Background Malaria remains a public health problem in Malawi and has a serious socio-economic impact on the population. In the past two decades, available malaria control measures have been substantially scaled up, such as insecticide-treated bed nets, artemisinin-based combination therapies, and, more recently, the introduction of the malaria vaccine, the RTS,S/AS01. In this paper, we describe the epidemiology of malaria for the last two decades to understand the past transmission and set the scene for the elimination agenda. Methods A collation of parasite prevalence surveys conducted between the years 2000 and 2022 was done. A spatio-temporal geostatistical model was fitted to predict the yearly malaria risk for children aged 2–10 years (PfPR 2–10) at 1×1 km spatial resolutions. Parameter estimation was done using the Monte Carlo maximum likelihood method. District-level prevalence estimates adjusted for population are calculated for the years 2000 to 2022. Results A total of 2,595 sampled unique locations from 2000 to 2022 were identified through the data collation exercise. This represents 70,565 individuals that were sampled in the period. In general, the PfPR2_10 declined over the 22 years. The mean modelled national PfPR2_10 in 2000 was 43.93 % (95% CI:17.9 to 73.8%) and declined to 19.2% (95%CI 7.49 to 37.0%) in 2022. The smoothened estimates of PfPR2_10 indicate that malaria prevalence is very heterogeneous with hotspot areas concentrated on the southern shores of Lake Malawi and the country's central region. Conclusions The last two decades are associated with a decline in malaria prevalence, highly likely associated with the scale-up of control interventions. The country should move towards targeted malaria control approaches informed by surveillance data.

The absence of transparency and explainability hinders the clinical adoption of Machine learning (ML) algorithms. Although various methods of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) have been suggested, there is a lack of literature that delves into their practicality and assesses them based on criteria that could foster trust in clinical environments. To address this gap this study evaluates two popular XAI methods used for explaining predictive models in the healthcare context in terms of whether they (i) generate domain-appropriate representation, i.e. coherent with respect to the application task, (ii) impact clinical workflow and (iii) are consistent. To that end, explanations generated at the cohort and patient levels were analysed. The paper reports the first benchmarking of the XAI methods applied to risk prediction models obtained by evaluating the concordance between generated explanations and the trigger of a future clinical deterioration episode recorded by the data collection system. We carried out an analysis using two Electronic Medical Records (EMR) datasets sourced from Australian major hospitals. The findings underscore the limitations of state-of-the-art XAI methods in the clinical context and their potential benefits. We discuss these limitations and contribute to the theoretical development of trustworthy XAI solutions where clinical decision support guides the choice of intervention by suggesting the pattern or drivers for clinical deterioration in the future.

Introdução: A pesquisa científica tem por objetivo gerar novos conhecimentos, de forma a contribuir com os diversos segmentos da sociedade e proporcionar melhor qualidade de vida para a população, utilizando de métodos e técnicas específicas para esta finalidade. Para que a disseminação destes conhecimentos ocorra de forma ética e eficaz, o pesquisador deve estar atento a alguns aspectos importantes, como a redação científica, a qual inclui as referências bibliográficas e a normatização dos trabalhos científicos. Objetivo: Descrever as principais características dos estilos de formatação de trabalhos científicos: ABNT, APA, Chicago, MLA e Vancouver. Material e Método: Foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica no banco de dados Scientific Electronic Library (SCIELO), Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde Brasil (BVS) e Google Acadêmico. Revisão de Literatura: As normatizações são importantes, pois contribuem com a padronização e estruturação dos insumos do desenvolvimento tecnológico e científico, de forma eficaz e com qualidade. Considerações Finais: Espera-se que o conteúdo compilado oriente o leitor/pesquisador quanto a aplicabilidade das normas técnicas de normalização dos estilos de padronização de trabalhos científicos comumente recomendados por periódicos nacionais e internacionais com o intuito de ter um alcance e disseminar o conhecimento produzido.

The paper analysed bees by-catch collected in 259 bark beetle slit traps, from eleven localities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sampling was carried out in spruce and fir forests in 2020 and 2021. As a by-catch from bark beetle slit traps 84 bee individuals from four families and 13 genera were collected. In the bark beetle slit traps sample, out of 29 bee taxa, 22 species were identified at the species level and eight specimens were left at the genus/subgenus level. The most dominant genera were Megachile with 34 specimens and Osmia represented by 20 specimens in the total sample. The research identified 14 bee species new to the fauna of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bee species collected in the bark beetle slit-traps were dominated by nesters in cavities, above the ground-nesting bees.

Significance Ion channels that employ carboxylic residues in their selectivity filters (SFs) are found in many realms of life and are important in essential physiological processes. We study bacterial Nav channels which employ four glutamic acid residues in their SF, and we propose a different view of how ion channel selectivity is achieved in nature, based on the difference in pKa values of the SF glutamates in the presence of different ion types. Because of the observed sensitivity of pKa values on the geometry of the SF, this could be important in other channels with carboxylic residues in the SF, e.g., voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, and could possibly explain the large variety in observed selectivities of such channels.

Bacterial conjunctivitis is a common condition in paediatric ophthalmology. Incidence and symptoms depend on etiological factor, clinical presentation and age. The most common pathogens which cause bacterial conjunctivitis are: Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis etc. Conjunctivitis is treated empirically in most cases, the treatment is defined by symptoms and clinical findings, physician prescribes the available antibiotic treatment. Eye swab is indicated in cases of prolonged or non efficient treatment or in case of relapse. Goals: To evaluate bacterial conjunctivitis according to microbial pathogen detected in eye swab, the most common microbial pathogens found and drug susceptibility of antimicrobial agents given in antibiogram. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 73 microbiological findings of eye swabs in 53 children between January 2019 and March 2020. The sample was cultured on blood and chocolate Gram staining agar incubated under 5-10% CO2, 35-37˚C with daily reading 40-48h. Bacteria collected from eye swabs were tested for the following antibiotics: chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, moxifloxacin, ofloxacin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, erythromycin, ampicillin, azithromycin, amoxicillin, clindamycin and penicillin. Results: In a total of 53 patients eye swabs were taken, 23(43,39%) male and 30(56,60%) female, age ranged from 0-17 (mean age 32,3±52,3 months or 2,7±4,4 years) most common patient age was 2 years in 40(75,5%) cases. Number of performed eye swabs was 73, and pathogens were isolated in 70(95,9%) cases, and only in 3(4,1%) cases there were no pathogens in eye swab, meaning that indication for eye swab was highly justified. Among isolated pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus was proved to be the most common, in  20(27,4%) cases, the antibiotic  with highest drug susceptibility was chloramphenicol in 33(62,3%) cases. Conclusion: Microbiological evaluation of bacterial conjunctivitis is reasonable in moderate to severe cases associated with mucopurulent discharge, prolonged treatment, and as confirmation of diagnosis. Choosing the accurate antibiotic therapy requires identification of pathogen and assessing its susceptibility. Targeted treatment reduces risk of antibiotic overdosing or unnecessary use of antibiotics. Prudent use of antibiotics reduces antimicrobial resistance. 

Background: The coronavirus disease (Covid 19) is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The virus has spread globally, causing millions of deaths.Aim: This study was made with the aim of revealing the clinical features of corona virus infection, as well as assessing the prevalence of comorbidities in patients infected with coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).Methods: In this analysis the data was obtained from the hospital information system, involving patients who were treated for Covid-19, in the period January 1 until April 8, 2021.Results: 400 infected patients were included in the study, 86.2% of whom had comorbidities, and 8.8% without comorbidities. The results showed that the most common clinical symptom is fever in 62%, followed by difficulty breathing in 53%, and cough in 42%. The most prevalent comorbidities were cardiac 68.3%, then endocrinological 33.8%, surgical 16.5%, neurological 15%, oncological 12%, nephrological 11%, and pulmonary 10%. The existence of a significant association between the presence of comorbidities and the patients suffering from COVID-19 on mechanical ventilation due to treatment complications was determined, p=0.000 (p<0.05) at the 95% significance level.Conclusion: We assessed the prevalence of comorbidities in patients with COVID-19 and found that underlying disease, including cardiac and endocrinological diseases, may be a risk factor for severe forms of the disease.Key words: Covid-19, clinical features, comorbidities

More environment-friendly solvents in analytical chemistry are almost inevitable in both sample preparation and analysis to meet the high standards of sustainable chemistry and human welfare. In this review paper, a critical look at the advantages and still unsolved problems of most potential classes of green solvents is presented to give an overview of the current state-of-the-art in this field. Replacing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by ecofriendly and benign solvents in extractions/separations in sample preparation, as the most tedious and demanding step in analysis, is one of roads toward sustainable chemistry. Water under sub- and supercritical conditions, carbon-dioxide, ionic liquids (ILs), deep eutectic solvents (DESs), and those of natural origin (NADES) belong to the most promising classes of solvents in green analytical chemistry. Basic theory and mechanisms of their use illustrated by representative but not exhaustive list of examples related to complex matrices (environmental and natural food products) from analytical practice are presented in this review. Perspectives of QuEChERS, in line with GAC principles, are highlighted, in line with current trends of "going green" for quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe analytical methods. Compliance with green chemistry (GC), especially green analytical chemistry (GAC) principles, is not a fashionable issue but, more the trend toward a sustainable future with greener chemistry; thus, green metrics are an unavoidable tool to measure how green the applied method or procedure is. Herein, the most common tools will be presented and discussed, such as national environmental method index (NEMI), analytical ecoscale, green analytical procedure index (GAPI), analytical greenness calculator (AGREE), complementary green analytical procedure index (ComplexGAPI), and analytical greenness metric for sample preparation (AGREEprep). The future trends for research and development in this still expanding field are presented in a critical view of advantages and disadvantages as well as improvement of the validation of analytical procedures. The creation of new certified reference materials (CRMs) and validated methods for specified analytes in complex matrices is a demanding task in the coming years. Tailor-made solvents with physicochemical properties for intended use are required for the selective extraction and separation and open numerous possibilities and huge potential for future research and industrial applications.

The production of raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) as one of the most promising branches of fruit growing in Bosnia and Herzegovina could be permanently endangered due to the increasing incidence of crown gall disease caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The aim of this paper was to examine the morphological changes on raspberry seedlings caused by the bacterium A. tumefaciens, as well as the size and number of tumors depending on the applied biological or chemical treatment. The strain Agrobacterium tumefaciens MTCC 431 (ATCC 15955) was used. Morphometric parameters on raspberry seedlings were measured using the ImageJ 1.48v program. A binocular magnifier at 20x magnification was used to measure the the gook diameter. The computer program R c. 3.4.0 was used for a statistical analysis of results and an analysis of main components. It was observed that the raspberries inoculated with A. tumefaciens had a lower growth potential when compared to the control line. Rhizobium rhizogenes strain K1026, as an active substance of biopesticide, had a positive effect on the growth of infected raspberry plants, reducing bacterial infection. The applied chemical agent based on copper (I) oxide demonstrated lesser impact on the intensity of A. tumefaciens infection when compared to the biological agent. In this paper, a lower intensity of changes in raspberry plants was observed when the biopesticides and fungicides were applied simultaneously, in comparison with the individual treatments.

Izvještaj sa Naučnog projekta “HISTORIJSKI POGLEDI 2022”, Centar za istraživanje moderne i savremene historije Tuzla, Tuzla, 18. i 19. novembar 2022. godine // Conference Report from Scientific project “HISTORICAL VIEWS 2022”, Center for Research of Modern and Contemporary History Tuzla, Tuzla, November 18 and 19, 2022.

Battery management systems (BMS) are becoming increasingly important in the modern age, where clean energy awareness is getting more prominent. They are responsible for controlling large battery packs in modern electric vehicles. Today, conventional solutions rely only on a wired design, which adds manufacturing cost and complexity. Recent research has considered wireless solutions for the BMS. However, it is still challenging to develop a solution that considers both the active in-vehicle and the external second-life applications. The battery passport initiative aims to keep track of the batteries, both during active and inactive use cases. There is a need to provide a secure design while considering energy and cost-efficient solutions. We aim to fill this gap by proposing a wireless solution based on near-field communication (NFC) that extends previous work and provides a unified architecture for both use cases. To provide protection against common wireless threats, an advanced security analysis is performed, as well as a system design analysis for the wake-up process that reduces the daily power consumption of the stored battery packs from milli- to microwatts.

Physics homework often boils down to solving end-of-chapter quantitative problems. For targeting different learning goals of physics education, different types of homework are needed. The aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of simulation-based, video-based, and paper-and-pencil homework in developing an understanding about Newton’s laws and forming positive attitudes towards physics homework. 150 first-year students from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) were randomly assigned to one of the three above-mentioned homework approaches. After, students had lectures and seminars on Newton’s laws, they were administered a pre-test. In the next three weeks, the students completed three homework assignments on Newton’s laws, after which they completed a post-test. For students from all three homework approaches a substantial improvement in conceptual understanding has been observed. Although the three approaches proved to be equally effective when it comes to developing understanding, the simulation-based approach was found to be superior when it comes to developing positive attitudes towards physics homework. If one controls for target knowledge, the modality of the homework assignment does not affect cognitive outcomes, but it does affect students’ attitudes towards homework. Keywords: conceptual understanding, experimental study, simulation-based homework, video-based homework

The paper extends the concept of universal motion controller (UMC), by introducing an adaptive mechanism in the original form. The adaptive universal motion controller (AUMC) allows superior position tracking in free motion by allowing better utilization of available control resources. AUMC, as well as UMC, allows concurrent position and force control with a single control structure. Thus, it can be used for trajectory tracking in free motion and also for the interaction force control. This control strategy is of essential importance for the growing field of human-robot interaction (HRI) applications.