Background: Covert brain infarction (CBI) is highly prevalent and linked with stroke risk factors, increased mortality, and morbidity. Evidence to guide management is sparse. We sought to gain information on current practice and attitudes toward CBI and to compare differences in management according to CBI phenotype. Methods: We conducted a web-based, structured, international survey from November 2021 to February 2022 among neurologists and neuroradiologists. The survey captured respondents’ baseline characteristics, general approach toward CBI and included two case scenarios designed to evaluate management decisions taken upon incidental detection of an embolic-phenotype and a small-vessel-disease phenotype. Results: Of 627 respondents (38% vascular neurologists, 24% general neurologists, and 26% neuroradiologists), 362 (58%) had a partial, and 305 (49%) a complete response. Most respondents were university hospital senior faculty members experienced in stroke, mostly from Europe and Asia. Only 66 (18%) of respondents had established institutional written protocols to manage CBI. The majority indicated that they were uncertain regarding useful investigations and further management of CBI patients (median 67 on a slider 0–100, 95% CI 35–81). Almost all respondents (97%) indicated that they would assess vascular risk factors. Although most would investigate and treat similarly to ischemic stroke for both phenotypes, including initiating antithrombotic treatment, there was considerable diagnostic and therapeutic heterogeneity. Less than half of respondents (42%) would assess cognitive function or depression. Conclusions: There is a high degree of uncertainty and heterogeneity regarding management of two common types of CBI, even among experienced stroke physicians. Respondents were more proactive regarding the diagnostic and therapeutic management than the minimum recommended by current expert opinions. More data are required to guide management of CBI; meantime, more consistent approaches to identification and consistent application of current knowledge, that also consider cognition and mood, would be promising first steps to improve consistency of care.

Abstract The presence of thermocapillary (Marangoni) convection in microgravity may help to enhance the heat transfer rate of phase change materials (PCMs) in space applications. We present a three-dimensional numerical investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of a melting PCM placed in a cylindrical container filled with n-octadecane and surrounded by passive air. The heat exchange between the PCM and ambient air is characterized in terms of the Biot number, when the air temperature has a linear profile. The effect of thermocapillary convection on heat transfer and the topology of the melting front is studied by varying the applied temperature difference between the circular supports and the heat transfer through the interface. The evolution of Marangoni convection during the PCM melting leads to the appearance of hydrothermal instabilities. A new mathematical approach for the nonlinear analysis of emerging hydrothermal waves (HTWs) is suggested. Being applied for the first time to the examination of PCMs, this procedure allows us to explore the nature of the coupling between HTWs and heat gain/loss through the interface, and how it changes over time. We observe a variety of dynamics, including standing and travelling waves, and determine their dominant and secondary azimuthal wavenumbers. Coexistence of multiple travelling waves with different wavenumbers, rotating in the same or opposite directions, is among the most fascinating observations.

Objective: Walking is a key component of daily-life mobility. We examined associations between laboratory-measured gait quality and daily-life mobility through Actigraphy and Global Positioning System (GPS). We also assessed the relationship between two modalities of daily-life mobility i.e., Actigraphy and GPS. Methods: In community-dwelling older adults (N = 121, age = 77±5 years, 70% female, 90% white), we obtained gait quality from a 4-m instrumented walkway (gait speed, walk-ratio, variability) and accelerometry during 6-Minute Walk (adaptability, similarity, smoothness, power, and regularity). Physical activity measures of step-count and intensity were captured from an Actigraph. Time out-of-home, vehicular time, activity-space, and circularity were quantified using GPS. Partial Spearman correlations between laboratory gait quality and daily-life mobility were calculated. Linear regression was used to model step-count as a function of gait quality. ANCOVA and Tukey analysis compared GPS measures across activity groups [high, medium, low] based on step-count. Age, BMI, and sex were used as covariates. Results: Greater gait speed, adaptability, smoothness, power, and lower regularity were associated with higher step-counts (0.20<|ρp| < 0.26, p < .05). Age(β = −0.37), BMI(β = −0.30), speed(β = 0.14), adaptability(β = 0.20), and power(β = 0.18), explained 41.2% variance in step-count. Gait characteristics were not related to GPS measures. Participants with high (>4800 steps) compared to low activity (steps<3100) spent more time out-of-home (23 vs 15%), more vehicular travel (66 vs 38 minutes), and larger activity-space (5.18 vs 1.88 km2), all p < .05. Conclusions: Gait quality beyond speed contributes to physical activity. Physical activity and GPS-derived measures capture distinct aspects of daily-life mobility. Wearable-derived measures should be considered in gait and mobility-related interventions.

Introduction: The most general definition of quality of life states that “quality of life is the degree of what makes life good.” Contemporary disability research increasingly relies on examining the quality of life of the whole family. Health and developmental outcomes are affected by the health of children and their environment. The objective of this study is to determine the difference in quality of life between families with children with disabilities and families with children without disabilities in the area of family health. Methods: The Family Quality of Life Questionnaire was used to assess quality of life. The test group consisted of 41 families of children with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities who use day care centers. The control group consisted of 69 families of children without disabilities whose members are employed in day care centers. Results: A statistically significant difference was found in the quality of life of families of children with disabilities and families of children without disabilities in the area of family health within the concept of satisfaction with family health (p = 0.0001), with respondents in the test group reporting a lower mean score of 3.1 ± 0.86 compared to subjects in the control group 3.94 ± 0.62. None of the respondents in the test group reported being very satisfied with family health, while for most respondents in both groups, 38 (92.8%) in the test group and 66 (95.7%) in the control group, family health was very important for quality of life. Conclusion: A statistically significant difference was found in the quality of life of families of children with disabilities and families of children without disabilities within the concept of achievement, the concept of satisfaction with family health and the determination is a statistically significant difference in relation to the existence of health services in the place of residence.

At a time of progressive development of public international law, the internal self-determination of peoples has no alternative, but external self-determination is justifi ed in a situation where, as a result of oppression, dispossession, and collective discrimination, a certain people have full rights to freely determine its political, social, economic, and cultural setting. In the case of Kosovo, the right to “remedial secession” based on the right to external self-determination has been achieved. According to many legal scholars, the related right is an exception and could be realized outside the colonial context, in limited circumstances that resemble the colonial paradigm. Modern customary public international law provides a legal basis for the introduction of the concept of the right to “remedial secession” and forms an argument that is supported by the “Great Powers” and is consistent with international institutional practice provided that the people’s fundamental human rights are threatened. Th is article aims to explain through the case of Kosovo that the external form of self-determination, which includes secession, is possible only exceptionally in the case of grave violations of human rights and freedoms, war crimes, repression, and systematic oppression, and that the internal self-determination of the peoples is a more acceptable form of realizing this collective human right, which should be realized through broad constitutional and legal reforms in every multi-ethnic state (a certain degree of autonomy or decentralization).

Purpose This study aims to explore the short-run and long-run relationships and causality between economic growth and financialization in the new member states (NMS-11) and to provide some policy implications drawn from the empirical findings. Design/methodology/approach The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test approach to cointegration with the vector error correction model and the cumulative sum of squares (CUSUMQ) test for stability of functions is used between 1995q1 and 2021q4 to examine the existence of cointegration, relationships and causality between economic growth and financialization. Findings The findings of the ARDL bounds test demonstrate that the variables included in the models are bound together in the long run, as confirmed by the associated equilibrium correction. The estimated models indicate that the association between selected variables and economic growth is stronger and more statistically significant in the short run compared with the long run. Also, for NMS-11 understudied countries, short-run causality prevails over long-run causality. The changes in the level of financialization have a significant negative effect on the growth rates in the short run, which aligns with findings from previous empirical studies. Originality/value This study extends the existing very limited literature about short-run and long-run relationships and causality among economic growth and financialization, including inflation and unemployment variables, to determine their link in the NMS-11. Specifically, the present study reveals that the current level of financialization hampers economic growth and promoting such economic policies further can have adverse effects on the overall economic growth.

The scoring of sleep stages is one of the essential tasks in sleep analysis. Since a manual procedure requires considerable human and financial resources, and incorporates some subjectivity, an automated approach could result in several advantages. There have been many developments in this area, and in order to provide a comprehensive overview, it is essential to review relevant recent works and summarise the characteristics of the approaches, which is the main aim of this article. To achieve it, we examined articles published between 2018 and 2022 that dealt with the automated scoring of sleep stages. In the final selection for in-depth analysis, 125 articles were included after reviewing a total of 515 publications. The results revealed that automatic scoring demonstrates good quality (with Cohen's kappa up to over 0.80 and accuracy up to over 90%) in analysing EEG/EEG + EOG + EMG signals. At the same time, it should be noted that there has been no breakthrough in the quality of results using these signals in recent years. Systems involving other signals that could potentially be acquired more conveniently for the user (e.g. respiratory, cardiac or movement signals) remain more challenging in the implementation with a high level of reliability but have considerable innovation capability. In general, automatic sleep stage scoring has excellent potential to assist medical professionals while providing an objective assessment.

The goal of this study is to raise awareness about the various risks associated with gambling. It will focus on the effects of gambling addiction on gambling intention and its implications for financial wellbeing. It is known from previous research that gambling influences the family’s functioning, as well as the work-related aspects of the individual’s life. The negative effects gambling has on the workplace are more severe, such as decreased work efficiency and theft. We were curious about these effects in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a country with many customers of gambling services. The rise of Internet and social media platforms has led to an increase in the number of people gambling. Our findings indicated that gambling addiction has statistically significant positive effects on gambling intention which consequentially has statistically significant, but negative effects on financial wellbeing of individuals. Considering this empirical evidence, we can recommend to related governmental and non-governmental institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina to put this issue on their agenda and raise the awareness of society on negative effects of gambling addiction and gambling intention. On the other hand, we recommend future researchers to focus more on this important research problem and in that way provide foundations for solving the related social problem.

Little is known about vaginal and uterine bacteria in clinically healthy cats and their correlation with different stages of the oestrus cycle. The differences in vaginal bacterial flora between household and stray queens remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of vaginal and uterine bacteria in clinically healthy household and stray queens and to correlate culture findings with specific stages of the oestrous cycle. Vaginal and uterine samples from 40 clinically healthy queens were collected for isolation of bacteria and cytological examination. Bacteria were isolated from 31 vaginal swabs (77.5%) from stray (16/20; 80%) and household (15/20; 75%) cats. The isolates were more frequently detected in pure culture (18/31; 58%) than in mixed cultures (13/31; 41.9%). Streptococcus spp. was the most commonly identified bacteria (n = 16; 51.6%), followed by coagulase negative Staphylococcus spp. (n = 15; 48.4%) and E. coli (n = 12; 38.7%). A mixed bacterial culture of E. coli and Streptococcus spp. was commonly detected (50%), mainly in households (66.7%), whereas a mixed culture of Staphylococcus spp. and Streptococcus spp. (41.6%) was commonly isolated from stray cats (60%).  The frequency of isolation of pure or mixed bacterial cultures and the isolates did not vary significantly during the different stages of the oestrus cycle. All uterine samples tested were negative for bacteria. This study identified the most common bacteria in the vagina of clinically healthy cats. The isolation of vaginal bacteria in pure or mixed cultures should be considered as normal finding. The stage of the oestrous cycle apparently does not affect vaginal bacterial flora. Vaginal bacteria may differ between stray and households cats. No bacteria can be isolated from the uterus of clinically healthy cats.

Psychedelic drugs can aid fast and lasting remission from various neuropsychiatric disorders, though the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Preclinical studies suggest serotonergic psychedelics enhance neuronal plasticity, but whether neuroplastic changes can also be seen at cognitive and behavioural levels is unexplored. Here we show that a single dose of the psychedelic 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine ((±)-DOI) affects structural brain plasticity and cognitive flexibility in young adult mice beyond the acute drug experience. Using ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging, we show increased volumes of several sensory and association areas one day after systemic administration of 2mgkg−1 (±)-DOI. We then demonstrate lasting effects of (±)-DOI on cognitive flexibility in a two-step probabilistic reversal learning task where 2mgkg−1 (±)-DOI improved the rate of adaptation to a novel reversal in task structure occurring one-week post-treatment. Strikingly, (±)-DOI-treated mice started learning from reward omissions, a unique strategy not typically seen in mice in this task, suggesting heightened sensitivity to previously overlooked cues. Crucially, further experiments revealed that (±)-DOI’s effects on cognitive flexibility were contingent on the timing between drug treatment and the novel reversal, as well as on the nature of the intervening experience. (±)-DOI’s facilitation of both cognitive adaptation and novel thinking strategies may contribute to the clinical benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy, particularly in cases of perseverative behaviours and a resistance to change seen in depression, anxiety, or addiction. Furthermore, our findings highlight the crucial role of time-dependent neuroplasticity and the influence of experiential factors in shaping the therapeutic potential of psychedelic interventions for impaired cognitive flexibility.

To provide seamless wireless coverage, the framework integrating the air network and the ground heterogeneous network has attracted extensive attentions. In this work, we develop a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) assisted air-to-ground (A2G) communication-caching-charging (3C) integrated network. Specifically, we propose a resource allocation strategy to minimize the transmission latency of ground users. Since the formulated problem is difficult to solve directly, it is decomposed into three sub-problems, user pairing, user power allocation and file power allocation. Firstly, we propose a user clustering and pairing strategy according to the distance and channel gain. Secondly, the closed-form solution for the power allocation of files to maximize the duration for energy harvesting is derived. Thirdly, we apply genetic algorithm (GA), which can search for the global optimal solution, to obtain the power allocation factors for users to maximize the rate. Finally, simulations evaluate the superiority of the developed network and the proposed strategy in reducing user delay.

Skeniranje slika i pretvaranje skeniranih informacija u digitalni format je aktivna oblast istraži­vanja. Skeniranje je automatizovan, brz i efikasan proces u poređenju sa tradicionalnim unosom podataka. Prepoz­navanje cifara sa slika je izazovan zadatak. Tradicionalni pristupi za rešavanje ovog problema obično razdvajaju korake lokalizacije, segmentacije i prepoznavanja. Ovaj rad predstavlja jedinstven pristup koji integriše ova tri koraka korišćenjem duboke konvolucione neuronske mreže koja radi direktno na pikselima slike.