A study on 51 SNPs belonging to 29 genes related to heat stress was carried out in 720 sheep from 17 different breeds adapted to different climates from Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco and Romania, using Kompetitive Allele-Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction. Genotype frequency and the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium were calculated, followed by a clustering using the Principal Component Analysis. We analyzed the polymorphisms in the following genes analyzed: HSPA12A,HSP90AA1,IL33,DIO2,BTNL2,CSN2,ABCG1,CSN1S1,GHR,HSPA8,STAT3, and HCRT. We emphasized on HSPA12A and HSPA8 genes as they were successfully genotyped in all studied flocks in which genotype frequency patterns were identified. Contrary to previous findings, the A allele for HSPA8 SNP was not observed in the heat tolerant breeds, being found exclusively in cold-tolerant breeds. The principal component analysis could not clearly differentiate the breeds, while plot concentration was slightly varied among the three groups, with HSP90AA1 and IL33 SNPs’ loading values significantly contributing to PC1 and PC2. We confirmed previous works that the HSPA12A,HSPA8,HSP90AA1 and IL33 SNPs are potential candidate markers for thermotolerance adaptation in sheep. This research contributes to the genetic variability of SNPs for thermotolerance adaptability in sheep.

Abstract Frequent changes in fiscal policies are the main cause of credit risk. To prevent households from increasing their non-performing loans, the government can use various policies and instruments. One of these tools is tax regulations, with a particular focus on the value-added tax. This paper examines whether tax policies have affected non-performing household loans in Turkey over the period from 2017 to 2021. To acquire meaningful empirical results, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration model have been applied. The results of analysis indicated that the effect of tax regulations on non-performing household loans is quite strong. It can be demonstrated that the strength of the income effect generated by tax cuts might be robust.

The research relates to determining the dependence of the strength and hardness, as well as the pH factor and solubility in water, of pellets made based on dolomite powder on the type and concentration of the binder. During the research, the technological parameters of the pelletizing device (speed and inclination of the disk, dosing speed of powder and binder suspension, and mixing time) were kept constant. Variations were made in the concentration of starch and molasses binder at values of 1.0, 2.5, and 4.0% and the control sample of 2.0 %. The purpose of pellets made of dolomite powder is to correct the pH factor of agricultural soil. The obtained results indicate that the production of pellets for the stated purpose requires an optimal choice of binder and its concentration due to the influence on the qualitative indicators of the pellet itself from dolomite powder. The research results are a partial extract of the Study: “Investigation of the optimal technology for the production of dolomite pellets from the “Očura” deposit for agriculture, Phase I”. Keywords: pellet, agriculture, binder concentration, strength, hardness, pH of pellets.

In the hilly Balkans, a folk proverb has been circulating for a long time, „It is most difficult to be a prophet in one‘s own village“, which reflects the age-old mistrust of the population towards new ideas. This is not surprising in the least, because since the written history of the peoples of the Balkans has existed, a continuous series of conquerors and local rulers who subjugated the common folks and imposed their world view can be traced. Nevertheless, from time to time, people with great strength appear who not only break the shackles imposed by the powerful, but through their actions find a way to the souls of their compatriots and gain their unreserved trust. One of such spontaneous creators is professor Izet Mašić, who achieved a miracle of medical publishing in his Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina and traced the path of medical science. There may be thousands of medical journals in the world, more or less reputable, and researchers from the Balkans can publish their work in them, but only domestic medical journals can initiate and direct domestic medical research, and educate young researchers in the right way. Professor Mašić made it possible for authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Balkan countries to present their results to the world and receive an incentive from impartial experts to continue their work and progress more and more by editing and publishing three domestic journals at once, which are visible in the most important world bases,. The progress in research then translated into improving medical practice and health care of the population. The following details from Professor Mašić‘s biography tell us how this miracle happened. This year, academician Izet Mašić, Editor-in-Chief of a few biomedical journals, including Acta Informatica Medica journal, celebrates his 70th birthday and also 45 years of his academic and scientific work.

The most distant marsquake recorded so far by the InSight seismometer occurred at an epicentral distance of 146.3 ± 6.9o, close to the western end of Valles Marineris. On the seismogram of this event, we have identified seismic wave precursors, i.e., underside reflections off a subsurface discontinuity halfway between the marsquake and the instrument, which directly constrain the crustal structure away (about 4100−4500 km) from the InSight landing site. Here we show that the Martian crust at the bounce point between the lander and the marsquake is characterized by a discontinuity at about 20 km depth, similar to the second (deeper) intra-crustal interface seen beneath the InSight landing site. We propose that this 20-km interface, first discovered beneath the lander, is not a local geological structure but likely a regional or global feature, and is consistent with a transition from porous to non-porous Martian crustal materials. The authors show that the Martian crust, ~4300 km from the InSight landing site, has a subsurface interface similar to that beneath the lander, suggesting it is a regional or global feature that may be related to the closure of pore spaces at depth.

Obesity is a critical medical condition worldwide that is increasingly involved with nutritional derangements associated with micronutrient deficiencies, including iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, selenium, and vitamins A, C, D, and E. Nutritional deficiencies in obesity are mainly caused by poor-quality diets, higher nutrient requirements, alterations in micronutrient metabolism, and invasive obesity treatments. The current conventional agricultural system is designed for intensive food production, focusing on food quantity rather than food quality, consuming excessive agricultural inputs, and producing nutrient-deficient foods, thus generating severe health and environmental problems; agricultural food products may worsen obesity-related malnutrition. Therefore, modern agriculture is adopting new biofortification technologies to combat micronutrient deficiencies and improve agricultural productivity and sustainability. Biofertilization and nanofertilization practices are increasingly used due to their efficiency, safety, and reduced environmental impact. Biofertilizers are preparations of PGP-microorganisms that promote plant growth by influencing plant metabolism and improving the nutrient uptake, and nanofertilizers consist of synthesized nanoparticles with unique physicochemical properties that are capable of increasing plant nutrition and enriching agricultural products. This review presents the current micronutrient deficiencies associated with obesity, the modern unsustainable agri-food system contributing to obesity progression, and the development of bio- and nanofertilizers capable of biofortifying agri-food crops with micronutrients commonly deficient in patients with obesity.

The physical and chemical properties of the nanocrystals are highly shape dependent, and shape control has become very important. The seeded growth method enables seeds to grow in a predetermined way. We have already proposed such amodel that can reproduce the granular growth on a triangular lattice and for different growth shapes. In this paper, however, we have introduced a limitation on seed growth up to a certain length. This method can be used when the growth of all seeds have to be limited to the same length, or for a mixture with the different growth limits.The main goal is to investigate how the growing limits affect the values of the percolation threshold and jamming density, and whether large objects significantly affect the percolation threshold. We used growing needle-shaped objects (k-mers) made by a self-avoiding random walk filling the nodes of the triangular lattice. Objects can grow until they reach the growth limit k' defined as the maximum number of lattice nodes belonging to one object. For k' ≥10 percolation is reached for all investigated seed densities. We obtained that the values of the percolation threshold and jamming density are identical for k' ≥10k .Above these values, the percolation threshold and jamming remain unchanged, regardless of the growth limit.Our results also show that when significant growth is allowed, long objects are very rare and do not influence the results.

Sensitized europium fluorescence was used for simple, fast and efficient determination of tetracycline residues in water from fish farms. Tetracycline antibiotics: oxytetracycline (OTC), tetracycline (TC) and chlortetracycline (CTC) were extracted from water samples using polymeric hydrophilic–lipophilic balanced cartridges. After evaporation and pre-concentration, tetracyclines form a complex with europium and citric acid as coligand at pH 8.5. The complex formed has a wide absorption spectrum at 388 nm and a narrow emission maximum at 619 nm resulting from the 5D0 - 7F2 transition within the europium ion. The complex is stable with intensive fluorescence and linear in the concentration range of 5-2500 µg/L for tetracycline and oxytetracycline and 5-1000 µg/L for chlortetracycline. The detection limit was 0.68 µg/L for OTC, 1.29 µg/L for TC and 0.65 µg/L for CTC, respectively.The proposed method is very sensitive and particularly applicable to samples where low concentrations of tetracycline antibiotics are expected.

Combined LAG-3 and PD-1 blockade is an emerging strategy for the treatment of melanoma. Tawbi et al. and Amaria et al. report in The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature respectively on two clinical trials evaluating relatlimab and nivolumab as front-line treatment for metastatic, and resectable, high-risk, node-positive melanoma.

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.

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.

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.

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.