Publications by authors named "A Bjelajac"

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated the validity of a self-report questionnaire for hand eczema (HE) among Croatian hairdressers, aiming to determine how accurately apprentices could self-identify their symptoms.
  • Results showed that the questionnaire had low sensitivity (7%-37%) but high specificity (≥95%), meaning it was better at identifying true negatives than true positives, with improvements noted over time as training progressed.
  • The severity of HE signs was linked to better self-identification of symptoms, suggesting that further modifications and validation of the questionnaire are needed for adolescent populations.
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Background: Preliminary data suggests that obesity might hasten the decline in mRNA vaccine-induced immunity against SARS-CoV-2. However, whether this renders individuals with obesity more susceptible to long COVID symptoms post-vaccination remains uncertain. Given sleep's critical role in immunity, exploring the associations between obesity, probable long COVID symptoms, and sleep disturbances is essential.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Accurate measurement of habitual sleep duration (HSD) is important for linking sleep to health, and this study compared two self-report methods (Method-Self and Method-MCTQ) to identify bias based on sleep quality (SQ) and social jetlag (SJL).
  • - The findings from 10,268 participants indicated that Method-Self typically reported HSD as 42.41 minutes lower than Method-MCTQ, with greater bias observed in those with poorer sleep quality; the two methods exhibited very poor agreement overall.
  • - The study suggests that including questions about sleep quality in surveys could help reduce estimation bias and improve the reliability of sleep-related health research, especially given the systematic errors found between the two methods examined
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Herein, we demonstrate the use of an atmospheric pressure plasma with a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) for the synthesis of FeO nanoparticles with a simultaneous formation of graphene oxide domains at low substrate temperature. For that, the interaction of the plasma to control good decomposition of the Fe precursor is essential and this is demonstrated by FTIR analyses. Thanks to a fine tuning of the plasma conditions, a homogeneous spatial distribution around 5 nm nanoparticles (NPs) was obtained, whereas without plasma, in the same configuration of the process, a heterogeneity regarding size and shape for the NPs was obtained.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores how self-rated health (SRH) relates to sleep patterns in people who had COVID-19, suggesting that COVID-19 negatively impacts SRH and sleep quality.
  • Participants from 16 countries were surveyed, with findings indicating that those infected with COVID-19 reported lower SRH scores, especially if their illness was severe.
  • Changes in sleep duration after infection—both decreases and increases—were significantly linked to lower SRH scores, as well as increased fatigue and other health issues, highlighting the importance of sleep in recovery.
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