Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have a peculiar and complex reproductive biology, with queens being polyandrous and mating with several drones during one or more mating (nuptial) flights in so-called drone congregation areas. Observing the virgin queens' and drones' flight behaviour provides data to understand and interpret a portion of the honey bees' complex reproductive process. Observing the behaviour of the virgin queens on the hive entrance also serves to estimate the distance from the mating place or potential drone congregation areas (DCAs) as well as to detect the presence of airborne drones in the area. In this paper, we provide a detailed description of the methodology used for observing queens' and drones' flights during the period of expected mating. In addition, we provide information about required equipment, tools as well as step by step description of the observation and recordkeeping process.

Background The diagnosis of HNF1B disease is a challenge. We aimed to developa tool for predicting HNF1B mutations in children with congenital abnormalities of the kidneys and urinary tract (CAKUT). Methods The clinical and laboratory data from 234 children and young adults with known HNF1B mutation status were collected and analyzed retrospectively. All subjects were randomly divided into a training (70%) and a validation set (30%). A random forest model was constructed to predict HNF1B mutations. The recursive feature elimination algorithm was used for feature selection into the model, and receiver operating characteristiccurve statistics were used to verify its predictive effect. Results 213 patients were analyzed, including HNF1B‑positive (mut+, n=109) and HNF1B‑negative (mut−, n=104) subjects. The majority of patients had mild chronic kidney disease. Kidney phenotype was similar between groups, but bilateral kidney anomalies were more frequent in the mut+ group. Hypomagnesemia and hypermagnesuria were the most common abnormalities in mut+ patients, and were highly selective of HNF1B. Hypomagnesemia based on age‑appropriate norms had a better discriminatory value than the age‑independent cutoff of 0.7 mmol/l. Pancreatic anomalies were almost exclusively found in mut+ patients. No subjects had hypokalemia; the mean serum potassium level was lower in the HNF1Bcohort. The above‑mentioned, discriminative parameters were selected for the model, which showed a good performance (area under the curve: 0.85; sensitivity of 93.67%, specificity of 73.57%). A corresponding calculator was developed for use and validation. Conclusion This study developed a simple tool for predicting HNF1B mutations in children with CAKUT.

Abstract Background Veterinary drugs are widely used in animals to prevent diseases and are a complex set of drugs with very different chemical properties. Multiclass and multi-residue methods for simultaneous detection of residues from veterinary drugs and contaminants in urine are very rare or non-existent. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate a sensitive and reliable quantitative LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of a wide range of veterinary drug and pesticide residues and mycotoxins in bovine urine. This involved 42 veterinary drug residues (4 thyreostats, 6 anabolic hormones, 2 lactones, 10 beta agonists, 15 antibiotics, 5 sulphonamides), 28 pesticides and 2 mycotoxins. Stable isotopically labelled internal standards were used to facilitate effective quantification of the analytes. Analysis was performed in both positive and negative ionization modes with multiple reaction monitoring transitions over a period of 12 min. Results The parameters validated included linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), detection capability (CCβ), decision limit (CCα), stability, accuracy and precision. The process followed guidelines of the regulation 2021/808/EC. The calibration curves were linear with coefficient of correlation (R2) from 0.991 to 0.999. The LODs were from 0.01 to 2.71 µg/L, while the LOQs were from 0.05 to 7.52 µg/L. The CCα and CCβ were in range 0.05–12.11 µg/L and 0.08–15.16 µg/L. In addition, the average recoveries of the spiked urine samples were from 71.0 to 117.0% and coefficient of variation (CV)

The advancements in proteomics have provided a better understanding of the functionality of apolipoproteins and lipoprotein-associated proteins, with the HDL lipoprotein fraction being the most studied. The focus of this study was to evaluate the HDL proteome in dyslipidemic subjects without an established cardiovascular disease, as well as to test whether rosuvastatin treatment alters the HDL proteome. Patients with primary hypercholesterolemia or mixed dyslipidemia were assigned to 20 mg/day rosuvastatin and blood samples were drawn at study entry and after 12 weeks of treatment. A label-free LC-MS/MS protein profiling was conducted, coupled with bioinformatics analysis. Sixty-nine HDL proteins were identified, belonging to four main biological function clusters: lipid transport and metabolism; platelet activation, degranulation, and aggregation, wound response and wound healing; immune response; inflammatory and acute phase response. Five HDL proteins showed statistically significant differences in the abundance (Anova ≤ 0.05), before and after rosuvastatin treatment. Platelet factor 4 variant (PF4V1), Pregnancy-specific beta-1-glycoprotein 2 (PSG2), Profilin-1 (PFN1) and Keratin type II cytoskeletal 2 epidermal (KRT2) showed decreased expressions, while Integrin alpha-IIb (ITGA2B) showed an increased expression after treatment with rosuvastatin. The ELISA validation of PFN1 segregated the subjects into responders and non-responders, as PFN1 levels after rosuvastatin were shown to mostly depend on the subjects’ inflammatory phenotype. Findings from this study introduce novel insights into the HDL proteome and statin pleiotropism.

Diatom species identification with DNA metabarcoding is an economical, fast and reliable alternative to identification via light microscopy for river quality monitoring. Using a short DNA sequence of the rbcL gene and 'Diat.barcode', a reference barcode library, enables the identification of more than 90% of the environmental sequences to species level in French rivers. But the completeness of this library is much lower in other regions, such as the tropical French overseas departments. A barcode library completion method using high-throughput sequencing data combined with microscopy count data from natural samples (Rimet et al. 2018) was applied and tested in rivers of Martinique and Guadeloupe (West Indies), for which only 45% of the environmental sequences could be identified to species level using Diat.barcode v9. Assigning barcodes to the most abundant species in the islands by this method is illustrated with Ulnaria goulardii and two new species belonging to Nupela and Epithemia, which are also described in this paper. The more complex situation of morphologically similar species is illustrated by reference to Gomphonema designatum and G. bourbonense. Using a combination of molecular and morphological data, their conspecificity, as G. bourbonense, is demonstrated with their reference barcodes. However, when several morphologically similar species and several environmental sequences belonging to the same clade are present, it is not possible to relate the barcodes to corresponding morphological species. Applying this method enabled the Diat.barcode library (v.10) to be updated, with 84% of the environmental sequences from the West Indies now identifiable at the species level. However, many morphological species still lack barcodes. In these cases, more classical methods, such as cell isolation, Sanger sequencing and morphological observations of cultures, must be applied.

The aim of the study was to compare pre-treatment and post-treatment pure tone thresholds and tympanometric findings in preschool children with adenoid hypertrophy and hearing loss. This retrospective study included 63 children, 40 males (63.5%) and 23 females (36.5%), aged 4 to 6 years (mean age of 5.5±0.6 years). A total of 21 children (33.3%) had tympanostomy tube placement in addition to adenoidectomy or adenotonsillectomy. All children had mild conductive hearing loss. Pure tone average (PTA) was lower after adenoidectomy and adenotonsillectomy (p

Background and objectives Substance use in women is associated with unique psycho-social and physical vulnerabilities and poses complex challenges during pregnancy and motherhood. Gender-sensitive drug policy which considers the needs of women and their children could address these concerns. The objectives of this study were: (1) to systematically explore national-level drug policies’ sensitivity and responsiveness to women, pregnant women, and children; and (2) to examine the adherence of drug policies with international guidelines for gender sensitivity in drug policy. Methods The research team was diverse professional backgrounds and nine countries. A summative content analysis of national drug policy documents, action plans, and strategies was performed. Specific documents focusing on women, pregnancy, and children were analysed. Specific themes and how frequently they appeared in the documents were identified. This quantification was an attempt to explore usage indicating the relative focus of the policies. A thematic map was developed to understand how national-level drug policies conceive and address specific concerns related to women who use drugs. We adapted the UNODC checklist for gender mainstreaming to assess policies’ adherence to international guidelines. Results Twenty published documents from nine countries were reviewed. The common themes that emerged for women, pregnancy, and children were needs assessment, prevention, treatment, training, supply reduction, and collaboration and coordination. Custody of children was a unique theme for pregnant women. Specific psycho-social concerns and social reintegration were special themes for women, whereas legislation, harm reduction, research, and resource allocation were children-specific additional themes. For women-specific content analysis, special issues/concerns in women with drug misuse, need assessment, and prevention were the three most frequent themes; for the children-specific policies, prevention, training, and treatment comprised the three most occurring themes. For pregnant women/pregnancy, prevention, treatment, and child custody were the highest occurring themes. According to ratings of the countries’ policies, there is limited adherence to international guidelines which ensure activities are in sync with the specific needs of women, pregnant women and their children. Conclusion Our analysis should help policymakers revise, update and adapt national policies to ensure they are gender-responsive and address the needs of women, pregnant women and their children.

Using games in education has the potential to increase students’ motivation and engagement in the learning process, gathering long-lasting practical knowledge. Expanding interest in implementing a game-based approach in computer science education highlights the need for a comprehensive overview of the literature research. This scoping review aims to provide insight into current trends and identify research gaps and potential research topics concerning game-based learning in computer science. Using standard methodology for scoping review, we identified 113 articles from four digital libraries published between 2017 and 2021. Those articles were analyzed concerning the educational level, type of the game, computer science topic covered by the game, pedagogical strategies, and purpose for implementing this approach in different educational levels. The results show that the number of research articles has increased through the years, confirming the importance of implementing a game-based approach in computer science. Different kinds of games, using different technology, concerning different computer science topics are presented in the research. The obtained results indicate that there is no standardized game or standardized methodology that can be used for the creation of an educational game for computer science education. Analyzed articles mainly implement a game-based approach using learning by playing, and no significant focus is given to the effectiveness of learning by designing a game as a pedagogical strategy. Moreover, the approach is mainly implemented for developing computational thinking or programming skills, highlighting the need for its implementation in other topics beyond programming.

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the world’s second most common bacterial infection, behind respiratory tract infections, affecting people of all ages worldwide. It is the most common bacterial infection among females. The present study aimed to determine the local bacterial species distribution of UTI isolates between males and females in the Peja region. Methods and Results: This cohort longitudinal, prospective-retrospective study was conducted in the microbiological laboratories of Peja region, Kosovo. The research includes all urine samples tested for gram-negative bacteria during three years, 2018-2020. The comparison of male and female samples in terms of the type of bacteria isolated showed that the urinary infection in female patients was caused by E. coli, significantly more often than in male patients (86.31% vs. 62.87%, P=0.0000), while in the samples from male patients, Klebsiella spp. (12.05% vs. 3.68%, P=0.0000), P. aeruginosa (7.49% vs. 1.59%, P=0.0000), and Acinetobacter spp. (7.82% vs. 1.59%, P=0.0000), were detected significantly more often than female isolates. The prevalence of Proteus spp. was similar in male and female isolates (6.19% vs. 5.03%, P=0.3926). The results of the statistical analysis showed a statistically significant difference in the resistance of E. coli to the analyzed antibiotics depending on the gender of the patients. E. coli showed significantly higher resistance in male patients than in female patients to 12 of the 13 antibiotics that were used: ampicillin, amikacin, gentamicin, cefalexin, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ofloxacin, imipenem, piperacillin, nitrofurantoin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. In both genders, E. coli showed the lowest resistance to imipenem and the highest resistance to ampicillin. Conclusion: Not only does the prevalence of uropathogens gram-negative bacteria differ by gender (greater frequency among women) but their antibiotic resistance also differs by gender (higher resistance among male patients).