BACKGROUND The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools. METHODS In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the intravitreal concentration of VEGF in eyes with PDR and to evaluate the effects of previous PRP on its level. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study performed at the Clinical Centre University. It included 90 eyes surgically treated with PPV, divided into three groups, group A - patients with PDR with previous PRP, group B - patients with PDR without previous PRP, and group C - PPV performed due to the indication unrelated to diabetes. A vitreous sample was obtained during PPV, and the VEGF concentration was determined using an Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test (ELISA). Shapiro-Wilk, nonparametric tests Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whithney U test, ANOVA and Spearman’s correlation test were used. Results: The highest vitreous VEGF concentration was in group B - 972.96 (743.33-1149.13) and was higher than in group A - 69.22 (37.33-225.15) and in group C - 19.93 (1.15-32.17) (p<0.001). There was a positive correlation between VEGF vitreous concentration and glucose level in group A patients (Rho=0.410; p=0.027). Conclusion: As a treatment before PPV surgery, PRP showed to be effective in the reduction of VEGF levels, which also highlighted a decrease in complications during and postoperatively. Abbreviations: DRS = Diabetic Retinopathy Study, PDR = proliferative diabetic retinopathy, VEGF = vascular endothelial growth factor, PRP = pan-retinal photocoagulation, PPV = pars plana vitrectomy, HbA1c = glycosylated hemoglobin, ETDRS = Early treatment diabetic retinopathy study, ESR = erythrocyte sedimentation rate, BCVA = best corrected visual acuity, OCT = optical coherent tomography, ILM = internal limiting membrane, PHACO = phacoemulsification, IOL = intraocular lens, ELISA = Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test, AUC = area under the curve, DME = diabetic macular oedema, TDR = tractional retinal detachment, VMT = vitreomacular traction

A big challenge of autonomous mobility is guaranteeing safety in all possible extreme and unexpected scenarios. For the last 25 years, the sector therefore focused on improving the automation functions. Nevertheless, autonomous mobility is still not part of daily life. The 5G-Blueprint project follows an alternative approach: direct control teleoperation. This concept relies on 5G connectivity to remove the physical coupling between the human driver or sailor and the controlled vehicle or vessel. This way, automation and teleoperation can be combined as complementary technologies, assigning them to different segments of a single trajectory, realizing driverless mobility in a safe, scalable, and cost-efficient manner. However, this mode of operation brings demanding connectivity requirements, such as high uplink bandwidth, low latency and ultra-reliability at the same time, for which the potential of 5G needs to be studied and explored. In this paper, we present our performance validation strategies to pursue 5G-enhanced teleoperation in real-life environment (e.g., public roads, busy sea ports), including some initial results that we collected during the in-country piloting phase.

One of the major challenges in 5G-based Cooperative Connected and Automated Mobility is to ensure continuity of a service that is deployed on the network edge and used by a moving vehicle. We propose enablers for smart cellular edges, which support service continuity in cross-border scenarios by the timely preparation of a service instance in an anticipated topologically closer target edge, and by connecting the vehicle to such service instance before the cellular handover occurs. In this paper, we use the edge data centers of a German and Austrian mobile operator to showcase two main enabling pillars for edge service continuity, i.e., i) transparent edge bridging by means of a programmable data plane to serve a vehicle from the target edge before the vehicle performs handover to a different operator, and ii) smart applications, which apply data analytics to boost orchestration decisions for target edge preparation.

5G Stand Alone (SA) networks are in the process of implementation, as the today's progress of the main business services to migrate to the 5G new services communication (enhanced Mobile Broadband - eMBB, Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications - URLLC, massive Machine Type Communications - mMTC) is estimated to slowly increase. There have been identified some key aspects responsible for the novel 5G communication adoption process, such as the complexity of the services deployment and the clear understanding of the huge potential of the technology that can further support the 5G vertical's stakeholders. This paper is representing the work of the EU funded project VITAL-5G in deploying 5G Stand Alone 3GPP Rel.16 testbeds, with enhanced network and services capabilities and 5G resources available to be offered to industries vertical's customers. The 5G solution of the testbed design is covering several aspects of the future 5G network implementation, such as services management and orchestration, automation of resources allocation, 5G network slicing (Radio Access Network, Core and Transport) and user traffic prioritization according to the service slice needs, eMBB and URLLC. An important aspect is the availability of the entire 5G ecosystem to be offered to the 5G developers and 3 rd parties for advanced and extensive trials such as Innovative Network Application (N etApps) implementations. By abstracting the complexity of underlying 5G infrastructure, reducing the time of service creation and deployment and optimizing the 5G resource usage, N etApps is a key enabler of 5G adoption.

The development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities, combined with the widespread usage of cooperative or independent air traffic surveillance systems such as automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) bring about novel deployment paradigms in air-ground integrated vehicular networks (AGVN). Therefore, how to make full use of infrastructures, which represented by high altitude platform station (HAPS), and can be orchestrated according to fully use information like ADS-B message, becomes the imminent problem that should be solved. In the view of above problems, in this paper, we propose a novel handover strategy based on side information of the ADS-B for AGVN. Firstly, a practical scenario which use single HAPS as air base station to assist cellular network with multiple users is proposed. Secondly, according to the surveillance platform, side information such as the location, speed, and realtime throughput of HAPS is obtained by all the static base stations using ADS-B system. Thirdly, a modified handover strategy over HAPS based on the side information is used to enhance the service ability of all the network. Simulation results show the fully use of side information can increase the capacity of the AGVN.

A 16-year-old girl with an asymptomatic large splenic cyst. The disease was discovered by an accidental ultrasound of the abdomen due to a urinary infection. The patient was followed up conservatively for 3 years, and after the gradual enlargement of the cyst, laparoscopic surgery was indicated. The operation and postoperative follow-up for a period of 6 months is satisfactory.

Abstract Objective. The present study assessed the impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) duration on the serum asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration in Bosnian patients. Methods. Participants for this cross-sectional study were randomly selected from the Family Medicine Clinic (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina). Serum ADMA concentration was determined by ELISA. Serum high-sensitivity (hs-CRP) was determined by particle-enhanced immunonephelometry. ANOVA test followed by Scheffe post-hoc test or Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Man-Whitney test were used for statistical analysis. Results. The study included 38 patients in up to 10 years diabetes duration (≤10 years T2DM) group, 22 patients in greater than 10 years diabetes duration (>10 years T2DM) group, and 60 controls. Serum ADMA concentration in the >10 years T2DM group (1.81±0.15 μmol/L) was significantly higher compared to serum ADMA concentration in the ≤10 years T2DM group (1.38±0.41 μmol/L; p<0.001) and in controls (0.62±0.15 μmol/L; p<0.001). A significant difference in serum ADMA concentration was found between the <10 years T2DM group and the controls (p<0.001). The serum CRP concentration in the >10 years T2DM group [5.95 (4.20–9.12) mg/L] was significantly higher compared to serum CRP concentration in the <10 years T2DM group [2.35 (1.40–4.30) mg/L; p<0.001] and controls [0.85 (0.50–1.30) mg/L; p<0.001]. Significant difference in serum CRP concentration was observed between the <10 years T2DM group and controls (p<0.001). Conclusions. The present study showed an increase in the serum ADMA and CRP concentrations with the advancement of T2DM. These results suggest that ADMA and CRP may serve as indicators of endothelial dysfunction and chronic low-grade inflammation progression in patients with T2DM. Larger prospective studies are required to confirm the observed findings.