the latter is not considered as a viable oxidizer for hypergolic propulsion. In this work, we focused on the development of novel iodine-rich promoters, capable of initiating hypergolic ignition reactions between a typical EIL fuel – 3-ethyl-1-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium cyanotrihydroborate – and H2O2. Among the prepared and evaluated promoters, the top performing [FcCH2NEtMe2+]2[B12I122−] compound 5 showed ignition delay times of 45 ms in the reaction of the tested EIL with H2O2 (70%) and 17 ms with H2O2 (95%). We believe that these findings provide a platform for the development and utilization of commercially available H2O2 as a potential “green” oxidizer for rocket propulsion.

Triboelectric motion sensors, based on the generation of a voltage across two dissimilar materials sliding across each other as a result of the triboelectric effect, have generated interest due to the relative simplicity of the typical grated device structures and materials required. However, these sensors are often limited by poor spatial and/or temporal resolution of motion due to limitations in achieving the required device feature sizes through conventional lithography or printing techniques. Furthermore, the reliance on metallic components that are relatively straightforward to pattern into fine features limits the possibility to develop transparent sensors. Polymers would allow for transparent devices, but these materials are significantly more difficult to pattern into fine features when compared to metals. Here, an aerosol‐jet printing (AJP) technique is used to develop triboelectric sensors using a wide variety of materials, including polymers, which can be directly printed into finely featured grated structures for enhanced sensitivity to displacement and speed of motion. A detailed investigation is presented highlighting the role of material selection and feature size in determining the overall resolution of the resulting motion sensor. A three‐channel rotary sensor is also presented, demonstrating the versatility of the AJP technique in developing more complex triboelectric motion sensors.

This study estimates municipal efficiency and economies of scale of municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina by employing data envelopment analysis (DEA) with variable (VRS) and constant (CRS) returns to scale. The results indicate low overall municipal efficiency, with economies of scale reached in very few municipalities. The average municipal efficiency score is 0.7115 under DEA VRS assumption, where only 16% of municipalities are found efficient. The average scale efficiency is 0.7458 with full scale efficiency reached by only 11% of municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, the analysis shows strong positive impact of number of inhabitants on overall municipal efficiency. Politically motivated fragmentation of municipalities, aiming to bring peace and stability to the country, did not go hand in hand with improved economic efficiency.

In his research, the author investigates the extent/ratio of abstraction or visualization in affecting the formation of musical thought, which may lead to the question as to what extent the theoretical knowledge helps the performing practice, and vice versa: does the perception of the selected instrument, and if so - to what extent, can help to more confident knowledge of elementary theory of music? The research is based on the author’s personal experience in the years-long teaching practice.

Autor u istraživanju propituje u kojoj mjeri/omjeru apstrakcija ili vizualizacija utječu na formiranje muzičkog mišljenja što može voditi do pitanja u kojoj mjeri teorijsko znanje pomaže u izvođačkoj praksi, ali i obratno: da li i u kojoj mjeri percepcija odabranog instrumenta može pomoći u sigurnijem znanju elementarne teorije muzike? Istraživanje je bazirano na osobnom iskustvu autora iz višegodišnje nastavne prakse.