Building capacities for sustainable energy in municipalities of Western Balkans

This paper discusses challenges of capacity building in sustainable urban energy planning and development in Western Balkan Countries (WBC). It identifies needs in training of municipal staff and addresses obstacles for transferring sustainable energy education from EU universities to universities of WBC. The analysis of the ten training courses developed and piloted in collaboration with academic and non-academic stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia shows that while international cooperation has a good potential to improve quality of capacity building and to catalyse university-society collaboration in WBC, significant efforts on national and local (university) levels are needed to fully capitalise on these opportunities. In particular, it is necessary to enhance an interdisciplinary approach to education in sustainable energy, incorporating economic, social and institutional aspects of energy production and consumption together with the technical ones. On the national level, the lifelong learning system should get political and financial support in WBC to ensure efficiency and continuity of the training activities.Postprint (published version

Asymptomatic deep vein thromboses in prolonged hospitalized COVID-19 patients

High incidence of venous thromboembolic (VTE) events in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients has been reported despite pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis. We performed prospective bilateral lower extremity ultrasound evaluation of prolonged hospitalized COVID-19 ward patients from our institution without clinical suspicion of deep vein thrombosis (DVT).A total of 102 patient were included in the study. All patients were receiving pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis, the majority in intermediate or therapeutic doses. Asymptomatic DVT was detected in 26/102 (25.5%) patients: 22 had distal and four had proximal DVT, six had bilateral leg involvement. Pulmonary embolism was highly prevalent (17/70, 24.3%) but similarly grouped among patients with and without asymptomatic DVT. In total 37.2% of patients included in the study were recognized as having VTE.Asymptomatic DVT events were more common in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors (60% in postmechanically ventilated ICU survivors, 21.2% in ward patients, 22% in high-flow oxygen treated patients; P = 0.031), in patients with higher modified International Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism (IMPROVE) VTE risk-score (median 3 vs. 2 points with and without DVT; P = 0.021) and higher body temperature on admission (median 38.7 °C vs. 37.7 °C with and without DVT; P = 0.001). No clear associations with Padua VTE risk score, demographic and other clinical characteristics, intensity of thromboprophylaxis, severity of other COVID-19 symptoms, degree of systemic inflammation or D‑dimers on admission were found (P > 0.05 for all analyses).Systematic ultrasound assessment in prolonged hospitalized severe COVID-19 patients prior to hospital discharge is needed, especially in ICU survivors, to timely recognize and appropriately treat patients with asymptomatic DVT

Building capacities for sustainable energy in municipalities of Western Balkans

This paper discusses challenges of capacity building in sustainable urban energy planning and development in Western Balkan Countries (WBC). It identifies needs in training of municipal staff and addresses obstacles for transferring sustainable energy education from EU universities to universities of WBC. The analysis of the ten training courses developed and piloted in collaboration with academic and non-academic stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia shows that while international cooperation has a good potential to improve quality of capacity building and to catalyse university-society collaboration in WBC, significant efforts on national and local (university) levels are needed to fully capitalise on these opportunities. In particular, it is necessary to enhance an interdisciplinary approach to education in sustainable energy, incorporating economic, social and institutional aspects of energy production and consumption together with the technical ones. On the national level, the lifelong learning system should get political and financial support in WBC to ensure efficiency and continuity of the training activities

Building capacities for sustainable energy in municipalities of Western Balkans

This paper discusses challenges of capacity building in sustainable urban energy planning and development in Western Balkan Countries (WBC). It identifies needs in training of municipal staff and addresses obstacles for transferring sustainable energy education from EU universities to universities of WBC. The analysis of the ten training courses developed and piloted in collaboration with academic and non-academic stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia shows that while international cooperation has a good potential to improve quality of capacity building and to catalyse university-society collaboration in WBC, significant efforts on national and local (university) levels are needed to fully capitalise on these opportunities. In particular, it is necessary to enhance an interdisciplinary approach to education in sustainable energy, incorporating economic, social and institutional aspects of energy production and consumption together with the technical ones. On the national level, the lifelong learning system should get political and financial support in WBC to ensure efficiency and continuity of the training activities