Regional Labour Market Differences in Serbia: Assessment and Policy Recommendations

Creating effective employment policy to combat rising unemployment and widening regional labour market differences is a major task facing Serbian economic policy makers. In this paper we argue that the best results would be achieved if a differentiated approach to regional labour markets is adopted, resulting in regionally specific employment policies. Our paper presents an original methodology which uses relevant statistical data from various sources (altogether 21 indicators) in order to create compound indices which serve as means of a comprehensive regional labour market classification. The main composite indices contain indicators standardised and grouped so that they reveal multifaceted features of the regions. The first classification distinguishes between indicators depicting regional economic situation and development prospects, and the second between those of general economic conditions, labour market situation and restructuring dynamics. Finally, we suggest a simple two-dimensional taxonomy of regions with regard to their labour market situation and prospects. While regions with positive composite indices of both situation and prospects in general do not require additional intervention, regions in other three quadrants are recommended specific policy mix of employment policy measures and active labour market programmes tailored according to their characteristics revealed by the analysis.Unemployment; Employment Policy; Regional Development; Transition; Assessment Methodology

COMPARISON OF MOTIVATION FOR PARENTING IN HEALTHY AND DEPRESSED PATIENTS

Objective: The aim of present study was to examine whether there is a difference in parenting motives between patients diagnosed with depression and control groups (non-depressed). Material and Method: The survey included 66 patients who were treated at the Psychiatric Hospital in Novi Pazar (average age= 44.64, SD=10.00) and 65 subjects who were not diagnosed with depression (average age=42, SD=13.05). Participants volunteered to participate in the research and received no compensation for their participation. Respondents were given a Parent Motivation Scale. Results: Results showed that participants in our study are motivated for parenthood mostly by instrumental motivation, altruistic and fatalistic motivations are equally present, and narcissistic motivation is the lowest. Instrumental, fatalistic and altruistic motives for parenting are significantly lower in group consisted of depressed patients. There was no difference in narcissistic motivation between two groups. Conclusion: This finding can be seen in the light of the general condition and the characteristic of people suffering from depression. In them, namely, all aspects of motivation are reduced and it is not surprising that this is so with the motives for parenting

CORRELATION BETWEEN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND NEUROTICISM

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the degree of correlation between domestic violince against women and neuroticism. Socio-demographics characzeristics were also compared. Method: This research included 120 women from Novi Pazar and Sjenica, 60 women who were victims of domestic violence and 60 women who were not violence victims. The degree of neuroticism has been tested with general neuroticism test. Results: There is significant difference between women who were violnce victims and those who were not, on 0.05 level (with 5% risk), t = 2.112, p = 0.039. Arithmetic mean of the degree of neuroticism of women who were violence victims is 78,89, for those who were not is 38,69. The difference is important (about 40). There is statistically significant difference between married and single women who were violence victims. Married examinees have higher degree of neuroticism than single ones. Examinees with higher degree of neuroticism have been suffering from domestic violence longer than those with less degree of neuroticism. There is no statistically significant difference in the the degree of neuroticism between different categories of examinees, according to the degree of professional qualifications. Conclusion: It remains an open question, and it is necessary to longitudinally examine what is the role of violence against women in the emergence neurotic and other disorders

Interplay Between the Immunohistochemical Expression of P53 and the Proliferation Index in the Keratinocyte Tumors of the Skin

P53 is important for cell cycle regulation, and its overexpression is seen in malignant tumors. We examined correlation between p53 expression and cell proliferation, and its role in the pathogenesis of keratinocyte skin tumors. We used biopsies from patients with squamous cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis and keratoacanthoma. We examined crosssections stained with HE and using anti-cytokeratin, antip53 and anti-Ki67 antibodies

Potential Hepatoprotective Role of Galectin-3 during HCV Infection in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients

Hepatitis C virus infection (HCV), one of the greatest causes of liver disease, is a frequent complication in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on dialysis. ESRD is defined as decreased glomerular filtration and also accompanied by impaired function of the immune system. Galectin-3 is a β-galactoside-binding lectin, involved in various biological processes including pathogenesis of chronic renal disease. The aim of our study was to estimate disease severity in ESRD HCV+ patients and analyze the serum concentrations of IL-1β, IL-4, IL-23, and IL-6; anti-HCV antibodies; and galectin-3. Also, we attempted to determine potential correlation between galectin-3 level and parameters of disease severity ALT and AST. Our results showed decreased levels of ALT and AST (p=0.00), demonstrating less liver destruction in ESRD HCV+ patients in comparison to HCV+ patients. Increased levels of IL-6 (p=0.03) implicate a hepatoprotective role of IL-6 in these patients. Also, level of galectin-3 (p=0.00) in the serum of ESRD HCV+ patients was higher than that of HCV+ patients. This alteration was accompanied with negative correlation between galectin-3 and AST and ALT, respectively (p=0.029; p=0.033). The presence of increased systemic levels of IL-6 and Gal-3 in ESRD HCV+ patients may be an attempt to counteract or limit ongoing proinflammatory processes and to downregulate chronic inflammation, suggesting the new aspects of HCV infection in ESRD patients

Attitudes of Medical and Pharmacy Students Towards Patients Suffering from Schizophrenia

Research over the past twenty years has shown that the attitudes of health care workers and students towards people who are suffering from schizophrenia have become more negative. The aim of our study was to investigate the attitudes of medical and pharmacy students towards patients with schizophrenia and explore the differences in attitudes between study groups and students in different years. Materials and methods: Second- and fifth-year medical and pharmacy students from the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Kragujevac were included in an observational, prospective, cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 113 students from the pharmacy and medical schools who were chosen via random sampling. The students completed a two-part questionnaire. Th e first part contained questions about sociodemographic characteristics, whereas the second part was a translated version of the Mental Illness: Clinician’s Attitudes (MICA) v4 scale. Results: There is a statistically significant difference (р<0.05) in the attitudes towards people with schizophrenia between second- and fifth-year medical and pharmacy students (with lower scores in both groups in fifth-year students). Of the total number of students who had lower summed scores on the Likert scale, 51.3% had previously finished medical high school, whereas 28.3% had previously finished regular high school. Conclusion: Our results showed a statistically significant difference in attitudes towards people with schizophrenia between second- and fifth-year students as well as a difference related to previous high school education. This stresses the importance of levels of knowledge about schizophrenia to reducing the stigmatization of patients who suffer from this disorder

The Enhanced Effects of Swimming and Running Preconditioning in an Experimental Model of Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

Background and Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the influence of different swimming and running protocols as forms of physiological preconditioning on an isolated rat heart’s ischemia/reperfusion injury. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 60 male Wistar albino rats (6 weeks old, bw: 200 ± 20 g), divided into: CTRL group—a sedentary control group; sAeT—a group that underwent aerobic swimming conditioning using a swimming protocol for 8 weeks; sAnT—a group that underwent anaerobic swimming conditioning; rAeT—a group that underwent aerobic running conditioning; and rAnT—a group that underwent anaerobic running conditioning. After the preconditioning protocols, ex vivo estimating of myocardial function according to the Langendorff technique was performed. Results: The anaerobic running training decreased heart rate and the anaerobic swimming training reduced coronary flow, demonstrating the difference in the physiological heart response of aerobic/anaerobic physical training (p p p Conclusions: The data from this experimental study support many protective training effects, i.e., improved contractility, improved resting heart rate, and increased physical work capacity and exercise tolerance. Physical training in the form of anaerobic running induces greater heart preconditioning for reperfusion injury in comparison with anaerobic swimming training