Gold nanorods have been implicated in several biomedical applications. Herein, the effect of two surface-modified gold nanorods on the early stages of embryogenesis and angiogenesis was investigated using avian embryos at three days and their chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) at five days of incubation. We found that gold nanorods (GNR) modified with PEGylated phospholipid moiety show a high mortality rate in embryos after four days of exposure compared to GNR modified with PEGylated cholesterol moiety. Meanwhile, our data revealed that surface modified-GNR significantly inhibit the formation of new blood vessels in the treated CAM model after 48 h of exposure. Moreover, we report that surface-modified GNR significantly deregulate the expression of several genes implicated in cell proliferation, invasion, apoptosis, cellular energy metabolism, and angiogenesis. On the other hand, our data point out that GNR treatments can modulate the expression patterns of JNK1/2/3, NF-KB/p38, and MAPK, which could be the main molecular pathways of the nanorods in our experimental models.

With an exclusive diet of hard-shelled mollusks, the black drum fish (Pogonias Cromis) exhibits one of the highest bite forces among extant animals. Here we present a systematic microstructural, chemical, crystallographic, and mechanical analysis of the black drum teeth to understand the structural basis for achieving the molluscivorous requirements. At the material level, the outermost enameloid shows higher modulus (Er = 126.9 ± 16.3 GPa, H = 5.0 ± 1.4 GPa) than other reported fish teeth, which is attributed to the stiffening effect of Zn and F doping in apatite crystals and the preferential co-alignment of crystallographic c-axes and enameloid rods along the biting direction. The high fracture toughness (Kc = 1.12 MPa•m1/2) near outer enameloid also promotes local yielding instead of fracture during crushing contact with mollusk shells. At the individual-tooth scale, the molar-like teeth, high density of dentin tubules, enlarged pulp chamber, and specialized dentin-bone connection, all contribute to the functional requirements, including confinement of contact compressive stress in the stiff enameloid, enhanced energy absorption in the compliant dentin, and controlled failure of tooth-bone composite under excessive loads. These results show that the multi-scale structures of black drum teeth are adapted to feed on mollusks. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: : The black drum fish feeds on hard-shelled mollusks, which requires strong, tough, and wear-resistant teeth. This study presents a comprehensive multiscale material and mechanical analysis of the black drum teeth in achieving such remarkable biological function. At microscale, the fluoride- and zinc-doped apatite crystallites in the outer enameloid region are aligned perpendicular to the occlusal surface, representing as one of the stiffest biomineralized materials found in nature, while these apatite crystals are arranged into intertwisted rods with crystallographic misorientation in the inner enameloid region for increased crack resistance and toughness. At macroscale, the molariform geometry, the two-layer design based on the outer enameloid and inner dentin, enlarged pulp chamber and the underlying strong bony toothplate work synergistically to contribute to the teeth's crushing resistance.

Aims: We studied the syntaxonomic position, biodiversity, ecological features, nature conservation value and current status of dry grasslands investigated by Josias Braun-Blanquet more than 60 years ago. Study area: Inner-alpine valleys of Austria. Methods: We sampled 67 plots of 10 m2, following the standardized EDGG methodology. We subjected our plots to an unsupervised classification with the modified TWINSPAN algorithm and interpreted the branches of the dendrogram syntaxonomically. Biodiversity, structural and ecological characteristics of the resulting vegetation units at association and order level were compared by ANOVAs. Results: All the examined grasslands belong to the class Festuco-Brometea. From ten distinguished clusters, we could assign four clusters to validly published associations, while the remaining six clusters were named tentatively. We classified them into three orders: Stipo-Festucetalia pallentis (Armerio elongatae-Potentilletum arenariae, Phleo phleoidis-Pulsatilletum nigricantis, Medicago minima-Melica ciliata community, Koelerio pyramidatae-Teucrietum montani), Festucetalia valesiacae (Sempervivum tectorum-Festuca valesiaca community); Brachypodietalia pinnati (Astragalo onobrychidis-Brometum erecti, Agrostis capillaris-Avenula adsurgens community, Anthericum ramosum-Brachypodium pinnatum community, Ranunculus bulbosus-Festuca rubra community, Carduus defloratus-Brachypodium pinnatum community). Conclusions: The ten distinguished dry grassland communities of the Austrian inner-alpine valleys differ in their ecological affinities as well as their vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen diversity. We point out their high nature conservation importance, as each of them presents a unique habitat of high value. Taxonomic reference: Names of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens follow Fischer et al. (2008), Frahm and Frey (2004) and Nimis et al. (2018), respectively. Syntaxonomic reference: Names of orders and classes follow Mucina et al. (2016), references for associations and alliances are given in the text. Abbreviations: ANOVA = analysis of variance; DCA: detrended correspondence analyses; EDGG: Eurasian Dry Grassland Group; EIV: ecological indicator value; FL: Fließ; GR: Griffen; GU: Gulsen; KA: Kaunerberg; LA: Laudegg castle in Ladis; MA: Marin; NM: Neumarkt in der Steiermark; OM: Obermauern; PÖ: Pöls; PU: Puxer Loch; TWINSPAN = Two-way indicator species analysis; ZS: Zinizachspitze.

Architectural design decisions, such as service deployment and composition, plant layout synthesis, or production planning, are an indispensable and overarching part of an industrial manufacturing system design. In the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), frequent production changes trigger their synthesis, and preferably optimization. Yet, knowledge on architecture synthesis and optimization has been scattered around other domains, such as generic software engineering. We take a step towards synthesizing current knowledge on architectural design decisions in Industry 4.0. We developed a taxonomy describing architectural models, design decisions, and optimization possibilities. The developed taxonomy serves as a guideline for comparing different possibilities (e.g., application of different optimization algorithms) and selecting appropriate ones for a given context. Furthermore, we reviewed and mapped 30 relevant research works to the taxonomy, identifying research trends and gaps. We discuss interesting, and yet uncovered topics that emerged from our review.

– The aims of this paper were to describe seasonal changes in the qualitative and quantitative composition of diatom taxa and the potential application of benthic diatoms for ecological status evaluation. Diatom indices (IPS and TI) were calculated from data from three different locations along a longitudinal profile of the Bunica, a small karstic river in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A total of 147 taxa were recorded in 12 samples. The most common taxa were Meridion circulare (Greville) C.Agardh and Ulnaria ulna (Nitzsch) Compère. Physical and chemical analyses showed low concentrations of nutrients, good oxygenation, typical pH for carbonate bed/origin and generally oligotrophic conditions and high ecological status. All sites had similar physico-chemical conditions and there were only few seasonal differences. Ordination of the diatom data showed that samples showed neither longitudinal nor seasonal patterns. Median value for IPS (16.8) and for TI (7.3) can be possible ‘‘expected’’ values for ecological status assessment for small karstic rivers in the Mediterranean region. We propose the use of the phytobenthos Intercalibration Common Metric (pICM - an index that combines the IPS and TI) as a national metric for countries developing WFD diatom methods at a late stage. One situation is described, and a solution, which is potentially transferable to other locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and also to other countries facing similar challenges.

Many wild animal populations are considered endangered due to anthropogenic activities. Wildlife and nature habitat preservation requires holistic and science based approaches supported by adequate regulations. One of the means for wildlife preservation is undoubtedly heath monitoring and investigation of infectious diseases of the wild animal populations, particularly if spillover effects are considered. Even though the theoretical background is well researched, implementation of disease prevention and control measures in wildlife populations entails more challenges than in domestic animal populations. Immediate signs of health disorders in wildlife often become evident when the infectious agent is well established in an area. Additionally, due to unrestricted and often long-range movement of wildlife, diseases are easily spread across borders. Brown bears, indigenous in Europe, are classified by EU regulations as endangered, almost extinct and rare. The wild bear population in Bosnia and Herzegovina shares a genetic lineage with bear populations of neighbouring Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro and is one of the few remaining fragments of bear populations in Europe. The aim of this paper is to describe implemented activities for health and telemetric monitoring of wild bears in the Nature Park Skakavac, Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The International Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), from the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, promoted One Health in global and national responses. The OIE accentuated the role of the veterinary profession due to testing capacity of animal health laboratories and expertise. Veterinary Faculty Sarajevo through its Veterinary Institute participates in the national veterinary service with diagnostic and advisory roles. It has proactively enhanced the scope and quality of laboratories, including strengthening the interdisciplinarity and internationality. Development achieved through earlier pandemic threats resulted in having laboratory and technical facilities for molecular SARS-CoV-2 detection in the wake of the unveiling COVID-19 pandemic (early 2020). From confirmation of the first COVID-19 cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), our staff participated in crisis response teams and, so far, held over sixty media addresses promoting public awareness and science based information. Our laboratories were included in the official detection system and were the first to sequence SARS-CoV-2, then to establish the Alpha COVID-19 variant in BiH human samples and to substantiate one-way virus transmission from humans to pets. The aim of this paper is to describe our activities as a participant in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside faced challenges and gained experiences.

Simple Summary CD8+ T cells are prominent decidual cells in the third trimester of healthy human pregnancy. They have a cytotoxic capacity which may control invasion of extravillous trophoblast and therefore affect placentation and play the role in development of preeclampsia. In this study, we examined the expression of CD8+ T cells in decidual tissue and peripheral blood of women with severe and mild preeclampsia in comparison to gestational age-matched healthy pregnancies. Additionally, the expression of cytotoxic proteins in CD8+ T cells was examined in order to specify their subpopulations. Abstract In our study, we aimed to establish expression of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in the decidua basalis and the maternal peripheral blood (mPBL) of severe and mild preeclampsia (PE) and compare to healthy pregnancies. Decidual tissue and mPBL of 10 women with mild PE, 10 women with severe PE, and 20 age-matched healthy pregnancy controls were analyzed by double immunofluorescence and qPCR, respectively. By double immunofluorescence staining, we found a decreased total number of cells/mm2 in decidua basalis of granulysin (GNLY)+ (p ˂ 0.0001), granzyme B (GzB)+(p ˂ 0.0001), GzB+CD8+(p ˂ 0.0001), perforin (PRF1)+ (p ˂ 0.0001), and PRF1+CD8+ (p ˂ 0.01) in the severe PE compared to control group. Additionally, we noticed the trend of lower mRNA expression for GNLY, granzyme A (GZMA), GzB, and PRF1 in CD8+ T cells of mPBL in mild and severe PE, with the latter marker statistically decreased in severe PE (p ˂ 0.001). Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) mRNA in CD8+ T cells mPBL was increased in mild PE (p ˂ 0.001) compared to controls. In conclusion, severe PE is characterized by altered expression of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in decidua and mPBL, suggesting their role in pathophysiology of PE and fetal-maternal immune tolerance.

A few days ago authors of the papers deposited on the ResearchGate platform informed us by a letter from the ResearchGate team titled: "A note on recent content takedowns" where has been noticed that ResearchGate recently received demands from two publishers: Elsevier and the American Chemical Society (ACS) "to remove certain content that they alleged infringed their copyrights" (1). The main statement of the ResearchGate (RG) is: "These types of requests are not new: we have received many similar requests from them in the past, and, in accordance with applicable law, have complied with them. But these most recent requests were notable because of the number of articles involved. Although privately stored files were not affected, the demands by Elsevier and ACS resulted in the removal of around 200,000 public files. In the context of a community of over 20 million researchers, this is unfortunate, rather than existential, but it has sparked an acute reaction from many of our members who believe in the importance of open science" (1). Further RG explains: "Some of you have commented on the serious nature of our communications with you regarding the removal of content. We appreciate that the tone of our messaging was rather direct. International laws require that we implement a policy regarding repeat takedown requests from publishers, and we felt duty-bound to communicate these policies to you in no uncertain terms. This is done for the protection of users and the benefit of the ResearchGate community" (1). Concerning the future work (perspectives) RG stated: "Finally, we are mindful of recent changes in European copyright law in some countries, particularly relating to Article 17 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (2). While we believe we are not subject to such laws due to the nature of our business, we decided to nonetheless take advantage of advancements in technology which we believe will be beneficial for researchers. In particular, we have started implementing a new system called "Jarvis" which matches publisher rights information with user content at the time of upload. Where a publisher has provided the required information, Jarvis can prevent a researcher from unintentionally uploading content that is not allowed to be public. As always, it remains the responsibility of researchers to know and confirm their rights before uploading any content" (1). The final message of the RG team sent to its users’ is: "The future of academic publishing is open. Let’s work together to unlock its true potential" (1). According to this letter and content of the message from the RG team, as an experienced former and current Editor of a few indexed journals and prolific contributor and author of a lot of papers, especially in the Science Editing field and Scientometrics (3-9), let me expressed some views and comments regarding important facts and problems within Science Editing area and concerns of the scientific and academic community. Two extremely important problems in scientific publishing represent plagiarism and predation. More and more authors of articles in this scientific field, in the absence of other opportunities to engage in science, in this period of the Corona pandemic crisis imposed as a devastating consequence, began to deal with these topics, write about plagiarism and predation, conduct meta-analyze, and recommend what and how authors, especially who are not EDITORIAL

Background: The peculiar reigning and private life of Maria Theresa in the tumultuous time of continuous wars in the then Europe was interwoven with her predominant maternal/obstetric history, as presented below. Objective: All the sixteen pregnancies of Empress Maria Theresa ended in spontaneous vaginal deliveries at term, with no information on pregnancies ended in spontaneous abortion or preterm delivery. Methods: Medicohystorical review of the obstetrical anamnesis of Empress Maria Theresia. Results: There were fifteen live births, whereas one female baby was born without signs of life. Cephalic presentation was recorded in fourteen and breech presentation in two deliveries, one of the latter with lethal fetal outcome. Thirteen deliveries were free from complications, whereas three deliveries, i.e. second, tenth and sixteenth, were very difficult, associated with obstetric complications including one manual lysis of the placenta with postpartum bleeding and two difficult deliveries with breech presentation. Maria Theresa had all her deliveries accomplished with assistance of the Court midwife (Hofhebamme), whereas the Court physician performed manual lysis of the placenta. Following delivery, the Habsburg-Lorraine archduke or archduchess was baptized by papal nuncio, but two children were baptized by the midwife in life-threatening conditions Conclusion: Considering her policy of renewing her multiethnic empire and its population that suffered great losses at various battlefields, Maria Theresa was a true representative and record-holder in perinatal contribution among the then courts worldwide.