Abstract Low birth weight newborns (≤1500 grams) are at a high risk of acquiring hospital infections due to the immaturity of the immune system, lack of efficient structural barriers, and an incomplete development of endogenous microbial flora. The aim of this study was to reveal the potential risk factors for hospital-acquired pneumonia in low birth weight newborns. This study was a prospective cohort design with a nested case-control study and was conducted between January 1st, 2012 and June 30th, 2015 at the Neonatology Department, Clinical Centre Kragujevac, Serbia. There were 1140 newborns hospitalized at the Neonatology Department for longer than 48 hours during the study period, and 169 of them (14.82%) weighed less than 1500 grams at birth. In total, 73 (43.19%) newborns with low birth weights developed HIs. The most prevalent HI was hospital pneumonia (n=64, 87.67%). Although univariate analyses identified many risk factors with a significant influence on the occurrence of hospital pneumonia, multivariate analysis identified only the following two independent risk factors for hospital pneumonia in newborns with birth weights below 1500 grams: mechanical ventilation (p=0.003, OR=68.893, 95% CI=4.285-1107.699) and longer hospitalization (p=0.003, OR=1.052, 95% CI=1.017-1.088). Almost all of the pathogens isolated from the patients with pneumonia were gram-negative bacteria (98.50%). More than half of all of the isolates were Acinetobacter spp (37.50%) and Enterobacter spp (18.75%). Our study showed that mechanical ventilation and prolonged hospitalization were significant risk factors for the development of hospital pneumonia in newborns with birth weights below 1500 grams.

Background/Aim Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections in outpatients. The aim of this study was to define the causative agents of urinary tract infections and their resistance to antimicrobial drugs in the urban area of central Serbia, as well as to evaluate eventual differences associated with age and gender of the patients. Methods This retrospective study analysed data taken from routine, consecutively collected urine cultures of outpatients with symptomatic UTIs, collected from the Department of Microbiology, Institute of Public Health in Kragujevac, Serbia, from January 2009 to December 2013. Results There were 71,905 urine cultures, and 24,713 (34.37%) of them were positive for bacterial pathogens. The most common pathogen was Escherichia coli (E. coli) (56.56%), followed by Klebsiella spp. (16.20%), Proteus spp. (14.68%), Enterococcus spp. (5.29%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3.74%). E. coli and Enterococcus spp. isolation rates were lower in males ≥ 60 years old (23.71% and 4.87%, respectively), while Klebsiella spp. was more prevalent in this group (32.06%). The most common causative agents isolated from 15–29 years old male patients were Enterococcus spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (13.28% each). Among women, the isolation rate of E.coli was high in all age groups (around 70%). Proteus spp. was frequently isolated from females ≤ 14 years old (13.27%), while Klebsiella spp. was the most frequent in the oldest age female group (10.99%). Conclusion Choice of antibiotics for treatment of UTIs should be governed not only by the local resistance patterns, but also by gender and age of patients.

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the possible potential of preschool staff through a newly designed questionnaire and evaluate their role in the prevention of early childhood caries (EEC) in Serbia where extremely high prevalence of this preventable disease was recorded. We preformed a cross-sectional study of 268 preschool staff using specially prepared semi-structured questionnaire for measuring potential of secondary children’s caregivers to prevent EEC. The questionnaire was tested on a pilot sample and after that all collected data were analyzed trough construction of correlation matrix with the evaluation of the value of each question, reliability testing, factorial analysis and estimating of its validity using SPSS software. The tested questionnaire had good internal consistency based on the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient value of 0.873 calculated directly and similar value (0.899) after applied Spearman-Brown “prediction” formula. Using exploratory factorial analysis and orthogonal rotation, we identified two domains that emerged with similar loadings (4.043 and 3.183). The first factor (domain) reflected attitudes of the study participants towards prevention of EEC, and the second factor (domain) showed behaviour of the study participants, which includes preventive actions against EEC. The total score of the questionnaire was correlated positively with oral health knowledge (Spearman’s correlation coefficient 0.331, p=000) and inversely with the length of employment, where each additional year of employment decreased the total score of the questionnaire by 1.20. These findings could partially explain an extremely high prevalence of EEC in young children and indicate that preschool teachers should be more engaged in health education activities and motivation programs.

UDK: 582.675.1:575(497.6) Helleborus multifidus Vis. is endemic Illyric-Adriatic species with distribution range in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. Although few studies reported different taxonomic categories for H. multifidus, this one is the first using molecular-genetic markers (trnL region and matK of chloroplast DNA and nuclear ITS1 and ITS2 region) for genetic characterization of H. multifidus presented at three localites in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results revealed that PCR-RFLP on trnL intron was not informative for testing inter- or intrapopulation diversity. Contrary, analysis of matK, ITS1 and ITS2 sequences showed differences between populations from Trebinje region and Kupreško polje, pointing to the need to include additional analyses in order to confirm these findings.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the presence of antimicrobial resistance / susceptibility strains of Escherichia coli in inpatients and outpatients. Materials and methods: It is a retrospective study carried out at the Department of Microbiology, Parasitology and Virology Faculty of Medicine, University of Sarajevo. In cooperation with the Microbiological laboratory of the Cantonal Hospital Zenica and the Microbiological laboratory of the General Hospital Tesanj, 3863 urine samples were processed in the period from March 1st to March 31st 2016. Results: Our study showed that E. coli had the highest antimicrobial resistance to trimethoprim / sulfamethoxazole (38.61%), followed by amoxicillin / clavulanic acid (19.62%), ciprofloxacin (9.49%), gentamicin (8.86%), cephalexin (8.23%), nitrofurantoin (8.23%), cefuroxime (7.52%), ceftazidime (6.33%), cefuroxime (89.87%), amikacin (4.43%). Conclusions: The isolated strains of E. coli showed the highest resistance to trimethoprim / sulfamethoxazole and amoxicillin / clavulanic acid. The isolated strains of E. coli showed the greatest susceptibility to amikacin and ceftazidime. Gender distribution of positive E. coli isolates showed statistically significant differences in favor of females.

AIM To assess the health status among dentists in Croatia regarding the symptoms of musculoskeletal, dermatological, sight, hearing and neurological disorders. METHODS The anonymous online survey was conducted among 506 Croatian dentists. RESULTS It was found that over 78.18% of the surveyed dentists experienced work related pain in upper back, 76.97% of them in lower back. Work-related skin problems were reported by 29.29% of dentists. Vision problems were reported by 46.87% and hearing problems by 19.03% of participants. Neurological disorders were reported by 15.76% of dentists. CONCLUSION This study is the first to report on the overall health status of Croatian dentists and, unfortunately, it showed undesirable results. Numerous health hazards, increased professional requirements and limited ergonomics in the work environment of Croatian dental practitioners cause various health disorders, and the prevalence of occupational diseases is very high.

. Apple genetic resources in Norway are currently conserved within a number of local clonal archives. However, during establishment of these ex situ collections, primary focus was not on capturing as much of the diversity as possible, but instead on preserving cultivars of particular importance to specific fruit-growing areas. To identify redun- dancies within the collection as well as to assess the genetic diversity and structure of apple germplasm currently being conserved in Norway, eight microsatellites were used in genetic characterization of 181 apple accessions. Overall, 14 cases of synonym or possibly mislabeled accessions were identified, as well as several homonyms and duplicates within and among the analyzed collections. The information obtained should contribute to overall better management of the preserved germplasm. Bayesian analysis of genetic structure revealed two major clusters, one containing most of the foreign cultivars, while the other consisted mainly of traditional Scandinavian cultivars, but also some very winter-hardy genotypes such as ‘Charlamovsky’, ‘Gravenstein’, ‘Transparente Blanche’, and ‘Wealthy’. Analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) detected a signifi- cant genetic differentiation among the clusters ( f CT = 0.077; P < 0.01).

Изет Машич1, 2,*, Един Бегич3, 4, Дончо M. Донев5, Сречко Гайович6, Армен Ю. Гаспарян7, Миро Яковлевич8, Деян Б. Милошевич9, 10, Осман Синанович2, 11, Шекиб Соколович12, Сельма Узунович13, Энвер Зерем14, 15 1Медицинский факультет, Университет Сараево, Сараево, Босния и Герцеговина 2Академия медицинских наук Боснии и Герцеговины, Сараево, Босния и Герцеговина; https://orcid.org/0000-00029080-5456 3Медицинский факультет, Школа науки и технологий Сараево, Сараево, Босния и Герцеговина 4Центр охраны здоровья, Маглай, Босния и Герцеговина; http://orcid. org/0000-0001-6842-262X 5Институт социальной медицины, медицинский факультет, Университет им. св. Кирилла и Мефодия в Скопье, Скопье, Республика Македония; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5237-443X 6Хорватский институт исследований мозга, Школа медицины при Загребском университете, Загреб, Хорватия; http://orcid.org/0000-0001-86685239 7 Отделение ревматологии и отдел исследований и развития, Дадли группа Благотворительного фонда Системы общественного здравоохранения (Образовательный фонд Университета Бирмингема, Великобритания), Расселовский Ходл Госпиталь, Дадли, Уэст-Мидлендс, Великобритания; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8749-6018 a.gasparyan@gmail.com 8Отделение психиатрии, Центральная университетская клиника Загреба, Загреб, Хорватия 9Факультет естественных наук, Университет Сараево, Сараево, Босния и Герцеговина 10Aкадемия наук и художеств Боснии и Герцеговины, Сараево, Босния и Герцеговина; http://orcid.org/0000-00015060-3318 11Отделение неврологии, Университетский клиническй центр Тузлы, медицинский факультет, Университет Тузлы, Тузла, Босния и Герцеговина; http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8957-7284 12Институт болезней сердца, Университетский клинический центр Сараево, Сараево, Босния и Герцеговина; http://orcid.org/0000-00016321-4186 13Отделение лабораторной диагностики, Институт общественного здоровья и продовольственной безопасности, Зеница, Босния и Герцеговина; http:// www.orcid.org/0000-00031852-1572 14Отделение медицинских наук, Академия наук и художеств, Сараево, Босния и Герцеговина 15Отделение гастроэнтерологии и гепатологии, Университетский клинический центр Тузлы, Тузла, Босния и Герцеговина; http://orcid. org/0000-0001-6906-3630

The First Mediterranean Seminar on Science Writing, Editing & Publishing (SWEP 2016) was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina from 2nd to 3rd December 2016. It was organized by Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina, running concurrent sessions as part of its Annual Meeting titled “ “Days of AMNuBiH - Theory and Practice in Science Communication and Scientometrics”. Hotel Bosnia in the city centre was the chosen venue. On the first day, nineteen presentations on various issues of science writing and publication ethics were delivered by speakers from Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and the UK (Asim Kurjak, Milivoj Boranić, Doncho Donev, Osman Sinanović, Miro Jakovljević, Enver Zerem, Dejan Milošević, Silva Dobrić, Srećko Gajović, Izet Mašić, Armen Yuri Gasparyan, Šekib Sokolović, Nermin Salkić, Selma Uzunović, Admir Kurtčehajić, Edin Begić and Floreta Kurti). Each presentation had a take-home message for novice and seasoned authors, encountering numerous problems in non-Anglophone research environment. Lecturers, who were internationally recognized editors of regional journals, generously shared their experience of adhering to the best ethical guidance. Elegant presentations by Srećko Gajović (Editor-in-Chief of the Croatian Medical Journal) and Armen Yuri Gasparyan (past Chief Editor of the European Science Editing) showcased their accomplishments that strengthened ties between authors from all over the world. Gasparyan reflected on educational resources of editorial associations, such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and called not just to declare the adherence to, but also to enforce their ethical guidance in daily practice. Editors of Medical Archives, Croatian Medica Journal, Vojnosanitetski Pregled, Psychiatria Danubina, Acta Informatica Medica, Materia Socio-Medica, The Donald School Journal of Ultrasound in Obstretics and Gynecology, Acta Medica Saliniana and Medicinski Glasnik presented their editorial strategies aimed at attracting best authors and resolving problems with authorship, conflicts of interest, and plagiarism. Topical education on science writing and editing was considered as an inseparable part of continuing professional development in biomedicine. Armen Yuri Gasparyan (UK) was offered an opportunity to interact with more than 70 participants, attending the SWEP 2016 on the second day. The lecturer talked about author contributions, disclosures of conflicts of interests, plagiarism of ideas and words, research performance and impact indicators, and targeting ethical journals. Topics were presented in a way to help non-Anglophone authors, reviewers and editors avoid common ethical problems. Dr Gasparyan stressed the importance of regularly arranging such meetings across Balkan and Mediterranean countries to eradicate plagiarism and other forms research misconduct. The organizers of the SWEP 2016 awarded selected keynote speakers with certificates of lifetime achievement in journal editing, and decided to run the Seminar annually with support of Balkan and Mediterranean editors and publishers. The SWEP 2016 marked a turning point in the process of regional developments since all attending editors opted for nurturing enthusiasm of the organizers and launching the Mediterranean Association of Science Editors and Publishers (MASEP). The Seminar was a great success with its impressive scientific and social activities. It attracted more than 100 students, researchers, editors, and publishers from Bosnia & Herzegovina and neighbouring countries. Proceedings, in the form of short reports, were published in Acta Informatica Medica and archived in PubMed Central. New friendships were forged between regional experts in editing and young specialists during those unforgettable two days of intensive discussions and informal interactions (a-y).