Background: Our recent study has shown that pomegranate peel extract (PEx) showed significant immunomodulatory activity, which might be caused by ellagitannins. The aim of this work was to test the hypothesis that ellagitannin components act synergistically in the modulation of cytokine production. Methods: Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors were stimulated with phytohemagglutinin and treated with different concentrations of PEx or punicalagin (PG), punicalin (PN), and ellagic acid (EA), alone or with their combinations. Cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, and cytokine production were determined. Results: Non-cytotoxic concentrations of all compounds significantly inhibited cell proliferation. IC50 values (μg/mL) were: EA (7.56), PG (38.52), PEx (49.05), and PN (69.95). PEx and all ellagitannins inhibited the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8, dose-dependently, and their combinations acted synergistically. PEx and all ellagitannins inhibited Th1 and Th17 responses, whereas the lower concentrations of PEx stimulated the production of IL-10, a Treg cytokine, as did lower concentrations of EA. However, neither component of ellagitannins increased Th2 response, as was observed with PEx. Conclusions: The combination of PG, PN, and EA potentiated the anti-inflammatory response without any significant synergistic down-modulatory effect on T-cell cytokines. The increased production of IL-10 observed with PEx could be attributable to EA, but the examined ellagitannins are not associated with the stimulatory effect of PEx on Th2 response.

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Aim: The aim of article was to present a patient with heart failure symptoms caused by prosthetic mechanical valve endocarditis. Case presentation : 44-years-old male patient was admitted because of dyspnea and swelling of lower extremities. The patient is a long-standing heroin addict who had an aortic valve replacement done 8 years ago due to endocarditis. The implanted valve was a mechanical aortic valve – Edwards MIRA bi-leaflet valve No 32 (Edwards Lifesciences; Irvine, California). He also was already diagnosed with hepatitis C years before. At admission the patient had heart failure signs with sinus tachycardia on the electrocardiogram. During physical examination

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Drone simulators are often used to reduce training costs and prepare operators for various ad-hoc scenarios, as well as to test the quality of algorithmic and communication aspects in collaborative scenarios. An important aspect of drone missions in simulated (as well as real life) environments is the operational lifetime of a given drone, in both solo and collaborative fleet settings. Its importance stems from the fact that the capacity of the on-board batteries in untethered (i.e., free-flying) drones determines the range and/or the length of the trajectory that a drone can travel in the course of its surveilance or delivery missions. Most of the existing simulators incorporate some kind of a consumption model based on different parameters of the drone and its flight trajectory. However, to our knowledge, the existing simulators are not capable of incorporating data obtained from actual physical measurements/observations into the consumption model. In this work, we take a first step towards enabling the (users of) drones simulator to incorporate the speed and direction of the wind into the model and monitor its impact on the battery consumption as the direction of the flight changes relative to the wind. We have also developed a proof-of-concept implementation with DJI Mavic 3 and Parrot ANAFI drones.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a country with a highly diverse ecosystem, containing over 5000 confirmed taxa of vascular plants. The traditional medicinal use of plants has always played a crucial role and gained in importance in the time of war in the 1990s due to a lack of medical facilities. Still nowadays, the health care system is poorly developed, which altogether makes the region interesting for ethnopharmacological researches. AIM OF THE STUDY Focusing on the area of Zavidovići Municipality in the central part of the country, we aimed to document the diversity of the used medicinal plants and the knowledge of their therapeutic usages. MATERIAL AND METHODS Data was collected in individual open and semi-structured interviews. Therapeutic uses were classified into 14 disease categories following the International Classification of Primary Care-2 (ICPC-2), a classification system recognized by the World Health Organization's Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC). Use reports have been used to evaluate the acquired knowledge. RESULTS The findings revealed a total of 113 species belonging to 46 families. 14 informants well respected for their knowledge in the area listed 77 therapeutic uses for the indicated plants. Based on a comparison with other ethnobotanical surveys of BiH and to other important relating literature, three taxa have not been previously reported in BiH and for 19 species, new medicinal uses were stated. Based on use reports, oral application of remedies is far more common (76,7%) than external application (23,3%), the dominant mode of preparation thereby is an infusion. Usages of most concern were digestive, urological and respiratory diseases, their consensus factor ranging between 0,63 and 0,71. CONCLUSION These results summarize the usage of traditional plants among people who are highly valued in their community of Zavidovići Municipality for their knowledge and thereby aim to preserve the indigenous knowledge associated with the medicinal plants of the area.

Background: In the last decade the association between congenital single functional kidney (cSFK) and increased risk of hypertension, proteinuria and kidney injury has become clear. Regarding CKD long-term outcome, kidney hypertrophy at ultrasound (US) in the early months of life is reported as protective. Kidney US measuring renal lenght (BPL) and renal scintigraphy (RS) measuring GFR (mGFR) are both useful tools for the clinical management. The follow-up is frequently based on local protocols, although clinical recommendations have been proposed recently. The aim of the present study was to assess the utility of RS and to compare it to US in gathering information on kidney function, long term outcome and the appropriate use in the follow-up of patients with cSFK. Methods: Retrospective, monocentric, observational study enrolling pediatric cSKF patients. Demographic, clinical, instrumental and laboratory data were collected from medical records for all the patients included in this study. CKD was considered as composite outcome (at least one: reduced mGFR or eGFR, proteinuria in at least two different examinations, hypertension). Results: 163 cSFK patients were included. The BPL showed a linear increase over time, with curve flattening after 144 months of age. Conversely, mGFR rapidly increased between 0 and 60 months, stabilizing thereafter (Fig.1) and reaching a median value over the threshold of normal function between 24 and 60 months; we observed a slight decrease after 180 months, although not statistically significant. Comparing the trend of BPL and mGFR over time, we observed a significant correlation (R2=0.5, p-value<0.05) between 1 and 60 months of life, that was lot thereafter. Proteinuria, hypertension, impaired eGFR and mGFR were found in 11.7 %, 18.7%, 30.4% and 39.3% patients, respectively, with overall CKD rate of 41.6%. Of note, 25% of these patients were identified only by RS, having no other considered abnormality. Moreover in this subgroup patients only one showed kidney hypertrophy at US before the age of 60 months. Conclusions: RS can be as useful as US in the follow-up of cSFK. It allows to early spot an higher number of CKD patients and probably represent the best option for those with late referral in which early US is not available, to guide the clinicians in defining the risk of CKD and inform prognosis.

The neglected zoonosis cystic echinococcosis affects mainly pastoral and rural communities in both low-income and upper-middle-income countries. In Europe, it should be regarded as an orphan and rare disease. Although human cystic echinococcosis is a notifiable parasitic infectious disease in most European countries, in practice it is largely under-reported by national health systems. To fill this gap, we extracted data on the number, incidence, and trend of human cases in Europe through a systematic review approach, using both the scientific and grey literature and accounting for the period of publication from 1997 to 2021. The highest number of possible human cases at the national level was calculated from various data sources to generate a descriptive model of human cystic echinococcosis in Europe. We identified 64 745 human cystic echinococcosis cases from 40 European countries. The mean annual incidence from 1997 to 2020 throughout Europe was 0·64 cases per 100 000 people and in EU member states was 0·50 cases per 100 000 people. Based on incidence rates and trends detected in this study, the current epicentre of cystic echinococcosis in Europe is in the southeastern European countries, whereas historical endemic European Mediterranean countries have recorded a decrease in the number of cases over the time.

Introduction : Myocardial infarction in patients with psychiatric diseases is to a large extent more prevalent and is accompanied by a worse prognosis after a cardiac incident. Despite the higher mortality, these patients are less frequently subjected to coronary angiography and coronary intervention. With this research, we want to show the frequency of myocardial infarction in patients with schizophrenia

Laser beam machining of various materials has found wide applications in the industry due to its advantages of high-speed machining, no tool wear and no vibration, precision and accuracy, low cost of machining, etc. Investigations into the laser beam machining of uncommon alloy are still limited and more research is needed in this field. In this paper, an analysis of the laser beam machining of tungsten alloy was performed, for cutting and drilling machining processes. First, an experimental analysis of microhardness and microstructure on the laser-cut samples was performed, and then the numerical simulation of the laser beam drilling process and its experimental validation was carried out. The experiments were carried out on a tungsten alloy plate of two different thicknesses, 0.5 and 1 mm. No significant changes in the microhardness, nor in the microstructure characteristics in the heat-affected zone (HAZ), were observed for the cutting conditions considered. A two-dimensional axisymmetric mathematical model for the simulation of the laser beam drilling process is solved by a finite volume method. The model was validated by comparing numerical and experimental results in terms of the size of HAZ and the size and shape of the drilled hole. Experimental and numerical results showed that HAZ is larger in the 0.5-mm-thick plate than in the 1-mm-thick plate under the same drilling conditions. Good agreement was observed between the experimental and numerical results. The developed model improves the understanding of the physical phenomena of laser beam machining and allows the optimization of laser and process parameters.