Background: Restrictive measures implemented by governments around the world to control the coronavirus have an impact on communication, especially the communication of the elderly. Objective: The aim for the article is to determine the attitudes of the elderly towards the ways of communication during the COVID 19 pandemic, and to present the challenges faced by the elderly when using digital ways of communication. The goal is also to point out the importance of providing adequate social support to the elderly. Methods: The sample consisted of 71 respondents from Bosnia and Herzegovina, aged over 60 years, divided into two groups. The questionnaire was used to gather information from respondents on their demographic characteristics as well as to examine participants’ attitudes and confidence regarding the manner and risk of communication associated with COVID-19. Results and Discussion: The results of this research showed that the elderly are actively using digital technologies, but that they are largely dissatisfied with their skills in using digital technologies. Most of the information during the COVID 19 pandemic is given to elderly people via television and telephone (video) conversations with family members and friends. 57.7% of the elderly stated that they greatly lacked direct communication, and it turned out that people living in elderly homes were in a slightly more favorable position. As many as 4/5 of the respondents reported feelings of anxiety, fear, loneliness, and depression. Conclusion: The older part of the population (those over 60 years old), especially in developing countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, is facing the challenge of “digitization of communication“. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the elderly are “calling“ for special support and the provision of training and access to technological resources in order to reduce negative psychological consequences and go one step further in creating an “elder-friendly” society.

INTRODUCTION Anatomical variations in the innervation of intrinsic hand muscle are well known as Martin - Gruber anastomosis (MGA) that spread from the median to the ulnar nerves in the forearm. Although anatomical studies have shown that a crossover of sensory fibers is not rare in forearm MGA, it has been electrophysiologically described only in rare subjects. We hypothesized that the sensory fibers are not rare in MGA, and often follow the motor fibers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The study included 59 of subjects with a total of 111 arms, with electrodiagnostically confirmed the presence of MGA on the forearm for motor fibers. In order to demonstrate the presence of sensory fibers in MGA, we stimulated the median nerve at the elbow and recorded the antidromic sensory potential from ulnar innervated digit (5th finger). RESULTS Sensory MGA were present in 42 out of 111 arms (37.8%) with CI 95. There were 54 left hands with motor MGA, of which 18 (33.3%) had sensory fibers MGA, and 57 right hands with motor MGA, and 24 (42.1%) of which had sensory MGA. CONCLUSION This electrophysiologically study demonstrated the high incidence of sensory fibers in MGA anastomosis. Presence of sensory fibers as a possible anatomical variation should be taken into consideration during electroneurography analysis, diagnosis and surgical therapy.

Rehabilitation must be based on the individual needs and specific goals of the person and must be adapted to his abilities. According to the recommendation of the World Stroke Organization, the team involved in conducting rehabilitation should be multidisciplinary. One of the treatments that are applied within the multidisciplinary approach to a neurological patient is educational-rehabilitation treatment, which is multi-component in nature. Before starting educational-rehabilitation treatment, an educational-rehabilitation clinical assessment is necessary, which aims to detect difficulties caused by impairment; identify potentials and constraints in these areas; determine the specifics, course, and forecasts of difficulties; formulate clear treatment recommendations; form a watch list that will be available to all team members in the process of diagnosis, treatment, education, and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment; and continuously monitor the ability and adaptive behavior of the person. Educational-rehabilitation clinical treatment includes treatment of cognitive abilities, treatment of motor skills, relaxation, treatment of adaptive skills, as well as informing the person about the disease and counseling. This review focuses on some aspects of rehabilitation such as treatment of cognitive and motor disorders, treatment of adaptive skills, relaxation issues, and informing and counseling patients from the perspective of an educational rehabilitator with practical experiences in this area of rehabilitation.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is primarily a disease of the respiratory system but severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may cause several immune-related complications including different neurological disorders, such as myelopathy with paraparesis.In this atypical case a female patient with progressive spastic paraparesis after COVID-19 infection, brisk reflexes and positive Babinski sign, reduced vibratory sensation to the thoracic level, elevated immunoglobulin levels (IgG) in cerebrospinal fluid, but negative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and spine, is presented. A 57-year-old woman with spastic paraparesis and inability to walk was admitted to our neurological department. About four months before hospitalization, she started feeling numbness and tingling in the feet and lumbar spine area. Gradually, numbness and tingling ascended to the thoracic spine level Th7/8, and she developed weakness mostly in her legs. In the neurological exam she had spastic paraparesis. MRI of the brain, cervical and thoracic spine did not reveal any signal abnormality. Serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 was performed and results were highly positive IgG and IgM+IgA levels. The lumbar puncture finding confirmed the suspicion of immune-related complications after SARS-CoV-2 infection (intrathecal IgG synthesis). This case draws attention to spastic paraparesis or progressive MRI-negative myelitis after SARS-CoV-2 infection, which obviously has immune-mediated pathogenesis that happen in response to the virus or its antibodies. Similarities in spastic paraparesis after human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV-1) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) and SARS-CoV-2 infections were observed. The patient had a good response to corticosteroid therapy and had good recovery.

Background: Neurogenic stuttering is a subtype of acquired stuttering, and it is characterized by disfluencies associated with acquired brain damage. Objective: To provide an insight into pathophysiology, symptomatology, differential diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of neurogenic stuttering through a critical review of the literature. Methods: Studies published during the past and recent years were searched and analyzed on neurogenic stuttering. Results: Neurogenic stuttering is a complex disorder. The pathophysiological mechanism of neurogenic stuttering is not yet fully understood. It appears with several neurological diseases and conditions, and the use of some drugs. Differential diagnosis of neurogenic and psychogenic stuttering is a challenge for clinicians. Treatment usually requires a joint effort from speech therapists and doctors, most often neurologists Conclusion: Although research on neurogenic stuttering can be found in the literature, the complexity of this disorder still requires detailed monitoring and studying to provide the best treatment for patients.

The review outlines the importance of understanding speech and language difficulties that occur among the first symptoms of frontotemporal dementia, as well as the role of speech therapists in the management of people with frontotemporal dementia. Frontotemporal dementia is one of the most common types of dementia in adults under the age of 65. The main variations of frontotemporal dementia are behavioral, progressive nonfluent aphasia, semantic dementia, and logopenic progressive aphasia. Speech and language difficulties are often among the first indicative signs of frontotemporal dementia, and their proper recognition and understanding play a significant role in the differential diagnosis. Speech and language therapists have to be involved both in the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and its treatment to provide the highest quality services to people with dementia and their carers.

It is very well known that science is world activity and that there is no good and bad work in the field of scientific research. Nowadays scientific productivity of the individuals, learned societies on regional or state level are measurable parameters. In most of the systems it does include the number of original scientifi papers, quality of journals measured by impact factor and scientific citation index (1-4). There are also additional measurable parameters but for the purpose of this meeting we will avoid discussion about them. New field of scientometrics using the help of impartial and ruthless machines (computers) do help very significantly in evaluation of scientific productivity anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, there are many misused conclusions and interpretation on the data offered by computers. It is clear that some vital important changes are urgently needed. Today’s conference should use rare opportunity having together experts in the field to discuss the problems visible now. This author intends to discuss facts and doubts in writing review articles and chapters in the book (5). Some important flexibility in citation, in particular self citation, should be analyzed. An illustrative examples from author’s own experience will be shown and discussed at the meeting.