Principal component analysis (PCA) is perhaps the most widely used method for data dimensionality reduction. A key question in PCA is deciding how many factors to retain. This manuscript describes a new approach to automatically selecting the number of principal components based on the Bayesian minimum message length method of inductive inference. We derive a new estimate of the isotropic residual variance and demonstrate that it improves on the usual maximum likelihood approach. We also discuss extending this approach to finite mixture models of principal component analyzers.

Background: The aim of the present randomized, crossover study was to determine the physiological and cognitive function responses while wearing a facemask during a maximal running aerobic fitness test. Methods: Fourteen healthy, nonsmoking physical education students (age = 17.5 years, height = 1.72 m, body mass = 70.4 kg) volunteered to participate in this study. They carried out a 20 m multistage fitness test (MSFT) while wearing or not a cloth facemask on two separate occasions performed in random order. The “Rating of Perceived Exertion” (RPE) and the d2 test for visual attention were administered and assessed before and immediately after the MSFT for both conditions (with or without a facemask). Results: When wearing the facemask, the participants exhibited lower maximal aerobic speed (p = 0.039), VO2max (p = 0.039), distance covered during the MSFT (p = 0.057), and concentration performance (p < 0.001), when compared with the control situation (without facemask). Moreover, they made more errors compared with the control condition (p = 0.021). The use of a cloth facemask during maximal endurance running tests (such as the MSFT) reduced VO2max, and measures of cognitive performance as assessed by the test of focused visual attention (the d2 test). This data suggests avoiding using a cloth facemask during maximal aerobic fitness tests, and before any tasks that require a high level of visual attention.

The Weibull distribution, with shape parameter $k>0$ and scale parameter $\lambda>0$, is one of the most popular parametric distributions in survival analysis with complete or censored data. Although inference of the parameters of the Weibull distribution is commonly done through maximum likelihood, it is well established that the maximum likelihood estimate of the shape parameter is inadequate due to the associated large bias when the sample size is small or the proportion of censored data is large. This manuscript demonstrates how the Bayesian information-theoretic minimum message length principle coupled with a suitable choice of weakly informative prior distributions, can be used to infer Weibull distribution parameters given complete data or data with type I censoring. Empirical experiments show that the proposed minimum message length estimate of the shape parameter is superior to the maximum likelihood estimate and appears superior to other recently proposed modified maximum likelihood estimates in terms of Kullback-Leibler risk. Lastly, we derive an extension of the proposed method to data with type II censoring.

Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) is a powerful method for the structural analysis of ordered arrays of nanoparticles, quantum dots, or similar objects. However, for the correct interpretation of the measured GISAXS intensity distributions, a proper data analysis, including a suitable model, is required. Here, we demonstrate a software platform, GisaxStudio, aimed at the analysis and simulation of 2D GISAXS intensity distributions from ordered lattices of different nanoparticles. It contains several models that satisfactorily describe the GISAXS from 3D lattices or crystals of nanoparticles prepared by the self-assembly processes, pre-pattering, or ion-beam interaction with the material within their tracks. It also supports different shapes of nanoparticles, including core-shell structure with the center of core possibly displaced from the center of the shell. The software is very useful for fast and accurate GISAXS data analysis.

The study included a sample of 48 male and female Olympic finalists (Beijing, 2008; London, 2012; Rio de Janeiro, 2016) in the long jump discipline. The following primary parameters of anthropological status (Body height, Body mass, Body Mass Index, Age) and Result (secondary parameter) were analyzed. The aim of the study was to determine the differences in the defined parameters of anthropological status (body height, body weight, BMI, and age) between male and female long jump finalists. The basic central and dispersion indicators were calculated on the basis of which a descriptive comparison of the analyzed variables was performed. The significance of the difference between subjects was examined by MANOVA and ANOVA (p

The pandemic of COVID-19 has brought many changes in health care systems at all levels of health care. The increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 has led to overuse and misuse of antibiotics.The aim of this study was to compare the consumption of antibiotics for systemic use in outpatients in the Republic of Srpska (RS), before and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the association between antibiotic consumption and the rate of incidence and mortality of COVID-19. The total consumption of the antibiotics for systemic use (J01) in outpatients in the Republic of Srpska during 2019 was 19.40 DDD/TID, with an increase to 30.80 DDD/TID in 2020.Significantly higher use of penicillin (10.58 ± 11.01 DDD/TID in 2019 vs. 17.10 ± 13.63 DDD/TID in 2020), cephalosporins (2.68 ± 1.90 DDD/TID in 2019 vs. 5.93 ± 2.77 DDD/TID in 2020) and macrolides (2.14 ± 2.22 DDD/TID in 2019 vs. 3.40 ± 3.44 DDD/TID in 2020) was observed during the pandemic period. It is necessary to improve the prescribing practice of antibiotics at the primary health care level, public awareness about rational use of antibiotics, as well as the current antibiotic stewardship programs and control their implementation.

Antibiotics are often misused, especially for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in children, where their use is unnecessary and leads to antimicrobial resistance. This study sought to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of parents and pediatricians on the use of antibiotics among children and whether the level of education of parents has an impact on their KAP. The research was carried out among 1459 parents of children under 6 years of age and among 18 pediatricians. Sixty percent of pediatricians (61.1%) were prescribed antibiotics daily in their practice. Most of the surveyed parents (98.4%) state that doctors are their main source of information when deciding on the use of antibiotics in the treatment of their children. Parents with a higher level of education use television less often as a source of information when making this decision compared to parents with a lower level of education (p = 0.039, i.e., p = 0.003). The majority of parents (80.7%) knew that Panklav (amoxicillin/clavulanic acid) is an antibiotic, while 52.5% identified Pancef (cefixime) as an antibiotic. Parents with a higher level of education correctly identified antibiotics significantly more often (p < 0.001). This study shows that in the Republic of Srpska, parents have adequate knowledge about antibiotics, especially those with a higher level of education, who show better KAP when it comes to antibiotic use.

The rule of law is one of the key concepts in the 21st century. The idea of the rule of law exists to the extent that there are reflections on the state and law, and a relationship between these two concepts. The aim of this paper is to show in one place the development of the idea of the rule of law through history. In this sense, the authors look at the thoughts of philosophers who have largely determined the direction of development of the idea of the rule of law. Of course, not all philosophers who have contemplated the rule of law are listed in the paper, but it nevertheless attempts to show in chronological order how the rule of law as an idea developed from Plato to its modern theorists.

Objective To establish optimised diffusion weightings (‘ b -values’) for acquisition of whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI (WB-DWI) for estimation of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in patients with metastatic melanoma (MM). Existing recommendations for WB-DWI have not been optimised for the tumour properties in MM; therefore, evaluation of acquisition parameters is essential before embarking on larger studies. Methods Retrospective clinical data and phantom experiments were used. Clinical data comprised 125 lesions from 14 examinations in 11 patients with multifocal MM, imaged before and/or after treatment with immunotherapy at a single institution. ADC estimates from these data were applied to a model to estimate the optimum b -value. A large non-diffusing phantom was used to assess eddy current–induced geometric distortion. Results Considering all tumour sites from pre- and post-treatment examinations together, metastases exhibited a large range of mean ADC values, [0.67–1.49] × 10^−3 mm^2/s, and the optimum high b -value ( b _high) for ADC estimation was 1100 (10th–90th percentile: 740–1790) s/mm^2. At higher b -values, geometric distortion increased, and longer echo times were required, leading to reduced signal. Conclusions Theoretical optimisation gave an optimum b _high of 1100 (10th–90th percentile: 740–1790) s/mm^2 for ADC estimation in MM, with the large range of optimum b -values reflecting the wide range of ADC values in these tumours. Geometric distortion and minimum echo time increase at higher b -values and are not included in the theoretical optimisation; b _high in the range 750–1100 s/mm^2 should be adopted to maintain acceptable image quality but performance should be evaluated for a specific scanner. Key Points • Theoretical optimisation gave an optimum high b-value of 1100 (10th–90th percentile: 740–1790) s/mm ^ 2 for ADC estimation in metastatic melanoma. • Considering geometric distortion and minimum echo time (TE), a b-value in the range 750–1100 s/mm ^ 2 is recommended. • Sites should evaluate the performance of specific scanners to assess the effect of geometric distortion and minimum TE.

Background : This study conducted at the Clinic for Children’s Diseases of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar, aims to highlight the characteristics, frequency, course, most common complications and treatment outcomes of pregnant women and their late preterm infants according to gestational age. Methods : This study is a retrospective epidemiologic study for the period from 1/1/2018 to 31/12/2021. The study included all the preterm infants who were born at a gestational age from 34 +0/7 to 36 +6/7 weeks and their mothers. Results : In the period under study, a total of 7178 infants were born, of which 253 (3.52%) were late preterm infants. The results show that most mothers were between 30 and 39 years of age, pregnant for the first time with a single pregnancy, delivered by caesarean section, with complications in 53.1% of the pregnancies. All the analyzed pathological conditions were more common in the pregnancies which ended at 34 weeks. Our results indicate that the late preterm babies had a good birth weight (53.8%) and high vitality scores (93%) at birth, but these scores were not confirmed on the first day of life. A significant number of late preterm infants had some pathological condition which was treated in the intensive care units (ICU) ( p < 0.001). Conclusions : The study concludes that half of the pregnant women had risk factors which were the basis for the preterm births and the development of complications in the late preterm infants. Furthermore, despite good birth weight and vitality scores at birth, only one fifth of the late preterm infants were not treated with medications or developed pathological conditions, whereas only one third required no intensive care treatment. It is, therefore, necessary to improve the monitoring and understanding of such pregnancies, implement antenatal corticosteroid therapy, and increase parental awareness to ensure long-term and frequent monitoring of late preterm infants by pediatricians.

The self-rooted plum genotype ‘Mrkosljiva’ was first selected as it was devoid of Sharka leaf symptoms during the 5‑year study (2009–2014), which was subsequently confirmed by negative ELISA test results. Hence, the aim of the study was to investigate the biochemical variability of the autochthonous ‘Mrkosljiva’ plum genotype, based on its sugar, acid and phenolic compounds content during 3 years. In 2010 and 2011, the plums tasted sweet with favourable sugar:acid ratios of 55:1 to 65:1. These plum fruits were collected at the full ripeness stage from an extensive orchard located in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina (45 °N). Analysis by HPLC identified the following polyphenolic compounds—chlorogenic acid, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, neochlorogenic acid, quercetin-3-O-galactoside and quercetin-3-O-rutinoside—in all 3 years that were evaluated (2009–2011), but in different amounts, depending on the environmental conditions of each year. In 2009, the plums were healthier with a threefold greater phenol content than during the other 2 years of growth. In 2009, protocatechuic acid was detected, whereas catechin, procyanidin B1, procyanidin B2 and quercetin-3‑O-rhamnoside were not detected. The combination of high phenol and sugar content in ‘Mrkosljiva’ provides healthy and tasty plums suitable primarily for processing, and to a lesser extent, due to their size, for fresh fruit marketing.

The emergence of blockchain technologies, including smart contracts, enables the decentralization of applications that were previously controlled by a single entity. In many cases, however, smart contracts still need to distinguish between different user roles according to their assigned duties. To ensure security, smart contracts often apply a simple form of role-based access control (RBAC), where a dedicated administrator assigns users to roles that are authorized to invoke specific smart contract functions. As this solution contradicts the blockchain principles of decentralization and democratic decision making, smart contracts may also form decentralized autonomous organizations where governance decisions are based on voting by all participants. Many applications would benefit from a hybrid approach that involves roles with different permissions while still allowing for collaborative management. Therefore, we propose a novel mechanism for RBAC administration in smart contracts based on hierarchical roles and configurable administration rules for each role. Any change in the user-role relation requires joint approval by members of selected roles according to the associated rule. This enables decentralized organizational charts with flexible administration constraints, where each role corresponds to specific permissions in the decentralized application and any change is transparently and securely recorded on the blockchain. The practical feasibility of the approach is demonstrated by means of a prototypical implementation for the Ethereum blockchain. Several benchmarks are performed to analyze the potential overhead of different solution variants.

New resveratrol–thiophene and resveratrol–maltol hybrids were synthesized as cholinesterase inhibitors and antioxidants. As with photostability experiments, biological tests also found remarkable differences in the properties and behavior of thiophene and maltol hybrids. While resveratrol–thiophene hybrids have excellent inhibitory and antioxidant properties (similar to the activity of reference drug galantamine), maltols have been proven to be weaker inhibitors and antioxidants. The molecular docking of selected active ligands gave insight into the structures of docked enzymes. It enabled the identification of interactions between the ligand and the active site of both cholinesterases. The maltols that proved to be active cholinesterase inhibitors were able to coordinate Fe3+ ion, forming complexes of 1:1 composition. Their formation constants, determined by spectrophotometry, are very similar, lgK = 11.6–12.6, suggesting that Fe3+ binds to the common hydroxy-pyranone moiety and is hardly affected by the other aromatic part of the ligand. Accordingly, the characteristic bands in their individual absorption spectra are uniformly red-shifted relative to those of the free ligands. The crystal structures of two new resveratrol–maltol hybrids were recorded, giving additional information on the molecules’ intermolecular hydrogen bonds and packing. In this way, several functionalities of these new resveratrol hybrids were examined as a necessary approach to finding more effective drugs for complicated neurodegenerative diseases.