Background/Aim: Clinical research nursing is a well-known concept in Europe and other countries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards clinical research and their opinions and self-evaluation about clinical research nursing and factors affecting them. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at the University Clinical Centre of the Republic of Srpska (UCCRS). A questionnaire included 50 questions/ statements was created in order to address the aims of the research and afterwards distributed to 120 nurses from 6 departments. Results: Response rate was 91.6 %. Most of the respondents showed a low level of knowledge, but positive attitude related to clinical research. Nurses who participated in clinical research were confident in their competencies according to their self-evaluation. Conclusion: Systematic approach to the additional nurses education could have a significant impact on a success of clinical research.

Background/Aim: In addition to well-established central effects, benzodiazepines, but also some other allosteric modulators of gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA) receptor exhibit significant vascular effects. However, there are currently no elucidated mechanisms for manifested vasodilatory properties and very little is known about GABA gamma-amino-butyric acid function and GABAA receptor expression within peripheral blood vessels. Methods: In the present study, we demonstrated the vasorelaxant properties of diazepam, GABA and novel imidazobenzodiazepine amide ligands GL-II-73 and GLII-74, which are characterized as positive allosteric modulators of α5containing GABAA receptor. Using isometric organ bath system, we examined the vascular responses to phenylephrine, in the presence and absence of various ligands, in the rat thoracic aorta. Results: The observed significant and strong attenuation of the maximal contractile response of phenylephrine indicates a non-competitive antagonism of diazepam, GL-II-73 and GL-II-74 (p < 0.001), whereas GABA does not affect phenylephrine contraction. Since the strongest inhibitory effect was observed with compound GL-II-74, that, compared to other tested ligands, exhibited a higher potentiation at α5 GABAARs, it could be assumed that the α5 subunit plays a significant role in the structure of putatively present “vascular” GABAARs. Conclusion: This work emphasizes the importance of GABAARs research in the periphery and also points to the possibility of using α5 selective GABAAR modulators as potential therapeutic targets for novel vasodilators.