This issue, 75/1 is mostly dedicated to the environmental impact of landslides, which, due to current climate change, are becoming more and more pronounced around the world and in the Republic of Croatia. The six papers (BOSTJANČIĆ et al., 2022, Fig. 1 poly­ gon 1; FILIPOVIĆ et al., 2022, Fig. 1 polygon 2; FRANGEN et al., 2022, Fig. 1 polygon 3; GULAM et al., 2022, Fig. 1 polygon 4; PODOLSZKI et al., 2022, Fig. 1 polygon 5; POLLAK et al., 2022, Fig. 1 polygon 6) focusing on landslides are the result of the work of a large team of people from the Croatian Geological Sur­ vey, carried out within the framework of the safEarth project, cofinanced by the ERDF and IPA II funds of the European Union. As a part of the Interreg IPA – Cross-border Cooperation Programme Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2014-2020, the safEarth project was based on cross-border coop­ eration of four partner institutions, namely the Croatian Geological Survey (lead partner), Geological Survey of Montenegro, Faculty of Mining, Geology and Civil Engineering of the Univer­ sity of Tuzla and the Development Agency Žepče d.o.o. The main project activities were focused on landslide susceptibility maps (LSM) as one of the most important data sets in spatial planning The use of high-resolution LiDAR scanning in the research of small landslides based on Croatian examples

Simple Summary In order to prevent lamb distress during weaning and avoid the occurrence of oxidative stress leading to diminished production performance, health status, or product quality, feeds rich in polyphenols (anthocyanins) are increasingly used in ruminant feeding. In the present study, lambs were allocated into three groups, with 10 lambs per group. The feed mixture for the control group (C) contained yellow corn. Lambs in experimental group I were fed feed mixtures containing yellow corn replaced by red corn at 50% (RC50). In experimental group II, red corn fully replaced (100%) yellow corn (RC100) in the lambs’ feed. The results of the present study indicate a positive effect of red corn rich in anthocyanins on the metabolic profile without any changes in the productive traits of lambs. Abstract In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of different proportions of red corn rich in anthocyanins on the diet of fattening lambs considering their productive traits, blood metabolic profile, and antioxidative status. The research was carried out with 30 Merinolandschaf lambs, 90 days old and weaned. The feed mixture for lambs (n = 10) of the control group contained yellow corn, while in the feed mixture of experimental group I (n = 10), yellow corn was replaced with red corn at 50% (RC50), and in experimental group II (n = 10), yellow corn was 100% replaced with red corn (RC100). An automatic three-part differential haematology analyser was used to determine haematological parameters in whole blood, and biochemical parameters were determined in blood serum using a biochemical analyser. A diet containing red corn did not affect productive traits or the majority of the examined parameters. However, higher blood haemoglobin content, increased aspartate aminotransferase and creatine kinase activity, and decreased glucose and non-esterified fatty acids concentrations were found in the serum of RC100 lambs. These results indicate a positive effect of red corn rich in anthocyanins on the metabolic profile without any changes in the productive traits of lambs.

The focus of research presented in this paper is quantification of the relationship between the traffic safety and roadside advertising structures along a selected road in urban environment. In order to determine correlation, statistical analysis of traffic safety indicators was performed. Then identificcation of characteristics of advertising structures and analysis was done by using multi-criteria evaluation in order to determine their impact on driver distraction. Determination of driver distraction was performed by testing the drivers in real traffic conditions, using specialized measuring equipment. The indicators derived from the research were then analyzed using the methods of regression analysis, and safety.

Skin lesions can be an early indicator of a wide range of infectious and other diseases. The use of deep learning (DL) models to diagnose skin lesions has great potential in assisting clinicians with prescreening patients. However, these models often learn biases inherent in training data, which can lead to a performance gap in the diagnosis of people with light and/or dark skin tones. To the best of our knowledge, limited work has been done on identifying, let alone reducing, model bias in skin disease classification and segmentation. In this paper, we examine DL fairness and demonstrate the existence of bias in classification and segmentation models for subpopulations with darker skin tones compared to individuals with lighter skin tones, for specific diseases including Lyme, Tinea Corporis and Herpes Zoster. Then, we propose a novel preprocessing, data alteration method, called EdgeMixup, to improve model fairness with a linear combination of an input skin lesion image and a corresponding a predicted edge detection mask combined with color saturation alteration. For the task of skin disease classification, EdgeMixup outperforms much more complex competing methods such as adversarial approaches, achieving a 10.99% reduction in accuracy gap between light and dark skin tone samples, and resulting in 8.4% improved performance for an underrepresented subpopulation.

U testu provenijencija hrasta lužnjaka (Quercus robur L.) u Bosni i Hercegovini koji je osnovan 2009. godine istraživana je varijabilnost visina biljaka i promjera vrata korijena na biljkama iz 27 provenijencija. Osim toga, analizirane su i korelacije između visina stabala i promjera vrata korijena s morfološkim svojstvima listova iz prirodnih populacija. Sjeme za osnivanje testova provenijencija, kao i listovi koji su korišteni u morfometrijskoj analizi, sakupljeni su u istim populacijama. Provedenim istraživanjima utvrđene su statistički značajne razlike za svojstvo visine i promjera vrata korijena. Varijabilnost je potvrđena i Duncan-ovim testom, i to na način da su biljke s obzirom na svojstvo visina grupirane u 11 skupina te s obzirom na svojstvo promjer vrata korijena u četiri skupine. Klasterskom analizom nije utvrđeno grupiranje populacija s obzirom na geografske i ekološke udaljenosti populacija. Korelacijskom analizom potvrđena je statistički značajna povezanost između visine biljaka i promjera vrata korijena te između morfoloških svojstava listova i visine biljaka i promjera vrata korijena. Dobiveni rezultati upućuju na to da se na temelju određenih morfoloških svojstava može provoditi selekcija provenijencija u mlađim fazama razvoja.

Abstract Historically, two angel shark species, common angel shark Squatina squatina and smoothback angel shark Squatina oculata, were common in the upper continental shelf of the eastern Adriatic Sea. Although both species are considered critically endangered in the Adriatic and the rest of the world, there are almost no data on the current status of populations, threat assessment and species-specific in-situ conservation. Common angel shark is still present in highly fragmented areas of the eastern Adriatic with extremely rare but consistent records, while smoothback angel shark is mostly considered regionally extinct in the Adriatic due to overfishing and overuse of non-selective fishing gear. There have been only 3 published records of common angel shark this century, the last two of which were reported by fishermen. This paper presents data on 34 new finds, including neonates, juveniles, subadults and adults recorded between January 2020 and August 2021 in the Zadar-Šibenik archipelago (central Adriatic) and one in Premantura (northern Adriatic). Two are original findings during the field expedition, 9 were reported directly by local fishermen, while 23 were reported through a detailed questionnaire. Additionally, plausible breeding and/or nursery grounds between Zadar and Šibenik are discussed with their importance for revitalization and long-term conservation in situ.

Meeting sustainable food production challenges requires efficient ways to manage nutrients and mitigate the losses of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to water. Future nutrient management therefore requires a clearer understanding of the relative influence of soils, geology, farm practice, landscape and weather on the propensity for nutrients to be lost to water. Within the Agricultural Catchments Programme (ACP), environmental, agronomic and socioeconomic data have been gathered since 2009, using the same experimental methodology in five meso-scale river catchments, and one karst spring zone, covering a range of soils, landscapes and farming systems. The ACP has contributed to a better understanding of nutrient mobilisation and transfer pathways and highlighted the influence of the physical and chemical environment as well as agricultural and meteorological drivers on diffuse nutrient loss to ground and surface waters. The environmental quality standards were breached for N and/or P in some of the catchments, but for different reasons and not always clearly linked to the source pressures within the catchment. There are clearly no one-size-fits-all solutions for mitigation of nutrient losses to water. A better understanding of the underlying processes is required to identify critical source areas, to select mitigation strategies, when to implement them and to build realistic expectations of their impact. Sustainability in an agricultural setting is not confined to environmental issues, but also includes social, economic and innovative aspects. To maximise farmers’ uptake of environmental measures, the actions should encompass all these aspects of sustainability. Integrated knowledge transfer is key.

Disruption of the alveolar–endothelial barrier caused by inflammation leads to the progression of septic acute lung injury (ALI). In the present study, we investigated the beneficial effects of simvastatin on the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI and its related mechanisms. A model of ALI was induced within experimental sepsis developed by intraperitoneal injection of a single non-lethal LPS dose after short-term simvastatin pretreatment (10–40 mg/kg orally). The severity of the lung tissue inflammatory injury was expressed as pulmonary damage scores (PDS). Alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis was confirmed by TUNEL assay (DNA fragmentation) and expressed as an apoptotic index (AI), and immunohistochemically for cleaved caspase-3, cytochrome C, and anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL, an inhibitor of apoptosis, survivin, and transcriptional factor, NF-kB/p65. Severe inflammatory injury of pulmonary parenchyma (PDS 3.33 ± 0.48) was developed after the LPS challenge, whereas simvastatin significantly and dose-dependently protected lung histology after LPS (p < 0.01). Simvastatin in a dose of 40 mg/kg showed the most significant effects in amelioration alveolar epithelial cells apoptosis, demonstrating this as a marked decrease of AI (p < 0.01 vs. LPS), cytochrome C, and cleaved caspase-3 expression. Furthermore, simvastatin significantly enhanced the expression of Bcl-xL and survivin. Finally, the expression of survivin and its regulator NF-kB/p65 in the alveolar epithelium was in strong positive correlation across the groups. Simvastatin could play a protective role against LPS-induced ALI and apoptosis of the alveolar–endothelial barrier. Taken together, these effects were seemingly mediated by inhibition of caspase 3 and cytochrome C, a finding that might be associated with the up-regulation of cell-survival survivin/NF-kB/p65 pathway and Bcl-xL.

Abstract not available Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 21 No. 02 April’22 Page : 221-232

The choroid plexus has been shown to play a crucial role in CNS inflammation. Previous studies found larger choroid plexus in multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with healthy controls. However, it is not clear whether the choroid plexus is similarly involved in MS and in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the choroid plexus volume in MS and NMOSD.In this retrospective, cross-sectional study, patients were included by convenience sampling from 4 international MS centers. The choroid plexus of the lateral ventricles was segmented fully automatically on T1-weighted MRI sequences using a deep learning algorithm (Multi-Dimensional Gated Recurrent Units). Uni- and multivariable linear models were applied to investigate associations between the choroid plexus volume, clinically meaningful disease characteristics, and MRI parameters.We studied 180 patients with MS and 98 patients with NMOSD. In total, 94 healthy individuals and 47 patients with migraine served as controls. The choroid plexus volume was larger in MS (median 1,690 µL, interquartile range [IQR] 648 µL) than in NMOSD (median 1,403 µL, IQR 510 µL), healthy individuals (median 1,533 µL, IQR 570 µL), and patients with migraine (median 1,404 µL, IQR 524 µL; all p < 0.001), whereas there was no difference between NMOSD, migraine, and healthy controls. This was also true when adjusted for age, sex, and the intracranial volume. In contrast to NMOSD, the choroid plexus volume in MS was associated with the number of T2-weighted lesions in a linear model adjusted for age, sex, total intracranial volume, disease duration, relapses in the year before MRI, disease course, Expanded Disability Status Scale score, disease-modifying treatment, and treatment duration (beta 4.4; 95% CI 0.78–8.1; p = 0.018).This study supports an involvement of the choroid plexus in MS in contrast to NMOSD and provides clues to better understand the respective pathogenesis.

This paper deals with the issue of planning the end-of-life phase of motor vehicle life cycles in Serbia and Montenegro. This topic is trending around sustainability issues, given the very unfavorable age structure of vehicles and the increasing import of used cars, which intensifies the problem of the number of waste vehicles. On average, a motor vehicle is in active use for a period of 10 to 15 years. Individual phases of its life cycle are indicated differently, using multiple parameters. All phases are influenced by many factors, but this paper focuses on the phases of active use and the end of life of a motor vehicle. This paper investigates these two phases in terms of the influencing elements. The main aim of this study is to lay the foundations for making adequate decisions on how to handle end-of-life vehicles, from the perspective of their drivers. The study includes performing quantitative research analysis via the k-means clustering technique on a sample of 1240 drivers (private and commercial vehicles), in order to draw concrete conclusions through appropriate statistical analysis. The key findings suggest that different market, business, and environment indicators define the phases of active use and end of life, throughout the life cycle of a motor vehicle. Future research will expand the sample to surrounding countries.

Shear wave elastography (SWE) is an ultrasound‐based stiffness quantification technology that is used for noninvasive liver fibrosis assessment. However, despite widescale clinical adoption, SWE is largely unused by preclinical researchers and drug developers for studies of liver disease progression in small animal models due to significant experimental, technical, and reproducibility challenges. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop a tool designed specifically for assessing liver stiffness and echogenicity in small animals to better enable longitudinal preclinical studies. A high‐frequency linear array transducer (12‐24 MHz) was integrated into a robotic small animal ultrasound system (Vega; SonoVol, Inc., Durham, NC) to perform liver stiffness and echogenicity measurements in three dimensions. The instrument was validated with tissue‐mimicking phantoms and a mouse model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Female C57BL/6J mice (n = 40) were placed on choline‐deficient, L‐amino acid‐defined, high‐fat diet and imaged longitudinally for 15 weeks. A subset was sacrificed after each imaging timepoint (n = 5) for histological validation, and analyses of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed. Results demonstrated that robotic measurements of echogenicity and stiffness were most strongly correlated with macrovesicular steatosis (R2 = 0.891) and fibrosis (R2 = 0.839), respectively. For diagnostic classification of fibrosis (Ishak score), areas under ROC (AUROCs) curves were 0.969 for ≥Ishak1, 0.984 for ≥Ishak2, 0.980 for ≥Ishak3, and 0.969 for ≥Ishak4. For classification of macrovesicular steatosis (S‐score), AUROCs were 1.00 for ≥S2 and 0.997 for ≥S3. Average scanning and analysis time was <5 minutes/liver. Conclusion: Robotic SWE in small animals is feasible and sensitive to small changes in liver disease state, facilitating in vivo staging of rodent liver disease with minimal sonographic expertise.

Background: Hypertension remains a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We hypothesize that appropriate mechanotransduction and contractile function in vascular smooth muscle cells are crucial to maintain vascular wall integrity. The Hippo pathway effectors YAP (yes-associated protein 1) and TAZ (WW domain containing transcription regulator 1) have been identified as mechanosensitive transcriptional coactivators. However, their role in vascular smooth muscle cell mechanotransduction has not been investigated in vivo. Methods: We performed physiological and molecular analyses utilizing an inducible smooth muscle–specific YAP/TAZ knockout mouse model. Results: Arteries lacking YAP/TAZ have reduced agonist-mediated contraction, decreased myogenic response, and attenuated stretch-induced transcriptional regulation of smooth muscle markers. Moreover, in established hypertension, YAP/TAZ knockout results in severe vascular lesions in small mesenteric arteries characterized by neointimal hyperplasia, elastin degradation, and adventitial thickening. Conclusions: This study demonstrates a protective role of YAP/TAZ against hypertensive vasculopathy.

This paper describes the process of designing models and tools for an automated way of creating 3D city model based on a raw point cloud.Also, making and forming 3D models of buildings. Models and tools for creating tools made in the model builder application within the ArcGIS Pro software. An unclassified point cloud obtained by the LiDAR system was used for the model input data. The point cloud, collected by the airborne laser scanning system (ALS), is classified into several classes: ground, high and low noise, and buildings. Based on the created DEMs, points classified as buildings and formed prints of buildings, realistic 3D city models were created. Created 3D models of cities can be used as a basis for monitoring the infrastructure of settlements and other analyzes that are important for further development and architecture of cities.