SUMMARY Inflammation, axonal loss and demyelinating plaques in the brain, which are the background of multiple sclerosis, very often cause changes in speech or dysarthria, in a range from mild to so severe that they impair comprehension of speech by the interlocutor. As a consequence of multiple sclerosis, dysphagia can also occur. The aim of this paper is to present the speech and swallowing difficulties that result from multiple sclerosis, and the importance of assessing the speech and swallowing in people with multiple sclerosis. This article is descriptive and provides a comprehensive overview of the literature dealing with this topic. Speech difficulties impede daily functioning and are often the first sign that other people notice. Swallowing difficulties not only complicate daily life but, if not given sufficient attention, are a possible life-threatening consequence of multiple sclerosis. Assessment of speech and swallowing difficulties should be part of the clinical assessment in each person with multiple sclerosis. As multiple sclerosis progresses, so do speech and swallowing difficulties, and it is of utmost importance to provide appropriate treatment that can alleviate these difficulties. Speech-language pathologists should be part of a team making the diagnosis and providing treatment for a person with multiple sclerosis.

SUMMARY Regular physical activity and maintaining fitness reduce the risk of chronic cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, reduce the risk of exacerbation of existing diseases, maintain physical and mental health, and contribute to healthy and successful aging in the elderly. It is of particular importance during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this review is to present relevant knowledge about the effects of restrictions and social distancing established with the aim of suppressing the COVID-19 pandemic, on physical activity and mental health of elderly people. During the pandemic, numerous authors have reported a decrease in the share of physically active population and those that used to exercise regularly. The time spent in activity decreases, energy expenditure decreases, and the time spent sedentary increases although the results in all segments related to physical activity are not consistent. Lockdown measures significantly worsen insomnia, sleep quality, feelings of loneliness, anxiety and depression in older people, especially in women. During the restrictive measures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, physical activity and exercise significantly contribute to the maintenance and improvement of physical and mental health.

SUMMARY Here we report a case of a 5-year-old boy with Ebstein anomaly and supraventricular tachycardia. He was diagnosed with Ebstein anomaly at the age of 3 months during the workup for afebrile convulsions, and has been followed by a pediatric cardiologist since. Electrocardiography recorded a small Rr` pattern in V1 on a few occasions, without other abnormalities. At the age of 2.5 years, the first episode of supraventricular tachycardia was recorded and stopped with adenosine. He was started on atenolol and was asymptomatic until a year later when he presented with the second recorded supraventricular tachycardia. He was referred to our institution for an electrophysiology study with ablation. Tachycardia was entrained and all the maneuvers were in accordance with atrioventricular reentry tachycardia. Tricuspid annulus was mapped during tachycardia. The earliest atrial signals appeared in the posteroseptal region of the valve, mechanical blocking of the tachycardia was recorded in that region, and early fractionated signal was present during ventricular retrograde pacing. The pathway was successfully ablated. Basal electrocardiogram was without change after ablation and the patient did not experience recurrence of tachycardia during follow-up. This case shows the efficacy and importance of ablation in Ebstein anomaly, without x-ray or intracardiac echocardiography.

In today's world, many companies have employees from different countries, and they work together as virtual teams using technology. The leaders of these teams need to know how to manage their teams well, understand their unique skills and overcome challenges. Accordingly, we want to study the specific leadership style and its effects on virtual teams' success. Data for the study was collected from various companies that have online activities. Team members participated in surveys, providing information on how their leaders effectively motivated them to be productive and satisfied in their jobs. Additionally, the surveys examined team members' knowledge-sharing levels in their leaders and organizations. Based on the analyses, we found that transformational leadership positively affects virtual team performance but not knowledge sharing; however, knowledge sharing positively improves team performance.

Introduction Cerebrovascular insult (CVI) in patients with psychiatric diseases is to a large extent more prevalent and is accompanied by a worse prognosis after a incident. Despite the higher mortality, these patients are less frequently subjected to CT angiography and interventional intervention on the blood vessels of the brain. Objectives To show the frequency of cerebrovascular insults in patients with schizophrenia (SCH), bipolar affective disorder (BP), and depression, depending on age, gender, socioeconomic characteristics, professional qualifications, and dietary habits. Methods A total of 1200 patients with SCH, BD and depression were treated over a period of five years. Results 11.1% SCH patients had CVI and 3,7% a cases of bipolar afective diseases. CVI was most often experienced by patients who were married, employed, or retired, and who lived in urban areas. Smoking, elevated blood pressure values, elevated BMI do not have a significant impact on the occurrence of CVI in all groups. Patients with elevated values of glucose, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol and CRP had a higher incidence of cerebrovascular insult. Conclusions It is necessary to work on raising the awareness of people suffering from psychiatric diseases regarding lifestyle and eating habits, and to conduct periodic health examinations. It is important to recognize high-risk patients and educate them about preventive measures. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

Introduction The introduction of antipsychotics, especialy of newer generation, greatly a”ects the e”ectiveness of the psychiatric treatment of patients with schizophrenia (SCH) and bipolar disorder (BP). Patients su”ering from SCH and BP often have metabolic syndrome (MetSy), as a result of taking antipsychotic therapy, especially in patients with abdominal obesity, there is an atherogenic fat profile that carries a high risk for the development of dyslipidemia. Objectives To investigate frequency and di”erences of somatic diseases in patients with SCH and BD depending on the presence of MetSy. Methods This five-year prospective study was conducted in the Psychiatric Hospital of Canton Sarajevo. We followed 135 patients with SCH and 135 patients with BD, aged 30 to 69 years, who were treated with antipsychotics for five years. Results Dyslipidemia was significantly more common in SCH patients (73.3%), compared to BD (54.1%) and was dominantly presented in women (61.4%). The frequency of dyslipidemia increased with the age of the patient. Associated risk factors in patients with SCH diagnosed with dyslipidemia were 73.5% smokers, 78.7% hypertensive patients, 69.7% patients with elevated BMI and 83.0% with elevated blood glucose values, while slightly lower values were recorded patients with BP. 97.8% of patients with dyslipidemia had elevated CRP. Conclusions There are significant di”erences in dyslipidemia in patients su”ering from SCH and BP. Adequate knowledge of the antipsychotic drugs is required in order to provide adequate psychiatric treatment, regarding minimalising adverse e”ects of antipsychotics will be reduced to a minimum. It is important to recognize high-risk patients and educate them about preventive measures. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

Limited edge server resources and uneven distribution of traffic density in vehicular networks result in problems such as unbalanced network load and high task processing latency. To address these issues, we proposed an efficient caching and offloading resource allocation (ECORA) strategy in vehicular social networks. First, to improve the utilization of vehicular idle resources, a collaborative computation and storage resource allocation mechanism was designed using mobile social similarity. Next, with the optimization objective of minimizing the average task processing delay, we studied the combined resource allocation optimization problem and decoupled it into two sub-problems. For the service caching subproblem, we designed a stable matching algorithm by mobile social connections to dynamically update the cache resource allocation scheme for improving the task unloading efficiency. For the task offloading subproblem, a discrete cuckoo search algorithm based on differential evolution was designed to adaptively select the best task offloading scheme, which minimized the average task processing delay. Simulation results revealed that the ECORA strategy outperformed the resource allocation strategy based on particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm, and reduced the average task processing delay by at least 7.59%. Meanwhile, the ECORA strategy can achieve superior network load balancing.

Background: this study aimed to determine the expression of RNA-binding oncofetal proteins IMP3 and LIN28A in extravillous (EVT) and villous trophoblast (VT) cells of placentas from pre-eclamptic (PE) pregnancies to better understand the pathogenesis of PE. Methods: placental tissue of 10 patients with PE with severe features, 10 patients with PE without severe features and 20 age-matched healthy pregnancy controls were analyzed by immunohistochemistry, double immunofluorescence and qPCR. Results: We found a decreased percentage of IMP3-positive EVT cells in PE with and without severe features compared to that of the healthy control (p < 0.001). IMP3 expression was significantly low in VT of PE placentas compared to that of the healthy control (p = 0.002). There was no significant difference in LIN28A expression between groups of PE and the control group. Additionally, we noticed the trend toward downregulation of IMP3 mRNA and LIN28A mRNA in severe PE compared to that of healthy controls. Conclusions: We demonstrated that IMP3 expression is decreased in EVT and VT cells of placentas from pregnancies complicated with both PE with and without severe features. However, additional functional investigations are needed to clarify the role of IMP3 as a potential therapeutic target in the management of PE.

The gradual deterioration of articular cartilage was thought to be the central event in osteoarthritis (OA), but recent studies demonstrated the importance of low-grade synovitis in the progression of OA. The Syndecan (SDC) family of membrane proteoglycans is known to be involved in the regulation of inflammation, but there is limited evidence considering the role of syndecans in OA synovitis. Our study aimed to investigate the hip OA synovial membrane expression patterns of SDC1, SDC2 and SDC4, as well as exostosins and sulfotransferases (enzymes involved in the polymerisation and modification of syndecans’ heparan sulphate chains). Synovial membrane samples of patients with OA (24) were divided into two groups according to their Krenn synovitis score severity. The immunohistochemical expressions of SDC1, SDC2, SDC4, EXT1, EXT2, NDST1 and NDST2 in synovial intima and subintima were then analysed and compared with the control group (patients with femoral neck fracture). According to our study, the immunoexpression of SDC1, NDST1 and EXT2 is significantly increased in the intimal cells of OA synovial membrane in patients with lower histological synovitis scores and SDC4 in patients with higher synovitis scores, in comparison with non-OA controls. The difference in the expression of SDC2 among the OA and non-OA groups was insignificant. SDC1, SDC4, NDST1 and EXT2 seem to be involved as inflammation moderators in low-grade OA synovitis and, therefore, should be further investigated as potential markers of disease progression and therapeutic goals.

The subject of this research wasto verify the feasibility of implementing green chemistry principles within the business company „Omorika Reciklaža“ Ltd. situated in Johovac near Doboj, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The objective of this study wasto conduct a detailed assessment of the company's facilities and operations, using environmental audits, to identify technological processes (production lines), energy and waste flows, capacities, product range, and other pertinent factors crucial for theapplication of green chemistry principles. Special emphasis was placed on analyzing each substance that constitutes a raw material, whether used individually or as part of mixtures.The assessment of safety data sheets involvedutilizing the CAS registration numbers of substances from the Chemical Abstracts Service, cross-referenced with the ECHA database (European Chemicals Agency). The outcomes, attained through an exhaustive analysis of each substance, were presented as a "chemical inspection" of the company. Through the analysis of all substances and mixtures in the technological process (chemical inspection), as well as the capacity of production flows, energy and resource flows, wastewater, and waste, the potential for enhancing the technological process wasidentified. This involvedreducing dust levels in the workspace, decreasing electricity consumption (utilizing renewable sources), and substituting particularly hazardous chemicals used in the technological process. KEYWORDS:green chemistry; chemical safety; SVHC;environmentalaudit

In accordance with consumer requirements, the water must be adequately purified, and the corresponding parameters within the defined values. Various methods are used for this purpose, of which the ion exchange method can be highlighted as the simplest, most efficient and economically profitable. Ion exchange is a reversible process of ion exchange between a solid phase and an electrolyte solution. The ion exchanger is a macromolecular insoluble material that has chemically bound electrified groups and mobile, oppositely charged ions that compensate for this electrification. Ion exchangers are usually used in the form of compact or granular beds that fill the column through which the solution with the ions to be exchanged flows.They usually contain phenolic, carboxylic, sulfonic amino and other groups, which is why the treatment also results in decarbonization, softening, demineralization and denitrification of water. As the assessment of water quality is based on the most significant physico-chemical parameters, the aim of the work is the analysis of drinking water before and after treatment with an ion exchanger.For this purpose, organoleptic parameters such as smell, taste and color were first analyzed. After that, physico-chemical parameters were analyzed: pH values, electrical conductivity, m-alkalinity, p-alkalinity, water hardness, organic matter content, chloride content, iron and manganese content. An ion exchanger based on resin was used, which after use was regenerated by washing with NaClsolution.The analysis of the water sample, before and after the ion exchange treatment, showed that the treatment process was effective and that the decarbonization and softening of the water was carried out, whereby the water was categorized as soft water (water <9⁰dH).The analyzed water is tasteless, odorless and colorless before and after treatment. The results of the analysis showed that all the values of the analyzedphysico-chemical parametersare in accordance with the Rulebook on the Healthiness of Drinking Water(Official Gazetteof Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina No.40/10) arebelow the maximum allowed values. KEYWORDS:water, ion exchange, physical-chemical parameters; water treatment

The purpose of the present study is to simulate erosion on the aluminium plate with a cylindrical hole caused by solid particles after passing through 90° elbow, using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the Discrete Phase Model (DPM), and erosion equations. Discrete trajectories of solid particles are calculated using the Lagrangian approach, while the simulation of the fluid was obtained by solving the fluid motion equation using the Eulerian approach. Supplementary sub-models are incorporated into the software to enhance the accuracy of particle trajectory calculations within the simulated geometry. These sub-models include collisions of solid particles with walls (stochastic model) and erosion model. The numerical simulation results obtained in this paper were compared with the existing experimental results from the group of authors, demonstrating a good match. The paper provides the main characteristics of the mathematical model, along with the interpretation of results and a discussion, with the key findings highlighted in the conclusion. The findings indicate that erosion process is significantly influenced by both the particle impact velocity and impact angle, which are key parameters in many erosion equa - tions. Furthermore, it is observed that the velocity of the particles is consistently lower than the mean velocity of the air. Additionally, the angle at which the particles impact the aluminium plate is not always exactly 90° due to multiple collisions with the wall, signifying that the particles do not move exclusively vertically.

Leptospirosis is a (re) emerging zoonosis that occurs worldwide. This study aimed to assess seroprevalence of leptospirosis and to identify the most common reactive serovars and risk factors for seropositivity in apparently healthy stray dogs of unknown vaccination status in the Sarajevo region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Positive microscopic agglutination test titres (≥ 1:25) were detected in 3.87% (156/4028) of samples and most of the sera reacted against one serovar (85.9%). Dogs were most commonly reactive to Canicola (40.4%) and Hardjo (33.3%), followed by Pomona (15.4%) Tarassovi (14.7%), Icterohaemorrhagiae (8.3%), Grippotyphosa (5.8%), Bratislava (1.3%) and Saxkoebing (0.6%). Dogs older than one year had higher odds of seropositivity compared to younger dogs. The seropositivity was higher in spring and autumn than in summer. These results advocate for the need of a control strategy for this zoonosis in the country, which should include sero-surveillance, monitoring, and the inclusion of additional serovars in the testing.

COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) accelerated in the second half of 2021, with greater vaccine availability. In this study, we estimated the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of complete primary series BBIBP-CorV vaccine against COVID-19 in patients aged 60 years and older, during the Delta-dominant period, using a test-negative case-control design. Surveillance sites were 11 primary health care centers (PHC) collecting patient data from October 1, 2021, to January 4, 2022, retrospectively according to a common protocol. In total, we included 1711 participants in the analysis: 933 cases and 778 controls. Of the 933 cases, 508 (54.4 %) had mild and 425 (45.6 %) had moderate to severe disease presentation. We observed no effectiveness against mild COVID-19. Overall vaccine effectiveness was 65.0 % (95 %CI: 40.1-79.5) against moderate to severe COVID-19. In time since vaccination analysis, VE was 78.7 % (95 % CI: 54.8-89.9) in patients who received their last dose < 90 days before onset; 66.0 % (95 % CI: -0.5-88.5) in those 90-119 days before onset; 42.1 % (95 % CI: -88.6-82.3) in those 120-149 days before onset and 45.0 % (95 % CI: -94.0-84.4) in those ≥ 150 days before onset. In our study, two doses of BBIBP-CorV provided considerable protection against moderate to severe COVID-19 in older adults, highest within 3 months after second dose, during the Delta-dominant period. Point estimates declined thereafter, suggesting a need for additional doses.