Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, (auto) immune disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Quality of life (QoL) refers to the perception of an individual’s life in the context of the system of culture and values in which they live. Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the distribution of cognitive disorders in people with MS. Methods: The prospective study included 135 participants with MS and 50 healthy participants. Participants were divided into three groups: the first group consisted of 85 participants where the disease lasted longer than one year, the second group consisted of 50 participants with newly diagnosed MS, the third group consisted of 50 healthy participants. The instruments of clinical assessment were: Extended Disability Score in Multiple Sclerosis Patients, Mini Mental Status, Beck Depression Scale, and Quality of Life Scale (SF-36, Contemporary Health Survey). Results: The quality of life related to health is impaired in the physical, mental dimension and overall quality of life. In the first group of participants, 62% had mild depression, and in the second group 38% of participants, while more severe forms were recorded in 16% of participants in both groups. As depression increases, the quality of life decreases in all measured dimensions, which would mean that depression negatively affects the quality of life. The results of all dimensions as well as the overall quality of life score are worse with the increase in the degree of clinical disability, for both groups of study patients. Conclusion: Quality of life is impaired in MS patients, and a higher degree of clinical disability and an increase in depressive disorder are predictors of deteriorating quality of life in MS patients.

Introduction: Lung cancer is a neoplasm with the highest mortality rate in the world. The role of neoadjuvant therapy in patients with initially assessed borderline operable or inoperable lung cancer is to improve survival by downstaging the tumor and allowing surgical resection, as well as the potential treatment of micrometastatic disease. Aim: Establishing the justification and efficacy of neoadjuvant therapy after the initial assessment of operability in patients with borderline operable and inoperable histopathologically verified stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer. Methods: The retrospective study included 65 patients with initially assessed stage IIIA lung cancer, who underwent neoadjuvant therapy. After the cycles of neoadjuvant therapy, 19 patients who achieved the regression of the tumor underwent surgery. We analyzed the histological type of the tumor, extent, and prevalence of surgical resection, the status of regional lymph nodes, and the achieved R status. Results: Of the total number of patients who underwent neoadjuvant therapy, after reevaluation of the disease, 19 patients (19/65, 29.23% of cases) achieved a clinical response, i.e. tumor downstaging. Of 19 patients who underwent surgery, 16 patients underwent surgical resection, while three patients underwent surgical exploration. The largest number of patients had N0 and N1 status (six patients each). R0 status was achieved in 14 patients (14/16, 87.5% of cases), while R1 in the remaining two. One patient had a fatal outcome. Conclusion: Neoadjuvant therapy plays an important role in the treatment of initially assessed borderline operable or inoperable lung cancers. By downstaging the tumor, it allows surgical resection and potential treatment of micrometastatic disease.

Introduction: Sarajevo is the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the population in Canton Sarajevo of 438,443 people. The first cases of COVID-19 in Canton Sarajevo were on 20th March. On that day, we had three positive cases. These days at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in Canton of Sarajevo around 2500 citizens were in self-isolation at home. The aim of this paper is to show the journey of Canton Sarajevo in the fight against COVID-19 infection, the impact of measurements that were taken to stop the infection spreading and to compare pre- and post-lockdown stats.Methods: During the period March-July 2020, we have analyzed daily newly cases and followed them through the period of at least 14 days. All data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 (IBM Corp. Released in 2019. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, NY: IBM Corp.) and MS Office 2019 suite (Excel). For comparison, we have used the Chi-square test.Results: In the period of 10 weeks from the beginning of March to the 25th of May in Canton of Sarajevo, we had a total of 113 cases of COVID-19 infection. The number of conducted tests was 7515. In total, with positive retests, we had only 161 positive tests, which is 2.14% of all analyzed tests. From that number of patients, 58 (51.3%) were male and 55 (48.7%) were female. Regarding age distribution, under 65 years were 91.1% of patients.Conclusion: Choosing the best method to fight against COVID-19 is hard to determine. Staying at home would decrease the infection rate, but in the long term, it is not sustainable. Perhaps the mix of methods that we had in Sarajevo is the best option. Fighting against one epidemic cannot be the source for other epidemics.

Introduction: Cervical cancer can be successfully prevented by timely detection of changes that precede it such as atypical (ASC-H) and high grade squamous lesions (HSIL). Aim: To investigate the correlation between Pap smear and colposcopy in the detection of premalignant and malignant cervical lesions based on a pathohistological finding. Methods: In a retrospective study 118 patients with HSIL and ASC-H findings were examined. A Pap smear, colposcopic examination and cervical canal biopsy were performed. The study was conducted at the Gynecological Center “Dr Mahira Jahic” Tuzla and the Clinical Center Tuzla, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Results: 1049 abnormal Pap tests were analyzed, ASCUS in 51,8% (N-544), LSIL 32,1% (N-337), HSIL 7,7% (N-81) and ASC-H 3,5% (N-37), AGC 4,8% (N-51). The mean age of the subjects with the abnormal Pap test was 46.33 ± 3.2. The age of patients with ASCUS lesion was 38,6 , LSIL 41,0, ASC-H was 47,3 , HSIL (CIN II and CIN III) 45,8 , while patients with CIS were 51,2 years. Pathological histology HSIL confirmed a high grade lesion in 67,7% (CIN II, CIN III and CIS) (N-55), in 32% (N-26) a lower grade CIN I in 18,5% and chronic cervicitis in 13,5% (N-11). In ASC-H lesion pathohistological HSIL was found in 13,5% (N-5), CIN I 13,5% (N-5) and chronic cervicitis 48,6 % (N-18). Abnormal colposcopic imaging with HSIL lesion was found in 72,9% (N-69), in 8,6% (N-7) was unsatisfactory and in 18,5% (N-15) the colposcopic finding was normal. In ASC-H lesions, abnormal colposcopic imaging was found in 40,5% (N-15), unsatisfactory findings in 10,8% (N-4), and normal findings in 48,6% (N-18). Conclusion: Colposcopy has proven to be better method than cytology with an accuracy of 72,9% in high-grade lesion such as HSIL and ASC-H.

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common infectious cause of birth defects. It maycause both, immediate and long term health problems in infants. These include variety of symptoms, suchas hearing loss, microcephaly, jaundice, hepatosplenomegaly and seizures. In more severe cases CMVinfection can cause the death of an unborn baby and loss of pregnancy. Despite being one of the mostextensively studied vertically transmitted infections recently, the adverse effects of vertically transmittedCMV infection are still not well presented to the general public, resulting in a low awareness amongpotential expectant mothers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This study aims to elucidate the sensitivity of urinesamples for CMV detection in infants as well as to reflect the importance of quantitative real-time PCR(qRT-PCR) in diagnostics of CMV infection in infants. qRT-PCR was used in this study as a technique forthe screening of CMV DNA in a cohort of patients based in Sarajevo Canton. These results have shownthat urine samples are sufficiently sensitive for the detection of CMV DNA in infants. Furthermore, thesimultaneous analysis of several patients has shown a higher number of CMV DNA copies amplified inurine compared to blood samples, derived from the same patient, thus proposing urine as a reliable sampleof choice for congenital CMV diagnostics. These findings may propose a need to classify qRT-PCR CMVtest among one of the recommended first-trimester pregnancy screening tests, which could help in earlydetection of CMV infection in Sarajevo Canton.

is why many birds exploited positive wind assistance which occurred on intense migration nights. This implies that the seasonal wind regimes over the North Sea alter its migratory dynamics which is reflected in headings, timing and intensity of migration.

Test automation has been an acknowledged software engineering best practice for years. However, the topic involves more than the repeated execution of test cases that often comes first to mind. Simply running test cases using a unit testing framework is no longer enough for test automation to keep up with the ever-shorter release cycles driven by continuous deployment and technological innovations such as microservices and DevOps pipelines. Now test automation needs to rise to the next level by going beyond mere test execution.

Abstract Hypoxia is an essential hallmark of several serious diseases such as cardiovascular and metabolic disorders and cancer. A decline in the tissue oxygen level induces hypoxic responses in cells which strive to adapt to the changed conditions. A failure to adapt to prolonged or severe hypoxia can trigger cell death. While some cell types, such as neurons, are highly vulnerable to hypoxia, cancer cells take advantage of a hypoxic environment to undergo tumour growth, angiogenesis and metastasis. Hypoxia‐induced processes trigger complex intercellular communication and there are now indications that extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a fundamental role in these processes. Recent developments in EV isolation and characterization methodology have increased the awareness of the importance of EV purity in functional and cargo studies. Cell death, a hallmark of severe hypoxia, is a known source of intracellular contaminants in isolated EVs. In this review, methodological aspects of studies investigating hypoxia‐induced EVs are critically evaluated. Key concerns and gaps in the current knowledge are highlighted and future directions for studies are set. To accelerate and advance research, an in‐depth analysis of the functions and cargo of hypoxic EVs, compared to normoxic EVs, is provided with the focus on the altered microRNA contents of the EVs.

Simple Summary In early-stage (cT1-2N0) oral cancer, occult lymph node metastases are present in 20–30% of patients. Accordingly, accurate staging of the clinically negative cervical nodal basin is warranted in these patients. Sentinel lymph node biopsy has proven to reliably stage the clinically negative cervical nodal basin in early-stage oral cancer. However, due to the limited resolution of conventional sentinel lymph node imaging, occult lymph node metastasis may be missed in particular circumstances. Therefore, technical developments are necessary to bring the diagnostic accuracy of sentinel lymph node biopsy, in early-stage oral cancer, to a higher level. This review evaluates novel sentinel lymph node imaging techniques for early-stage oral cancer, such as MR lymphography, CT lymphography, PET lymphoscintigraphy and contrast-enhanced lymphosonography. Their reported diagnostic accuracy is described and their relative merits, disadvantages and potential applications are outlined. Abstract Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is a diagnostic staging procedure that aims to identify the first draining lymph node(s) from the primary tumor, the sentinel lymph nodes (SLN), as their histopathological status reflects the histopathological status of the rest of the nodal basin. The routine SLNB procedure consists of peritumoral injections with a technetium-99m [99mTc]-labelled radiotracer followed by lymphoscintigraphy and SPECT-CT imaging. Based on these imaging results, the identified SLNs are marked for surgical extirpation and are subjected to histopathological assessment. The routine SLNB procedure has proven to reliably stage the clinically negative neck in early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). However, an infamous limitation arises in situations where SLNs are located in close vicinity of the tracer injection site. In these cases, the hotspot of the injection site can hide adjacent SLNs and hamper the discrimination between tracer injection site and SLNs (shine-through phenomenon). Therefore, technical developments are needed to bring the diagnostic accuracy of SLNB for early-stage OSCC to a higher level. This review evaluates novel SLNB imaging techniques for early-stage OSCC: MR lymphography, CT lymphography, PET lymphoscintigraphy and contrast-enhanced lymphosonography. Furthermore, their reported diagnostic accuracy is described and their relative merits, disadvantages and potential applications are outlined.

Abstract Nowadays, the population is rapidly ageing because of increasing life expectancy and decreasing birth rates. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review is to prepare a comprehensive overview which identifies the activities of daily living (ADLs) that are gradually reduced among patients with dementia, as well as explore the therapies applied in relation to dementia and how they effectively improve the quality of life (QoL) of patients and caregivers. Furthermore, we aim to summarise the ADL activities influenced by therapies and examine the treatment costs and care for patients so that recommendations for research and development (R&D) can be made to improve both the QoL of people with dementia and cost-saving measures. The research focuses on four selected neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer, Parkinson, vascular dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Therefore, the peer-reviewed English written articles from 2014 to 2019 were searched between September 1 and December 13, 2019. Twenty-seven papers were included in the analysis. The results show that essential assistance occurs in connection with activities: eating, drinking, dressing, bathing, personal hygiene, use of the toilet, and transport. By contrast, shopping or cleaning is not addressed as much. A lower ability to take care of oneself is connected with poor patient health and higher social care costs because the patient requires care from external sources, such as home aid or nurse visits. The challenge that remains is to shift new knowledge from scientific disciplines and connect it with the needs of patients to remove legitimate barriers and increase the acceptance of new solutions by popularisation. Additionally, regarding the burden on caregivers, it would be appropriate to promote this area of education and employment so that family members can use formal caregivers, ensuring them free time and much-needed rest.