Background: Restrictive measures implemented by governments around the world to control the coronavirus have an impact on communication, especially the communication of the elderly. Objective: The aim for the article is to determine the attitudes of the elderly towards the ways of communication during the COVID 19 pandemic, and to present the challenges faced by the elderly when using digital ways of communication. The goal is also to point out the importance of providing adequate social support to the elderly. Methods: The sample consisted of 71 respondents from Bosnia and Herzegovina, aged over 60 years, divided into two groups. The questionnaire was used to gather information from respondents on their demographic characteristics as well as to examine participants’ attitudes and confidence regarding the manner and risk of communication associated with COVID-19. Results and Discussion: The results of this research showed that the elderly are actively using digital technologies, but that they are largely dissatisfied with their skills in using digital technologies. Most of the information during the COVID 19 pandemic is given to elderly people via television and telephone (video) conversations with family members and friends. 57.7% of the elderly stated that they greatly lacked direct communication, and it turned out that people living in elderly homes were in a slightly more favorable position. As many as 4/5 of the respondents reported feelings of anxiety, fear, loneliness, and depression. Conclusion: The older part of the population (those over 60 years old), especially in developing countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, is facing the challenge of “digitization of communication“. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the elderly are “calling“ for special support and the provision of training and access to technological resources in order to reduce negative psychological consequences and go one step further in creating an “elder-friendly” society.

Violence against women is rampant in China. Even though meaningful strides have been made in the country, it remains disturbingly common for men to assault women-verbally or physically, who may or may not be their partners-in broad daylight in China. To make the situation worse, COVID-19, along with its restrictions, has both undermined women's ability to escape from abuse or violence and society's ability to provide timely help to victims. In light of the rising violence against women post-COVID, in this paper, we discuss the policy imperatives for countries like China to establish effective guardrails and support systems to protect women from the dehumanizing and destabilizing crime that is violence against women-a social malaise that not only harms and undermines the safety of society's daughters, mothers, and grandmothers, but also the integrity of local communities and social contract, let along shared humanity and global solidarity at large.

Circulation of the Omicron variant with the reemergence of the N501Y mutation along with many others in the spike protein has once again stirred the academic community. Interestingly, tracing the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 shed light on a less frequent N501Y + Delta variant which has been in the global circulation for some time before the Omicron appearance. This paper aims to present the molecular characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike_N501Y + Delta variant detected in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study was conducted during November and December 2021. All patients were tested using real-time RT-PCR for detection of SARS-CoV-2. A representative number of SARS-CoV-2 positive samples was pre-screened using VirSNiP SARS-CoV-2 Spike N501Y kit. The characterization of the viruses was carried out with Illumina RNA Prep with enrichment and the Respiratory Virus Oligo Panel kit. Among the analyzed sequences, we found two isolates of the Delta variant that differ from their most related clade- GK AY.4.3 in additional mutations N501Y and L54F. In this study, we described the presence of a rare form of Delta variant with Spike_N501Y mutation in the shadow of the Omicron emergence. Despite the set of mutations in the Spike protein, this form of Delta variant does not indicate the large-scale consequences for the general population. Further functional studies of this form could provide more information about its antigenicity and infectivity.

The development of mobile health (mHealth) applications has revolutionized health and fitness management by providing users with innovative digital tools to monitor and improve their well-being. These apps integrate features such as step counting, health tracking, and activity monitoring, making them valuable for personalized health interventions. However, ensuring effective user engagement remains a critical challenge. Persuasive System Design (PSD) strategies are essential for influencing user behaviour, improving adherence to health interventions, and enhancing app usability. Despite extensive research on PSD strategies, a structured framework that prioritizes the most effective strategies for mHealth apps is lacking. This study aims to address this gap by utilizing the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP) to identify and rank the most influential PSD strategies for health and fitness mobile applications. By gathering expert opinions from product managers, this research will develop a structured Top 10 PSD Strategies Model that offers product designers a prioritized framework for implementing persuasive techniques. The findings will help improve user retention, engagement, and overall app success.

One important activity that is insufficiently researched in the field of supply chain for dangerous goods concerns the locations where vehicles carrying dangerous goods are parked. In the territory of Serbia, where the research was conducted, there are no prescribed locations of this type. This paper presents an example of selecting suitable parking locations for vehicles carrying dangerous goods along a road section of the highway network in the Republic of Serbia. For that purpose, the integrated MCDM model, consisting of the FUCOM and MARCOS methods, has been applied. FUCOM is used to determine the weighting coefficients, while the MARCOS method is used to rank locations. The results represent the selection of the most suitable locations in relation to the length of the observed section and the direction. Verification of the proposed model was performed through sensitivity and comparative analyses, and the calculation of correlation coefficients.

BACKGROUND: Prosthetic mechanical valve endocarditis (PVE) can be manifested as early PVE (acquired perioperatively) and late PVE (resulting from infections unrelated to the valve operation). Causes of both are similar but are late PVE are more prone to less virulent microbes. PVE resulting with paravalvular abscess is confirmed through echocardiography (transthoracic or transesophageal), it results with a high mortality rate especially if it is not early recognized. The aim of article was to present a patient with heart failure symptoms caused by PVE. CASE PRESENTATION: Male patient, 44 years old, was admitted because of dyspnea and swelling of lower extremities. The patient is a long-standing heroin addict who had aortic valve replacement done 8 years ago due to endocarditis. The implanted valve was a mechanical aortic valve – Edwards MIRA bi-leaflet valve No 32 (Edwards Lifesciences; Irvine, California). He also was already diagnosed with hepatitis C years before. In multiple occasions were hospitalized on the Department of cardiology due to signs and symptoms of heart failure. On transthoracic echocardiography, dilatation of all heart chambers was found. The left ventricular systolic function was moderately reduced with an ejection fraction of left ventricle of 42% according to Simpson with restrictive filling pattern. Hypoechoic mass along the right side of the mechanical aortic valve was noted measuring 3.57 × 1.03 cm. CONCLUSION: Paravalvular abscess of mechanical heart valves is a very serious complication with a high mortality rate. It is essential to recognize this type of pathology as early as possible, so aggressive parenteral antibiotic therapy could be started, while in many cases, surgical reoperation is needed.

With the widespread use of applications and services supporting audiovisual calls via smartphones, both in business and leisure contexts, a key challenge for service providers is meeting end user Quality of Experience (QoE) expectations and requirements. To successfully meet this challenge, there is a need to identify and analyze the key system-related factors impacting user perceived quality. In this paper, we contribute beyond state-of-the-art by conducting a large scale web-based questionnaire survey to investigate the system-related factors that subjects identify as most influential in contributing to their overall experience and quality perception. We focus in particular on leisure audiovisual calls, established via mobile devices. Our initial survey (Phase 1) was conducted in Feb. 2020, just prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (272 participants). To investigate if the importance of factors has changed due to increased usage of the service caused by the pandemic among the general population, we conducted a second survey (Phase 2) in October 2021 with 249 participants. Based on obtained results, we identify key system-related QoE influence factors belonging to three categories: media quality, functional support, and usability and service design. We observe no significant differences in user opinions and expectations prior to and during the period of increased service usage, despite different participant demographics and study time frames, thus contributing to generalizability of obtained results. Study results contribute to providing insights for designing future user studies investigating QoE, in terms of key factors that should be considered.

INTRODUCTION: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprising ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn disease (CD), affects >1 million individuals in the United States and 2.5 million inEurope. IBD is an immune-mediated chronic condition for which currently no definitive cure is available. The current study utilizes apositive psychology framework to understand the role of stress in IBD, seeks a proof ofconcept that stress resilience could be a protective factor in patients with IBD. Resilienceis defined as the inherent and modifiable capacity of an individual to cope or recover from adversity. OBJECTIVE: On the basis of previous knowledge, we want explain and bring closer the understanding of the resilience of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. METHODS: The PubMed database, and the Google scholar database were searched. The search was performed using keywords. This paper includes research dealing with resilience in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases within the last ten years. RESULTS: Although IBD imposes a mental and physical toll on individuals, someindividuals do report feeling stronger due to having IBD. Most studies included in this review investigated psychological resilience and trait resilience that promoted the ability to bounce back from IBD-related adversity. Conversely, higher levels of resilience were found to predict better quality of life among IBD patients. Higher levels of resilience predicted higher levels of adaptation to the ostomy; notably, perseverance— defined as a trait of resilience was the most reliable predictor. Resilience was not significantly affected by clinical characteristics in UC patients. CONCLUSION: Many unmet needs still exist in the IBD research agenda, including a better understanding of its physiopathology, reduction of diagnostic delays, discovery of more effective and safer drugs, optimisation of existing therapies, improving patients’ adherence to the treatment plan, improving patient’s quality of life, management of extraintestinal manifestations, and prevention of complications. A multidimensional approach is necessary for delivering high-quality healthcare for IBD patients.

Background: The Gustave Roussy immune score (GRIm score) is a laboratory index developed to predict survival in nonsmall cell lung cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy and has shown that the pretreatment value is an independent prognostic factor for survival. In this study, we aimed to determine prognostic significance of GRIm score for pancreatic adenocarcinoma that have not been determined in the literature for pancreatic cancer before. The reason for choosing this scoring is to show that the immune scoring system works as a prognostic marker in pancreatic cancer known as immune-desert tumor via immune properties of microenvironment. Methods: Medical records of patients with histologically confirmed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, who were treated and followed up between December 2007 and July 2019 at our clinic, were reviewed retrospectively. GRIm scores of each patient were calculated at the time of diagnosis. Survival analysis were performed according to risk groups. Results: A total of 138 patients were included in the study. While 111 (80.4%) patients were in the low-risk group; 27 (19.6%) were in high-risk group according to GRIm score. Median OS was 36.9 months (95% Confidence interval (CI): 25.42–48.56) in lower GRIm scores, and it was 11.1 months (95% CI: 6.83–15.44) in higher GRIm scores (P = 0.002). One-two-three-year OS rates were 85% versus 47%, 64% versus 39%, 53% versus 27% for low versus high GRIm scores, respectively. The multivariate analysis revealed that high GRIm score was an independent poor prognostic factor. Conclusion: GRIm can be used as a noninvasive, easily applicable, practical prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer patients.

Stroke related adult neuropsychiatric syndromes can be classified according to four axes: behavior or personality disorders, disorders of the perception identification of the self, other people, places, and time, cognitive disintegration (acute confusional state) and affective or mood disorders. Although cognitive dysfunctions or mood and affect disorders are very common after stroke and represent a very important factor in the recovery and rehabilitation, we will give short overview of rare behaviour or personality disorders related to stroke because we emphasize the need for a good knowledge of the these syndromes, in order to make valid diagnosis and start targeted etiological treatment.

Passive flow control techniques are needed to reduce flow separation and enhance aerodynamic performance. In this work, the effect of a knitted wire mesh on the flow separation of a backward-facing ramp was numerically investigated for a Reynolds number of 3000. A grid independence study and a RANS turbulence model sensitivity analysis were conducted. The CFD simulations exhibited counter-rotating streamwise vortices emerging from the knitted wire mesh, and the reattachment length was significantly reduced. A variation of the knitted wire rows revealed a maximum reduction of the reattachment length of 25.7% for the case of four rows. A comparison with a different knitted wire mesh geometry yielded a decreased reattachment length reduction.