Abstract Background: Companies can improve their business performance, increase revenues and reduce costs by enhancing their information technology (IT) capability. On the other side, there is an increasing importance of human resource management (HRM) practices related to IT utilization, which are important for the business performance of a company in the rapidly changing knowledge-based economy. Objectives: The objective of this paper is to analyze the relations among IT capability, HRM capability and the firm’s performance outcomes. Methods/Approach: The paper uses survey data and Structural Equation Modeling to analyze the relationships among IT capability, HRM capability and firms’ performance. Results: This paper reveals that IT capability to some extent determines firms’ business performance but it plays more important role in enhancing HRM capability. In addition, HRM capability significantly impacts business performance. Conclusions: The findings indicate that managers should not focus on allocating resources only for IT investments. In order to achieve better business performances, these technologies need to be used to support all business processes including HRM activities.

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the technical quality of root canal fillings in an adult population in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were treated in public dental institutions and private dental clinics. Radiographs of faculty patients, aged 25-60 years old, who came for the first time were examined for the technical quality of root canal fillings. Patients with endodonticallytreated teeth were invited for an interview to reveal the providers of the endodontic treatment. The percentages of teeth with adequate length (p<0.01) and taper (p<0.01) in institutions of public health cases were significantly greater than those in private clinic cases. In addition, the frequency of teeth with adequate root canal fillings in patients treated in public dental institutions was significantly greater than those treated in private dental clinics (p<0.01). A significantly higher percentage of adequate canal fillings is present in teeth where endodontic treatment was performed in public dental institutions compared to private dental clinics. This result indicates the need to improve the quality of endodontic treatment through more intensive training for dentists in private practice.

Objective: Assisted reproduction techniques have become widespread worldwide. Considering their costs, physicians endeavor to improve pregnancy rates. Infections are one of the disrupting problems in this arena. We aimed to investigate the effects of screening for vaginal infection on pregnancy rates in intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles. Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty patients randomized into two groups for this study. Patients were screened for vaginal infections in group 1, and no screening was performed in group 2. The assisted reproduction outcomes were investigated and compared between the two groups. Results: There was no significant difference between ages, or durations and causes of infertility of patients who conceived and of those who did conceive. Forty-five patients in group 1, and 40 patients in group 2 reached the embryo transfer stage. The rates of conception were 23.5% (n=4) in culture-positive patients (n=17), and 42.9% (n=12) in culture-negative patients (n=28) in group 1. There was no significant difference among patients who were not screened, screen-positive, and screen-negative, in terms of pregnancy rates. None of the patients had Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Trichomonas vaginalis. Bacterial vaginosis was detected in 13 patients, and both bacterial vaginosis and Chlamydia trachomatis were detected in 4 patients. Three of 4 patients who conceived screen-positive and 8 of 12 patients who conceived screen-negative delivered healthily at term. Conclusion: No significant difference was found between patients who were sampled for culture and patients who were not sampled in terms of pregnancy rates. Also, no difference was found between the patients who were culture-negative and patients who were treated with antimicrobials after a culture positive result. Further larger studies are warranted to clarify this issue.

BACKGROUND/AIM Drug-related problems are especially frequent among patients suffering from non-communicable diseases, like osteoporosis, leading to suboptimal treatment response. The aim of this study was to identify drug-related problems in patients with osteoporosis. METHODS This cross-sectional prospective study was conducted in January 2014 on outpatients with osteoporosis from three health facilities in Belgrade, Serbia. The patients included in the study were older than 50 years, and they were offered an anonymous questionnaire with open-ended questions. RESULTS There were 355 study participants, 329 (92.7%) females and 26 (7.3%) males. The patients who experienced at least one osteoporotic fracture (n = 208) were significantly less adherent to the therapy, less engaged in sports and regular physical activities, and more prone to nutrition with inadequate intake of calcium and vitamin D than patients without fractures (n = 147). CONCLUSION The effectiveness of osteoporosis treatment is decreased by several drug-related problems encountered by both physicians and patients. However, the majority of the drug-related problems could be greatly influenced by appropriate educational programs.