BACKGROUND Hemangioblastomas are well vascularized, benign CNS tumors and the third most common primary spinal cord tumor after astrocytoma/ependymoma, occurring sporadically or as a part of an autosomal dominant von Hippel-Lindau disease in which tumors are often multiple and prone to relapse. Spinal hemangioblastomas are commonly located in the cervical cord and associated with a syrinx formation. Due to location and growth trends, they may cause significant neurological deficit, impairing patient quality of life. We conducted a systematic review to understand better clinical insights of spinal hemangioblastoma in adults and compare spinal hemangioblastoma versus posterior cranial fossa hemangioblastoma. METHODS Followed PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews, we performed a review of the English literature on adult spinal hemangioblastoma in the MEDLINE/PubMed database over the last 40 years. RESULTS We reviewed 237 total scientific articles on adult spinal hemangioblastoma and analyzed national and continental distribution, clinical symptomatology, tumor location and presence of syringomyelia, treatment strategies and postoperative complications, histology and immunochemistry, as well as treatment outcomes. We also compared individual characteristics in both sporadic and von Hippel-Lindau Disease spinal hemangioblastomas. Finally, we compared features of posterior cranial fossa and spinal hemangioblastomas. CONCLUSION Spinal cord hemangioblastomas are most commonly located dorsally and intramedullary. Total surgical tumor resection is the first treatment option, while preoperative embolization may be performed to reduce intraoperative bleeding and surgical time. Hemangioblastomas located in the spine have decreased mortality and rate of infection, but increased rates of cardiopulmonary complications compared with those found in the posterior cranial fossa.

We investigated the role of the gold nanoparticles functionalized with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP–AuNPs) on the innate immune response against an acute infection caused by Vibrio anguillarum in an in vitro immunological nonmammalian next-generation model, the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. To profile the immunomodulatory function of PVP–AuNPs (0.1 μg mL−1) in sea urchin immune cells stimulated by Vibrio (10 μg mL−1) for 3 h, we focused on the baseline immunological state of the donor, and we analysed the topography, cellular metabolism, and expression of human cell surface antigens of the exposed cells, as well as the signalling leading the interaction between PVP–AuNPs and the Vibrio-stimulated cells. PVP–AuNPs are not able to silence the inflammatory signalling (TLR4/p38MAPK/NF-κB signalling) that involves the whole population of P. lividus immune cells exposed to Vibrio. However, our findings emphasise the ability of PVP–AuNPs to stimulate a subset of rare cells (defined here as Group 3) that express CD45 and CD14 antigens on their surface, which are known to be involved in immune cell maturation and macrophage activation in humans. Our evidence on how PVP–AuNPs may stimulate sea urchin immune cells represents an important starting point for planning new research work on the topic.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Abstract Age estimation is a key component in forensic analysis, be it in legal proceedings or archeological research. Current methods in forensic odontology are based on manual measurements of a wide array of morphometric parameters, typically from dental x-ray images, and occasionally from material remains. While those parameters follow a set progression during human development, thereby allowing current methods to precisely estimate the age of juveniles, estimation for adults and seniors proves to be more difficult. In this study, we explore the applicability of deep learning to the problem of chronological age estimation. We determine the best convolutional neural network model derived from state-of-the-art architectures, we determine the best performing model parameters using pretrained general-purpose vision model parameters as the starting point, and we perform ablation experiments to highlight which anatomical regions of the dental system contribute the most to the estimation. The proposed approach attains the lowest estimation error in literature for adult and senior subjects, which we verify on one of the largest datasets of panoramic dental x-ray images in literature. The dataset consists of 4035 panoramic dental x-ray images of male and female subjects with ages between 19 and 90 years. This study also evaluates the feasibility of the proposed model for age estimations of individual teeth, achieving an estimation error competitive with current methods while being fully automated. The estimation error is verified on our dataset of 76416 individual tooth images, which is the largest dataset to date in forensic odontology literature. Unlike current methods, dental alterations, decay, illnesses, or missing teeth do not pose a problem to the proposed model. With a median estimation error of 2.95 years for panoramic dental x-ray images and 4.68 years for individual teeth, and by deriving the model from state-of-the-art architectures, verifying those results on the largest dataset in forensic odontology literature and demonstrating the importance of different anatomical regions of the dental system for estimation, this study sets the baseline for future research of automated chronological age estimation in forensic odontology.

Abstract Pneumonia is a leading cause of mortality in limited resource settings (LRS), which are common in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Accurate referrals can reduce the devastating impact of pneumonia, especially in LRS. Discriminating pneumonia from other respiratory conditions based only on symptoms is a major challenge. Machine learning has shown promise in overcoming the diagnostic difficulties of pneumonia (i.e., low specificity of symptoms, lack of accessible diagnostic tests and varied clinical presentation). Many scientific papers are now focusing on deep-learning methods applied to clinical images, which is unaffordable for initial patient referral in LMICs. The current study used a dataset of 4500 patients (1500 patients affected by bronchitis, 3000 by pneumonia) from a middle-income country, containing information on subject population characteristics, symptoms and laboratory test results. Manual feature selection was performed, focusing on clinical symptoms that are easily measurable in LRS and in community settings. Three common machine learning methods were tested and compared: logistic regression; decision tree and support vector machine. Models were developed through a holdout process of training-validation and testing. We focused on six clinically relevant, easily interpreted patient symptoms as best indicators for pneumonia. Our final model was a decision tree, achieving an AUC of 93%, with the advantage of being fully intelligible and easily interpreted. The performance achieved suggested that intelligible machine learning models can enhance symptom-based referral of pneumonia in LRS and in community settings.

Abstract This paper presents the study of deformations and Von-Misses stresses of the main shaft system during opening and closing operations of a rotary SF6 load break switch (LBS). The shaft consists of three axially connected parts made of steel where components are on ground potential and of plastic material, which is on high potential. The insulating shaft carries three rotating knife-blade contacts for the three phases. Static deformation of the insulating shaft is calculated by applying a defined torque between the two ends of the shaft. The results allow deducing the dynamic deformation. Maximum values of Von-Misses stresses are located at the geared connection between the plastic and the steel shaft. The rotation of the shaft system is measured synchronously by two optical rotary encoders in the front and rear sides of the LBS. The results confirm the twisting of the shaft system and provide its elastic deformation values. Travel curves obtained on both side of the LBS show different courses with respect to overtravel and rebound. Discrepancies can be explained by the deformation of the main shaft due to the acting forces, whereas manufacturing tolerances resulting in loose have a certain contribution.

Abstract The breaking capacity of a medium voltage (MV) rotary SF6 load break switch (LBS) can be improved by incorporating permanent magnets into the stationary contacts. The magnetic field is intended to blow the switching arc root towards a recessed space at the stationary contacts thereby preventing reignition of the arc after current zero. Making and breaking tests of load current 630 A were performed comparing the switching performance of load break switches equipped without a permanent magnet, with a ferrite and with a neodymium magnet. The impact of different polarity arrangements of the magnets in the three phases is also considered and analysed. In order to understand the arc behaviour caused by the effect of permanent magnet, arcing times and arc voltage were measured and evaluated. The results show that the arc voltage depends on the direction of the electromagnetic force, which is determined by the phase current direction but also by the polarity of the magnets. When the force is directed towards the recessed space at the stationary contacts, the arc voltage is notably higher than in the case where the arc is blown in the opposite direction. The higher arc voltage is a reliable indication that the length of the arc is increased, which significantly reduces the risk of both thermal and dielectric breakdowns after the first current zero. The consequences are noticed first in the reduction of the number of missed current zeroes and second in shorter minimum arcing times. An adverse arrangement of the magnet polarity in the three phases increases the number of missed current zeroes.

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.

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

Abstract Rationale: Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS), a rare autosomal dominant disorder, is characterized by mucocutaneous pigmentations, hamartomatous polyps in the gastrointestinal tract, and a high risk of developing various malignancies. To the best of our knowledge, only 1 case of appendiceal carcinoid associated with PJS has been previously reported in the pediatric population. Patient concerns: We report a 7-year-old girl who was admitted for severe, intermittent abdominal pain and cramps, nausea, and vomiting. Multiple brown melanotic macules on the lips, buccal mucosa, and the tongue were noted. Diagnosis: A plain abdominal X-ray in a standing position revealed dilated intestinal loops with multiple air-fluid levels. A computed tomography scan of the abdomen showing a “coffee bean” appearance of the jejunal loop with a transition point to the duodenal loop. Axial-contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan of the abdomen showing dilated jejunum loops, filled with fluid with the swirled appearance of mesentery typical for volvulus. The diagnosis of PJS was based on clinical findings along with the histopathologic confirmation of the hamartomatous polyps. Interventions: An emergency laparotomy was performed, revealing a jejunojejunal intussusception starting 40 cm from the duodenojejunal flexure. Jejunotomy revealed that a lead-point intussusception was a necrotic hamartomatous polyp. After resecting the involved jejunal necrotic segment, including the polyp, end-to-end jejuno-jejunal anastomosis was performed. Further exploration revealed the presence of a jejunal mass 80 cm from the duodenojejunal flexure identified as another hamartomatous pedunculated polyp. The polyp was resected, and the enterotomy was then closed transversely. The grossly normal appendix was also removed. Outcomes: Clinical findings along with the histopathologically confirmed hamartomatous polyps were consistent with PJS. An appendiceal carcinoid (well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor, European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society stage pT2) was incidentally detected during histological examination of the appendix. The patient and parents were counseled accordingly, focusing on active surveillance and control of symptoms. Two additional hamartomatous polyps (gastric and jejunal) were detected endoscopically and resected in the fourth postoperative week. A regular, 1-year follow-up and surveillance revealed no complications or recurrences. Lessons: Unusual neoplasms can occasionally be encountered in well-defined syndromes such as PJS. Therefore, active follow-up and surveillance are mandatory for all patients with PJS.