Introducing community-based mental health support in Serbia: A qualitative study on experiences and needs of long-term psychiatric users.

Background: Mental health (MH) system in Serbia still relies heavily on the medical model with very restricted availability of community-based support. The aim of this study was to provide insight into the everyday experiences and unmet needs of psychiatric users suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders in Serbia who are also users of community MH services.

Method: We recruited the participants ( = 11; 9 males; aged 26-65,  = 48.

Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) and COVID-19 Infection: An Independent Predictor of Poor Disease Outcome?

: Early reports on COVID-19 infection suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 virus solely attacks respiratory tract cells. As the pandemic spread, it became clear that the infection is multiorganic. Metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a chronic liver disease strongly associated with insulin resistance and diabetes.

Patient Assessment Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) and its associations with quality of life among Swiss patients with systemic sclerosis: a mixed methods study.

Background: The Chronic Care Model (CCM) is a longstanding and widely adopted model guiding chronic illness management. Little is known about how CCM elements are implemented in rare disease care or how patients' care experiences relate to health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We engaged patients living with systemic sclerosis (SSc) to assess current care according to the CCM from the patient perspective and their HRQoL.

Anxiety and Comorbidities Differences in Adults with Chronic Pulmonary Diseases: Serbian Single Center Experience.

Background and objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in the degree of the anxiety and comorbidity levels in patients with different chronic pulmonary diseases such as chronic obstructive bronchitis (COPD) without emphysema phenotype, pulmonary emphysema, bronchial asthma and lung cancer. Materials and Methods: The prospective clinical study included 272 patients that were diagnosed and treated of pulmonary pathology. COPD (without emphysema phenotype) (Group-1), pulmonary emphysema (Group-2), bronchial asthma (Group-3) and lung cancer (Group-4) were assessed.

The New Therapeutic Approaches in the Treatment of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disease which is characterized by extremely complex pathogenetic mechanisms and multifactorial etiology. Some of the many pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the development of NAFLD include oxidative stress, impaired mitochondrial metabolism, inflammation, gut microbiota, and interaction between the brain-liver-axis and the regulation of hepatic lipid metabolism. The new therapeutic approaches in the treatment of NAFLD are targeting some of these milestones along the pathophysiological pathway and include drugs like agonists of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists, sodium/glucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists, probiotics, and symbiotics.

Patient and healthcare professional eHealth literacy and needs for systemic sclerosis support: a mixed methods study.

Objectives: We engaged patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and healthcare professionals to assess electronic health (eHealth) literacy and needs relating to web-based support using internet-based information and communication technologies (ICT).

Methods: We employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. First, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in patients (n=101) and professionals (n=47).

Response to a sexual risk reduction intervention provided in combination with hepatitis C treatment by HIV/HCV co-infected men who have sex with men: a reflexive thematic analysis.

Background: Hepatitis C virus reinfections in HIV-positive men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) challenge the effectiveness of antiviral treatment. To fight this problem, an adapted sexual risk reduction intervention was implemented within a hepatitis C treatment trial. Following this, the current study had two aims and describes 1) how the program was received by participants; and 2) their responses to the program regarding sexual risk taking.

A Strategic Core Role Perspective on Team Coordination: Benefits of Centralized Leadership for Managing Task Complexity in the Operating Room.

Objective: We examine whether surgical teams can handle changes in task requirements better when their formal leader and strategic core role holder-that is, the main surgeon-is central to team coordination.

Background: Evidence regarding the benefits of shared leadership for managing complex tasks is divided. We tested whether a strategic core role holder's centrality in team coordination helps teams to handle different types of task complexity.

Implementation of a multiprofessional, multicomponent delirium management guideline in two intensive care units, and its effect on patient outcomes and nurse workload: a pre-post design retrospective cohort study.

Aim Of The Study: Delirium is a frequent intensive care unit (ICU) complication, affecting 26% to 80% of ICU patients, often with serious consequences. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness, costs and benefits of following a standardised multiprofessional, multicomponent delirium guideline on eight outcomes: delirium prevalence and duration, lengths of stay in ICU and hospital, in-hospital mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, and cost and nursing hours per case. It also aimed to explore the associations of delirium with length of ICU stay, length of hospital stay and duration of mechanical ventilation.

Exploring healthcare providers' mental models of the infection prevention "patient zone" - a concept mapping study.

Background: Pathogen transmission plays a major role in the development of healthcare-associated infections. The "patient zone" concept developed as part of the World Health Organization's "Five moments of hand hygiene" aims to distinguish surfaces primarily contaminated by flora of a single patient, i.e.

Impact of acute hyperglycemia on layer-specific left ventricular strain in asymptomatic diabetic patients: an analysis based on two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

Background: Hyperglycemia has detrimental effect on ischemic myocardium, but the impact of acute hyperglycemia on the myocardium in asymptomatic diabetic patients has not been fully elucidated. Thus, this follow-up study was aimed to investigate the effects and reversibility of acute hyperglycemia on regional contractile function of left ventricle (LV) in diabetic patients without cardiovascular disease.

Methods: The two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE), including multilayer strain analysis, was used for evaluation of global and regional LV function in asymptomatic, normotensive patients with uncomplicated diabetes, with acute hyperglycemia ( ≥ 11.

The Inflammatory and Hemostatic Cardiovascular Risk Markers During Acute Hyperglycemic Crisis in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: We analyzed cardiovascular inflammatory (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6)), haemostatic (homocysteine) risk markers in lean and obese patients at admission and acute hyperglicemic crisis (AHC) resolving, involving diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state (HHS).

Methods: In that context, we included group A: N = 20 obese, B: N=20 lean patients with DKA; C: N = l0 obese, D: N=10 lean patients with HHS; E: N = 15 obese, F: N=15 lean controls. CRP IL-6, homocysteine were determined by ELISA.

An ultra-high affinity ligand of HIV-1 TAR reveals the RNA structure recognized by P-TEFb.

The HIV-1 trans-activator protein Tat binds the trans-activation response element (TAR) to facilitate recruitment of the super elongation complex (SEC) to enhance transcription of the integrated pro-viral genome. The Tat-TAR interaction is critical for viral replication and the emergence of the virus from the latent state, therefore, inhibiting this interaction has long been pursued to discover new anti-viral or latency reversal agents. However, discovering active compounds that directly target RNA with high affinity and selectivity remains a significant challenge; limiting pre-clinical development.

A hospital-wide evaluation of delirium prevalence and outcomes in acute care patients - a cohort study.

Background: Delirium is a well-known complication in cardiac surgery and intensive care unit (ICU) patients. However, in many other settings its prevalence and clinical consequences are understudied. The aims of this study were: (1) To assess delirium prevalence in a large, diverse cohort of acute care patients classified as either at risk or not at risk for delirium; (2) To compare these two groups according to defined indicators; and (3) To compare delirious with non-delirious patients regarding hospital mortality, ICU and hospital length of stay, nursing hours and cost per case.

Successful Laparoscopic Removal of a Self-Inflicted Thermometer that Spontaneously Migrated into the Peritoneal Cavity.

A sixty-three-year-old Caucasian male was referred to emergency service 10 hours after self-infliction of a mercury glass thermometer into the urethra. The patient presented without abdominal or voiding symptoms. Radiologicalimaging confirmed the presence of a thermometer in the peritoneal cavity, without signs of contrast leakage from the bladder.

Polymorphisms of survivin -31 G/C gene are associated with risk of urothelial carcinoma in Serbian population.

Purpose: Survivin is thought to play an important role in carcinogenesis and is found to be associated with poor clinical outcome in various malignancies. Gene -31 G/C polymorphism has been identified as a risk factor for the development of several types of tumors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between survivin gene promoter -31C/G polymorphism and urothelial carcinoma (UC) risk in Serbian population and to compare the different expressions of survivin in UC of different disease stages, histological grades and tumor location in the upper or lower urinary tract.

Blood donors' awareness and attitudes towards blood transfusion safety in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia.

Objectives: To assess the awareness and attitudes related to blood transfusion safety among blood donors from the Autonomous Province (AP) Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia.

Background: Blood donors are at the initial point of safe blood transfusion systems. The active participation of blood donors in the selection process contributes to increasing the safety of blood transfusions and reduces potential risks for the recipients.

A Peptidomimetic Antibiotic Targets Outer Membrane Proteins and Disrupts Selectively the Outer Membrane in Escherichia coli.

Increasing antibacterial resistance presents a major challenge in antibiotic discovery. One attractive target in Gram-negative bacteria is the unique asymmetric outer membrane (OM), which acts as a permeability barrier that protects the cell from external stresses, such as the presence of antibiotics. We describe a novel β-hairpin macrocyclic peptide JB-95 with potent antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli.