ABSTRACT The application of microsatellite simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers has proven to be highly effective in genetically characterising the origins of various fruit species. Bosnia and Herzegovina boast abundant cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) germplasm within its natural habitats. This study focuses on three geographically distant regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina–Drvar, Mostar and Zenica–comprising a sample of 60 cornelian cherry genotypes. The genetic analysis of cornelian cherry utilised eight microsatellite primers to characterise the genetic makeup of the 60 genotypes. Notably, all observed loci in the three populations demonstrated 100% polymorphism. The total genetic differentiation is 0.042, which is also confirmed by the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), which indicates that 3% of the total genetic variation is between groups, 8% between individuals and 89% within individuals. The results of pairwise Fst analysis (pFst) indicate that the greatest differentiation is between the populations of Mostar and Zenica (0.037), between Drvar and Zenica (0.026) and between Drvar and Mostar (0.025). The results of the genetic distance according to Nei confirm these results. Also, the largest difference was observed between the populations of Mostar and Zenica (0.316), then between Drvar and Zenica (0.285), and the smallest between Drvar and Mostar (0.251). This research contributes valuable insights into the genetic diversity and characterisation of cornelian cherry populations in different regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Psychological stress during pregnancy is known to have a range of long-lasting negative consequences on the development and health of offspring. Here, we tested whether a measure of prenatal early-life stress was associated with a biomarker of physiological development at birth, namely epigenetic gestational age, using foetal cord-blood DNA-methylation data. Longitudinal cohorts from the Netherlands (Generation R Study [Generation R], n = 1,396), the UK (British Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children [ALSPAC], n = 642), and Norway (Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study [MoBa], n1 = 1,212 and n2 = 678) provided data on prenatal maternal stress and genome-wide DNA methylation from cord blood and were meta-analysed (pooled n = 3,928). Measures of epigenetic age acceleration were calculated using three different gestational epigenetic clocks: “Bohlin”, “EPIC overlap” and “Knight”. Prenatal stress exposure, examined as an overall cumulative score, was not significantly associated with epigenetically-estimated gestational age acceleration or deceleration in any of the clocks, based on the results of the pooled meta-analysis or those of the individual cohorts. No significant associations were identified with specific domains of prenatal stress exposure, including negative life events, contextual (socio-economic) stressors, parental risks (e.g., maternal psychopathology) and interpersonal risks (e.g., family conflict). Further, no significant associations were identified when analyses were stratified by sex. Overall, we find little support that prenatal psychosocial stress is associated with variation in epigenetic age at birth within the general paediatric population.

This study examines the correlation between vitamin D levels and the severity of symptoms and quality of life in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). A total of 125 participants were categorized based on their prostate symptoms (mild, moderate, and severe) and vitamin D levels (deficient, insufficient, and optimal). Among those with mild symptoms (n=60), 37.93% were vitamin D deficient, 44.11% had insufficient vitamin D, and 54.83% had optimal levels. For moderate symptoms (n=55), 44.82% were deficient, 47.05% had insufficient, and 41.93% had optimal vitamin D levels. In severe cases (n=10), 17.04% were deficient, 8.82% had insufficient, and 3.22% had optimal vitamin D levels. Overall, 23.02% of participants were deficient, 27.02% had insufficient, and 49.6% had optimal vitamin D levels. Quality of life assessments revealed that 56.8% of participants reported a good quality of life, with 46.66% of these being vitamin D deficient, 57.57% insufficient, and 61.29% optimal. An indifferent quality of life was noted by 29.6% of participants, with 28.57% deficient, 27.27% insufficient, and 29.03% optimal vitamin D levels. A very poor quality of life was reported by 13.6% of participants, with 21.42% deficient, 15.15% insufficient, and 9.67% optimal vitamin D levels. These results indicate a potential association between higher vitamin D levels and improved prostate symptoms and quality of life in BPH patients. Further research is needed to establish causality and underlying mechanisms.

The roadmap is organized into several thematic sections, outlining current computing challenges, discussing the neuromorphic computing approach, analyzing mature and currently utilized technologies, providing an overview of emerging technologies, addressing material challenges, exploring novel computing concepts, and finally examining the maturity level of emerging technologies while determining the next essential steps for their advancement.

Improved molecular strong-field approximation theory is used to calculate the ionisation probability for the high-order above-threshold ionisation process induced by a few-cycle pulse with two carrier frequencies and one envelope. The asymmetry in the photoelectron momentum distribution is due to the ultrashort nature of the driving pulse and due to the relative orientation of the molecule with respect to the laser field. We introduce the generalised asymmetry parameter, which can be used to quantitatively measure the asymmetry between the photoelectron spectra along arbitrarily many selected directions. We investigate the difference between the asymmetry parameters calculated for atomic and molecular targets and show that the contributions to the asymmetry strongly depend on the type of the employed driving pulse. For the driving pulse with components that are linearly polarised with mutually orthogonal polarisations, we find that the main source of the asymmetry, especially in the high-energy part of the spectrum, is the ultrashort nature of the pulse. The relative orientation of the molecule with respect to the laser pulse only affects the low- and medium-energy parts of the spectrum. On the other hand, for the driving pulse with circularly polarised counterrotating components, the asymmetry introduced by molecular orientation is more pronounced. We also analyse the influence of the characteristics of molecular orbitals on the asymmetries using the examples of N2 and O2 molecules.

The eternal 1-secure set, strategically protects graphical structures against attacks by placing sentinels within dominating sets. This study adapts this concept to real-world scenarios, like emergency response systems, by addressing challenges such as roadblocks and traffic congestion. We introduce the secure set and the eternal 1-secure set for fuzzy graphs based on edge membership levels J. Our analysis examines the relationship between the security number of a fuzzy graph G at level J and the domination number of its spanning subgraph at level J, demonstrating the potential of the eternal 1-secure set to enhance security measures in dynamic environments.

Introduction: Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) can be diagnosed in the absen-ce of histology with typical echocardiographic fi ndings and skeletal scintigraphy showing grade 2 or 3 myocardial tracer uptake, when clonal plasma cell dyscrasia is excluded. Aim: To present a patient diagnosed with ATTR-CM, who was hospitalized with clinical signs of congestive heart failure. Case Report: An 84-year-old man was hospitalized with clinical signs of heart failure. Echocardiography showed concentric left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) with reduced systolic function, along with impaired LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) with apical sparing (-9.9%). Serum and urine protein electrophoresis with immunofi xation were obtained and were negative for plasma cell dyscrasia. Bone scintigraphy showed similar radiotracer uptake in the myocar-dium and ribs (Perugini grade 2). The diagnosis of ATTR-CM was confi rmed. Conclusion: ATTR-CM is an underdiagnosed condition and should be suspected in patients with heart failure and unexplained LVH.

In this case report, we describe the diagnostic modality of sinus of Valsalva aneurysm (SOVA) in combination with congenital cardiac defect, aortic valve involvement, and conduction abnormality in a 19-year-old patient. Aim of article was to understand the importance of clinicians being cautious about SOVA presenting in young patients, despite cases being rare, and that SOVA requires a thorough SOVA diagnostic approach. We further provide a review of literature highlighting and comparing the treatment options for both unruptured and ruptured SOVAs. The patient presented for examination due to tachycardia and palpitations. A murmur was heard, and the patient was found to have an atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia. Echocardiographic evaluation, magnetic resonance imaging, and computed tomography angiography confirmed an aneurysmally dilated aortic root, aortic regurgitation, and ventricular septal defect. Surgical intervention was indicated; however, the patient refused to undergo surgery.

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), a novel secret key agreement primitive, enables long-awaited practical Information-Theoretical Security (ITS). Over the last two decades, academic and industrial communities have devoted their time and resources to developing QKD- based networks that distribute ITS keys to remote parties. However, because of the limited availability of QKD network testbeds to the larger research community and the difficulty and cost of their deployment, progress in this area has been noticeably slow. To that end, we provide an analysis of selected simulated use-cases from the EU H2020 OPENQKD project using the QKDNetSim network simulator. The tool has been extensively upgraded to test novel network management methodologies applied to large-scale QKD networks.