Introduction. Higher level of knowledge and frequent contacts with peers with disabilities can influence the emergence of more positive attitudes of students towards peers with disabilities. In regard to that, our aim was to test the importance of knowledge, contact frequency and other possible factors influencing attitudes of students toward disabled peers. Methods. The study included 140 students of 4th and 5th grade of primary schools. The research was conducted in the period from December 2020 to March 2021 in two primary schools. The Chedoke McMaster scale was used to examine students' attitudes toward peers with disabilities, while Contact with Disabled Persons Scale and the Children's Knowledge about Handicapped Persons Scale were used to assess frequency of contact and knowledge about disabilities. Results. Girls showed a significantly higher level (25.21±6.21) of frequency of contacts with students with disabilities compared to boys (19.66±7.30) (p=0.043) and higher level of knowledge (27.88±5.88) about disabilities compared to boys (25.50±4.69) (p=0.009). Respondents who attended school together with children with disabilities (31.07 ± 8.41) showed a significantly higher level of frequency of contacts with students with disabilities compared to respondents who did not attend school with peers with disabilities (13.72±6.32) (p=0.001). Conclusion. Higher level of knowledge and frequent contacts with peers with disabilities does not have influence on the emergence of more positive attitudes of students towards peers with disabilities.

Introduction. Inhalation of coal dust during blasting in brown coal mines has been shown to lead to a lung disease called pneumoconiosis. There is very little data in the literature on the direct impact of coal on the quality of life of people who work in coal mines as well as the body's immune response to the effects of coal dust. The aim was to examine the immune response to exposure to coal dust in miners in a brown coal mine and whether mine workers have poorer quality of life compared to those not exposed to coal dust. Methods. This is a cross-sectional study among 100 employees in the Brown Coal Mine in Ugljevik, of which 50 of them are exposed to coal dust on a daily basis. Blood samples were taken from all subjects to test for the presence of cytokines IL-2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 17A, 17F, 21, 22, IFN-g and TNF-a. The quality of life of employees was measured using a questionnaire for self-assessment of physical and mental health (36-item Short-Form Health Survey, SF-36). Results. Group of miners had a significantly (p<0.05) higher concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IFN-g, IL-17A and IL-22 when compared to the control group. Subjects from the control group had significantly (p<0.05) higher concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 when compared to the group of miners. The quality of life was significantly (p<0.05) better in the control group when compared to the group of miners. Conclusion. Physical functioning, general health, mental health and Physical component summary were significantly poorer in the group of miners. Exposition to coal dust led to a significant increase in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and a decrease in the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines.

Introduction. Tinnitus is a perception of a sound in the ears in the absence of acoustic stimulation whose pathophysiological mechanisms have not been evaluated yet. Approximately, 1-2% of people report distress which can negatively affect their daily performance. Our study aimed to assess the incidence of anxiety in patients with tinnitus. Methods. The study was designed as a cross-sectional study. The participants were divided into two groups: a group of 73 patients with tinnitus (with two subgroups in relation to the duration of tinnitus-less than one year and more than one year) and a control group of 43 patients without tinnitus. We examined the presence of anxiety in all patients using the Burns Anxiety Inventory (BAI). The quality of life of all patients was estimated by Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). Results. In the group of patients with tinnitus, 56.2% of them had mild and 24.7% moderate hearing loss, while 27.7% of respondents from control group had mild and 8.5% moderate levels of hearing impairment. THI results showed that patients with tinnitus less than 1 year had a significantly (p= 0.002) higher level of disorders in daily life, compared with the group who had tinnitus for more than 1 year. The 30.8% of respondents had minimal anxiety, 26.7% borderline anxiety, 17.5% mild anxiety, the same percentage of respondents moderate, 5% severe, while 2.5% had extreme anxiety based on BAI. Conclusion. Anxiety can be considered as potentially significant modulators of changes in brain structures observed in people with tinnitus.

Key account management (KAM) in theory is described as a strategic approach distinguishable from account management or key account selling that should be used to endure long-term development and retention of strategic customers. This article presents the importance of key account management orientation in today's business and how it affects the non-financial performance of companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, we will present the results of ongoing research that aims to identify the influence of key account management orientation on company non-financial performance in different industry sectors. Data were collected from several companies in different industries considering a company as a unit of analysis. Research instrument - questionnaire compromised scales that had been validated and found reliable in previous research. Item total reliability and confirmatory factor analysis will be used to test the reliability and validity of the constructs. Furthermore, the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique will be employed to analyze the effects of key account management orientation on a company's non-financial performance. It is to be expected that the results of the conducted research show a statistically significant impact of key account management orientation on a company's non-financial performance in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant different consequences for everyday life of every human being, as well as on the functioning of health, educational and scientific institutions. Objective: The aim of this article is to provide information on impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientific research in the biomedical sciences, and publications, as wll as impact on education in medcine and clinical training. Methods: Papers published of influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the main aim were searched and analyzed. Results: Many basic research labs quickly tuned their priorities and continud to study different aspects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19. Biomedical sciences have become an important area in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, due to the unique challenges posed by the pandemic, including epidemiological aspects, immune mechanisms of the disease, clinical parameters of this essentially multisystem disease, virus properties, infection mechanisms, and later work on finding vaccines and everything that is needed. There are several studies that point to the negative impact of the pandemic on biomedical education, especially in the acquisition of practical clinical skills among medical students. The negative impact, both on basic education in medicine, and also on the acquisition of practical knowledge within various clinical disciplines, especially surgery, unfortunately continues. The COVID-19 pandemic has mobilised researchers worldwide on a scale and timeframe that have never been seen before for one specific disease. The number of COVID-19 manuscripts being submitted for peer review has also greatly increased. Unfortunately, research and publications on COVID-19 has so far often not been of high quality and many unprinted preprints have been rushed to spread without sufficient oversight. The time between submission and publication of articles on COVID-19 has decreased on average by around 50%. This analysis also showed that the time to publication for research not related to COVID-19 has remained unaffected, and that the number of research articles unrelated to COVID-19 has dropped considerably, with COVID-19 predominating in receipt of funding and attention from the research community. Conclusion: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education and scientific research in biomedical sciences are negative. Almost all aspects of medical education were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The negative impact, both on basic education in medicine, and also on the acquisition of practical knowledge within various clinical disciplines, especially surgery, unfortunately continues. There has been no disease in the history of medicine about which several professional and scientific articles have been written in a relatively short time. Research and publications on COVID-19 has often not been of high quality. Research articles from many medical field unrelated to COVID-19 were less published. A pandemic with a "paperdemic" will be even more complicated to manage if it progresses in an uncontrolled manner and is not properly scrutinized.