At the beginning of 2020, few people could imagine that the new coronavirus, COVID-19, would impact that many aspects of our lives and change the content, structure, and teaching methods we knew before. Many language teachers (LT) worldwide who had been effectively implementing face-to-face instruction had to make an abrupt transition to online education, something they were not trained for or had experience with. The present study aims to discover whether LT successfully delivered online instruction and whether online teaching during the first online period impacted students’ learning habits. Using a specifically designed questionnaire, students who study at several public universities from Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM), and Türkiye (TUR) were asked to evaluate their teachers’ professional adaptation and success during the first “emergency online teaching semester”, and to reflect on their learning habits during this period and the changes they personally experienced. The results of the study revealed that students in the three countries approached and evaluated their teachers’ pedagogical skills as appropriate for online teaching in the first COVID-19 period in remarkably similar ways. However, the impact on students’ learning habits is, to a certain extent, different in these countries. The findings of the study might provide relevant input to rethink the teaching profession in terms of competencies, means of instruction, and strategies for coping with processes that affect teaching. Education will not be the same in a post-pandemic world, we must use the knowledge we have gained, and the suggestions made by our students to enhance our educational systems.

Recent findings in action mechanics showing torques result from rates of variation in impulsive action motivated this more fundamental approach to estimate maximum power from wind turbines. Newton’s third law of equality of action and reaction provides a strictly causal mechanism of wind power from the deflection of wind momentum by twice its angle (θ) of incidence on rotor blades. The lateral reaction needed to conserve wind momentum provides the turning moment for the turbine rotors. This direct approach challenges the current continuum mechanism for generating power from flows of kinetic energy in wind passing through the areas swept by rotating blades. Action mechanics integrates the rates of impulsive wind action on turbine blades as torques (∫mrvdθ/dt ≡ mv2) exerted on rotor surfaces at decreasing radii. Windward torque (Tw) is estimated from rotor dimensions, the angle of wind incidence and radial action of wind impulses on the blade surfaces (also ∫mrvdθ/dt ≡ mv2). A leeward torque (Tb) for back reaction of turbine blades on air mimics drag exerted parallel to the plane of rotation of the blade. Net torque is then converted to potential power (Tw - Tb)Ω by the angular velocity (Ω) of the turbine rotors, a function of tip speed ratio to wind speed. New contributions from action mechanics for managing wind power include larger estimates of its possible magnitude by including vortical energy, much larger than the kinetic energy. Better predictions of limits to wind power can be made, by including control of optimal wind angle and blade length. An analysis of the equivalence of deflected air momentum on turbine blades or air foils for aircraft reveals that even the lifting action on air foils can be explained by the normal reaction to the momentum in an air stream, also deflected by an angle twice that (2θ) of incidence, validating application of action mechanics to airflight. A mechanism for release of vortical field energy from laminar flow of air in anticyclones is predicted in turbulent downstream wakes, possibly assisting achievement of maximum power output by wind farms. Significant heat release by downwind turbulence from vortical energy requires care for their location. Diligence demands that use of windfarms as major sources of renewable energy should minimize any environmental impacts, such as drying of landscapes.

ABSTRACT Background The aim of this study was to provide an overview of age, sex and primary renal disease (PRD) distribution among first kidney transplant recipients across Europe. Method The European Renal Association (ERA) Registry database was used to obtain data on patients aged 20 years or older receiving their first kidney transplant between 2010 and 2019 from 12 European countries. The numbers and percentages of recipients in each age, sex and PRD group were calculated by country, donor type and year. Results In total, 99 543 adults received a first kidney transplant. Overall, 23% of the recipients were 65 years or older, 36% were female, and 21% had glomerulonephritis and 15% diabetes mellitus as PRD. Compared with deceased donor kidney transplant recipients, living donor kidney transplant recipients were less often 65 years or older (13% versus 26%), more often had glomerulonephritis (25% versus 20%) and less often diabetes mellitus (8% versus 17%) as PRD. We found large international differences, which were most prominent for age and PRD and less prominent for sex. Over time, the largest change in recipient characteristics was observed for the percentage of recipients aged 65 years or older, increasing from 18% in 2010 to 28% in 2019 for all countries combined with a similar trend in most countries. Conclusion We observed large differences for age and PRD distribution between recipients of living and deceased donor kidneys and between European countries. Over time, the percentage of older first kidney transplant recipients increased.

The well-being of students and staff directly affects their output and efficiency. This study presents the results of two focus groups conducted in 2022 within a two-phase project led by the Applied Biomedical and Signal Processing Intelligent e-Health Lab, School of Engineering at the University of Warwick, and British Telecom within “The Connected Campus: University of Warwick case study” program. The first phase, by involving staff and students at the University of Warwick, aimed at collecting preliminary information for the subsequent second phase, about the feasibility of the use of Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things for well-being support on Campus. The main findings of this first phase are interesting technological suggestions from real users. The users helped in the design of the scenarios and in the selection of the key enabling technologies which they considered as the most relevant, useful and acceptable to support and improve well-being on Campus. These results will inform future services to design and implement technologies for monitoring and supporting well-being, such as hybrid, minimal and even intrusive (implantable) solutions. The user-driven co-design of such services, leveraging the use of wearable devices and Artificial Intelligence deployment will increase their acceptability by the users.

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INTRODUCTION Recent information on tortuosity in the prevertebral (V1) segment of the vertebral artery is based on case reports rather than systematic data on its presence, types, diameters, and sex- or left-right differences.

Alcohol drinks, especially wine, have been described since 6,000 B.C. For many years in modern medicine, wine in moderation has been considered healthy for cardiovascular prevention, i.e., recommended by nutrition committees. Some regional guidelines still recommend one to two standard drinks per day. By the very recent (January 2023), World Health Organization and Canadian Guidance on alcohol emphasize that any alcoholic drink is hazardous to the health and the safe amount is zero. The risk starts with every single drop. It was also nicely summarized in the manuscript “Alcohol-dose question and the weakest link in a chemical interplay” (Explor Cardiol. 2023;1:15–25. doi: 10.37349/ec.2023.00003) especially from the standpoint of a researcher in the cardiovascular arena. The newest recommendations are based on observational studies and their meta-analysis, therefore establishing associations, pointing out that alcohol may somewhat prevent cardiovascular diseases and diabetes type 2, but with a significant increase in non-cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, especially cancers. Previous recommendations, therefore, may be obsolete as they were based on studies where abstainers from alcoholic beverages had inherent higher risks. The current controversy with conflicting guidelines for alcoholic beverage consumption in the era of precision medicine may stimulate more fundamental investigations up to genetic ones and find the cause-effect relations. In the era of precision medicine, it may come closer to discovering the causes of cancers and many other diseases, enabling predictions of reactions to alcoholic beverages by each person, not just in the population.

Introduction: Prediabetes is a state of impaired glucose homeostasis manifested either by an increase in fasting glucose or a decrease in glucose tolerance. Prediabetes carries a high risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular complications. Aim: to determine the prevalence of prediabetes in pre-obese and obese individuals and the ten-year risk of developing T2DM in these subjects. Methods: The study was conducted in the family medicine clinics of the Educational Center for Family Medicine (ECFM) of the Banja Luka Health Center and the Tesliü Health Center. The study included pre-obese and obese patients older than 18 years of age, with a body mass index greater than 27.0 kg/m2. The research instrument was a questionnaire with sociodemographic data, a questionnaire for assessing the risk of developing diabetes mellitus type 2 (FINDRISC), and patient anthropometric measurements, arterial blood pressure measurements and laboratory findings (fasting glucose, lipid status, HbA1c) were performed. Results: The research included 264 patients. The prevalence of prediabetes in obese patients is 28.03%, while in pre-obese it is 21.21%. Subjects with a larger waist circumference are more likely to have prediabetes. With increasing age, the chance of getting prediabetes increases, over 30% of obese and pre-obese people who are over 70 years old have prediabetes. In relation to gender, women have a higher chance of developing prediabetes. Data from the FINDRISC questionnaire showed that 1.52% of patients from the pre-obese category have a 50% chance of developing diabetes within ten years, while 13.6% of obese patients have a 50% chance of developing T2DM within ten years. Conclusion: The role of family medicine doctors is in early identification of patients with prediabetes and diabetes, reduction of risk factors and possibly pharmacological treatment of these patients.

Wireless battery management systems (BMSs) are increasingly being considered for modern applications. The ever-increasing complexity and production costs of BMS modules and wired connections resulted in a necessity for new ideas and approaches. Despite this growing trend, there is a lack of generic solutions focused on battery cells’ sensor readout, where wireless communication allows for a more flexible and cost-efficient sensor installation in battery packs. Many wireless technologies, such as those that use the 2.4GHz frequency band, suffer from interference and other limitations. In this article, we present an alternative approach to communication in BMS that relies on the use of near field communication (NFC) technology for battery sensor readouts. As an answer to the rising concern over the counterfeited battery packs, we consider an authentication schema for battery pack validation. We further consider security measures for the processed and stored BMS status data. To show that a general BMS application can make use of our design, we implement a BMS demonstrator using the targeted components. We further test the demonstrator on the technical and functional level, by also performing evaluation on its performance, energy usage, and a security threat model.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the major global health problems and it’s related to the enormous number of human deaths. The occurrence and severity of infections caused by microbial pathogens illustrate the need for the identification and characterization of novel antimicrobial agents of natural origin. This review discusses a well-known coniferous genus Abies Mill. in terms of antimicrobial potential. Data regarding the antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties of Abies species were collected and summarized in this review. It was found that 13 different Abies species are recognized as potential sources of antimicrobial compounds. The most investigated species was A. spectabilis (syn. A. webbiana), followed by A. alba, A. cilicica, A. sibirica, A. nordmanniana, A. numidica, A. koreana, A. balsamea, A. holophylla, and A. concolor. Individual studies on A. firma, A. beshanzuensis, and A. cephalonica were also taken into account. The largest number of analyzed results were related to the antibacterial activity of Abies-derived products, but studies on antifungal, and particularly antiviral capacity were also noted. The most investigated products were essential oils and extracts. The broadest antimicrobial activity was observed for A. cilicica. This study noted that some endemic and endangered Abies species were being used for antimicrobial purposes. In that term, the rationalization of the sampling practices and the implementation of the conservation activities are of great importance. This review represents a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge on the antimicrobial potential of the genus Abies.

Abstract Objectives The shape is commonly used to describe the objects. State-of-the-art algorithms in medical imaging are predominantly diverging from computer vision, where voxel grids, meshes, point clouds, and implicit surface models are used. This is seen from the growing popularity of ShapeNet (51,300 models) and Princeton ModelNet (127,915 models). However, a large collection of anatomical shapes (e.g., bones, organs, vessels) and 3D models of surgical instruments is missing. Methods We present MedShapeNet to translate data-driven vision algorithms to medical applications and to adapt state-of-the-art vision algorithms to medical problems. As a unique feature, we directly model the majority of shapes on the imaging data of real patients. We present use cases in classifying brain tumors, skull reconstructions, multi-class anatomy completion, education, and 3D printing. Results By now, MedShapeNet includes 23 datasets with more than 100,000 shapes that are paired with annotations (ground truth). Our data is freely accessible via a web interface and a Python application programming interface and can be used for discriminative, reconstructive, and variational benchmarks as well as various applications in virtual, augmented, or mixed reality, and 3D printing. Conclusions MedShapeNet contains medical shapes from anatomy and surgical instruments and will continue to collect data for benchmarks and applications. The project page is: https://medshapenet.ikim.nrw/.

This dataset is composed of cervical spine CT images with annotations related to fractures; it is available at https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/rsna-2022-cervical-spine-fracture-detection/.