Although results of animal research show that interactions between stress and sex hormones are implicated in the development of affective disorders in women, translation of these findings to patients has been scarce. As a basic step toward advancing this field of research, we analyzed findings of studies which reported circulating cortisol levels in healthy women in the follicular vs. luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. We deemed this analysis critical not only to advance our understanding of basic physiology, but also as an important contrast to the findings of future studies evaluating stress and sex hormones in women with affective disorders. We hypothesized that cortisol levels would be lower in the follicular phase based on the proposition that changes in levels of potent GABAergic neurosteroids, including allopregnanolone, during the menstrual cycle dynamically change in the opposite direction relative to cortisol levels. Implementing strict inclusion criteria, we compiled results of high-quality studies involving 778 study participants to derive a standardized mean difference between circulating cortisol levels in the follicular vs. luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. In line with our hypothesis, our meta-analysis found that women in the follicular phase had higher cortisol levels than women in the luteal phase, with an overall Hedges' g of 0.13 (p < 0.01) for the random effects model. No significant between-study difference was detected, with the level of heterogeneity in the small range. Furthermore, there was no evidence of publication bias. As cortisol regulation is a delicate process, we review some of the basic mechanisms by which progesterone, its potent metabolites, and estradiol regulate cortisol output and circulation to contribute to the net effect of higher cortisol in the follicular phase.

Objective: To explain the global between-countries variance in number of deaths per million citizens (nDpm) and case fatality rate (CFR) due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Design: Systematic analysis. Data sources: Worldometer, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, United Nations Main outcome measures: The explanators of nDpm and CFR were mathematically hypothesised and tested on publicly-available data from 88 countries with linear regression models on May 1st 2020. The derived explanators - age-adjusted infection fatality rate (IFRadj) and case detection rate (CDR) - were estimated for each country based on a SARS-CoV-2 model of China. The accuracy and agreement of the models with observed data was assessed with R2 and Bland-Altman plots, respectively. Sensitivity analyses involved removal of outliers and testing the models at five retrospective and two prospective time points. Results: Globally, IFRadj estimates varied between countries, ranging from below 0.2% in the youngest nations, to above 1.3% in Portugal, Greece, Italy, and Japan. The median estimated global CDR of SARS-CoV-2 infections on April 16th 2020 was 12.9%, suggesting that most of the countries have a much higher number of cases than reported. At least 93% and up to 99% of the variance in nDpm was explained by reported prevalence expressed as cases per million citizens (nCpm), IFRadj, and CDR. IFRadj and CDR accounted for up to 97% of the variance in CFR, but this model was less reliable than the nDpm model, being sensitive to outliers (R2 as low as 67.5%). Conclusions: The current differences in SARS-CoV-2 mortality between countries are driven mainly by reported prevalence of infections, age distribution, and CDR. The nDpm might be a more stable estimate than CFR in comparing mortality burden between countries.

Over the course of the last decade, the subfield of artificial intelligence, called deep learning, becomes the main technology that provides breakthroughs in the computer vision area. Likewise, deep learning algorithms made a major impact in the automated driving domain. This research aims to apply and evaluate the performance of two pre-trained deep learning algorithms in order to recognize different street objects. Both RCNN, as well as YOLO algorithms, are used to recognize bikes, cars and pedestrians using the public GRAZ-02 dataset composed of 1476 raw images of street objects. Accuracy greater than 90% is achieved in recognizing all considered objects. The fine-tuning and training of both algorithms is established using databases named ImageNet and COCO, and afterwards, trained models are tried on the test data.

Cocoa shell is a by-product of the chocolate industry that is rich in dietary fiber and bioactive components. In this research, the influence of high voltage electric discharge (HVED) treatment on chemical and physical characteristics of the cocoa shell, i.e., the effects of applied time and frequencies on grinding ability, water binding capacity (WBC), dietary fibers and tannin content was investigated. HVED had a significant influence on the chemical and physical properties of cocoa shell, all of which could be linked to changes in fiber properties. Along with the fiber content, grinding ability and water binding capacity were increased. These properties have already been linked to fiber content and soluble/insoluble fiber ratio. However, this research implies that change in fiber properties could be linked to tannin formation via complexation of other polyphenolic components. Additional research is needed to verify this effect and to establish mechanisms of tannin formation induced by HVED and its influence on fiber quantification.

Objectives The development of third molars can be helpful in dental age estimation of adolescents and in early adult period. We tested the repeatability and accuracy of the three dental age radiographic methods (Olze, Demirjian and Solari and Abramovitch) and evaluated which method is more useful. We also aimed at testing to find the correlation of estimated dental and chronological age by these three methods. Material and methods The orthopantomographs (OPGs) of 1007 individuals (8 - 25 years) were divided into two groups (cca 500 OPGs) - one group of OPGs has been presented with all four third molars, while another one was registered with third molar/s hypodontia. And all of OPGs were assessed, to verify the three methods (Olze, Demirjian and Solari and Abramovitch) for age estimation based on third molar development. Results There was a high Spearman's correlation coefficient between stages of development of wisdom tooth and chronological age of subjects by all these three methods. Conclusion We may recommend using third molars for assessing the dental age by Olze, Demirjian and Solari and Abramovitch dental method as well, on Bosnian and Herzegovinian population.

Introduction: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is an established treatment for patients with end-srage kidney disease. The method was developed as an alternative to hemodialysis (HD) presenting a patient survival rate equivalent to HD and better preservation of residual renal function. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients have different peritoneal membrane permeability (transport) characteristics. High peritoneal membrane permeability is associated with increased mortality risk in the patient population. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the importance of the peritoneal membrane transport status in patients treated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Methods: The study included 60 adult continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients, 29 male and 31 female, mean age 56.63±15.06 years. All patients treated with conventional glucose- based PD fluids. For the short term (within 3 month after start of PD) and long term (more than 12 months) peritoneal dialysis analysis of peritoneal transport characteristics has been used peritoneal functional test (PFT). With the test, categorisation of patients was possible into high (H), high-average (HA), low average (LA), and low (L) transporters. Results: Dialysate–to plasma ratio (D/P) of creatinine showed significantly increased over time (0.654±0.141 vs... 0.705±0.13, p<0.001). In multivariate analysis age, gender, time on dialysis, comorbid diseases, diabetes mellitus (DM), serum albumin, were considered as independent factors influencing the PFT. The high transporter group had higher D/Pcreat (H 0.84±0.03 vs... LA 0.57±0.05, p<0.001), higher proportion of man (H 100% vs... LA 39.5%, p<0.05), higher proportion of patients with comorbid diseases (H 60% vs... LA 20.9%, p<0.05), lower serum albumin concentration (H 29±6.0 vs... LA 37±5.2, p<0.001), lower D4/D0 glucose ( H 0.23±0.07 vs... LA 0.42±0.14, p<0.001), and lower drained volume (H 600±173 vs... LA 1016±355, p<0.001). Conclusion: The PFT was en easy, inexpensive, reliable test to assess peritoneal transport type and it also provided information about peritoneal clearance of solutes and ultrafiltration. Peritoneal transport type classification was recognized not only as aid for prescription, but also as a prognostic index.

Introduction: Idiopathic Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (iMN) is an immune-complex mediated renal disease which is usually associated with the nephrotic syndrome (NS). The course of the disease is variable. Some patients maintain normal kidney function with or without a spontaneous remission of proteinuria, while others progress to end-stage renal failure or die from complications related to the nephrotic syndrome. Whether or not to treat a patient with idiopathic membranous nephropathy is still controversial. The controversy is mainly related to the toxicity of the therapy and the variable natural course of the disease-spontaneous remission occurs in 40–50% of patients. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe our experience of treatment of an idiopathic membranous nephropathy (iMN), efficacy and complications rate. Case report: Our patient was older, mail gender, in high-risk group with persistent proteinuria 10,68 g/day and stable renal function. We have taken these factors into consideration, along with age and other comorbidities, that may significantly elevate the risk of treatment. We chose to start with early treatment, following the Ponticelli’s group protocol based on high dose corticosteroids (odd months) alternating with clorambucil (even months) for six months. This treatment was accompanied by the steroid side effects, including hyperglycaemia dependance on insulin therapy and pulmonary thromboembolism despite administered prophylactically low molecular weight heparin. The six-month treatment was successfully completed with the reduction of proteinuria to nephritic values 2,86 g/day, despite many complications. Complete remission of the disease with non-significant proteinuria and with stable renal function was achieved in 14 months which has been maintained for 2 years. Conclusion: We suggest that decisions on the timing of start of therapy, whom to treat, best sequence of the use of the various immunosuppressive drugs must be based on an individualized assessment of risks and benefits.

Non‐invasive axon diameter distribution (ADD) mapping using diffusion MRI is an ill‐posed problem. Current ADD mapping methods require knowledge of axon orientation before performing the acquisition. Instead, ActiveAx uses a 3D sampling scheme to estimate the orientation from the signal, providing orientationally invariant estimates. The mean diameter is estimated instead of the distribution for the solution to be tractable. Here, we propose an extension (ActiveAxADD) that provides non‐parametric and orientationally invariant estimates of the whole distribution.

Introduction: Health education is a process of acquiring knowledge and skills in order to improve the health of the individual and the community. It is considered the most effective, most economical and most rational aspect of health care and health culture. Aim To provide data on the effectiveness of printed health-educational materials. Methods This is a quantitative, applied, descriptive-analytical study. According to the type of research, it presents a public health evaluation manipulative study with triple testing. The research was conducted in elementary schools in the Zenica-Doboj Canton. The total number of students participating in the research is divided into groups: examined, control group. The research consisted of four phases. The research tool is a modified questionnaire The Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) with 38 questions, 8 modules. Results The total number of respondents was 120. The method of distribution of health-educational posters shows a lower but still present statistical significance (p<0.05) in relation to the acquired knowledge and a change in attitudes between the conducted surveys at different time points. There is no statistically significant change (p>0.05) in the level of knowledge and attitudes using leaflets between conducted surveys at three different times. In the control group without education, there was a low statistical significance (p<0.05) in terms of changing the level of knowledge and attitudes. Conclusion The distribution of health-educational posters is recommended in situations where it is necessary to reach a wide audience for a long period of time, if the site of the poster is protected. According to this study, there is no evidence that the leaflet distribution method should be used when it comes to the promotion of healthy lifestyles among healthy children. Alternative methods and ways of health education need to be identified.

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide with the incidence of about 1,8 million newly diagnosed cases in 2018. According to the World Cancer Report 2014, in Bosnia and Herzegovina 6700 people died of cancer in 2014, and CRC was the cause of mortality in 724 patients (10%). Prevention programs including screening, state-of-the-art diagnostic modalities and therapeutic approaches to CRC are being constantly improved. Aim: Our study was designed to address the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the follow-up of CRC in patients with normal or elevated CEA. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 50 patients previously diagnosed with CRC who were initially surgically treated. All patients were suspicious of recurrence and were referred to as 18F-FDG PET/CT for restaging between February 2014 and February 2019. Possible recurrence was indicated by rising CEA, equivocal radiological findings or clinical findings. Results: Out of a total of 50 patients for whom the follow-up of at least six months was available, 27 had CRC confirmed with the gold standard, and all 27 patients had 18F-FDG PET/CT positive for recurrence, giving a sensitivity of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting the recurrence of CRC of 100.0% (0.0% of false-negative – FN results). Out of 23 patients with no signs of CRC recurrence on the gold standard, 19 were also 18F-FDG PET/CT negative, giving a specificity of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting the recurrence of CRC of 82.6%, and 17.4% of false-positive – FP results. Out of 31 patients who were 18F-FDG PET/CT positive, 27 had it confirmed pathophysiologically or clinically, giving positive predictive value (PPV) of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting CRC recurrence of 87.1%; negative predictive value (NPV) was 100.0%, meaning all 19 patients showing no signs of CRC recurrence when imaged with 18F-FDG PET/CT were gold standard negative as well. Conclusion: 18F-FDG PET/CT proves to be a valid diagnostic tool in detecting recurrence in patients with CRC.

Introduction: Psoriasis is a common chronic skin disorder characterized by inflammation and abnormal epidermal proliferation. Its severity ranges from a chronic plaque psoriasis (CPP) to generalized psoriatic erythroderma (PE). The cause of psoriasis is unknown although most evidence supports the hypothesis that psoriasis is an immunologically mediated disease. The T-helper (Th) 1 and Th17 cells are responsible for the inflammation of psoriasis. Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is a class of immunoglobulin essential for the allergic response. There is some evidence that IgE may take a part in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Aim: The aim of the study was to compare serum levels of total IgE between patients with psoriasis and healthy subjects, and to assess the difference between localized form (CPP) and extensive form of disease (PE). Methods: Seventy-five patients with psoriasis and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. Data on age, gender, personal and family history, clinical type and duration of disease were collected and analyzed. Serum levels of IgE were measured using nephelometric method. Results: Serum levels of total IgE were significantly higher in patients than in controls (46.7% vs.. 10%; p<0.05). Statistical difference of IgE concentration was also observed between CPP and PE. Comparison between patients and controls with regard to the median of the serum level of total IgE levels showed a statistically highly significant elevation in patients (425 IU/ml) compared with controls (54.5 IU/ml) (p<0,05). A higher total IgE concentration was observed in the group of patients with a longer period of skin changes. No relation was found between the serum level of IgE and family history of psoriasis, age or sex (p>0.05). Conclusions: This study supports the evidence that elevation of total serum IgE is associated with psoriasis. The exact role of serum IgE in psoriasis should be additionally investigated in future studies.

In this paper we consider a generalized length spectrum in the case of compact symmetric spaces generated as quotients of the special linear group of order four over real numbers. While the classical length spectrum is given as an estimate for a yes function counting prime geodesics of appropriate length, its generalized form is usually represented by a higher order counting function of Chebyshev type. Our goal is to prove that the error term that appears in the classical case in this setting can be significantly improved when derived via analogous, generalized apparatus.

In this paper, we consider the remainder in a weighted form of the length spectrum for compact Riemann surfaces of genus greater than or equal to two. Earlier, we conducted a similar research where we applied the Cauchy residue theorem over two different square boundaries, one of which intersected the corresponding critical line, and some, quite complex estimates for the logarithmic derivative of the associated zeta functions of Selberg and Ruelle. The main goal of this paper is to achieve the same length spectrum with the same remainder as in our previous study, but in a much simpler way.