Background This study provides a summary of the 2010 European Renal Association–European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA–EDTA) Registry Annual Report (available at www.era-edta-reg.org). Methods This report includes data on renal replacement therapy (RRT) using data from the national and regional renal registries in 29 countries in Europe and bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Individual patient data were received from 27 registries, whereas 18 registries contributed data in aggregated form. We present incidence and prevalence of RRT, transplant rates, survival probabilities and expected remaining lifetimes. The latter two are solely based on individual patient records. Results In 2010, the overall incidence rate of RRT for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among all registries reporting to the ERA–EDTA Registry was 123 per million population (pmp) (n = 91 798). The highest incidence rate was reported by Turkey (252pmp) and the lowest reported by Montenegro (21 pmp). The overall prevalence of RRT for ESRD at 31 December 2010 among all registries reporting to the ERA–EDTA Registry was 741 pmp (n = 551 005). The prevalence varied from 124 pmp in Ukraine to 1580 pmp in Portugal. The overall number of renal transplantations performed in 2010 among all registries was 29.2 pmp (n = 21 740). The highest overall transplant rate was reported from Spain, Cantabria (73 pmp), whereas the highest transplant rate for living donor kidneys was reported from the Netherlands (28 pmp). For patients who started RRT between 2001 and 2005, the unadjusted 5-year patient survival on RRT was 46.2% [95% confidence interval (CI) 46.0–46.3], and on dialysis 38.6% (95% CI 38.5–38.8). The unadjusted 5-year patient survival after the first renal transplantation performed between 2001 and 2005 was 86.6% (95% CI 86.1–87.1) for deceased donor kidneys and 94.1% (95% CI 93.4–94.8) for living donor kidneys.

Bilingualism of a deaf child implies concurrent cognition and usage of sign language, as community language and oral-voice language as language of greater community in which deaf persons live. Today, most authors consider that deaf persons should know both of these languages and that deaf persons need to be educated in both languages, because of their general communication and complete psycho-social development. Through research on sample of 80 deaf examinees, we affirmed the kind of relation that deaf persons have towards bilingualism, bilingual way of education and communication. The research results have shown that bilingualism and bilingual way of education and communication is acceptable to deaf persons and that there is no statistically significant difference between the sub-samples of examinees.

In this paper, we have used the Kolmogorov complexity and sample entropy measures to estimate the complexity of the UV-B radiation time series in the Vojvodina region (Serbia) for the period 1990–2007. We have defined the Kolmogorov complexity spectrum and have introduced the Kolmogorov complexity spectrum highest value (KCH). We have established the UV-B radiation time series on the basis of their daily sum (dose) for seven representative places in this region using: (i) measured data, (ii) data calculated via a derived empirical formula and (iii) data obtained by a parametric UV radiation model. We have calculated the Kolmogorov complexity (KC) based on the Lempel–Ziv algorithm (LZA), KCH and sample entropy (SE) values for each time series. We have divided the period 1990–2007 into two subintervals: (i) 1990–1998 and (ii) 1999–2007 and calculated the KC, KCH and SE values for the various time series in these subintervals. It is found that during the period 1999–2007, there is a decrease in the KC, KCH a...

A mechanisms-based fracture model applicable to a broad class of cemented aggregates and, among them, plastic-bonded explosive (PBX) composites, is presented. The model is calibrated for PBX 9502 using the available experimental data under uniaxial compression and tension gathered at various strain rates and temperatures. We show that the model correctly captures inelastic stress-strain responses prior to the load peak and it predicts the post-critical macro-fracture processes, which result from the growth and coalescence of micro-cracks. In our approach, the fracture zone is embedded into elastic matrix and effectively weakens the material's strength along the plane of the dominant fracture.

There is much evidence that microvascular free flaps are successfully used in the reconstruction of the head and neck defects in cancer patients. It has become evident that proportional with ageing population, there is an increase in the number of elderly patients requiring microvascular reconstruction after radical excision of tumors in the head and neck region. The aim of this study is to estimate the correlation between the application of a microvascular free flap for defect reconstruction in elderly patients based on ASA (American Society of Anesthesiology) classification and postoperative surgical and medical morbidity. Study included 31 patients older than 70 years hospitalized in the period from 1996 to 2010 at the Clinic for Maxillofacial Surgery, Zagreb, Croatia. Base of reference for every patient included data about: gender, age, date and length of surgical procedure, basic diagnosis, chronic illneses, ASA (American Society of Anesthesiology) clasiffication, type of surgical procedure, type of microvascular free flap, postoperative complications, length of hospitalization and treatment results. Based on the data analysis it is estimated that morbidity was significantly higher in the number of male patients than the number of female patients (61% : 38.7%). Average age was 76 years and the oldest patient was 87 years old. According to ASA clasiffication patients were mostly ASA III (60,87%) and then ASA II 26.08%. Overall, the success rate of microvascular free flap was 94%. Moreover, postoperative medical complications were in the correlation with ASA status 19.45%. The study shows that the successs rate of microvascular free flap reconstruction of cancer in the head and neck region with elderly patients is directly related to ASA and the length of surgical procedure, as significant predictors in postoperative surgical and medical morbidity.