Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in immunocompromised patients represents a major challenge for diagnostics, surveillance, and treatment. Some individuals remain SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive for a prolonged ...period. The clinical and epidemiological significance of this phenomenon is not well understood. We report a case of a patient with a history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who has been persistently SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive for 9 months, with multiple thromboembolic complications, and development of nocardial brain abscess successfully treated with surgery and antibiotics.
To assess the attitudes of nursing students toward artificial intelligence.
Possible applications of artificial intelligence-powered systems in nursing cover all aspects of nursing care, from patient ...care to risk management. Although the final acceptance of artificial intelligence in practice will depend on positive 'nurses' attitudes toward artificial intelligence, those attitudes have gained little attention so far.
A cross-sectional multicenter study.
The study was performed at nursing schools of four Croatian universities, surveying a total of 336 first-year nursing students (response rate 69.7%) enrolled in 2021. A validated instrument, the General Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Scale, consisting of 20 Likert-type items, was chosen for the study. Where applicable, the items were contextualized for nursing. Four sub-scales were identified based on the outcomes of the factor analysis.
The average attitude score was (mean ± standard deviation) 64.5 ± 11.7, out of a maximum of 100, which was significantly higher than the neutral score of 60.0 (p < 0.001). The attitude towards AI did not differ across the universities and was not associated with students’ age. Male students scored slightly higher than their female colleagues. Scores on subscales “Benefits of artificial intelligence in nursing”, “Willingness to use artificial intelligence in nursing practice”, and “Dangers of artificial intelligence” were favorable of artificial intelligence-based solutions. However, scores on the subscale “Practical advantages of artificial intelligence” were somewhat unfavorable.
First-year nursing students had slightly positive attitudes towards artificial intelligence in nursing, which should make it easier for the new generations of nurses to embrace and implement artificial intelligence systems. Reservations about artificial intelligence in daily nursing practice indicate that nursing students might benefit from education focused specifically on applications of artificial intelligence in nursing.
We describe a case of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) changes in the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in a patient that had suffered Berlin’s edema after a whiplash neck injury. The ...patient reported central scotoma throughout the 1-year follow-up, confirmed by visual field examination. OCTA showed FAZ enlargement of the left eye as compared to the healthy right eye in the superficial capillary layer and even more in the deep capillary layer. To the best of our knowledge, FAZ enlargement has not been previously described by OCTA after whiplash-related macular injury.
The present study evaluated the assumptions of Interdependence Theory and the Theory of Social Exchange on the role of love exchange in relationship satisfaction in same-sex couples. We used an ...actor-partner interdependence model to examine four different effects on relationship satisfaction: (1.) Personal expression of love – actor effect; (2.) Personal expression of love – partner effect; (3.) Partner’s expression of love – actor effect; and (4.) Partner’s expression of love – partner effect. The sample included a total of 50 gay and 50 lesbian couples from Serbia (Mage = 26.65, SD = 7.66). The results yielded that significant predictors of relationship satisfaction are how a person expresses love, how he/she perceived partner’s expression of love, and how their partner perceived how he/she expresses love. We also found that the partner’s personal expression of love was not a significant predictor of relationship satisfaction. The same predictors are significant for both gay and lesbian couples. This study indicates that a complex dyadic approach is needed when examining the role of the love expression in relationship satisfaction among same-sex couples.
Introduction. Miliary tuberculosis (TB) is a rare and potentially fatal form of disseminated TB. It is caused by a widespread haematogenous dissemination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from an active ...caseous focus to different organs. Sometimes it can have an acute presentation with a rapidonset clinical deterioration and death. Miliary TB complicated with an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) is rare, even in countries with a high incidence of TB. Case report. A 35-yearold woman with Down syndrome (DS) was admitted to the Clinic for Pulmonology, Clinical Centre Kragujevac, due to an evaluation of cough and weight loss during last 2 months. Laboratory findings revealed anaemia, leukocytosis, elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and hypoalbuminemia. A chest x-ray showed bilateral reticulonodular shadows, predominantly in the mid and lower right lung lobes. A purified protein derivative (PPD) skin test and induced sputum smear for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) were both negative. On the fifth day following admission, her health condition suddenly declined, and after developing a moderate ARDS, she was put on the mechanical ventilation. Due to a high clinical suspicion of miliary TB and the fact that her life was compromised, an empirical anti-tuberculosis therapy was initiated. Despite all therapeutic and supportive measures, the patient expired 3 days later. The diagnosis of miliary TB was established post-mortem. Conclusion. Miliary TB should be kept in mind in patients with DS due to immunosuppression associated with deficient cell-mediated immunity. The development of ARDS as a complication of miliary TB is difficult to identify due to a low causal association. High clinical suspicion and a chest radiograph with a typical appearance of miliary pattern justify the initiation of empirical anti-tuberculosis treatment in such patients, as an attempt to change poor prognosis.
nema
Cu–Al–Ni shape memory alloys (SMAs) have been investigated as materials for medical devices, but their biomedical application is still limited. The aim of this work was to compare the microstructure, ...corrosion and cytotoxicity in vitro of a Cu–Al–Ni SMA. Rapidly solidified (RS) thin ribbons, manufactured via melt spinning, were used for the tests. The control alloy was a permanent mould casting of the same composition, but without shape memory effect. The results show that RS ribbons are significantly more resistant to corrosion compared with the control alloy, as judged by the lesser release of Cu and Ni into the conditioning medium. These results correlate with the finding that RS ribbons were not cytotoxic to L929 mouse fibroblasts and rat thymocytes. In addition, the RS ribbon conditioning medium inhibited cellular proliferation and IL-2 production by activated rat splenocytes to a much lesser extent. The inhibitory effects were almost completely abolished by conditioning the RS ribbons in culture medium for 4weeks. Microstructural analysis showed that RS ribbons are martensitic, with boron particles as a minor phase. In contrast, the control Cu–Al–Ni alloy had a complex multiphase microstructure. Examination of the alloy surfaces after conditioning by energy dispersive X-ray and Auger electron spectroscopy showed the formation of Cu and Al oxide layers and confirmed that the metals in RS ribbons are less susceptible to oxidation and corrosion compared with the control alloy. In conclusion, these results suggest that rapid solidification significantly improves the corrosion stability and biocompatibility in vitro of Cu–Al–Ni SMA ribbons.
Bacground/Aim. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in pulmonary pathology. However, apart from its own pulmonary manifestations, this disease ...is also characterized by systemic effects, including hypogonadism which is described especially in the group of men with COPD. The aim of this study was to evaluate risk factors for hypogonadism in men with COPD. Methods. The study included 96 male patients with COPD in stable phase of the disease. All patients were checked for concentration of free testosterone in serum, markers of systemic inflammation, tumor necrosis factor-? (TNF-?), interleukin-1? (IL-1?) and C reactive protein (CRP), pulmonary function test, gas exchange parameters, a 6-minute walk test (6MWT), nutritional status and condition of skeletal muscle (midthigh muscle cross-sectional area ? MTCSA using computed tomography). Results. Decreased value of free testosterone was found in 37.5% of the patients. In the group with hypogonadism (free testosterone < 4.5 pg/mL), we found significantly increased serum concentration of TNF-? (5.88 ? 3.21 vs. 3.16 ? 2.53 pg/mL; p < 0.05), significantly lower MTSCA (68.2 ? 18.72 vs. 91.1 ? 21.4 cm2; p < 0.05) and the 6MWT (268.33 ? 32.35 vs. 334.25 ? 43.25 m; p < 0.05). Lung function, gas exchange markers and body mass index (BMI) were similar in both groups. The multivariate regression analysis singled out serum value of TNF-? as an independent predictor of serum concentrations of free testosterone (B = -0.157; 95% confidence interval: -0.262?0.053). Conclusion. In our analysis we found that TNF-? as a marker of systemic inflammation is an independent predictor of the presence of hypogonadism in the patients with COPD. Our results indicate that hypogonadism predisposes to skeletal muscle wasting and exercise intolerance in male COPD patients.
nema
The lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) isolate SERBIA/Bujanovac/2016 consists of 150,661 nucleotides and has a 99.95% nucleotide identity with the Neethling Warmbaths LW strain isolated in South Africa ...in 1999. This is the first complete LSDV genome determined in Serbia and also in the Balkan area.
The aim of this work is to assess damage to the City of Belgrade caused by the unfavorable weather condition of hail due to the absence of anti-hail defense of the city, and to argumentatively point ...out the necessity of introducing new technical-technological systems for preventing the effects of adverse weather conditions. The results are based on the direct correlation-analyses of two real unfavorable weather events and the estimated financial damage caused by these events. The overall calculation also takes into account financial investments (new financial model) necessary to establish two essentially different systems for anti-hail protection. The damage caused by the hail on the territory of the City of Belgrade and the financial investment in anti-hail protection to reduce it are empirically established for the first time. It is shown how the damage could be transformed to profit, as the financial investment in anti-hail protection is lower than the damage that hail can cause.
The temperature change, i.e. stresses of low carbon steel during the cold deformation process was investigated in this study. During static tensile test, temperature changes were examined using ...thermography at different deformation degrees. It was found that there are temperature changes in the deformation zone during the cold deformation. The increase in temperature changes in the deformation zone during cold deformation occurs with an increase in the deformation degree. The largest localization of temperature change was measured at the moment of the test sample fracture when the maximum temperature change was 8.45 °C. A higher amount of temperature change of 5.39 °C was determined at tensile strength compared to the proportionality limit amount of -0.97 °C. It was found that there are differences between the amounts of temperature changes in the range from 0.87 °C to 1.91 °C with increasing of deformation degree of the tested steel. Calculated stress amounts proved and show the tendency that stress amounts increase as the temperature change increases in low carbon steel by increasing of deformation degree during cold deformation. It was determined deviations of the calculated stress amounts due to using the mathematical model for low carbon with niobium at the start of plastic flow.
PDF
