Serological Response to SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Hemodialyzed Patients and the Association with Later COVID-19 Positivity.

Background: The effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine may differ in hemodialysis patients. The aim of this prospective multicenter study was to determine the degree of serological response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in the population of dialysis patients and its association with later SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Methods: A blood sample was taken for the determination of COVID-19 serological status (IgG antibodies) in 706 dialysis patients 16 weeks after vaccination with the second dose (Pfizer-BioNTech).

ERGOBOSS: Ergonomic Optimization of Body-Supporting Surfaces.

Humans routinely sit or lean against supporting surfaces and it is important to shape these surfaces to be comfortable and ergonomic. We give a method to design the geometric shape of rigid supporting surfaces to maximize the ergonomics of physically based contact between the surface and a deformable human. We model the soft deformable human using a layer of FEM deformable tissue surrounding a rigid core, with measured realistic elastic material properties, and large-deformation nonlinear analysis.

Evaluating the Efficiency of Six-DoF Haptic Rendering-Based Virtual Assembly Training.

Haptics plays an important role in training users to assemble mechanical components, such as airplane or car parts. Because mechanical components are often geometrically complex, efficient collision detection and six-DoF haptic rendering of contact are required for virtual assembly, and this has been extensively explored in prior work. However, as this article shows, this alone is not sufficient for efficient virtual assembly training.

PERIODONTAL DISEASE IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE.

Periodontal disease is a chronic multifactorial disease the worldwide incidence of which is higher than the incidence of caries and represents one of the leading problems in dental medicine. It is manifested by the loss of the attachment apparatus of the tooth and leads to the loss of teeth. Numerous studies have shown the association of periodontal disease and various chronic systemic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease.

Serum levels of the high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus: case-control study.

Introduction: The involvement of the high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) in various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases has been documented; however, the role of this proinflammatory molecule in children with diabetes type 1 (T1DM) has not been addressed. The aim of this case-control study is to compare the serum level of HMGB1 in children with newly diagnosed T1DM (group 1) and a control group composed of healthy children.

Material And Methods: This case-control study included 136 children: group 1 (n = 96) and a control group (n = 40).

Association Between Interleukin-10 Gene (-1082g/A) Polymorphism and Type 2 Diabetes, Diabetes-Related Traits, and Microvascular Complications in the Croatian Population.

Interleukin (IL)-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine, and a decrease in its secretion is associated with obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. However, it has not been established whether the intensity of the immune response during diabetes-associated chronic inflammation affects the development and/or progression of type 2 diabetes and its microvascular complications. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-1082G/A for IL-10 gene in development of diabetes type 2 and its complications.

6-DoF Haptic Rendering of Static Coulomb Friction Using Linear Programming.

Simulating frictional contact between objects with complex geometry is important for 6-DoF haptic rendering applications. For example, friction determines whether components can be navigated past narrow clearances in virtual assembly. State-of-the-art haptic rendering of frictional contact either augments penalty contact with frictional penalty springs, which do not prevent sliding and cannot render correct static friction, or uses constraint-based methods that are difficult to meet the stringent haptic loop computation time requirements for complex geometry.

Interleukin 17A and Toll-like Receptor 4 in Patients with Arterial Hypertension.

Background/aims: Immune responses are involved in arterial hypertension. An observational cross-sectional case control study was conducted to estimate the association between Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression and interleukin (IL)-17A serum levels in patients with controlled and non-controlled hypertension.

Methods: We have enrolled 105 non-complicated otherwise healthy hypertensive patients: 53 with well-controlled blood pressure and 52 non-controlled.

Enriching Triangle Mesh Animations with Physically Based Simulation.

We present a system to combine arbitrary triangle mesh animations with physically based Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation, enabling control over the combination both in space and time. The input is a triangle mesh animation obtained using any method, such as keyframed animation, character rigging, 3D scanning, or geometric shape modeling. The input may be non-physical, crude or even incomplete.

Adaptive 6-DoF Haptic Contact Stiffness Using the Gauss Map.

The penalty method is a popular approach to resolving contact in haptic rendering. In simulations involving complex distributed contact, there are, however, many simultaneous individual contacts. These contacts have normals pointing in several directions, many of which may be parallel, causing the stiffness effectively to add up in a temporally highly-varying and unpredictable way.

6-DoF Haptic Rendering Using Continuous Collision Detection between Points and Signed Distance Fields.

We present an algorithm for fast continuous collision detection between points and signed distance fields, and demonstrate how to robustly use it for 6-DoF haptic rendering of contact between objects with complex geometry. Continuous collision detection is often needed in computer animation, haptics, and virtual reality applications, but has so far only been investigated for polygon (triangular) geometry representations. We demonstrate how to robustly and continuously detect intersections between points and level sets of the signed distance field.

Implicit Multibody Penalty-BasedDistributed Contact.

The penalty method is a simple and popular approach to resolving contact in computer graphics and robotics. Penalty-based contact, however, suffers from stability problems due to the highly variable and unpredictable net stiffness, and this is particularly pronounced in simulations with time-varying distributed geometrically complex contact. We employ semi-implicit integration, exact analytical contact gradients, symbolic Gaussian elimination and a SVD solver to simulate stable penalty-based frictional contact with large, time-varying contact areas, involving many rigid objects and articulated rigid objects in complex conforming contact and self-contact.

Stable Anisotropic Materials.

The Finite Element Method (FEM) is commonly used to simulate isotropic deformable objects in computer graphics. Several applications (wood, plants, muscles) require modeling the directional dependence of the material elastic properties in three orthogonal directions. We investigate linear orthotropic materials, a special class of linear anisotropic materials where the shear stresses are decoupled from normal stresses, as well as general linear (non-orthotropic) anisotropic materials.

Red blood cell distribution width as a simple negative prognostic factor in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a retrospective study.

Aim: To determine the prognostic value of baseline red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients.

Methods: Data from 81 DLBCL patients diagnosed from 2006 to 2013 at the University Hospital Center Osijek, Osijek, Croatia, were reviewed. We evaluated disease outcome, overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS), and demographic, clinical and laboratory factors affecting outcome.

Single nucleotide polymorphism of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is associated with juvenile spondyloarthritis in Croatian population.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of toll-like and NOD-like receptors have been associated with altered receptor activity and modified production of proinflammatory cytokines leading to a number of diseases. Our aim was to determine whether SNP of TLR2 (Arg753Gln), TLR4 (Asp299Gly, Thr399Ile), and NLRP3 (Q705K) influence susceptibility to juvenile spondyloarthrtis (jSpA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). After the DNA extraction, 26 patients with jSpA, 11 with oligoarticular, polyarticular, or systemic JIA, and 40 healthy controls were genotyped for Arg753Gln, Asp299Gly, Thr399Ile, and Q705K SNP using real-time PCR-SNP analysis.

Polymorphisms of Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 in chronically infected hepatitis C patients from north-east Croatia.

Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is caused by an inadequate immune response. Experimental data suggest that the impaired activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2 and 4 contributes to chronic infection. We assessed the distribution of three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TLR2 (Arg753Gln) and TLR4 (Asp299Gly/Thr399Ile) genes in individuals from north-east Croatia and their effect on the outcome of antiviral therapy.

Postoperative immunosuppression markers and the occurrence of sepsis in patients with benign and malignant disease.

Aim: To investigate associations between the postoperative immune response and the levels of extracellular circulating DNA (cDNA), C-reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil/lymphocyte (N/L) ratio, and regulatory T (Treg) cells in the peripheral blood and their role as potential predictors of postoperative septic complications.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study involving 115 adult patients who underwent elective surgery. Patients were divided into three groups: with benign disease, with malignant disease, and with malignant disease and administration of dexamethasone.

Most common HCV genotypes in patients from north-eastern Croatia.

Objective: The aims of this study were to determine the HCV-RNA viral load, genotype distribution, risk factors and symptoms of HCVRNA positive viral load in HCV antibody-positive patients from north-eastern Croatia.

Materials And Methods: From January 2009 to December 2011, 203 HCV antibody- positive patients (130 men and 73 women; median age 44.5 years) were analyzed for HCV-RNA by the COBAS TaqMan HCV test and genotyped by the Linear Array HCV Genotyping test (both from Roche).

Kinetics of changes in serum concentrations of procalcitonin, interleukin-6, and C- reactive protein after elective abdominal surgery. Can it be used to detect postoperative complications?

Postoperative increase in inflammation biologic markers is associated with a nonspecific inflammatory response to a surgical injury. We investigated the kinetics of changes in serum concentrations of procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) after abdominal surgeries and we focused on the behaviour of those markers in the case of development of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). In the single centre we conducted a prospective observational study and we included patients admitted to the ICU after elective abdominal surgery.

[Angiotensin-converting enyme insertion/deletion polymorphism and blood pressure regulation in type 2 diabetic patients].

Introduction: The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has been shown to have important role in blood pressure regulation. Inconsistent results have been reported regarding the association of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism (NCBI ref. SNP ID: rs1799752) and hypertension as well as a contributing factor in the development of diabetic nephropathy.

Antibody combination therapy targeting CD25, CD70 and CD8 reduces islet inflammation and improves glycaemia in diabetic mice.

Destruction of pancreatic islets in type 1 diabetes is caused by infiltrating, primed and activated T cells. In a clinical setting this autoimmune process is already in an advanced stage before intervention therapy can be administered. Therefore, an effective intervention needs to reduce islet inflammation and preserve any remaining islet function.

Association studies of gene polymorphisms in toll-like receptors 2 and 4 in Croatian patients with acute myocardial infarction.

The aim of the study was to assess the frequency of SNP896A/G in the Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 gene and SNP1350T/C in the TLR2 gene in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and to analyse the association of these SNPs with risk factors for atherosclerosis and clinical aspects of AMI in a sample of the Croatian population. We included 240 participants in the study: 120 AMI patients and 120 sex- and age-matched healthy blood donor controls. The SNP1350T/C variant in the TLR2 gene showed a lower frequency in the AMI patient group than in the control group (P = 0.