Comparison of original and new South African formulae for age estimation in African Black and white children and adolescents using dental and hand-wrist methods.

Background: Methods for age estimation in children involve measurements of: (1) the projections of open apices and tooth heights (T), (2) the total area of the carpal bones and the epiphyses of the ulna and radius (HW), and (3) a combination of these parameters (THW). This study aimed to compare the accuracy of the original formulae for T, HW, and THW in Black South African (BSA) and White South African (WSA) samples of children and adolescents.

Materials And Methods: The sample comprised 556 subjects, 164 BSA (71 males and 93 females) and 392 WSA (171 males and 221 females) aged 6 to 16 years.

Herbicide-treated soil as a reservoir of beneficial bacteria: microbiome analysis and PGP bioinoculants in maize.

Background: Herbicides are integral to agricultural weed management but can adversely affect non-target organisms, soil health, and microbiome. We investigated the effects of herbicides on the total soil bacterial community composition using 16S rRNA gene amplicon community profiling. Further, we aimed to identify herbicide-tolerant bacteria with plant growth-promoting (PGP) capabilities as a mitigative strategy for these negative effects, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

Legal Dental Age Thresholds Estimation in Croatian Children and Adolescents: Accuracy of the Olze, Haavikko, and Demirjian Methods.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the accuracy of three established approaches for legal age threshold estimation in a Croatian sample.

Materials And Methods: Olze's third molar eruption stages, Haavikko stages, and Demirjian stages were applied in 583 orthopantomograms of Croatian children and adolescents aged 10.00-20.

The Short-Term Impact of Educational Programs on Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Antimicrobial Stewardship among Veterinary Students in Serbia.

Effective antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is crucial for combating the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), particularly in veterinary medicine. Educational programs targeting veterinary students can play a significant role in shaping their knowledge and attitudes toward antimicrobial use and stewardship. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of educational programs on the knowledge and attitudes regarding AMS among veterinary students in Serbia.

Analysis and comparison of tooth wear in late antiquity and early middle age in populations that lived in continental and coastal Croatia using digitized VistaMetrix method.

Background: Tooth wear is a non-pathological loss of hard tissues on the incisal and occlusal tooth surface. In archaeology, the loss of dental tissue through attrition is associated with living opportunities and habits, availability, characteristics and methods of food preparation. In forensics, tooth wear is used to estimate the dental age on cadavers.

Advancements in Computer-Aided Diagnosis of Celiac Disease: A Systematic Review.

Celiac disease, a chronic autoimmune condition, manifests in those genetically prone to it through damage to the small intestine upon gluten consumption. This condition is estimated to affect approximately one in every hundred individuals worldwide, though it often goes undiagnosed. The early and accurate diagnosis of celiac disease (CD) is critical to preventing severe health complications, with computer-aided diagnostic approaches showing significant promise.

Thickness Variations of Thermoformed and 3D-Printed Clear Aligners.

Objective: To assess thickness variations of thermoformed and 3D-printed clear aligners.

Materials And Methods: Six different thermoplastic materials with different initial thicknesses were used for aligner thermoforming using Biostar® device (Biostar®, SCHEU-DENTAL GmbH, Iserlohn, Germany). Also, two different dental resins were used to create the printed aligners in three digitally designed thicknesses using IZZI Direct printer (3Dtech, Zagreb, Croatia).

Accuracy of second and third molar maturity indices, Olze, Haavikko, and Demirjian methods for 14- and 16-year-old age thresholds assessment in Croatian children and adolescents.

This study explores the reliability of four established legal age threshold estimation approaches in a Croatian sample. We applied Haavikko stages, Demirjian stages, Olze's third molar eruption stages, and second and third molar maturity indices measurement in 593 orthopantomograms of Croatian children and adolescents aged 11.00-20.

Understanding skin color bias in deep learning-based skin lesion segmentation.

Background: The field of dermatological image analysis using deep neural networks includes the semantic segmentation of skin lesions, pivotal for lesion analysis, pathology inference, and diagnoses. While biases in neural network-based dermatoscopic image classification against darker skin tones due to dataset imbalance and contrast disparities are acknowledged, a comprehensive exploration of skin color bias in lesion segmentation models is lacking. It is imperative to address and understand the biases in these models.

Increased prevalence of oral potentially malignant lesions among Croatian War invalids, a cross-sectional study.

Background: The main objective of this study was to investigate the frequency and type of oral pathological changes, oral subjective symptoms and the knowledge about oral cancer in the population of Croatian military invalids from the Homeland War.

Material And Methods: A total of 102 Croatian military invalids from the Homeland War participated in the study. Data were collected on the presence of subjective symptoms in the oral cavity, and a detailed clinical examination of the oral mucosa was performed.

Risk Perception About HIV Among University Students in One of the Last Hotspots for HIV Transmission in Europe.

Background: HIV testing in the Northern Kosovo province is challenging, because the infrastructure is being rebuilt after the ethnic conflict. The purpose of this research was to examine self-perceived risk for acquiring HIV infection and factors associated with risk assessment among university students.

Methods: Students completed a questionnaire on socio-demographic data, knowledge about HIV prevention and transmission, attitudes toward people living with (PLHIV) and self-perceived risk for HIV infection.

Artificial intelligence in forensic medicine and forensic dentistry.

This review article aims to highlight the current possibilities for applying Artificial Intelligence in modern forensic medicine and forensic dentistry and present the advantages and disadvantages of its use. For this purpose, the relevant academic literature was searched using PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus. The application of Artificial Intelligence in forensic medicine and forensic dentistry is still in its early stages.

Effect of Denosumab Therapy on Pain Level in Diffuse Sclerosing Osteomyelitis of the Mandible: a Case Report.

This is the first case report where two patients were under uniform denosumab administration protocol in diffuse sclerosing osteomyelitis (DSO) treatment and were closely monitored for 18 months. Objectives: This study aimed to describe the beneficial effects of denosumab in DSO treatment as well as pain relief and the significant lack of long-term use due to poorer outcomes after repeated use. DSO of the jaw is a poorly understood rare chronic disease the treatment of which is still very challenging despite a rapid development of medicine.

Key lessons learnt from COVID-19 intra-action reviews in the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia 2020-2021: a qualitative study.

Objectives: Our study described how the WHO intra-action review (IAR) methodology was operationalised and customised in three Western Balkan countries and territories and the Republic of Moldova and analysed the common key findings to inform analyses of the lessons learnt from the pandemic response.

Design: We extracted data from the respective IAR reports and performed a qualitative thematic content analysis to identify common (between countries and territories) and cross-cutting (across the response pillars) themes on best practices, challenges and priority actions. The analysis involved three stages, namely: extraction of data, initial identification of emerging themes and review and definition of the themes.

Intramammary Ethno-Veterinary Formulation in Bovine Mastitis Treatment for Optimization of Antibiotic Use.

Increasing pressure on animal and human health as well as food security, due to antimicrobial resistance, is leading to increased demand for natural-product-derived antibiotics worldwide. Considering the importance of bovine mastitis as well as the huge challenge posed by mastitis therapy in cattle production, the main goal of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the essential oil-based pharmaceutical (Phyto-Bomat), as an alternative to the existing treatment with antibiotics. The therapeutic response of the cows was monitored using clinical and bacteriological cure of the proposed formulation.

Rituximab, Intravitreal Bevacizumab and Laser Photocoagulation for Treatment of Macrophage Activation Syndrome and Retinal Vasculitis in Lupus: A Case Report.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) most commonly manifests as mild to moderate disease with severe manifestations such as diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, central nervous system vasculitis, macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) or retinal vasculitis (RV) with visual disturbances occurring in a significantly smaller proportion of patients, most of whom have a poor outcome. Macrophage activation syndrome and RV are insufficiently early and rarely recognized presentations of lupus-consequently there are still no treatment recommendations. Here we present the course of diagnosis and treatment of a patient with an SLE flare that resulted in both life-threatening disease (MAS) and vision-threatening disease (RV).

Segment-then-Segment: Context-Preserving Crop-Based Segmentation for Large Biomedical Images.

Medical images are often of huge size, which presents a challenge in terms of memory requirements when training machine learning models. Commonly, the images are downsampled to overcome this challenge, but this leads to a loss of information. We present a general approach for training semantic segmentation neural networks on much smaller input sizes called Segment-then-Segment.

Food Safety Behaviours among Food Handlers in Different Food Service Establishments in Montenegro.

Foodborne diseases in food facilities are a major public health problem, due mostly to the limited surveillance and educational level of food-handling workers. This study was conducted in 220 food service locations in Montenegro. Participants’ behaviour was assessed by a survey using the specifically designed structured questionnaire, administered before and after the training.

Chemical Composition, Antimicrobial Activity, and Withdrawal Period of Essential Oil-Based Pharmaceutical Formulation in Bovine Mastitis Treatment.

Due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the risk it represents to public health, and the possible consequences for animal health and welfare, there is an increasing focus on reducing antimicrobial usage (AMU) in animal husbandry. Therefore, a great interest in developing alternatives to AMU in livestock production is present worldwide. Recently, essential oils (EOs) have gained great attention as promising possibilities for the replacement of antibiotics.

Third molar maturity index (I) assessment according to different geographical zones: a large multi-ethnic study sample.

Identification of living undocumented individuals highlights the need for accurate, precise, and reproducible age estimation methods, especially in those cases involving minors. However, when their country of origin is unknown, or it can be only roughly estimated, it is extremely difficult to apply assessment policies, procedures, and practices that are accurate and child-sensitive. The main aim of this research is to optimize the correct classification of adults and minors by establishing new cut-off values for four different continents (Africa, America, Asia, and Europe).

Possible influence of styloid process length on isolated vertigo of unknown aetiology.

Objective: Eagle syndrome or styloid process syndrome is a clinical condition of complex aetiology. Since, as a consequence of vascular compression,due to the length of the styloid process and its nearness to the internal carotid artery,it can lead to vertigo. Vertigo may be the only symptom of stylocarotid syndrome and it is extremely challenging diagnose.

Achieving Racial Representation in Food Allergy Research: A Modified Delphi Study.

Background: The overrepresentation of White participants in food allergy research contributes to the development of research questions and interventions not driven by those disproportionately affected by the condition. This ultimately limits the generalizability of research findings and affects the development of knowledge about food allergy and food allergy management.

Objective: To develop recommendations to combat inequitable research paradigms and increase participation of racially underrepresented populations in food allergy research.

Treatment of Inflammatory Dentigerous Cyst Using a Surgical T Drain in a Child.

Dentigerous cysts are rarely reported in young children. They are usually asymptomatic and only identified when becoming significantly large. Treatment by enucleation may damage structures like the inferior alveolar nerve, maxillary sinus, or permanent teeth, thus reducing the child's quality of life.