OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to present epidemiological parameters of caries prevalence in children and adolescents in index age groups on a national and regional level in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted during 2004 year for children aged 6 and 12, and during 2007 for adolescents aged 15. An oral health survey was performed on a total number of 1,240 children and adolescents in line with World Health Organization methodology and criteria. Results for caries prevalence and treatment needs were presented and discussed in this paper. RESULTS Mean dmft (decay, missing, filled teeth for primary dentition) for children aged six was 6.7 (SD±3.9) in that the decayed teeth constituted the major part of the index (88.8%), followed by extracted teeth (8.9%) and a small percentage of filled teeth (2.3%). In 12-year-olds DMFT (Decay, Missing, Filled Teeth for permanent dentition) was 4.2 (SD±2.9), Significant Caries index (SiC) was 7.7 (SD±2.9), the decayed teeth constituted the major part of the index (45.4%), followed by 42.1% of FT and 12.5% of extracted teeth. Among 15-year-olds the DMFT was 7.6 (SD±4.1), SiC was 9.2 (SD±1.2), and filled teeth constituted the major part of the index. CONCLUSION The present study provides some evidence of relatively high caries prevalence and severity in comparison with Western European countries. It is necessary to devote more attention to the oral health of children and adolescents. Community based oral health promotion, preventive programs and preventive oriented public dental health care services should be made available and accessible to all children in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this research was to assess the efficiency of different multifactor models in caries prediction. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data from the questionnaire and objective examination of 109 examinees was entered into the Cariogram, Previser and Caries-Risk Assessment Tool (CAT) multifactor risk assessment models. Caries risk was assessed with the help of all three models for each patient, classifying them as low, medium or high-risk patients. The development of new caries lesions over a period of three years [Decay Missing Filled Tooth (DMFT) increment = difference between Decay Missing Filled Tooth Surface (DMFTS) index at baseline and follow up], provided for examination of the predictive capacity concerning different multifactor models. RESULTS The data gathered showed that different multifactor risk assessment models give significantly different results (Friedman test: Chi square = 100.073, p=0.000). Cariogram is the model which identified the majority of examinees as medium risk patients (70%). The other two models were more radical in risk assessment, giving more unfavorable risk -profiles for patients. In only 12% of the patients did the three multifactor models assess the risk in the same way. Previser and CAT gave the same results in 63% of cases - the Wilcoxon test showed that there is no statistically significant difference in caries risk assessment between these two models (Z = -1.805, p=0.071). CONCLUSION Evaluation of three different multifactor caries risk assessment models (Cariogram, PreViser and CAT) showed that only the Cariogram can successfully predict new caries development in 12-year-old Bosnian children.

This paper describes the plant communities of two oligotrophic karstic rivers with a slight anthropogenic influence — the Trebižat and the Lištica — in South Bosnia and Herzegovina, their sinecology, and the relationship between vegetation and plant species and environmental parameters. According to 87 relevés, a total of 26 plant associations, using Braun-Blanquet methods, were found in the rivers and nearby surveyed area. Only nine associations were common to both rivers. Eight associations were recorded for the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time. Associations from both rivers differed according to following parameters measured at the sampling site: water temperature, distance from the mouth (river kilometers), river width, water depth, flow, pH and slope. There were no differences in nutrient concentrations among the associations. According to Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), three environmental variables out of the 11 initially considered were retained as being related to plant distribution. The first two axes explained 56.8% and 35.2% of variance of species-environment relationship in the Trebižat and Lištica rivers, respectively. Water depth in the Trebižat River, and pH and river kilometers in the Lištica River were found to be the most influential, while nutrients and other physico-chemical parameters were not significant in either river. Water depth vector was identified as an underlying environmental factor determining distribution of Potamogeton lucens and Myriophyllum verticillatum (Potamion), and Nymphaea alba (Nymphaeion albae). According to in situ measurements of light intensity, the highest coefficients of light attenuation, radiance and reflection were found at a station with dense populations of Potamogeton lucens and Nuphar luteum (Potametum lucentis). The vegetation and floristic value of the rivers is discussed as a basis for biodiversity conservation programmes and evaluating the state of these ecosystems in the future.

BACKGROUND This paper describes the changes in Human Immundodeficiency virus (HIV) testing rates in Autonomous Province (AP) Vojvodina, Serbia since 2000 and compares provider-initiated with client-initiated HIV testing. METHODOLOGY Between 2000 and 2008, 66,327 HIV screening tests were reported from AP Vojvodina. During this time HIV testing rates increased from 1.2 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2000, to 7.7 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008. RESULTS The results showed an increase in testing as a consequence of increased mandatory testing of surgical patients as well as an upsurge in the use of Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT).  Pregnant women that were tested represented less than 5% of the overall sample population. CONCLUSION Public health efforts in AP Vojvodina to increase HIV testing rates lead to a continuous increase in testing rates, but with different limitations. HIV testing in low prevalence middle income countries could be highly affected by procurement difficulties, low motivation of medical professionals to initiate testing, and opportunities for testing limited to large towns and cities.

Recent application of whole exome next generation sequencing has led to the discovery of a new class of somatic mutations affecting various components of the spliceosomal machinery in myeloid neoplasms. All affected spliceosomal genes, except for LUC7L2 (which might function in the U1snRNP-related pathway) encode U2snRNP associated proteins, but the molecular consequences of individual mutations remain unclear. Based on 3 index cases where somatic PRPF8 mutations (M1307I, A687P and G1750E) were observed, we have screened a much larger cohort of patients with MDS and related conditions for the presence of acquired lesions affecting this gene. Somatic PRPF8 mutations and heterozygous deletions affecting the corresponding locus were found in 9/352 and 24/450 cases, respectively. Del17p13 was associated with haploinsufficient PRPF8 expression, but down-modulation of PRPF8 was also found in about 10% of additional cases with diploid 17p. PRPF8 mutations were mutually exclusive with other spliceosomal mutations, in particular with SF3B1. Serial studies of clonal architecture revealed that somatic PRPF8 mutation is an early event. PRPF8 encodes the largest and evolutionarily most conserved spliceosomal protein. It is essential for pre-mRNA splicing and required in all tissues. Germline mutations in human PRPF8 are associated with an autosomal dominant form of retinitis pigmentosa type 13. In total, around 1/2 of the PRPF8 mutant and del17p deletion cases were found in pAML and sAML. Accordingly, MDS with PRPF8 lesions conveyed poor prognosis as shown by KM statistics. Phenotypically, PRPF8 defects correlated with the presence of ring sideroblasts (83% of mutants and 65% of deletion cases), likely overseen in the context of a high blast count. Additionally, most of the cases also displayed pseudo Pelger-Huet anomaly. In in vitro experiments, decreased expression levels of PRPF8 due to experimental knockdown by lentiviral shRNA were associated with increased cellular proliferation and clonogenicity, suggesting that PRPF8 has a tumor suppressor role in myeloid malignancies. When we studied the consequences of PRPF8 defects in yeast models, mutations in PRPF8 abrogated a block in the second step of splicing introduced by an experimental intron mutation. RNA-sequencing of primary mutant and deletion cases as well as engineered shRNA knockdown cell lines showed that loss of PRPF8 function or mutation resulted in a global missplicing defect. Some of the most misspliced genes included those involved in mitochondrial function such as NDUFAF6, SFXN2, RPS24, and SLC25A19 and, perhaps most significantly, GATA1 which was mispliced in samples with either low or mutant PRPF8 as well as in the knockdown K562 cells. Similarly, analysis in patients with RS and defective PRPF8 showed common expression profiles of genes involved in mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes. These changes may correspond to ring sideroblasts associated with PRPF8 defects while missplicing of RNA helicases (frequently mutated in MDS, see other abstract from this group), may explain the mechanisms of lost tumor suppressor function. In sum, we describe here another important somatic spliceosomal mutation associated with myeloid neoplastic transformation and unique phenotypic features. Disclosures: Maciejewski:NIH: Research Funding; Aplastic anemia&MDS International Foundation: Research Funding.

AbstractAt the time when there is growing importance of the participant-friendly research (Christensen & James, 2008) new dimensions are added to research in the early childhood: it is based on the rights of young children, it takes children's perspective, requires careful listening, emphasizes active participation of children and researchers, combines techniques sensitive enough to allow children to speak their languages. The shift is particularly evident in the acceptance of the equality of young children's points of view and understanding of the reality around them. That led to methodological "allowing" the research process to become contextualized in the children's world, where play has a special place. Play is now accepted as one of the many languages with which children can express, interpret and construct their experiences and meanings. Therefore, play has become a research area within which children have the right to be different, compared to the adult research participants (Punch, 2002). There is controversy regarding the involvement of adults in children's play, and "using" it for didactic and other purposes. However, findings show that adults do not necessarily disturb children's play. It can become a space for sharing between children and playful adults, within which the balance of power and hierarchy is adjusted. The empirical basis of the paper is an analysis of ten play-based focus groups, which included over fifty children who were five and six years old, a doll researcher and an adult in the role of an "assistant researcher."Key words: children and adults' participation; play-based focus group; research in early childhood.---SažetakIstraživanja u ranom dјetinjstvu, u vrijeme pridavanja sve veće važnosti istraživanjima koja su prijateljski usmjerena prema sudionicima (Christensen & James, 2008), dobivaju nove dimenzije: oslonjena su na prava male djece, zauzimaju dječju perspektivu, zahtijevaju pažljivo slušanje, primat daju aktivnoj participaciji djece i istraživača, kombiniraju tehnike koje su dovoljno osjetljive da omogućuju djeci da govore svojim jezicima. Zaokret je posebno vidljiv u prihvaćanju ravnopravnosti dječjeg kuta promatranja i razumijevanja stvarnosti oko njih, što vodi metodološkom „dopuštanju" da se istraživački proces kontekstualizira dječjim svijetom, u kojem igra ima posebno mjesto. Igra je danas prihvaćena kao jedan od mnoštva jezika kojima se dijete izražava, interpretira i oblikuje svoja iskustva i značenja. Postaje istraživački prostor unutar kojeg se djeca imaju pravo razlikovati u odnosu na odrasle sudionike istraživanja (Punch, 2002). Postoje mnoge kontroverze s obzirom na uključivanje odraslih u igru i „upotrebu" igre u didaktičke i druge svrhe. Međutim, odrasli ne moraju nužno remetiti dječju igru. Igra može postati prostor dijeljenja djece i odraslih koji se igraju, između kojih se odnos moći i hijerarhije u igrovnom kontekstu poništava. Empirijsku osnova rada predstavlja analiza deset fokus grupa utemeljenih na igri, u kojima je sudjelovalo više od pedesetoro djece u dobi od pet i šest godina, lutka istraživač i odrasli u ulozi „pomoćnika istraživača".Ključne riječi: fokus grupa utemeljena na igri; istraživanje u ranom djetinjstvu; participacija odraslih i djece.