Incidence and prevalence of epilepsy in the Republic of North Macedonia: Data from nationwide integrated health care platform.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the incidence and period prevalence of epilepsy in the Republic of North Macedonia, an upper-middle-income country with universal access to healthcare, based on a nationwide healthcare platform (NHP).

Methods: NHP contains reports from all inpatient and outpatient medical encounters and procedures, and all electronic medical records are linked together with a unique patient number. We performed the analysis of the data maintained at the Macedonian Ministry of Health, concerning the five years of the study (2014 through 2018).

Investigation of Concentration and Distribution of Elements in Three Environmental Compartments in the Region of Mitrovica, Kosovo: Soil, Honey and Bee Pollen.

The abundances of selected elements in different environmental compartments, namely soil, honey, and bee pollen, was determined in this study. For that purpose, sixteen soil and honey samples, and nine pollen samples were taken in the region of Mitrovica, Kosovo. The concentration of elements was measured by ICP-AES and ICP-MS.

Guidelines for Editing Biomedical Journals: Recommended by Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Background: Enormous number of medical journals published around the globe requires standardization of editing practice.

Objective: The aim of this article was to enlist main principles of editing biomedical scientific journals adopted at annual meeting of Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia & Herzegovina (AMSB&H).

Methods: The evidence for writing this Guideline was systematically searched for during September 2020 in the PUBMED and GOOGLE SCHOLAR databases.

Balkan Clinical Research Registry: Established by Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Background: From 2013 the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki explicitly requires pre-registration of a study involving human subjects. The registration gives a chance for improvement of design and avoidance of bias.

Objective: The aim of this article was to describe process of bearing decision to create regional registry of clinical studies for Balkan countries.

Prevalence of and factors affecting otitis media with effusion in children in the region from Balkans to Caspian basin; A multicentric cross-sectional study.

Objective: The aim of our study was to contribute to the literature about the prevalence of OME by conducting a research in a wide geography examining most of the associating factors together with a questionnaire. Additionally, possible effects of altitudes and latitudes, concordance between the otoscopic examination findings and tympanometric and acoustic reflex test results were evaluated in 4-7 years old children in the same season in different countries.

Methods: In the randomly sampled schools from different regions of different cities where people of different scoioecomonic statuses live, 4-7 year-old children were included in the study.

Mid-infrared spectroscopy as process analytical technology tool for estimation of THC and CBD content in Cannabis flowers and extracts.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the most notable Cannabis components with pharmacological activity and their content in the plant flowers and extracts are considered as critical quality parameters. The new Medical Cannabis industry needs to adopt the quality standards of the pharmaceutical industry, however, the variability of phytocannabinoids content in the plant material often exerts an issue in the inconsistency of the finished product quality parameters. Sampling problems and sample representativeness is a major limitation in the end-point testing, particularly when the expected variation of the product quality parameters is high.

Brucellosis in pregnancy: case reports with different outcomes in an endemic region.

Different outcomes of brucellosis in pregnancy regarding the fetus/neonate and the mother are described. Medical records of five pregnant women with brucellosis were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were treated in several departments of infectious diseases in the Republic of Macedonia between 1995 and 2009.

Temporal and Spatial Genetic Population Structure of and Its Associated Hypovirus Across an Invasive Range of Chestnut Blight in Europe.

Chestnut blight has spread throughout Europe since the introduction of its causal agent, , >70 years ago. In our study, we analyzed the diversity of vegetative compatibility (vc) and microsatellite genotypes of , as well as sequence diversity of (CHV1) in six populations from Switzerland, Croatia, and North Macedonia. Resampling of local populations that were already investigated more than a decade ago allowed us to analyze the spatial and temporal population structure across an invasive range of the pathogen in Europe.

Pharmacotherapeutic Considerations for Use of Cannabinoids to Relieve Symptoms of Nausea and Vomiting Induced by Chemotherapy.

Patients suffering from malignant diseases receive very often highly emetogenic chemotherapy as part of their treatment. With the aim of assessing the efficacy of cannabinoids in treating chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), we searched the literature published until April 2020 in Medline/PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, and in specific web pages. Randomized clinical trials comparing cannabinoids efficacy in managing CINV with that of placebo reported absence of vomit-ing (3 trials, 168 patients) and absence of nausea and vomiting (3 trials, 288 participants).

The Functional Availability of Arterial Kv7 Channels Is Suppressed Considerably by Large-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels in 2- to 3-Month Old but Not in 10- to 15-Day Old Rats.

Background: Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels, especially Kv7 channels, are major potassium channels identified in vascular smooth muscle cells with a great, albeit differential functional impact in various vessels. Vascular smooth muscle Kv7 channels always coexist with other K channels, in particular with BK channels. BK channels differ in the extent to which they influence vascular contractility.

Is there an association between paternal age and aneuploidy? Evidence from young donor oocyte-derived embryos: a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.

Background: Delayed parenthood, by both women and men, has become more common in developed countries. The adverse effect of advanced maternal age on embryo aneuploidy and reproductive outcomes is well known. However, whether there is an association between paternal age (PA) and embryonic chromosomal aberrations remains controversial.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and diabetes on mechanical reperfusion in patients with STEMI: insights from the ISACS STEMI COVID 19 Registry.

Background: It has been suggested the COVID pandemic may have indirectly affected the treatment and outcome of STEMI patients, by avoidance or significant delays in contacting the emergency system. No data have been reported on the impact of diabetes on treatment and outcome of STEMI patients, that was therefore the aim of the current subanalysis conducted in patients included in the International Study on Acute Coronary Syndromes-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (ISACS-STEMI) COVID-19.

Methods: The ISACS-STEMI COVID-19 is a retrospective registry performed in European centers with an annual volume of > 120 primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and assessed STEMI patients, treated with primary PCI during the same periods of the years 2019 versus 2020 (March and April).

Myocardial Infarction in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus - the Sex-Specific Risk Profile.

Background: Accelerated atherosclerosis is widely present in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: The aim of this review was to analyze the relationship between systemic lupus erythematosus and cardiovascular diseases, with the emphasis on acute myocardial infarction.

Methods: We conducted a literature review through PubMed and Cochrane, using keywords: SLE, atherosclerosis, atherothrombosis, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, prognosis, sex specifics.

Final Efficacy Results of Neratinib in HER2-positive Hormone Receptor-positive Early-stage Breast Cancer From the Phase III ExteNET Trial.

Background: The ExteNET trial demonstrated improved invasive disease-free survival (iDFS) with neratinib, an irreversible pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor, versus placebo in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2)/hormone receptor-positive (HR) early-stage breast cancer (eBC).

Patients And Methods: ExteNET was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, phase III trial of 2840 patients with HER2 eBC after neoadjuvant/adjuvant trastuzumab-based therapy. Patients were stratified by HR status and randomly assigned 1-year oral neratinib 240 mg/day or placebo.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mechanical Reperfusion for Patients With STEMI.

Background: The fear of contagion during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have potentially refrained patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) from accessing the emergency system, with subsequent impact on mortality.

Objectives: The ISACS-STEMI COVID-19 registry aims to estimate the true impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment and outcome of patients with STEMI treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), with identification of "at-risk" patient cohorts for failure to present or delays to treatment.

Methods: This retrospective registry was performed in European high-volume PPCI centers and assessed patients with STEMI treated with PPPCI in March/April 2019 and 2020.

Psychological distress, burnout, job satisfaction and intention to quit among primary healthcare nurses.

Addressing the worldwide challenge of shortage of nurses contributes to the national and international efforts to enhance the health and well-being of the global population. The main aim of this research is to investigate the level and the relationship between psychological distress, burnout, job satisfaction and intention to quit among primary healthcare nurses in public and private practices while accounting for their socio-demographic characteristics. This was a cross sectional study of 173 primary health care nurses.

Aging at Work: A Review of Recent Trends and Future Directions.

Demographic data suggest a rapid aging trend in the active workforce. The concept of aging at work comes from the urgent requirement to help the aging workforce of the contemporary industries to maintain productivity while achieving a work and private life balance. While there is plenty of research focusing on the aging population, current research activities on policies covering the concept of aging at work are limited and conceptually different.

Higher-order connections between stereotyped subsets: implications for improved patient classification in CLL.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by the existence of subsets of patients with (quasi)identical, stereotyped B-cell receptor (BcR) immunoglobulins. Patients in certain major stereotyped subsets often display remarkably consistent clinicobiological profiles, suggesting that the study of BcR immunoglobulin stereotypy in CLL has important implications for understanding disease pathophysiology and refining clinical decision-making. Nevertheless, several issues remain open, especially pertaining to the actual frequency of BcR immunoglobulin stereotypy and major subsets, as well as the existence of higher-order connections between individual subsets.

Generalized Cattaneo (telegrapher's) equations in modeling anomalous diffusion phenomena.

We study generalized Cattaneo (telegrapher's) equations involving memory effects introduced by smearing the time derivatives. Consistency conditions where the smearing functions obey restrict freedom in their choice but the proposed scheme goes beyond the approach based on using fractional derivatives. We find conditions under which solutions of the equations considered so far can be recognized as probability distributions, i.

Markers involved in proinflammatory effects by environmental toxicants.

Toxicological studies have identified polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in human breast milk, smoked and barbequed food, although the largest contribution of PAH intake into the body are cereals and cereals products. The major effects attributable to PAH appeared to occur in the liver, lungs, the hematopoietic system, and the kidney. Nevertheless, more precise mechanisms by which PAH initiates its pathological features are not fully understood.

A Moderate Increase in Ambient Temperature Influences The Structure and Hormonal Secretion of Adrenal Glands in Rats.

Objective: As a consequence of global warming, the increase in the average annual temperature is observed, while the living organisms actively adapt to these changes. High environmental temperature initiates numerous physiological, autonomic, and behavioral responses, and activates the stress response. Thus, the aim of the study was to investigate effect of a moderate increase in ambient temperature on the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis by determining histological changes in adrenal glands and hormonal levels in adult male rats.

Cochrane risk of bias tool was used inadequately in the majority of non-Cochrane systematic reviews.

Objectives: To analyze how many non-Cochrane systematic reviews (NCSRs) used Cochrane's risk of bias (RoB) tool, domains they used, and whether judgments and comments about RoB were in line with Cochrane Handbook.

Methods: This was a methodological (research-on-research) study. We retrieved NCSRs from PubMed, extracted information about methods used for RoB assessment, and if they used 2011 Cochrane RoB tool, we analyzed their RoB methods and compared them with Cochrane Handbook guidance.

Quenched and annealed disorder mechanisms in comb models with fractional operators.

Recent experimental findings on anomalous diffusion have demanded novel models that combine annealed (temporal) and quenched (spatial or static) disorder mechanisms. The comb model is a simplified description of diffusion on percolation clusters, where the comblike structure mimics quenched disorder mechanisms and yields a subdiffusive regime. Here we extend the comb model to simultaneously account for quenched and annealed disorder mechanisms.