To examine the impact of obesity on treatment outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Patients aged ≥ 16 years, with IBD, a documented baseline body mass index (BMI), and starting thiopurines and allopurinol, intravenous (iv) vedolizumab, subcutaneous (sc) vedolizumab, ustekinumab, ozanimod, filgotinib, or tofacitinib were selected from the Dutch Initiative on Crohn and Colitis (ICC) registry. Underweight patients (BMI < 18.5 mg/kg2) were excluded. The primary outcome was steroid-free clinical remission (i.e. Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index (SCCAI) ≤ 2 for ulcerative colitis (UC) and IBD-unclassified (IBD-U), and Harvey Bradshaw Index (HBI) < 5 for Crohn’s disease (CD)) at week 24. Remission rates were compared between normal weight (BMI 18.5–25 kg/m2), and overweight (BMI 25–30 kg/m2), and obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) patients using binary logistic regression analyses. Multivariable regression analysis was used to correct for possible confounders. Among 1066 patients with IBD, 619 had normal weight, 303 were overweight, and 144 were obese. At week 24, obese patients achieved steroid-free clinical remission less frequently (35.3%, OR = 0.578, 95% CI: 0.380–0.879, p = 0.010), supported by multivariable analysis (OR = 0.537, 95% CI: 0.346–0.832, p = 0.005). Obesity was associated with lower steroid-free clinical remission at week 24. Obese patients with IBD should be encouraged to lose weight not only to improve their overall health, but also to optimize their treatment outcomes.

Inside a closed, thin-walled hollow cylinder, there is a solid state of phase change material (NePCM) that has been nano-enhanced. This NePCM is heated at its bottom, with nanoparticles (Al2O3) inserted and homogenized within the PCM (sodium acetate trihydrate, C2H3O2Na) to create the NePCM. The hollow cylinder is thermally insulated from the outside ambient temperature, while the heat supplied is sufficient to cause a phase change. Once the entire NePCM has converted from a solid to a liquid due to heating, it is then cooled, and the thermal insulation is removed. The cylindrical liquefied NePCM bar is cooled in this manner. Thermal entropy, entransy dissipation rate, and bar efficiency during the heating and cooling of the NePCM bar were analyzed by changing variables. The volume fraction ratio of nanoparticles, inlet heat flux, and liquefied bar height were the variables considered. The results indicate a significant impact on the NePCM bar during liquefaction and convective cooling when the values of these variables are altered. For instance, with an increase in the volume fraction ratio from 3% to 9%, at a constant heat flux of 104 Wm−2 and a liquefied bar height of 0.02 m, the NePCM bar efficiency decreases to 99%. The thermal entropy from heat conduction through the liquefied NePCM bar is significantly lower compared to the thermal entropy from convective air cooling on its surface. The thermal entropy of the liquefied NePCM bar increases on average by 110% without any cooling. With a volume fraction ratio of 6%, there is an 80% increase in heat flux as the bar height increases to 0.02 m.

Straw has been used as a building material since time immemorial and has been considered as a waste product from the agricultural sector, usually used for feed, bedding, or fertilization. Nowadays, the construction industry strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is focusing on renewable materials; hence, straw seems to be an attractive, low-energy option. Straw bales or blown insulation are common uses, with limited detailed knowledge regarding the properties of different straw types. Straw is made up of the dry stems of crops. Straw’s chemical composition will differ with different crops and can have a great impact on its effectiveness. As a renewable material, straw also has the potential to be used in buildings, enhancing thermal insulation and reducing environmental impacts. This study considers four kinds of straw: barley, oats, oilseed rape, and triticale, regarding their possible usage in insulation materials. The thermal conductivity, bulk density, and dust generation of each type were tested in the laboratory. Among them, the best performance was shown by the barley straw treated with mechanical pulping using a knife mill at 4000 rpm for 60 s, which showed the lowest bulk density and thermal conductivity and generated the least dust. It is thus proven to be an environmental insulation material with significant implications for sustainable construction and energy-efficient building design, further helping in maintaining environmental sustainability in building construction.

Background Relating to others and establishing relationships is necessary for optimal human functioning. Perceived relational satisfaction appears to be one of the most important aspects of individuals’ lives, reflecting the extent to which our relational needs are met. This study aimed to test the factor structure, item characteristics, and convergent validity of the Bosnian adaptation of the Relational Needs Satisfaction Scale (RNSS). Method A total of 420 participants (N = 420) completed the Relational Needs Satisfaction Scale (RNSS), the Relationships Questionnaire (RQ), and the Need for Drama Questionnaire (NFD). Descriptive statistics, reliability, and item analysis for the RNSS were conducted. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, along with a comparison of four models. The convergent validity of the RNSS was assessed by examining its association with two reference measures and their subscales: RQ and NFD. Results The study showed that the translation was adequate, and the Bosnian version of the RNSS proved to be a reliable measure with mostly adequate item parameters. It confirmed that the RNSS structure can be interpreted as a five-factor model, comprising five dimensions and one higher-order factor, as well as a bi-factor model, where the variance of the items is simultaneously explained by a general factor and the five dimensions to varying degrees. The comparison of models and theory indicated the superiority of the bi-factor model. Conclusion The adaptation of the RNSS Bosnian version demonstrated content validity, adequate measurement accuracy, and appropriate construct validity, as supported by confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, this study provides evidence that the translated RNSS is a valid and reliable instrument.

This study introduces a novel two-stage model for assessing and enhancing business excellence based on the EFQM framework. The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is used in the first stage to calculate the weight vectors of criteria and sub-criteria, incorporating uncertainty through triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs). In the second stage, the OR-Tools CP-SAT solver is used to solve the selection and improvement of sub-criteria as a multidimensional knapsack problem with mixed min/max constraints. In this way, a new and enhanced model for evaluating business excellence is presented—one that takes into account the company’s current capabilities and circumstances while also providing management with a starting point for enhancing business performance. The model is validated using data from a manufacturing company in central Serbia. The findings suggest that improvement efforts should not be symmetrically distributed across all EFQM criteria and sub-criteria. Instead, an asymmetric approach provides efficient resource allocation while maximizing business excellence improvements. This study emphasizes the balance or symmetry between subjective decision-makers’ assessments and mathematically based optimization, demonstrating the practical applicability of the proposed method in strategic decision-making under resource constraints.

Many existing Virtual Reality (VR) applications in the Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH) domain are for education purposes. As educational VR DCH experiences become more prevalent, it becomes increasingly important to understand the user and learner experience of such installations. This work reports on a user study (n=30) evaluating three educational VR DCH experiences using three existing User experience (UX) evaluation methodologies from related fields and three learning evaluation methodologies. A total of 31 participants were recruited for the experiment, resulting in a dataset of 30 valid records. Our research seeks to explore the relationship between UX and Learning experience (LX), and their impact on learning in VR DCH experiences. Our results suggest that UX and LX in educational VR DCH experiences can influence certain aspects of learning, such as retention, concentration, motivation, and flexibility. Additionally, specific aspects of the educational VR DCH experience captured evidence by three existing UX evaluation and three learning evaluation methodologies are identified. These include instrumental aspects (ease of use, learnability, efficiency, etc.), stimulation of new experiences, the role of interactions, immersion in VR DCH contexts and flexibility of learning pace and using learning materials.

A future radioactive waste management centre is under development in central Croatia. One of the activities in the centre’s development was to monitor environmental radioactivity before the disposal of radioactive materials. Part of the monitoring programme focused on soil characterisation in the municipality (total area 1308 km2) surrounding the centre, where about 40% of the soil is today used in organic farming. The study included a physico-chemical and radionuclide characterisation of the soil as well as ambient dose rate measurements. The aim of this study was to investigate how the physical and chemical composition of soil affects the concentration of radionuclides 238U, 40K, and 137Cs in soil, based on the measured radionuclide concentrations and values of selected soil parameters. Additionally, the ambient equivalent dose rate H*(10)/t was measured and the annual effective dose was calculated for the average person living in the area of interest. The observed ranges of radionuclide concentrations in the soil samples were: 9–72 Bq/kg for 238U, 65–823 Bq/kg for 40K, and 4–80 Bq/kg for 137Cs. Ambient dose equivalent rate measurements were in the range of 52–130 nSv/h. The highest measured values were in correlation with higher 238U activity concentrations in these parts of the investigated area. The results of this study showed that 238U had a significant correlation with pH; plant available P; sand, silt, and clay content; hydrolytic acidity; CaCO3; total carbon, organic matter, and total inorganic and organic carbon; and concentrations of Al, Si, Fe, Ca, Ti, K, Rb, Zr, Nb, Y, Sr, Th, and W. 40K showed a significant correlation with pH, sand content, hydrolytic acidity, total hydrogen, total nitrogen, CaCO3, total carbon, total inorganic carbon, and concentrations of Al, Si, Fe, Ca, Ti, Rb, Zr, Nb, P, Y, Zn, and Th. 137Cs showed a significant correlation with silt content, total nitrogen, and Si concentration.

The rising popularity of index‐replicating Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) reflects the broader shift toward passive investing. However, the DAX 40 index incorporates an active component through inclusions and deletions, which affect investor returns. While the short‐term “index inclusion effect” around announcement and inclusion dates is well‐documented, we focus on long‐term post‐rebalancing dynamics. We show that newly included stocks between 2010 and 2023 outperformed the DAX 40 by an average of 33.2% during the 12 months before inclusion but underperformed an average of 36.1% over the subsequent 24 months. This mean reversion can be leveraged via a market‐neutral strategy that shorts newly included stocks on the inclusion date and pairs this with a long DAX ETF position. Maintaining the short for 18 months generates a statistically significant alpha relative to a Fama–French six‐factor asset pricing model, even after accounting for transaction costs. Our study reveals a hidden performance drag in the DAX 40 index, with important implications for passive investors in the index.

Purpose This study investigates the effects of online dating platforms on users’ wellbeing and the success rates of forming relationships through these services. Given the ongoing debate surrounding the impact of online dating, this study aims to provide empirical insights into its outcomes. Design/methodology/approach This study used a sample of 618 participants from four countries (Croatia, Greece, Italy and Malta) to gain a comprehensive perspective on online dating experiences. Data was collected to assess both the impact on wellbeing and the likelihood of forming relationships through these platforms. Findings The results indicated that using online dating platforms did not significantly affect users’ wellbeing, either positively or negatively. In addition, most users were unable to establish committed or casual relationships through these platforms, suggesting limited success in achieving romantic or personal connections. Originality/value These findings highlight potential inefficiencies in online dating platforms in facilitating meaningful relationships or personal benefits for users. The study contributes to ongoing discussions about the effectiveness of such services and provides a foundation for future research on their impact and potential improvements.

This letter proposes a multi-stream selection framework for \ac{CF-MIMO} networks. Partially coherent transmission has been considered by clustering \acp{AP} into phase-aligned clusters to address the challenges of phase misalignment and inter-cluster interference. A novel stream selection algorithm is developed to dynamically allocate multiple streams to each multi-antenna \ac{UE}, ensuring that the system optimizes the sum rate while minimizing inter-cluster and inter-stream interference. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method in enhancing spectral efficiency and fairness in distributed \ac{CF-MIMO} networks.

Background Differentiation of leukocytes is one of the key diagnostic procedures in clinical medicine, and correct identification of them in a blood smear is of essential importance. Light microscopy is the reference method for leukocyte differentiation; however, it is time-consuming and must be performed by a highly qualified specialist. For this reason, automatic analysers capable of precise and accurate differentiation of blood cells in the examined sample are increasingly present in haematology laboratories. This paper aims to evaluate the performance of the Sysmex XN-3100 analyser, manufactured by SYSMEX CORPORATION, Kobe, Japan., with a focus on the advantages and disadvantages of its digital microscopy in the differentiation of leukocytes and give brief guidelines on the possibilities and limitations of everyday work on the basis of the obtained results. Methods Digital optical microscopy on 253 samples was performed with primary data (preclassification) collected after the completion of the autoanalysis. Before validating the obtained results, the data were reviewed by a medical biochemistry specialist who confirmed or corrected them. This generated secondary data (reclassification). The two groups of data were statistically analysed using Passing-Bablok regression analysis, Bland-Altman analysis and Spearman correlation. Results The obtained results showed strong correlations between the primary and secondary analysis in all cells (highest in lymphocyte group (r=0.986), lowest in eosinophil group (r=0.870)) except immature granulocytes and blasts (significant deviation from linearity, p<0.01). Conclusions The haematology analyser Sysmex XN-3100 shows high performance in leukocyte analysis and differentiation using digital microscopy, but samples containing blasts and immature granulocytes must additionally be analysed by light microscopy.

In our letter, we presented the challenges within medical biochemistry in a tertiary hospital in a measles outbreak. The letter somewhat shows the current situation in the first part. In the remaining part, the challenges in the work of the medical biochemical laboratory are listed and the significance of the most common biochemical and hematological analyzes for these patients is explained. This letter is an important clinical-epidemiological overview of the current situation that arose as a result of the measles outbreak.

Remyelination of cortical lesions in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) has been shown to be extensive. In this work, we aimed to assess whether postmortem quantitative MRI (qMRI) can help detect those areas. We imaged six fixed whole brains of deceased pwMS by 3T‐MRI using magnetization transfer ratio (MTR, 570 μm isotropic), myelin water fraction (MWF, 1000 μm isotropic), quantitative T1 (qT1, 670 μm isotropic), quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM, 330 μm isotropic) and radial diffusivity (RD, 1300 or 1400 μm isotropic) maps. Immunohistochemistry for myelin proteins was performed in 129 tissue blocks including the cortex and enabled the detection of cortical demyelination (DM), cortical remyelination (RM), and normal‐appearing cortex (NAC). We identified 25 DM, 25 RM, and for each of these areas, a corresponding NAC near the lesion. Wilcoxon paired tests showed that: (a) qT1 and RD were higher and QSM lower in DM versus NAC (all p < 0.001), whereas RD was higher and QSM lower in RM versus NAC (p = 0.048 and p < 0.01 respectively); (b) mean qT1 in RM did not differ from mean qT1 in NAC (p = 0.074); (c) MWF and MTR were not different between DM and RM. We compared the delta between DM versus NAC (∆DM) and the delta between RM versus NAC (∆RM) using a Mann–Whitney test, in which RM showed a partial recovery of qT1 only (∆qT1 DM > ∆qT1 RM, p = 0.045). Mixed‐effect models confirmed the findings obtained using univariate analyses. qT1 and QSM, but not RD, correlated with MBP intensity (r = −0.28, p < 0.01 and r = 0.29, p < 0.01 respectively). A Bonferroni correction was performed for multiple testing. Our data show that qT1 is altered in demyelinated but not in remyelinated cortical areas, while QSM and RD are affected by any cortical abnormalities. Accordingly, qT1 might be considered a potential imaging biomarker of cortical RM.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is a large-scale international assessment that measures students’ achievement in mathematics and science at the fourth and eighth-grade levels. Coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), TIMSS is conducted every four years. The 2023 assessment represented the eighth cycle of TIMSS, collecting data from 64 participating countries. This exploratory study examines the influence of several key factors—gender, home learning resources, experiences of bullying, disruptive classroom behavior, and students’ sense of school belonging—on fourth-grade mathematics achievement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research sample included 2,712 students (mean age: 10.2 years; SD = 0.4; 1,388 girls and 1,324 boys). Results showed that home learning resources were the most important predictor of mathematics achievement, emphasizing the essential role that home educational conditions play in student academic outcomes. The observed difference between boys and girls in mathematics scores was minimal. Both bullying and disruptive behavior were found to have a statistically significant negative impact on mathematics performance, whereas the effect of students’ sense of school belonging did not reach statistical significance. Home learning resources proved to be the most decisive variable in forecasting mathematics achievement among fourth-grade students in Bosnia and Herzegovina, reinforcing the value of home-based educational support in fostering academic progress. These results suggest the necessity for educational policies and interventions that ensure fair access to learning resources within the home environment. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings and outlines potential avenues for future research and educational practice.