Maize is the most widely cultivated crop on arable land in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yields are quite inconsistent due to several factors, with one of the most significant being the lack of moisture during the growing season, particularly during the pollination period. Irrigation is a measure taken to mitigate the harmful effects of drought. A maize field trial was conducted over two growing seasons (2022/2023) with three replications. The local hybrid BL-43 was sown in three irrigation treatments and two fertilization variants. During the season, morphometric parameters of maize plants were measured. Statistically highly significant differences were observed between yields and yield components. The greatest differences were found in plant height among the irrigation treatments, as well as between the two years of study. Maize yield showed high variability under the influence of the applied treatments. The highest yield (11,031 kg ha-¹) was achieved with the 100% irrigation treatment combined with a higher rate of mineral fertilizer. Irrigation treatment had a much greater effect on yield components and total maize yield than fertilization. Applying irrigation at 50% and 100% of the required norm increased the values of yield components and overall maize yield in 2023 by about 27%. In the drought year (2022), the increase was 27% with 50% irrigation and 37% with 100% irrigation. In the dry year of 2022, when total precipitation was 35% lower compared to the multi-year average, irrigation had a stronger effect on maize yield components. Besides the irrigation, further research should consider the improvement of soil organic matter content and soil health as tools for improved drought resistance.

In the hilly and mountainous area of Republic of Srpska natural grasslands (meadows and pastures) represent significant resource for grazing and production of bulky livestock food. However, in addition to the big importance and available areas, the production of bulky fodder on natural grasslands are relatively low. Limiting production factors of feed in mountainous areas are the quality of the soil and the climatic conditions. Low yields of hay of natural grassland can be improved by application mineral fertilizers. In addition to the application of mineral fertilizers, which should be one from implementation of basic agrotechnical measures more profitable plant-based, ultimately and animal production it is necessary to apply appropriate quantities of fertilizers at the most suitable time of growing season herbal type. The goal of this research was to determine the influence of different amounts of nitrogen on productivity of natural grassland type Agrostietum vulgaris on low available phosphorus and potassium soil. This study was carried out in two seasons (2018 and 2019). The application of nitrogen had a positive impact on grassland productivity. The highest average green forage yield of 13.15 t ha-1 and hay yield of 3.48 t ha-1 was achieved with the application of 94.5 kg ha-1 of nitrogen, and the lowest was achieved in control without fertilization. The average increase in hay yield in the first year was 37.6% and in the second year it was 5.6% higher than in the first year. The application of mineral fertilizers on natural grasslands on low phosphorus and potassium soil is of crucial importance for obtaining higher yields of green forage and hay.

Background/Objectives: Improper use of systemic antibiotics remains a significant concern in hospital settings, contributing to increased antimicrobial resistance and suboptimal clinical outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this issue. This study aimed to evaluate long-term trends in antibiotic utilization in low-resource settings at a tertiary care teaching hospital, focusing specifically on the changes before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This retrospective observational study analyzed antibiotic utilization data from the University Clinical Centre of the Republic of Srpska over ten years (2015–2024). Antibiotic consumption was expressed in defined daily doses (DDD) per 100 bed-days, and compared across three periods: pre-COVID-19 (2015–2019), COVID-19 (2020–2022), and post-COVID-19 (2023–2024). Additionally, antibiotic use was categorized according to the WHO AWaRe classification. Results: Antibiotic utilization peaked during the COVID-19 period, with the highest rate observed in 2021 (91.5 DDD/100 bed-days), despite a decrease in hospital admissions. The most frequently used antibiotics were cephalosporins, penicillins, and metronidazole. A significant increase in the use of azithromycin, meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam, vancomycin, and colistin was noted during the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 periods (p < 0.05), along with a notable decline in penicillin use. Watch and Reserve antibiotic use rose significantly (p < 0.05), while Access group use fell from 67% to 49.2%. Conclusions: These findings underscore the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic prescribing patterns and emphasize the urgent need for strengthened antimicrobial stewardship efforts to ensure rational antibiotic use and combat antimicrobial resistance.

This cross-sectional study investigates the global burden of nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage in 2021.

We investigate the phenomenology of a model in which the proton is rendered absolutely stable by an IR mechanism that remains robust against unknown quantum gravity effects. A linear combination of baryon number and lepton flavors is gauged and spontaneously broken to a residual $\mathbb{Z}_9$ discrete gauge symmetry enforcing a strict selection rule: $\Delta B = 0\,(\mathrm{mod}\,3)$. Despite its minimal field content, the model successfully accounts for established empirical evidence of physics beyond the SM. High-scale symmetry breaking simultaneously provides a seesaw mechanism explaining the smallness of neutrino masses, minimal thermal leptogenesis, and a viable phenomenology of the majoron as dark matter. Any cosmic string-wall network remaining after inflation is unstable for numerous charge assignments. Lepton flavor non-universality, central to the construction, leads to predictive neutrino textures testable via oscillation experiments, neutrinoless double beta decay, and cosmology. The model motivates searches in $X$- and $\gamma$-ray lines, neutrino telescopes, and predicts CMB imprints.

We investigate the phenomenology of a model [1] in which the proton is rendered absolutely stable by an IR mechanism that remains robust against unknown quantum gravity effects. A linear combination of baryon number and lepton flavors is gauged and spontaneously broken to a residual ℤ9 discrete gauge symmetry enforcing a strict selection rule: ΔB = 0 (mod 3). Despite its minimal field content, the model successfully accounts for established empirical evidence of physics beyond the SM. High-scale symmetry breaking simultaneously provides a seesaw mechanism explaining the smallness of neutrino masses, minimal thermal leptogenesis, and a viable phenomenology of the majoron as dark matter. Any cosmic string-wall network remaining after inflation is unstable for numerous charge assignments. Lepton flavor non-universality, central to the construction, leads to predictive neutrino textures testable via oscillation experiments, neutrinoless double beta decay, and cosmology. The model motivates searches in X- and γ-ray lines, neutrino telescopes, and predicts CMB imprints.

Climate change has significantly altered weather patterns, increasing the frequency and intensity of drought events and posing serious challenges to agricultural production, particularly fruits. Water scarcity and increased evapotranspiration demands, posing critical challenges to global agriculture and threatening the sustainability of fruit production. Understanding the response of fruit crops to drought stress and their specific irrigation needs is essential for developing resilient and sustainable cultivation systems. This work aims to consolidate existing research and provide a comprehensive analysis of strategies to mitigate the impacts of water scarcity on fruit crops. The paper focuses on the following key areas: (1) evaluating the growth and performance of fruit crops across diverse environments and cultivation methods; (2) assessing the water needs of fruit crops, including evapotranspiration rates, crop coefficients, and strategies for efficient water use; (3) identifying and recommending the most effective irrigation methods; (4) exploring advanced tools for real-time monitoring of plant water status; and (5) comparing and evaluating existing models for quantifying plant water requirements under drought conditions, with an emphasis on their potential integration into decision support systems (DSS). By addressing these critical aspects, it aims to provide actionable insights and foster the adoption of innovative irrigation and water management strategies to support sustainable fruit crop production in the context of climate change.

Digestate, a key byproduct of anaerobic digestion (AD), holds residual methane potential (RMP) that must be stabilized or recovered to prevent greenhouse gas emissions after field use. Thermal hydrolysis (TH), typically a pretreatment for AD, improves biogas production. This study assesses RMP in digestates from food waste (FW) and sewage sludge (SS) biogas plants, treated with TH at 160 and 190 °C. For the liquid fraction, FW digestate at 160 °C yielded 1.5 times more methane than untreated digestate, while SS digestate showed a threefold increase. The solid fraction of FW digestate at 160 °C had 1.4 times higher methane yield than untreated, but SS digestate produced less methane after TH. Adding sulfuric acid after TH increased phosphate release but reduced methane production in both digestates. Overall, TH as a post-treatment enhanced organic content release into the liquid fraction, enhancing methane yield, while acid addition improved phosphorus solubility, thereby enhancing digestate's nutrient value.

Parallel robots offer high precision, stiffness, and dynamic performance, but their nonlinear and coupled dynamics pose challenges for real-time trajectory tracking. This paper presents a hybrid control framework that combines joint-space and task-space controllers to simultaneously manage actuator dynamics and end-effector motion. By leveraging both control domains, the proposed approach addresses the limitations of single-space strategies. Stability is established via Lyapunov analysis, and experimental results confirm superior tracking accuracy compared to conventional acceleration-based controllers, demonstrating effectiveness for high-precision, dynamic applications.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are a diverse population of immune cells that play a central role in tumor immunity and have emerged as critical mediators in cancer immunotherapy. This review explores the phenotypic and functional diversity of TILs—including CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, CD4+ helper T cells, regulatory T cells, B cells, and natural killer (NK) cells—and their dynamic interactions within the tumor microenvironment (TME). While TILs can drive tumor regression, their activity is often hindered by immune checkpoint signaling, metabolic exhaustion, and stromal exclusion. We highlight TIL recruitment, activation, and polarization mechanisms, focusing on chemokine gradients, endothelial adhesion molecules, and dendritic cell-mediated priming. Special emphasis is placed on preclinical models that evaluate TIL function, including 3D tumor spheroids, organoid co-cultures, syngeneic mouse models, and humanized systems. These provide valuable platforms for optimizing TIL-based therapies. Furthermore, we examine the prognostic and predictive value of TILs across cancer types, their role in adoptive cell therapy, and the challenges of translating preclinical success into clinical efficacy. Emerging technologies such as single-cell sequencing, neoantigen prediction, and biomaterial platforms are transforming our understanding of TIL biology and enhancing their therapeutic potential. Innovative strategies—ranging from genetic engineering and combination therapies to targeted modulation of the TME—are being developed to overcome resistance mechanisms and improve TIL persistence, infiltration, and cytotoxicity. This review integrates current advances in TIL research and therapy, offering a comprehensive foundation for future clinical translation. TILs hold significant promise as both biomarkers and therapeutic agents, and with continued innovation, they are poised to become a cornerstone of personalized cancer immunotherapy.

Despite the well-established role of human papillomavirus (HPV) as the primary cause of cervical cancer (CC) and the existence of an effective HPV vaccine, over half a million women are diagnosed with CC globally each year, with more than half of them dying from the disease. Immunotherapy has rapidly become a cornerstone of cancer treatment, offering substantial improvements in survival rates and reducing treatment-related side effects compared to traditional therapies. For the past 25 years, chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has been the standard treatment for locally advanced CC (LACC). However, while adjuvant chemotherapy has failed to improve outcomes in LACC, the integration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) with CRT, as well as chemoimmunoradiotherapy followed by consolidation immunotherapy, has transformed treatment strategies, demonstrating superior efficacy compared to CRT alone. In the first-line treatment of CC, adding pembrolizumab to platinum-based chemotherapy, either with or without bevacizumab, has significantly improved outcomes compared to platinum-based chemotherapy and bevacizumab alone. This review explores the current landscape of immunotherapy and biomarker advancements in CC. Furthermore, we discuss promising future directions, including the potential of personalized immunotherapy approaches and novel combination therapies to further enhance treatment efficacy and improve prognoses for patients with CC.

Aim. The aim of this study is to investigate the satisfactionof primary caregivers of children and adolescentswith type 1 diabetes mellitus regarding healthcareservices.Methods. The study was conducted within the Associationof Children and Youth with Diabetes in theSarajevo Canton from October 23, 2021, to February28, 2022. The study included 50 primary caregivers,49 mothers and one father, with an average age of41.28 ± 5.64. A generic questionnaire for assessingparental satisfaction with healthcare provided totheir children, the PedsQLTM Healthcare SatisfactionGeneric Module, was used. The statistical analysesused to analyze the data included multiple linear regression,ANOVA test, and t-test.Results. Satisfaction with healthcare services wasassessed with average ratings on a scale of 0 to 100but with wide ranges of scores (59.46±24.34, rangingfrom 16.67 to 98.96). The results showed thattwo variables play a crucial role in predicting satisfactionwith healthcare services: meeting emotionalneeds (relative contribution=29.8) and satisfactionwith information (relative contribution=27.3).Conclusion. An individualized approach and a collaborationwith parents of children and adolescentswith type 1 diabetes mellitus are necessary to improvethe parental experience and their satisfactionwith healthcare services.

BACKGROUND There is uncertainty about whether patients with M2 occlusion benefit from endovascular therapy (EVT) in the late (6-24-hour) time window. We evaluated the clinical outcomes of patients with M2 occlusion selected for EVT compared with those who received medical management (MM) in the late window. METHODS This multinational cohort study was conducted at 66 sites across 10 countries (January 2014 to May 2022). We included consecutive patients with late-window stroke due to M2 occlusion, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of ≥5, and premorbid modified Rankin Scale score of ≤2 who received EVT or MM alone. The primary end point was 90-day ordinal shift in the modified Rankin Scale score. Safety end points were symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and 90-day mortality. Differences in outcomes were determined using inverse probability of treatment weighting-adjusted logistic regression models. RESULTS Among 5098 patients, 496 met inclusion criteria (median [interquartile range] age, 74 years [62-81 years]; baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, 12 [8-17]), of whom 394 (79.4%) received EVT and 102 (20.6%) MM. In inverse probability of treatment weighting adjusted analyses, there was no favorable 90-day ordinal modified Rankin Scale shift (odds ratio, 1.39 [95% CI, 0.92-2.12]) and no difference of functional independence rates (modified Rankin Scale score of 0-2; odds ratio, 1.72 [95% CI, 0.93-3.15]) with EVT compared with MM. Moreover, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage risk (odds ratio, 3.46 [95% CI, 0.50-23.92]) and 90-day mortality (odds ratio, 1.11 [95% CI, 0.66-1.87]) were not statistically different between treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS In patients with M2 occlusion in the 6- to 24-hour time window, there was no difference in disability outcomes or symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage risk between patients treated with EVT compared with MM. Results of ongoing randomized trials will provide further insight. REGISTRATION URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT04096248.

In this study, a greenhouse experiment was carried out from April to July 2024 to assess the effectiveness of four ornamental plants in removing heavy metals from the polluted soil surrounding the Zenica steel mill in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The selected ornamental plants - blue mink (Ageratum houstonianum Mill.), marigold (Tagetes erecta L.), impatiens (Impatiens walleriana Hook. f.), and begonia (Begonia semperflorens - Cultorum Group) - demonstrated potential for addressing soil contamination. These plants were cultivated in grow bags filled with soil collected from different areas surrounding the Zenica steel mill. The concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, Mn, and Fe) in both soil and plant samples were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The findings of this study reveal that soils adjacent to the Zenica steel mill are heavilycontaminated with Zn, Cd, and Pb and also contain notable levels of Mn and Fe. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF) and translocation factor (TF) were calculated to determine the potential of the selected ornamental plants to uptake and transport heavy metals from the soil to its aboveground parts. The BAF values for all heavy metals in all studied plant species were consistently below 1, indicating a limited capacity to remove heavy metals from the soil. This limited effectiveness can be attributed, among other factors, to the high pH levels of the tested soils. Despite the limitation, the findings revealed a significant difference in the plants’ capacity to uptake and accumulate heavy metal ions from the examined soils. Among the tested plants, blue mink demonstrated the highest ability to absorb Cu, Pb, Cr and Fe, while the highest concentrations of Zn and Cd were found in begonia

We demonstrate non-immunogenic circRNA as a tool for targeted gene regulation in plants, where it acts in an isoform- and sequence-specific manner, enabling future agronomic applications. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are single-stranded RNA molecules characterized by their covalently closed structure and are emerging as key regulators of cellular processes in mammals, including gene expression, protein function and immune responses. Recent evidence suggests that circRNAs also play significant roles in plants, influencing development, nutrition, biotic stress resistance, and abiotic stress tolerance. However, the potential of circRNAs to modulate target protein abundance in plants remains largely unexplored. In this study, we investigated the potential of designer circRNAs to modulate target protein abundance in plants using Arabidopsis protoplasts as a model system. We show that PEG-mediated transfection with a 50-nt circRNAGFP containing a 30-nt GFP-antisense sequence results in a dose- and sequence-dependent reduction of GFP reporter target protein abundance. Notably, a single-stranded open isoform of circRNAGFP had little effect on protein abundance, indicating the importance of the closed circular structure. Additionally, circRNAGFP also reduced GFP abundance in Arabidopsis mutants defective in RNA interference (RNAi), suggesting that circRNA activity is independent of the RNAi pathway. We also show that circRNA, unlike dsRNA, does not induce pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) in plants. Findings of this proof-of-principle study together are crucial first steps in understanding the potential of circRNAs as versatile tools for modulating gene expression and offer exciting prospects for their application in agronomy, particularly for enhancing crop traits through metabolic pathway manipulation.