Abstract Objective: We assessed the ability of the Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS) to predict mortality in the US population and compared its predictiveness with that of the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015). Design: PDQS and HEI-2015 scores were derived using two 24-h recalls and converted to quintiles. Mortality data were obtained from the 2015 Public-Use Linked Mortality File. Associations between diet quality and all-cause mortality were evaluated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, and predictive performance of the two metrics was compared using a Wald test of equality of coefficients with both scores in a single model. Finally, we evaluated associations between individual metric components and mortality. Setting: A prospective analysis of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data. Participants: Five-thousand five hundred and twenty-five participants from three survey cycles (2003–2008) in the NHANES aged 40 years and over. Results: Over the 51 248 person-years of follow-up (mean: 9·2 years), 767 deaths were recorded. In multivariable models, hazard ratios between the highest and lowest quintiles of diet quality scores were 0·70 (95 % CI 0·51, 0·96, Ptrend = 0·03) for the PDQS and 0·77 (95 % CI 0·57, 1·03, Ptrend = 0·20) for the HEI-2015. The PDQS and HEI-2015 were similarly good predictors of total mortality (Pdifference = 0·88). Conclusion: Among US adults, better diet quality measured by the PDQS was associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality. Given that the PDQS is simpler to calculate than the HEI-2015, it should be evaluated further for use as a diet quality metric globally.

Summary Background/Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Lactobacillus reuteri lozenges as an adjunctive therapeutic agent in combination with scaling and root planing in a randomized, clinical trial of volunteers with periodontitis stage IV. Material and Methods: The study included 40 patients diagnosed with periodontitis divided into 2 groups of 20 patients by random sample method. The first group of patients used Lactobacillus reuteri lozenges after nonsurgical periodontal therapy for a period of 40 days while the second group of patients was treated with non-surgical periodontal therapy without lozenges. Periodontal clinical parameters were registered for all patients before treatment and after 40 days. Samples of saliva from patients before and 40 days after treatment were analyzed by the PCR method for pathogens Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Prevotella intermedia. Assessments were made on day 0 before treatment for patients of both groups and after 40 days. Results: Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis show a statistically significant difference between the two study groups. Results were not statistically significant for Prevotella intermedia (P= 0.5598). Conclusions: The present study confirms the positive effects of L. reuteri lozenges after non-surgical periodontal therapy and the maintenance phase of periodontal treatment. Considering the beneficial effects of probiotics, L.reuteri could serve as a useful adjunct or maybe even as an alternative to periodontal treatment when scaling and root planing might be contraindicated or has to be postponed.

The study qualitatively explores the pandemic and Sarajevo War-Siege from the psychological, sociological, and political security perspectives. As a direct indicator of behavioral variability within extreme conditions, the author refers to structural interviews with war-siege participants. The citizens can recognize the 1990s in some manifestations of the pandemic, including crisis staff formation that reflects ethnopolitics (ethnic-political boundaries) rather than instills public confidence. Life in the conditions of radical changes leaves a trace that does not have to be exclusively emotional but cognitive. The state of war-siege meant deconstructing the pre-war way of life and new ways of coping with war conditions. Maintaining routines is a link to pre-war life; continuity of norms and values allows for mental stability maintenance. During the siege, people had an acute perception of space and time. Space was something where the danger came from and the time spent in that space needed to be reduced. We have similar functions during the pandemic, reflecting on people's thoughts. Those who have adequately gone through the trauma that lasted during the siege have adapted well to "extreme" conditions and can develop protective mechanisms. Human thought focuses on the repetitive and familiar in today's world, while some extreme event interprets as the exception; such exceptional events are crucial in creating the future. Regardless of the political system's axis, confidence in the political elites must be sufficient. Prevention of fear and panic in the war's geographical area should be based on quality peacetime preparation through education and psychological commitment.

Nitrate is one of the focal water quality indices in aquatic systems. However, proper estimation of nitrate concentration is a complicated task. In this article, capabilities of deep neural networks (DNN) and conventional artificial neural networks (ANN) to model and predict nitrate concentration in the Klokot River, Bosnia and Herzegovina were investigated. The measured data includes nitrate and pH values. Different scenarios were considered as the potential models for DNN and ANN structuring. The result showed DNN and ANN networks are incapable of precisely modeling the nitrate concentration in the Klokot River based on the designed scenarios. In addition, DNN was slightly superior to ANN in different terms of estimation accuracy.

PurposeLiterature suggests that open innovation approach of large firms shows different characteristics with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so this paper tends to shed light on these structural differences. With the aim to gain a deeper understanding of the adoption of inbound innovation practices among firms in one small transition economy, this study is focused on the question of how different dimensions of inbound innovation practices affect the innovative performances of SMEs and large firms and how, eventually, these practices should be framed and managed differently.Design/methodology/approachThis paper develops a research model which analyses inbound innovation practices on a data set of 227 SMEs and large firms operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The data were collected by using a questionnaire specifically designed for this research. Association between the level of innovation of products in firms and inbound practices, between exploit and explore strategies, between types of industry and different types of collaborations with partners outside the firm is assessed by canonical correlation.FindingsThe research results revealed that inbound innovation practices of manufacturing firms in different stages of innovation development process starting from idea generation, experimentation, up to the commercialization, have positive influence on their innovative performances.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing research on open innovation by providing empirical evidences for different dimensions of inbound innovation practices in SMEs and large firms. We offer a very important insight into open innovation practices and challenges beyond well-researched developed countries.

The human microbiome has emerged as a central research topic in human biology and biomedicine. Current microbiome studies generate high-throughput omics data across different body sites, populations, and life stages. Many of the challenges in microbiome research are similar to other high-throughput studies, the quantitative analyses need to address the heterogeneity of data, specific statistical properties, and the remarkable variation in microbiome composition across individuals and body sites. This has led to a broad spectrum of statistical and machine learning challenges that range from study design, data processing, and standardization to analysis, modeling, cross-study comparison, prediction, data science ecosystems, and reproducible reporting. Nevertheless, although many statistics and machine learning approaches and tools have been developed, new techniques are needed to deal with emerging applications and the vast heterogeneity of microbiome data. We review and discuss emerging applications of statistical and machine learning techniques in human microbiome studies and introduce the COST Action CA18131 “ML4Microbiome” that brings together microbiome researchers and machine learning experts to address current challenges such as standardization of analysis pipelines for reproducibility of data analysis results, benchmarking, improvement, or development of existing and new tools and ontologies.

BACKGROUND Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that is triggered by a terrifying event either experiencing it or witnessing it. Although the pathogenesis is still unknown, some researches indicate inflammatory background and liver dysfunction as a part of the disease. We wanted to determine inflammatory markers' levels and investigate the correlation with liver enzymes in PTSD patients. METHODS This cross-sectional study included 60 male subjects aged between 40 - 60 years. Subjects were divided into two groups: a group of veterans with combat exposure and PTSD according to DSM-IV criteria and a control group of healthy subjects without combat exposure. WBC count, leucocytes ratios, levels of inflammatory markers (C reactive protein- CRP, fibrinogen, and erythrocyte sedimentation rateESR), and liver enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase- AST, alanine aminotransferase- ALT, creatine kinase- CK, and gamma-glutamyl transferase- GGT) were determined in all respondents. RESULTS The concentrations of CRP, fibrinogen, ESR, platelet-lymphocyte ratio and monocytelymphocyte ratio in subjects with PTSD were statistically significantly higher than those in the control group. Levels of AST and GGT in PTSD subjects were statistically significantly higher than of those in the control group subjects. Statistically significant positive correlation was found between serum AST and CRP concentration (Rho = 0.416; P = 0.022), as well as GGT and CRP concentration (Rho = 0.395; P = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS Results indicate the relationship between liver pathology and inflammation in the complex pathogenesis of PTSD. These can be used in future researches and development of a new diagnostic approach and treatment that may lead to a longer lifespan of PTSD patients. KEY WORDS PTSD, Inflammation, Liver Enzymes

The exposure of the body to stress, regardless of whether it comes from physical, chemical or emotional stimuli from the environment, causes an inadequate adaptation of the organisms which can contribute to the development of various diseases. Abnormally high blood concentrations of cortisol, known as stress hormone, lead to the development of a hormonal disorder called hyperadrenocorticism or Cushing’s syndrome. In the majority of cases, Cushing’s syndrome is diagnosed when symptoms are apparent, and screening endocrinological test confirms the existence either of increased cortisol production or decreased sensitivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to negative glucocorticoid feedback. In our research, we examined a total of 23 male and 7 female dogs that were suspected to have Cushing’s syndrome, based on history and clinical signs. A total of 15 male and 5 female dogs were positive for Cushing’s syndrome (HAC group), whereas the remaining dogs were used to form non-HAC group. Using the apparatus IDEXX “Vet Test 8008”, the following biochemical parameters were determined: glucose, urea, creatinine, phosphorus, calcium, total protein, albumin, globulin, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, cholesterol, and amylase. Regarding haematological parameters, the following parameters were investigated: erythrocytes, leukocytes, platelets, erythrocyte indices (MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW), white blood cell count, haemoglobin and haematocrit, using “Laser cite vet lab Station” (IDEXX). No significant differences in haematological and biochemical blood parameters were noticed between the HAC and the non-HAC group of dogs. However, dogs suffering from Cushing’s syndrome had a higher value in the number of erythrocytes compared to the control group. The finding that has to be payed attention to is the difference in platelet count between the control group of dogs and dogs suffering from Cushing’s syndrome.

In view of the urgency and multiple targets for biodiversity conservation, and the scarcity of financial resources and political will, it is important to reach a consensus on which actions should be given priority. Multicriteria techniques can contribute to the improvement of the conservation prioritization process and different initiatives and approaches could benefit from their use. Here we present an exercise in prioritizing and seeking consensus using a multicriteria technique to rank the objectives proposed by three national action plans in Brazil. This ranking allowed: 1) to compare whether the order of appearance of the actions in these plans are in fact considered to be priorities by the public that drafted these documents; 2) to identify idiosyncrasies between what an official public policy document says and what the people responsible for execution think of these actions; and 3) to identify priority actions common to more than one plan – which can optimize the biodiversity conservation process. We identified a lack of congruence between the order of objectives identified in the action plans and the ranking of priorities made by the specialists who prepared these same plans. A set of common objectives was identified as a priority among different Plans. However, these common objectives were not always a priority in their respective Action Plans. We warn that the lack of congruence observed can compromise the execution of some of the general objectives, humpering or even preventing the conservation of the target species of these documents.

The Bosnian and Herzegovinian market lacks data about the percentage of genetically modified soy products placed on the domestic market. There has been research on the issue of the presence of GMO products in our domestic market, but neither of the results is used as a reference for this occurrence. Therefore, this research topic tends to contribute to this issue, by examining genetically modified soy in processed food. The sample of seven products containing soya is examined by the methods of DNA isolation and real-time PCR for CP4 EPSPS. The results showed positive results for the presence of CP4 gene in certain products without an appropriate label. This mislabeling was confirmed since a couple of samples were labeled as GMO-free but contained CP4 gene, indicating GMO product.

Background Although men are more prone to developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) than women, risk factors for CVD, such as nicotine abuse and diabetes mellitus, have been shown to be more detrimental in women than in men. Objective We developed a method to systematically investigate population-wide electronic health records for all possible associations between risk factors for CVD and other diagnoses. The developed structured approach allows an exploratory and comprehensive screening of all possible comorbidities of CVD, which are more connected to CVD in either men or women. Methods Based on a population-wide medical claims dataset comprising 44 million records of inpatient stays in Austria from 2003 to 2014, we determined comorbidities of acute myocardial infarction (AMI; International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision [ICD-10] code I21) and chronic ischemic heart disease (CHD; ICD-10 code I25) with a significantly different prevalence in men and women. We introduced a measure of sex difference as a measure of differences in logarithmic odds ratios (ORs) between male and female patients in units of pooled standard errors. Results Except for lipid metabolism disorders (OR for females [ORf]=6.68, 95% confidence interval [CI]=6.57-6.79, OR for males [ORm]=8.31, 95% CI=8.21-8.41), all identified comorbidities were more likely to be associated with AMI and CHD in females than in males: nicotine dependence (ORf=6.16, 95% CI=5.96-6.36, ORm=4.43, 95% CI=4.35-4.5), diabetes mellitus (ORf=3.52, 95% CI=3.45-3.59, ORm=3.13, 95% CI=3.07-3.19), obesity (ORf=3.64, 95% CI=3.56-3.72, ORm=3.33, 95% CI=3.27-3.39), renal disorders (ORf=4.27, 95% CI=4.11-4.44, ORm=3.74, 95% CI=3.67-3.81), asthma (ORf=2.09, 95% CI=1.96-2.23, ORm=1.59, 95% CI=1.5-1.68), and COPD (ORf=2.09, 95% CI 1.96-2.23, ORm=1.59, 95% CI 1.5-1.68). Similar results could be observed for AMI. Conclusions Although AMI and CHD are more prevalent in men, women appear to be more affected by certain comorbidities of AMI and CHD in their risk for developing CVD.