BACKGROUND: Left atrial strain (LAS) analysis represents a newer non-invasive, sensitive and specific technique for assessing left atrial (LA) function and early detection of its deformation and dysfunction. However, its applicability in mitral regurgitation (MR) in pediatric population remains unexplored, raising pertinent questions regarding its potential role in evaluating the severity and progression of the disease. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of chronic MR in children and adolescents on LA remodeling and function. METHODS: The study included 100 participants. Patients with primary and secondary chronic MR lasting at least 5 years fit our inclusion criteria. The exclusion criteria from the study were: patients with functional mitral regurgitation due to primary cardiomyopathies, patients with artificial mitral valve, patients with MR who had previously undergone surgery due to obstructive lesions of the left heart (aortic stenosis, coarctation of the aorta), patients with significant atrial rhythm disorders (atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter). The echocardiographic recordings were conducted by two different cardiologists. Outcome data was reported as mean and standard deviation (SD) or median and interquartile range (Q1–Q3). RESULTS: The study included 100 participants, of whom 50 had MR and the remaining 50 were without MR. The average age of all participants was 15.8 ± 1.2 years, with a gender distribution of 37 males and 63 females. There was a significant difference in the values of LA volume index (LAVI), which were higher in patients with MR ( p = 0.0001), S/D ratio (and parameters S and D; p = 0.001, p = 0.0001, p = 0.013), mitral annulus radius ( p = 0.0001), E/A ratio ( p = 0.0001), as well as septal e’ (m/s), lateral e’ (m/s), and average E/e’ ratio, along with the values of TV peak gradient and LV global longitudinal strain (%). There was no significant difference in LA strain parameters, nor in LA stiffness index (LASI). CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed significant differences in several echocardiographic parameters in pediatric patients with MR relative to those without MR, providing insight into the multifaceted cardiac structural and functional effects of MR in this vulnerable population.

Talent management is an essential area within human resource management and has been increasingly receiving attention over the past several decades. The focus of talent management is on the most crucial employees within an enterprise. Therefore, it is vital to have a specialized and tailored management system for them to maximize business results. This paper addresses the connection between talent management and enterprise competitiveness. It aims to examine the relationship between these two variables within the business environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This paper significantly contributes to both theory and practice because it proposes a new, more comprehensive process model of talent management based on a detailed analysis and synthesis of all available scientific and research works. Following this, the paper tests the proposed model in practice and measures its success by examining enterprise competitiveness. The research was conducted on 101 service enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the second quarter of 2023. Managers of service enterprises involved in human resource management were surveyed. The questionnaire was formulated based on a combination of existing research in the specified fields. The data were subjected to correlation and regression analysis, and the research results were presented according to the previously set objectives and hypotheses. The research results showed that talent management is a significant predictor of competitive advantage. Additionally, a positive impact on competitiveness was confirmed for each individual group of talent management activities presented in the proposed process model.

Significance S-layer proteins (SLPs) are self-assembling, crystalline proteins coating the cell surfaces of many prokaryotes. This study presents experimental atomic resolution structures of lactobacilli SLPs, deriving functional insight into key probiotic Lactobacillus strains. The structures of SlpA and SlpX proteins highlight the domain swapping critical for SlpX integration, particularly in response to environmental stress. Two binding regions are identified as crucial for attachment of the S-layer to (lipo)teichoic acid. The structure of assembled S-layer provides a foundation for employing (designed) SLPs as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Additionally, it opens broad avenues for the use of SLPs in vaccine development and in crafting nanostructures with tailored properties, including those designed for targeted drug delivery.

The transition process from fossil fuels to environmentally friendly renewable energy sources carries the risk of creating new environmental damages. Photovoltaic technology represents one of the alternatives with the least risk of harmful environmental impact. However, this technology has two important drawbacks: the significant land occupation for the installation of PV systems and the uncontrollability of production. By constructing floating photovoltaic plants on hydroelectric reservoirs, both of these problems can be reduced to an acceptable level. Some artificial reservoirs, originally built for hydroelectric power plants, have acquired a significant secondary function as recreational areas and fish breeding sites. Therefore, there is justified resistance from the local community to change the existing appearance and purpose of such reservoirs. This paper proposes a completely new concept of integrating the interests of the local community into such objects. In addition to preserving existing uses, the concept also offers new features. This can make the entire system environmentally friendly and sustainable. This paper details the technology behind the construction of floating photovoltaic power plants on artificial reservoirs and emphasizes their various advantages. These benefits include the non-utilization of cultivable land, the ease of assembly and construction, integration into existing power grids, and the potential to address electricity storage issues. For instance, Buško Lake, covering an area of 55.8 km2, may host 2.93 km2 of installed floating photovoltaic (FPV) facilities, enabling a total installed capacity of 240 MW. With an average of 5.5 h of daily sunshine, this totals 2007 annual hours, equivalent to a 55 MW thermal power plant. An analysis showed that, with losses of 18.2%, the average annual production stands at 302 GWh, translating to an annual production value of 18 million € at 60 €/MWh. The integration of this production into an existing hydroelectric power plant featuring an artificial reservoir might boost its output by 91%. The available transmission line capacity of 237 MW is shared between the hydroelectric power plant (HPP) and FPV; hence during the FPV maximum power generation time, the HPP halts its production. HPP Orlovac operates a small number of hours annually at full capacity (1489 h); therefore in combination with the FPV, this number can be increased to 2852 h. This integration maintains the lake’s functions in tourism and fishing while expanding its capabilities without environmental harm.

BACKGROUND: Despite improvements, survival rates for gastric cancer remain low, even in developed countries, confirming the role of primary and secondary prevention. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to demonstrate the role of additional suspension sutures on the esophagojejunal anastomosis (EJA) to strengthen the anastomosis, i.e., relieve the mechanical suture. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted from 2011 to 2022 at the Clinic for Surgery, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The experimental group consisted of patients placed with a suspension suture at the esophagojejunal anastomosis (EJA) site after total gastrectomy. The control group was patients without a suspension suture. The clinical and laboratory parameters available from the medical history were analyzed, X-ray passage, surgical complications, non-surgical complications, the length of hospitalization, the postoperative course, time of onset of postoperative complications, postoperative radiological follow-up and endoscopic postoperative follow-up were then analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 212 patients were included in the study: 87 in the experimental group with suspension sutures on the EJA and 125 in the control group without suspension sutures on the EJA. The two cohorts did not differ in other clinicopathologic parameters except perineural invasion, which was more prevalent in the control group. Patients in both groups were anemic and elevated values of C reactive protein (CRP) and decreased levels of proteins, albumin and globulin, with no significant difference between the two groups. The most common general complication was pleural effusion (28%), followed by pneumonia ( ∼ 22%). The most common complication in the experimental group was an intraabdominal abscess, while in the control group, it was a surgical wound infection. CONCLUSION: Our study did not show a statistically significant difference between the two analyzed EJA techniques created with a circular stapler, when it comes to postoperative course and outcome in patients with gastric cancer.

Background The optimal anesthetic strategy for endovascular therapy (EVT) in acute ischemic stroke is still under debate. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes of patients with isolated posterior cerebral artery (PCA) occlusion stroke undergoing EVT by anesthesia modality with conscious sedation (non-GA) versus general anesthesia (GA). Methods Patients from the Posterior CerebraL Artery Occlusion (PLATO) study were analyzed with regard to anesthetic strategy. GA was compared with non-GA using multivariable logistic regression and inverse probability of weighting treatment (IPTW) methods. The primary endpoint was the 90-day distribution of the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score. Secondary outcomes included functional independence or return to Rankin at day 90, and successful reperfusion, defined as expanded Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (eTICI) 2b to 3. Safety endpoints were symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and mortality. Results Among 376 patients with isolated PCA occlusion stroke treated with EVT, 183 (49%) had GA. The treatment groups were comparable, although the GA group contained more patients with severe stroke and lower posterior circulation Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (pc-ASPECTS). On IPTW analysis, there was no difference between groups with regard to ordinal mRS shift analysis (common OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.53 to 1.51, P=0.67) or functional independence (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.50 to 1.39, P=0.49). There were greater odds for successful reperfusion with GA (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.17 to 2.47, P=0.01). Safety outcomes were comparable between groups. Conclusion In patients with isolated PCA occlusion undergoing EVT, patients treated with GA had higher reperfusion rates compared with non-GA. Both GA and non-GA strategies were safe and functional outcomes were similar.

The Lithium-Ion battery at the end of life represents a valuable source of secondary raw materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt etc. Deep discharging, as a part of battery recycling, is a time-consuming process in which the battery's thermal dependency on the discharge parameters and voltage recovery effect is manifested. Adjusting the discharging process adequately to address those two phenomena leads to a safety increase and discharging time decrease. This paper treats two aspects. It is observed the effect of the constant and variable discharging current along with the depth of the discharge in the form of discharge end voltage parameter on the maximal cell temperature reached during the process. The second aspect is the battery recovery voltage trend after the discharging process and its dependency on the same parameters. The impact of these parameters is demonstrated experimentally on two battery cell types.

In our recent attempt to explain flavor hierarchies [1], a gauged SU(2) flavor symmetry acting on left-handed fermions provides a ground to introduce three independent rank-one contributions to the Yukawa matrices: a renormalizable one for the third family, a mass-suppressed one for the second family, and an additional loop-suppressed factor for the first family. Here, we demonstrate how minimal quark-lepton unification à la Pati-Salam, relating down-quarks to charged leptons, can significantly improve this mechanism. We construct and thoroughly analyze a renormalizable model, performing a comprehensive one-loop matching calculation that reveals how all flavor hierarchies emerge from a single ratio of two scales. The first signatures may appear in the upcoming charged lepton flavor violation experiments.

A fast-paced policy context is characteristic of energy and climate research, which strives to develop solutions to wicked problems such as climate change. Funding agencies in the European Union recognize the importance of linking research and policy in climate and energy research. This calls for an increased understanding of how stakeholder engagement can effectively be used to co-design research questions that include stakeholders' concerns. This paper reviews the current literature on stakeholder engagement, from which we create a set of criteria. These are used to critically assess recent and relevant papers on stakeholder engagement in climate and energy projects. We obtained the papers from a scoping review of stakeholder engagement through workshops in EU climate and energy research. With insights from the literature and current EU climate and energy projects, we developed a workshop programme for stakeholder engagement. This programme was applied to the European Climate and Energy Modelling Forum project, aiming to co-design the most pressing and urgent research questions according to European stakeholders. The outcomes include 82 co-designed and ranked research questions for nine specific climate and energy research themes. Findings from the scoping review indicate that papers rarely define the term 'stakeholder'. Additionally, the concepts of co-creation, co-design, and co-production are used interchangeably and often without definition. We propose that workshop planners use stakeholder identification and selection methods from the broader stakeholder engagement literature.

The consumers with building integrated photovoltaic (PV) systems have become prosumers, and their profit depends on network regulations, especially in the treatment of surplus electricity. Net-metering and feed-in tariff are the most common remuneration mechanisms for prosumers. Increasing the number of prosumers can cause various technical problems in the grid, therefore the distribution system operator sometimes imposes legal/regulatory and technical restrictions that are reflected in zero energy export. Integration of the energy storage systems can help with problems arising from these restrictions, but will make the initial investment significantly more expensive. This may negatively affect the profitability of investment. The main aim of this paper is analysis of different regulatory policies and their impact on building integrated PV system profitability. Two profitability metric factors were calculated for the purpose of better policy comparison. For the presented analysis, real data sets of a load demand and PV energy production were used. As an example, the integrated PV system installed at the Faculty of EE University of Sarajevo is analyzed.

Building integrated microgrids (BIMs) present a promising step towards a more efficient, decentralized and sustainable power system. Many buildings already have various renewable energy sources (RES) integrated, but the next step is adding energy storage (ES) systems, or proactive loads such as electric vehicles (EVs) to an already established system. However, ensuring the resilience of the system to accept these new elements presents a challenge in terms of stability, efficiency, and operational capability. This paper focuses on size optimized BIM simulated on Typhoon Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) platform using real measured load and PV production data. A rule-based energy management system (EMS) is proposed and its effective-ness is analyzed through testing resilience of the system under consideration. Performance analysis is conducted by adding an EV and assessing system response in several scenarios of load and EV use profiles. Through Typhoon HIL simulations the power profiles of system elements are analyzed, leading to conclusions on BIM performance.

Building integrated microgrids and building integrated photovoltaic systems (BIPV) are emerging as a promising avenue for seamlessly integrating small scale renewable energy sources (RES) into the grid. Challenges arise as new ideas are being explored and implemented in this area, and one of them is maximizing self-consumption and self-sufficiency, for any energy policy, but especially while adhering to zero energy export (ZEE) policy restrictions. As a solution to enhance the utilization of BIPV system this paper proposes a load management (LM) technique. By combining on-grid photovoltaic (PV) system with controllable loads, this paper demonstrates how proactive LM can increase self-consumption and self-sufficiency factors, as well as mitigate PV produced energy dumping due to ZEE restrictions. A case study in the wood sector's industrial building illustrates the efficiency of this approach, showcasing reduced reliance on grid power during sunny periods and increased self-sufficiency through strategic load scheduling. Real-world data analysis validates the effectiveness of LM in aligning PV generation with building energy demands, offering insights into its potential for broader adoption in the renewable energy sector.

A fast-paced policy context is characteristic of energy and climate research, which strives to develop solutions to wicked problems such as climate change. Funding agencies in the European Union recognize the importance of linking research and policy in climate and energy research. This calls for an increased understanding of how stakeholder engagement can effectively be used to co-design research questions that include stakeholders'concerns. This paper reviews the current literature on stakeholder engagement, from which we create a set of criteria. These are used to critically assess recent and relevant papers on stakeholder engagement in climate and energy projects. We obtained the papers from a scoping review of stakeholder engagement through workshops in EU climate and energy research. With insights from the literature and current EU climate and energy projects, we developed a workshop programme for stakeholder engagement. This programme was applied to the European Climate and Energy Modelling Forum project, aiming to co-design the most pressing and urgent research questions according to European stakeholders. The outcomes include 82 co-designed and ranked research questions for nine specific climate and energy research themes. Findings from the scoping review indicate that papers rarely define the term'stakeholder'. Additionally, the concepts of co-creation, co-design, and co-production are used interchangeably and often without definition. We propose that workshop planners use stakeholder identification and selection methods from the broader stakeholder engagement literature.