The aim of this research was to examine the frequency of different barriers faced by special education teachers in working with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The sample included 53 participants of both genders and of different ages who were diagnosed with ASD. The instrument used to assess the presence of barriers in teaching refers to the Assessment of Barriers in Teaching (VB-Mapp Barriers Assessment -Sundberg, 2008). In our sample, it was found that all respondents have a pronounced presence of teaching barriers, while the most frequent barriers are prompt dependence, generalization difficulties, socialization problems, escape or avoidance of given tasks and the absence of the tact ability. Having in mind the obtained results, it is highlighted as a necessity to develop an approach that would lead to elimination of the mentioned barriers, as well as to develop a treatment plan to address those teaching barriers in working with children with PSA and consequently enable a higher degree of adoption of new knowledge and skills by children with ASD.

On islands and in island communities, especially smaller and more isolated ones, epidemics were often of greater intensity and left more significant consequences than on the mainland. The unique characteristics of an island (size, remoteness, isolation, small population size, and several manageable access points) affect the transmission of mainland epidemics and their frequency. The current global COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to investigate how the infection and epidemiological measures affected the life and death of island communities. The pandemic has brought mass death into our daily lives and altered the way people grieve, commemorate and remember their deceased. This paper presents the experiences and feelings of people during the COVID-19 pandemic on Croatian islands, with a focus on death, funerals, mourning, and the loss of family members. Due to the impossibility of carrying out the usual practices related to the funeral because of COVID-19 restrictions, the process of mourning and dealing with the loss of loved ones was difficult. Island communities accepted the new rules and adapted to the new circumstances but indicated that island-specific and more flexible crisis management should be applied during this health crisis. Some epidemiological measures, such as social distancing, internal island travel restrictions, and reduced gatherings, were highlighted by islanders as challenging and sometimes unnecessarily strict for some islands and their specific situations. For family members of those who died from COVID-19, additional factors and challenges have complicated their loss. Digital and social media were used to connect people and helped in coping with mourning in solitude and isolation. In this global pandemic, island communities responded to the impact of pandemic crises and adapted to new circumstances of the “new normal”.

The aim of this research is to develop a functional food and halal Omega 3 eggs by dietary manipulation of laying hens as well as to investigate the influence of nutrient composition on egg yolk content of PUFAs. The research was conducted on the farm Pećigrad, Velika Kladuša, which has 21,162 laying hens, with an egg production rate of 70%. Laying hens were fed with halal and NON GMO feed mixtures from three suppliers. Omega 3 eggs contained 318 mg of Omega 3 PUFAs, which is 6 times more than the standard eggs. The n-6:n-3 PUFAs ratio was 18.4:1.9=9.9 in egg yolks of laying hens fed with standard feed mixture, while in egg yolks produced by laying hens fed with feed mixture enriched with flaxseed this ratio was 17.8:5.3=3.4. Consumption of eggs with the latter n-6:n-3 ratio can prevent cardiovascular diseases and provides the intake of RDA of Omega 3 FAs. Traceability and established HrCCP in the chain of suppliers, in processes of primary and industrial production, application of good practices, sustainable development resulted in halal products with additional functional properties.

A malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour (MPNST) is a highly aggressive sarcoma. This disease develops in a number of people with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), which is a common genetic disease. The paper presents a patient with typical manifestations of a malignant tumour of the peripheral nerve sheath, in the form of a large tumour of primary localisation in the distal part of the left thigh and left popliteal fossa and with significant dissemination into the lung parenchyma, which was accompanied by respiratory risk. The first operation of the tumour was done four years earlier, after which the patient did not come for regular check-ups. Nine cycles of chemotherapy were performed by Doxorubicin / Ifosfamide / Mesna protocol with clinical improvement and stabilisation, but without a significant impact on the dynamics of the disease and the overall survival was 14 months. It is of utmost importance to early recognise clinical presentation of the malignant form of this tumour and active supervision of a patient with a benign form by experts. In this way, it is possible to apply the optimal treatment modality in a timely manner.

Background/Aim: Therapy of diabetes mellitus type 2 includes drugs that act as inhibitors of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) enzyme. Several DPP-4 inhibitors are marketed today and although they have favourable safety profile and tolerability, they show moderate activity in controlling glycaemia. The 3D quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) methodology was employed in order to find pharmacophore responsible for good DPP-4 inhibitory activity and designed new compounds with enhanced activity. Methods: For 3D-QSAR model development, 48 compounds structurally related to sitagliptin were collected from ChEMBL database. Structures of all compounds were optimised in order to find the best 3D conformations prior to QSAR modelling. To establish correlation between structure and biological activity Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression method integrated in Pentacle software was used. Results: Parameters of internal and external validation (R2 = 0.80, Q2 = 0.64 and R2 pred = 0.610) confirmed reliability of developed QSAR model. Analysis of obtained structural descriptors enabled identification of key structural characteristics that influenced DPP-4 inhibitory activity. Based on that information, new compounds were designed, of which 35 compounds had a better predicted activity, compared to sitagliptin. Conclusion: This QSAR model can be used for DPP-4 inhibitory activity prediction of structurally related compounds and resulting pharmacophore contains information useful for optimisation and design of new DPP-4 inhibitors. Finally, authors propose designed compounds for further synthesis, in vitro and in vivo testing, as new potential DPP-4 inhibitors.