Background: Psoriasis can be described as a T-cell-mediated disease, with a complex role for variety of cytokines and other factors. Among the inflammatory molecules influencing the keratinocites, TNF-α appears critical in sustaining most of the clinical manifestations of psoriasis. It is postulated that changes in cytokine production both locally and systemically could be useful in monitoring disease activity. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in patients with psoriasis and the healthy subjects, and also to assess a possible association between TNF-α, clinical type and severity of disease. Methods: We studied the levels of serum TNF-α in 60 patients with psoriasis and in the serum of helthy 20 controls. According to the clinical type of disease, patients with psoriasis were divided into four groups: chronic plaque psoriasis (CPP), erythrodermic psoriasis (EP), pustular psoriasis (PP) and psoriatic arthritis (PA). Blood samples were collected from all psoriasis patients and from healthy control subjects. Serum level of TNF-α were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. The severity of CPP was assessed by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Results: Serum levels of TNF-α in patients with psoriasis were significialy higher than in the control group (3.25+1.74 pg/mL vs 0.20+0.01pg/mL, respectively). Significantly elevated serum TNF-α was in patients with PP type (7.39+6.92 pg/mL). There was statistically significant difference between the mean level of TNF-ɑ compared to the clinical type of psoriasis (p<0.05). The mean PASI score in patients with CPP was 0.56±12.45. It was not found statistically significant correlation between serum level of TNF-ɑ and PASI score in patients with CPP (p>0,05). Conclusion: Our results have demonstrated the imortance of determining serum levels of TNF-ɑ in patients with psoriasis. Further investigations are required to clarify the pathogenic role and clinical significance of TNF-ɑ, and these findings may provide important clues to assist in the development of new therapeutic strategies for patients with psoriasis.

Sludge generated in wastewater treatment processes must be treated in an adequate manner, and therefore disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. The biggest obstacle to the efficient use of sludge is the high water content, therefore the development of methods to accelerate the sludge dewatering process is particularly important. For the purposes of the research, the waste sludge created in the process of purifying ammoniaphenol wastewater in the GIKIL factory was used. Sludge conditioning was performed by adding a commercial flocculant (0.1 % solution) in combination with pyrophyllite, kaolin clay and shredded cardboard. According to earlier research, the volume of waste sludge with the addition of a suitable flocculant could be reduced by more than 5 times compared to the initial amount, leaving behind a large amount of separated water that can be returned to the process. The results show that the addition of commercial flocculant in the amount of 0.8 % gives the best results (reduction of sludge volume by 78.8 %). A lower percentage was found in samples with a mixture of flocculants with pyrophyllite (78 %) and kaolin (77.6 %), while the combination of flocculants with waste cardboard was ineffective (64.4 %). Addition of flocculant to waste sludge resulted in a decrease in specific filtration resistance (1.15x107 s2/g). A decrease in specific resistance was also observed in flocculant/kaolin clay (0.8x107 s2/g) and flocculant/cardboard (1.09x107 s2/g) samples. Sludge conditioning also resulted in a reduction of suspended solids in the neonate compared to settled raw sludge without additives.

Age estimation has become inordinately significant for human beings for many reasons, such as detecting legal and criminal responsibility and other social events like a marriage license, birth certificate, etc. This paper aims to decide on the most desirable machine learning algorithm (from conventional machine learning algorithms to deep learning) for dental age estimation based on buccal bone level. The database consisted of 150 CBCT images (73 males and 77 females) from an existing base of the Faculty of Dental Medicine with Clinics, University of Sarajevo, aged 20-69. Results were obtained using the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (Weka), machine learning software in Java. Left and Right Buccal Alveolar Bone Levels are increasing with age, so they showed to be the most important attributes, especially the latter. Random Forest classifier provided the greatest result with the correlation coefficient of 0.803 and the mean absolute error of 6.022. We have also shown that considering sinus-related features can be a significant addition to the databases. Our paper is probably one of the first studies where regression algorithms based on the Support Vector Machines and Random Forest were utilized.

Abstract Sweet chestnut forests in Bosnia and Herzegovina are underrepresented in the total forest fund, and their area is declining today. The research aims to determine the correlation relations of morphological traits of chestnut leaves, fruit and cupule in the population of Bosnian Krajina (northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina) to undertake selection and breeding activities. Eleven traits of fruits, leaves and cupules were measured, seven assessed and six calculated. A mutual correlation for the researched traits was calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient r. When the fruit traits and cupule traits were compared, the needle length showed a statistically significant correlation with most of the fruit traits. The traits of the number of fruits in the cupule and needle length had a statistically significant correlation coefficient with leaf blade width and leaf petiole length. The correlated traits can be distinguished as important for further selection and breeding of sweet chestnuts. The research results indicate that the genetic material of sweet chestnut is a rich source of genetic diversity and can be used in selection to obtain new varieties and cultivars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and for the protection of the indigenous gene pool.

Objectives The study aimed to compare the color stability of two different light-cured composites after immersion in three liquids and the effectiveness of 16% carbamide peroxide (CP) in removing the discoloration. Material and methods Color stability of a microhybrid (Z250, 3M ESPE) and nanocomposite (Z550, 3M ESPE) was evaluated after immersion in instant coffee, tea, Coca-Cola, and deionized water as a control group (n=5). Samples were kept in liquids for four hours daily at 37°C for 30 days. Furthermore, 16% CP was applied for the following 14 days, simulating night whitening. A digital spectrophotometer was used for color measurement based on the CIEL*a*b* color coordinates. The color changes (∆E) were measured at baseline, after immersion in the beverages, and also after the teeth whitening procedure. Mixed and factorial ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s post-hoc test were used for statistical evaluation (p≤0.05). Results Tested resin composites showed a color change over the acceptability threshold (ΔE*> 3.48) after immersion in coffee and tea. Nanocomposite reported a significant increase in discoloration in coffee after 30 days (p <0.05). The color of both materials significantly changed (p<0.05) along all three L*a*b* axes in coffee and tea to darker, yellow, and red. Whitening with 16% CP was effective in removing external discoloration in both examined composite materials. Conclusion Coffee and tea induced clinically detectable color changes in dental composites tested, with cumulative effects. Whitening represents an efficient method for the removal of surface discoloration in composite restorations.

Origanum compactum, an endemic Moroccan medicinal herb, possesses many different activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and anticancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the stability and antifungal activity of liposomal dispersion with this essential oil. Liposomal dispersion stability was evaluated by testing the vesicle size, polydispersity index and zeta potential. It was also examined the in vitro release of thymol and carvacrol from liposomal dispersion. The major components of this essential oil were carvacrol (58.4%), thymol (12.5%) and γ-terpinene (10.7%). Origanum compactum essential oil showed a strong antifungal activity, and the inhibition zones ranged from 24 to 45 mm. After 210 minutes, 80.88% thymol and 16.67% carvacrol were released. Stability assessment was performed for three months and the liposomal dispersion showed a good stability.

Background: Thimerosal is an organomercury compound with high mercury content. Thimerosal is located in the market as an effective bacteriostatic in a series of pharmaceutical products, ophthalmic and nasal products, immunoglobulin preparations, and as a preservative in vaccines. Aims and Objectives: Since it is a compound with living content, this study aimed to examine the genotoxic and cytotoxic potential of thimerosal in human lymphocytes culture. Materials and Methods: We used chromosome aberration analysis and cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome (CBMN-Cyt) assay to test its genotoxic and cytotoxic potential in human lymphocyte culture. Results: Results showed that the frequency of structural chromosome aberrations and CBMN-cyt assay was significantly increased in treated cultures (1 μg/ml and 0.5 μg/ml) compared to the negative control. Conclusion: Obtained results and statistical analysis show that thimerosal is genotoxic and cytotoxic in human lymphocytes in tested concentrations.

Benzophenone (BP) type UV filters are common environmental contaminants that are posing a growing health concern due to their increasing presence in water. Different studies have evidenced the presence of benzophenones (BP, BP-1, BP-2, BP-3, BP-4, BP-9, HPB) in several environmental matrices, indicating that conventional technologies of water treatment are not able to remove them. It has also been reported that these compounds could be associated with endocrine-disrupting activities, genotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity. This review focuses on the degradation kinetics and mechanisms of benzophenone-type UV filters and their degradation products (DPs) under UV and solar irradiation and in UV-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as UV/H2O2, UV/persulfate, and the Fenton process. The effects of various operating parameters, such as UV irradiation including initial concentrations of H2O2, persulfate, and Fe2+, on the degradation of tested benzophenones from aqueous matrices, and conditions that allow higher degradation rates to be achieved are presented. Application of nanoparticles such as TiO2, PbO/TiO2, and Sb2O3/TiO2 for the photocatalytic degradation of benzophenone-type UV filters was included in this review.

Background: The use of resolution recovery (RR) in bone and myocardial perfusion imaging is becoming increasingly popular in nuclear medicine departments. RR produces reconstructed images that show improved spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio compared with conventional single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images. Objective: To evaluate the impact of the ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) RR modality on preserving noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) for short SPECT acquisition. Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 80 patients. Full SPECT acquisition was performed as a standardized protocol, while reduced acquisition was achieved with the Poisson resampling method. Noise, SNR, and CNR were measured for different reconstruction parameters for the same image levels. The impact of surface area and body mass index was also measured for the same reconstruction parameters. Results: The results show significantly higher SNR and CNR for the Evolution for Bone protocol compared to the other two reconstruction protocols for full and reduced SPECT acquisition. With the shortening of the SPECT acquisition, an increase in the value of noise was recorded. SNR and CNR decreased with the reduction in SPECT acquisition. Conclusion: The Evolution for Bone protocol for all three analyzed acquisition protocols had the lowest noise values. The highest SNR and CNR were recorded in the Evolution for Bone protocol for the three acquisition protocols and SPECT acquisition time can be reduced from 20 to 10 min for bone SPECT.

Abstract Objectives  The aim of the study was to analyze the occurrence of stress on teeth with abfraction lesions restored with six different restorative materials, and by introducing the tensile strength parameters to calculate the safety factor of the material under the load (ratio between the strength of the material and the maximum stress). Materials and Methods  Three-dimensional models of the mandibular premolar are created from a microcomputed tomography images. An abfraction lesion is modeled on the tooth. The stress of the dental tissues and six restorative materials under functional and nonfunctional occlusal loading of 200 (N) are analyzed by finite element method. Statistical Analysis  CTAn program 1.10 and ANSYS Workbench (version 14.0) were used for analysis. Results are presented in von Mises stress. Results  Oblique loads caused ≈ four times higher stress in restorative materials than the axial ones. It is noticeable that high values of von Mises stress are measured at the bottom of the sharp lesion, even up to 240 MPa, that are significantly reduced after the restoration. The highest stresses at the restorative material are present at the lower (gingival) margin of the restoration. The highest stresses under both types of loads are measured in nanohybrid composite (Tetric EvoCeram, Ivoclar Vivadent). The lowest values of the stress are measured in the flowable composite (Tetric Flow, Ivoclar Vivadent), but at the same time, the highest value of the stress is measured in the surrounding dental tissues on the tooth restored with the flowable composite. The microhybrid composite (Herculite XR, Kerr), with the highest safety factor, is the material that best withstands the stresses it is exposed to. The obtained safety factor did not exceed the critical limit, except for the glass ionomer cement, with the safety factor lower than 1. Conclusion  The type of tooth loading has the greatest influence on the intensity of stress. The value of the obtained stresses in the restorative material and dental tissues differ due to the different mechanical properties of the materials. Restoration of noncarious lesions significantly reduces extremely high stress values at their bottom.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disease of unknown etiology and pathogenesis, which manifests in a variety of symptoms like post-exertional malaise, brain fog, fatigue and pain. Hereditability is suggested by an increased disease risk in relatives, however, genome-wide association studies in ME/CFS have been limited by small sample sizes and broad diagnostic criteria, therefore no established risk loci exist to date. In this study, we have analyzed three ME/CFS cohorts: a Norwegian discovery cohort (N=427), a Danish replication cohort (N=460) and a replication dataset from the UK biobank (N=2105). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ME/CFS genome-wide association study of this magnitude incorporating 2532 patients for the genome-wide analyses and 460 patients for a targeted analysis. Even so, we did not find any ME/CFS risk loci displaying genome-wide significance. In the Norwegian discovery cohort, the TPPP gene region showed the most significant association (rs115523291, P=8.5x10-7), but we could not replicate the top SNP. However, several other SNPs in the TPPP gene identified in the Norwegian discovery cohort showed modest association signals in the self-reported UK biobank CFS cohort, which was also present in the combined analysis of the Norwegian and UK biobank cohorts, TPPP (rs139264145; P= 0.00004). Interestingly, TPPP is expressed in brain tissues, hence it will be interesting to see whether this association with time will be verified in even larger cohorts. Taken together our study, despite being the largest to date, could not establish any ME/CFS risk loci, but comprises data for future studies to accumulate the power needed to reach genome-wide significance.

Simple Summary In order to compare responses to different therapies among clinical trials and to differentiate between therapy-induced changes and true tumor progression, reliable response parameters are crucial. With the advent of targeted and immunologic treatments, several assessment tools have been proposed. In this post hoc analysis we compared assessment criteria according to MacDonald, RANO, mRANO, iRANO as well as Vol-RANO and Vol-mRANO in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma treated with standard of care (SOC) ± tumor lysate-charged autologous dendritic cells (Audencel). We found that the best correlation between progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was seen for mRANO and Vol-mRANO. Interestingly, iRANO was not superior for predicting OS in patients treated with Audencel. Abstract Introduction: In this post hoc analysis we compared various response-assessment criteria in newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GB) patients treated with tumor lysate-charged autologous dendritic cells (Audencel) and determined the differences in prediction of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Methods: 76 patients enrolled in a multicenter phase II trial receiving standard of care (SOC, n = 40) or SOC + Audencel vaccine (n = 36) were included. MRI scans were evaluated using MacDonald, RANO, Vol-RANO, mRANO, Vol-mRANO and iRANO criteria. Tumor volumes (T1 contrast-enhancing as well as T2/FLAIR volumes) were calculated by semiautomatic segmentation. The Kruskal-Wallis-test was used to detect differences in PFS among the assessment criteria; for correlation analysis the Spearman test was used. Results: There was a significant difference in median PFS between mRANO (8.6 months) and Vol-mRANO (8.6 months) compared to MacDonald (4.0 months), RANO (4.2 months) and Vol-RANO (5.4 months). For the vaccination arm, median PFS by iRANO was 6.2 months. There was no difference in PFS between SOC and SOC + Audencel. The best correlation between PFS/OS was detected for mRANO (r = 0.65) and Vol-mRANO (r = 0.69, each p < 0.001). A total of 16/76 patients developed a pure T2/FLAIR progressing disease, and 4/36 patients treated with Audencel developed pseudoprogression. Conclusion: When comparing different response-assessment criteria in GB patients treated with dendritic cell-based immunotherapy, the best correlation between PFS and OS was observed for mRANO and Vol-mRANO. Interestingly, iRANO was not superior for predicting OS in patients treated with Audencel.