Coniferous forests cover 41% of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Norway spruce ( Picea abies ) being an ecologically and economically important species. Bark beetles, especially the European spruce bark beetle ( Ips typographus ), pose a major threat, often causing large-scale dieback. Factors such as wind, drought, terrain exposure, and slope can increase susceptibility to outbreaks. This study aimed to assess the influence of these factors on forest health in bark beetle outbreak areas, based on stump measurements after sanitary logging.Fieldwork was conducted in spring 2024 on five known bark beetle hotspots managed by “Šumsko privredno društvo Zeničko-dobojskog kantona” d.o.o. Zavidovići. Data collected included stump diameter, wood decay, bark thickness, tree coordinates (via AlpineQuest), exposure, and slope. Analyses were performed in STATGRAPHICS Plus using one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni correction.A total of 507 stumps were analyzed. About 81% were in diameter classes 31–50 cm and 51–80 cm and nearly 48% showed central wood decay. Terrain exposure and slope significantly influenced stump diameters, with the largest averages on SW exposure and 2–5% slopes. Stump diameter also significantly affected decay size, while bark thickness showed no significant variation across exposure or slopes.This research confirmed that Norway spruce in diameter size categories 31–50 cm and 51–80 cm is most vulnerable to bark beetle attacks. This susceptibility is further intensified if trees are located on south-facing, moderate slopes. Central wood decay was present in nearly half of the observed tree stumps, leading to the conclusion that its presence is another predisposing factor for bark beetle attacks. Bark thickness on the observed tree stumps did not vary significantly on different terrains, which is a result that differed from the results obtained in other similar studies.

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have transformed the management of type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiorenal disease. Beyond their established glycaemic and weight-lowering effects, both drug classes consistently lower blood pressure (BP), a benefit that remains relatively underrecognized. This review provides an integrated synthesis of trial evidence, real-world data and meta-analyses examining the antihypertensive effects of SGLT2is and GLP-1 RAs. Across cardiovascular, heart failure, renal and obesity trials, modest but clinically meaningful BP reductions have been observed in diverse populations, including individuals without diabetes. These effects appear largely independent of glycaemic control and offer additive value in high-risk patients with overlapping comorbidities. The totality of evidence supports the strategic incorporation of these agents into future antihypertensive frameworks, warranting further investigation in dedicated blood pressure-focused trials.

<p>The traditional role of the fa&ccedil;ade, historically centered on providing protection against environmental conditions and reducing CO₂ emissions, has been significantly redefined through advances in software technologies and material sciences. These developments have led to the emergence of the fa&ccedil;ade system as a structurally independent component functioning as an active regulator of energy consumption, thereby creating new opportunities for research and innovation. One approach to studying these systems involves the application of folding principles derived from origami, which facilitates the design of modular geometric structures capable of dynamic environmental responses. Fa&ccedil;ades composed of interconnected, homogeneous elements can effectively regulate daylight penetration and thermal energy accumulation, particularly in zones exposed to direct external influences.</p> <p>To further develop such systems, it is essential to design an origami pattern whose geometric and mechanical characteristics can potentially respond to the given structural and technical challenges. This study explores the potential application of selected origami patterns in kinetic fa&ccedil;ade systems, with a focus on analyzing the actuation mechanisms that control the movement of geometric modules. Furthermore, the research evaluates the justification for integrating kinetic fa&ccedil;ade systems into contemporary architectural practice, with the aim of contributing to the development of sustainable, adaptive, and energy-efficient building envelopes.</p>

Food, especially fish meat, is extremely vulnerable to oxidation and microbiological deterioration. Therefore, effective analytical techniques for quality control and safety monitoring are required. Electrochemical biosensors have become reliable, rapid, and affordable devices for in-field and real-time food quality assessment. However, their application is often limited in point-of-need scenarios due to the requirement for intensive sample preparation. Here, we introduce a microneedle array (MNA)-based electrochemical biosensor, designed for direct food safety and quality analysis without the need for sample preparation. A gold (Au)-coated polymeric MNA was functionalized with a chitosan-gold nanoparticles (Ch-AuNP) nanocomposite and further modified by immobilizing xanthine oxidase (XO) for selective hypoxanthine (HX) detection. The MNA-based biosensor exhibited a linear range between 5 and 50 μM, and 50 to 200 μM, with a sensitivity of 0.024 μA/μM and a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.18 ± 0.75 μM for HX, with a response time of approximately 100 s. Furthermore, the MNA-based biosensor was successfully utilized for monitoring HX levels in fish tissue samples over 48 h, showing strong agreement with results obtained from a commercial Amplex Red assay kit. The technology can be used for real-time food quality assessment and food safety monitoring due to its high sensitivity, interference tolerance, and lack of requirement for sample preparation.

Broadcasting meteorology is the part of meteorology which deals with communicating the data and information to the public. Nowadays it has gained momentum in parallel with the rise of extreme weather conditions, providing the beneficial opportunity to inform and educate the public. This implies breaking down abstract terminology and using the most advanced visual aids to simplify the complex language. However, the extreme weather perception is skewed due to climatic and meteorological illiteracy, the inability to comprehend the importance of the planetary energy budget and the overall contribution of greenhouse gases to the climate system. One of the greatest challenges for the broadcast meteorologists is the short lifespan of the forecasts – they may be verified in a few minutes, hours or days. Annually, it is not a rare occurrence that a frontal system is delayed or a convective storm degrades faster or changes the trajectory for which the broadcast meteorologist is crucified by the public. Therefore, narrow space and time references are often the biggest enemies. Another very recent issue is the colour bar scheme choice as the red and pink shades are to be the most fearmongering for the public and often used to be compared with past events. In July 2022, the conspiracy theories skyrocketed when the Met Office announced its first 40 °C in the UK, with the accusation of meteorologists being “harbingers of doom.” However, this was not an isolated case, as in April 2023, due to an exceptional heatwave for the time of the year, meteorologists at AEMET (Spanish Hydrometeorological Service) faced life threats, severely raising the pressure and affecting their contribution to society. Moreover, the probabilistic approach pours the confusion in the traditional weather reports and applications to the end users, often which cannot be perceived by the public to decide whether they will need an umbrella if the rain is expected, or not to stay dry. These issues remain the challenges for the foreseeable future, raising the concerns of presenting factual information, seeking alternative solutions for the numerical values in presenting the data to the public and the role of a broadcast meteorologis

We determine how much TeV-scale new physics can deviate from flavor universality, $U(3)^5$, while respecting stringent bounds on flavor-changing neutral currents. The minimal continuous subgroup that must be approximately preserved is identified as $SU(2)_{q} \times U(1)_{X}$. With only a few symmetry-breaking spurions of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$, all observed fermion hierarchies may be reproduced, offering a new perspective on the SM flavor puzzle. Remarkably, this framework provides structural flavor protection for generic TeV-scale new physics within the SMEFT, enlarging the space of collider-accessible scenarios beyond MFV and $U(2)^5$ and allowing for richer patterns of flavor violation.

The global energy transition is characterized by the simultaneous challenges of decarbonization, digitalization, and decentralization [...]

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disorder of gut–brain interaction, is diagnosed using symptom-based Rome criteria. These criteria classify IBS patients into four subtypes in accordance to their stool patterns. However, whether this subtyping approach is based on true differences in the underlying biology of IBS patients, is unclear. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the faecal headspace reflect both the gut microbial and host intestinal intraluminal processes and thereby may be used to study pathophysiological differences between IBS and its subtypes. We profiled faecal headspace VOCs in a cohort of 164 patients with IBS and 143 healthy controls using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Random forest models were employed to impute missing values and identify discriminatory VOCs to differentiate IBS patients from healthy controls. We corrected for faecal water content using partial least squares regression. Multivariate associations between the obtained volatile profiles and Rome III IBS subtypes were evaluated using regularized MANOVA. A total of 39 VOCs, including short-chain fatty acid esters, neurotransmitter-related metabolites, alcohols, and sulphides, were selected as significantly altered in patients with IBS. Our classification model achieved an area under the curve of 0.82 on both training and independent test sets, demonstrating robust separation between IBS patients and healthy individuals. However, VOC profiles did not associate to Rome III -based IBS subtypes. This study highlights the potential of faecal VOC profiling as a non-invasive tool for studying and characterizing IBS, yet they also reveal a disconnect between metabolic signatures and current stool-based subtypes. While the Rome criteria remain the clinical standard for diagnosis and subtyping of IBS, they offer limited insight into underlying disease mechanisms. Future research should focus on integrating VOC analysis with other omics approaches to refine IBS sub-classification into biologically relevant clusters, which may aid to improve personalized therapeutic strategies.

Summary Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023 estimates health loss from migraine, tension-type headache, and medication-overuse headache. This study presents updated results on headache-attributed burden from 1990 to 2023, along with clinical and public health implications. Methods Data on the prevalence, incidence, or remission of migraine, tension-type headache, and medication-overuse headache were extracted from published population-based studies. We used hierarchical Bayesian meta-regression modelling to estimate global, regional, and country-level prevalence of headache disorders. For the first time in GBD 2023, age-specific and sex-specific estimates of time in symptomatic state were applied by meta-analysing individual participant data from 41 653 individuals from the general populations of 18 countries from all parts of the world. Disability weights were applied to calculate years lived with disability (YLDs). Since medication-overuse headache is a sequela of a mistreated primary headache (due to medication overuse), its burden was reattributed to migraine or tension-type headache, informed by a meta-analysis of three longitudinal studies. Findings In 2023, 2·9 billion individuals (95% uncertainty interval 2·6–3·1) were affected by headache disorders, with a global age-standardised prevalence of 34·6% (31·6–37·5) and a YLD rate of 541·9 (373·4–739·9) per 100 000 population, with 487·5 (323·0–678·8) per 100 000 population attributed to migraine. The prevalence rates of these headache disorders have remained stable over the past three decades. YLD rates due to headache disorders were more than twice as high in females (739·9 [511·2–1011·5] per 100 000) as in males (346·1 [240·4–481·8] per 100 000). Medication-overuse headache contributed 58·9% of the YLD estimates for tension-type headache in males and 56·1% in females, as well as 22·6% of the YLD estimates for migraines in males and 14·1% in females. Interpretation Headache disorders, in particular migraine, continue to be a major global health challenge, emphasising the need for effective management and prevention strategies. Much headache-attributed burden could be averted or eliminated by avoiding overuse of medication (including over-the-counter medication), underscoring the importance of public education. Funding Gates Foundation.

Abstract Due to an ongoing energy crisis and fluctuating energy prices, the prerequisites for maintaining optimal indoor environmental quality (IEQ), a critical determinant of productivity, cognitive performance, and overall well-being, have been significantly disrupted. This study focuses on examining determinants of thermal comfort, a subjective evaluation of the thermal environment and a key component of IEQ. Through a survey of employees and users of public buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the research employs a four-stage regression analysis to identify the main predictors of thermal comfort. Although 71.33% of respondents report satisfaction with the heating system, only 43.13% find the heating to be adequate, with the optimal perceived temperature averaging 21.66°C. The results show that key factors influencing thermal comfort include thermal sensation, thermal memory, gender, and respondent type (employee versus user). These seminal results could offer valuable productivity and financial implications for energy savings, especially for budgetary policymakers aiming to reduce energy consumption as well as for public sector management and public institutions seeking to improve well-being and productivity.

Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) represents a state of androgen-driven metabolic dysregulation where visceral adiposity and inflammation critically define cardiometabolic risk. Visceral adiposity is not a bystander in PCOS; it is an active endocrine organ driving insulin resistance, low-grade inflammation, and androgen persistence. Interventions that reverse adipocyte hypertrophy and inflammatory signaling may therefore alter the metabolic trajectory of PCOS. Beyond its chronobiotic role, melatonin exerts profound metabolic actions via MT1/MT2 receptors in adipose tissue, modulating oxidative stress and inflammatory gene expression. Yet its direct impact on androgen-induced visceral adiposity remains unclear. Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of melatonin, metformin, and their combination on visceral fat accumulation in a testosterone-induced PCOS rat model. Material and methods: Thirty prepubertal female Wistar rats were randomized into five groups (n=6): control, PCOS (testosterone 20 mg/kg/day), PCOS+metformin (500 mg/kg/day), PCOS+melatonin (2 mg/kg/day), and PCOS+melatonin+metformin. Treatments lasted 36 days. Estrous cyclicity was monitored by daily vaginal cytology, and somatometric parameters were recorded weekly. On day 36, serum, ovaries, and visceral fat were collected for biochemical and histological analysis. Results: Vaginal smear changes and ovarian pathological alteration due to prolonged testosterone exposure confirmed the successful induction of the PCOS model. Measures of central adiposity, including abdominal circumference and the TC/AC ratio, were significantly higher in the PCOS model than in controls (p < 0.001). Abdominal circumference (AC) increase was greatest in the PCOS model (p < 0.001), while all treatment groups showed significant reductions, most notably in the melatonin + metformin group, followed by melatonin monotherapy and then metformin (all p < 0.001 vs. PCOS). Melatonin was more effective than metformin (p=0.029). AC/TC reduction was greatest in the combined treatment group (p < 0.05). Total weight gain among groups did not reach statistical significance. While total visceral fat weight did not differ among groups, histology revealed a marked reduction in adipocyte number in treated animals, most pronounced in the melatonin group (p < 0.033). Conclusion: Our findings identify melatonin as a metabolic modulator of androgen-driven adiposity, supporting its potential as an adjunctive therapy targeting visceral fat and inflammation in PCOS

Understanding transport and mixing in stratified saline systems is critical for predicting the behavior of brines in natural aquifers, industrial reservoirs, and engineered disposal sites. These multi-ion solutions often exhibit complex instabilities driven by differential diffusion and compositional gradients. The onset and morphology of such convective mixing remain poorly predicted. We investigated double-diffusive (DD) and diffusion-layer convection (DLC) in superimposed aqueous solutions of the salts typical of saline aquifers, sodium chloride (NaCl) and sodium sulphate (Na 2 SO 4 ). The study combines thermodynamic modeling, optical interferometry experiments, and nonlinear numerical simulations to explore convective instabilities in a ternary system. Our findings reveal a rich variety of convective scenarios depending on salt configuration and concentration ratios. When the faster-diffusing NaCl was placed above Na 2 SO 4 , diffusion-layer convection occurred with a delayed and asymmetric onset of instability, an experimentally demonstrated feature not reported previously. In contrast, when the positions were reversed, the system developed double-diffusive fingers that grew slowly due to the small density ratio. These fingers exhibited an unusual morphology, consisting of extremely fine, vertically textured structures that gradually merged away from the interface. This formed a large area of diffuse mixing and suppression of coherent convective structures. In all cases, classical stability criteria failed to fully predict the onset and nature of convection. Instead, we identified the initial position of the system on the stability map, as determined by the full diffusion matrix, as a critical factor.

Urinary tract infections, as one of the most common infectious diseases, contribute substantially to the global healthcare burden, particularly due to the rising prevalence of resistant bacterial strains such as Klebsiella pneumoniae. Background/Objectives: The aim was to investigate the prevalence of urinary tract infection pathogens among hospitalized patients at Saint Apostol Luka Hospital in Doboj during the period 2021–2023. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at Saint Apostol Luka Hospital, Doboj, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Data from the Department of Microbiology were analyzed for the period 2021–2023, including patients with positive urine cultures (≥103 CFU/mL) of a single uropathogen. Bacterial identification and susceptibility testing were performed according to EUCAST standards, and statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS v24. Results: Escherichia coli was the most frequent isolate (29.2%), followed by Klebsiella spp. (24.2%) and Enterococcus spp. (19.8%). A significant rise in K. pneumoniae prevalence and resistance to multiple antibiotics—including β-lactams, carbapenems, aminoglycosides, and colistin—was observed during the study period. Conclusions: This study revealed that E. coli and Klebsiella spp. were the leading uropathogens, with notable differences in distribution by sex, age, and hospital department. A marked rise in multidrug resistance, particularly among K. pneumoniae, was observed across the study period. These findings underscore the urgent need for continuous surveillance and stronger antimicrobial stewardship to curb resistance trends.

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) offer significant ecological and cosmetic potential. The conversion of SCG into safe and efficient cosmetic products promotes all aspects of sustainability and circular practices within the cosmetic industry.