DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE BUSINESS REGISTERS AGENCY IN THE FUNCTION OF THE MODERN DIGITAL SOCIETY

Digitalization strongly affects the economy and society as a whole in different dimensions. The process of digitalization of the Business Registers Agency, including the registration procedure of business entities, is one of the priority tasks aimed at increasing efficiency and economy as well as economic prosperity in general. Certainly, there is a prerequisite referring to the existence of digital literacy, which is not an isolated category, but rather a superstructure of earlier forms of literacy. It is undeniable that every innovation arises as a privilege of the higher social classes, which, by inertia, turns into a need of the others. In this paper, it has been analyzed the legislative framework of electronic registration of business entities. Starting from the point of view that economic growth, competitiveness on the market, and socio-economic development represent the nowadays necessity, the authors, through this paper, primarily try to define the achieved progress of the work of the Business Registers Agency (BRA) in registering business entities in the digitalization process. The quintessence of this work is the identification of the availability of digital tools for the registration of economic entities, as well as their quantification and qualification

Thermal ablation with configurable shapes: a comprehensive, automated model for bespoke tumor treatment.

BACKGROUND Malignant tumors routinely present with irregular shapes and complex configurations. The lack of customization to individual tumor shapes and standardization of procedures limits the success and application of thermal ablation. METHODS We introduced an automated treatment model consisting of (i) trajectory and ablation profile planning, (ii) ablation probe insertion, (iii) dynamic energy delivery (including robotically driven control of the energy source power and location over time, according to a treatment plan bespoke to the tumor shape), and (iv) quantitative ablation margin verification. We used a microwave ablation system and a liver phantom (acrylamide polymer with a thermochromic ink) to mimic coagulation and measure the ablation volume. We estimated the ablation width as a function of power and velocity following a probabilistic model. Four representative shapes of liver tumors < 5 cm were selected from two publicly available databases. The ablated specimens were cut along the ablation probe axis and photographed. The shape of the ablated volume was extracted using a color-based segmentation method. RESULTS The uncertainty (standard deviation) of the ablation width increased with increasing power by ± 0.03 mm (95% credible interval [0.02, 0.043]) per watt increase in power and by ± 0.85 mm (95% credible interval [0, 2.5]) per mm/s increase in velocity. Continuous ablation along a straight-line trajectory resulted in elongated rotationally symmetric ablation shapes. Simultaneous regulation of the power and/or translation velocity allowed to modulate the ablation width at specific locations. CONCLUSIONS This study offers the proof-of-principle of the dynamic energy delivery system using ablation shapes from clinical cases of malignant liver tumors. RELEVANCE STATEMENT The proposed automated treatment model could favor the customization and standardization of thermal ablation for complex tumor shapes. KEY POINTS • Current thermal ablation systems are limited to ellipsoidal or spherical shapes. • Dynamic energy delivery produces elongated rotationally symmetric ablation shapes with varying widths. • For complex tumor shapes, multiple customized ablation shapes could be combined

On the general and specific value of picture -based education in contemporary concepts of active learning. Traces of kalokagathia in the genesis of two opposing approaches – the anglo-saxon and the mediterranean

Kako se valja setiti, kriza znanja traje veoma dugo i zapravo se jednako, kao i osnovna teza poziva za ovaj naučni simpozijum, može retorički degradirati. Naime, kriza prosvetiteljskog pojma znanja počinje istog časa kada se taj koncept zario kao nezaobilazna paradigma. Hteli bismo, pre nego što intimno podržimo istu paradigmatsku tendenciju teorije neobrazovanosti, da podsetimo da je dobar deo krize racionalnog znanja dugo jačao zbog zaborava koji je zahvatao antički ideal kalokagatije. Celovitost, bez koje nije moguće misliti o rekonstrukciji tog ideala, u najvećoj meri se oslanja na oblikovnu prirodu saznanja. Kao veštaci za likovnost, podsetili bismo na sve manji stepen korišćenja ovog obrazovnog modela uprkos stalnim obnovama u različitim savremenostima. Naravno, ogroman je izazov naše savremenosti za koju ne možemo ništa drugo reći nego da je nepovratni spektakl.As it should be remembered, the crisis of knowledge has been going on for a very long time and in fact, just like the basic thesis from the call for papers for this scientific symposium, it can be rhetorically degraded. Namely, the crisis of the Enlightenment notion of knowledge begins as soon as this concept has emerged as an indispensable paradigm. Before intimately supporting the same paradigmatic tendency of the theory of miseducation, we would like to recall that the crisis of rational knowledge has been intensified by the oblivion that engulfed the ancient ideal of kalokagathia. Wholeness, without which it is impossible to think of the reconstruction of this ideal, relies largely on the formative nature of knowledge. As fine arts experts, we would like to remind of the diminishing use of this educational model, despite its constant renewals in various modernities. Of course, it is a tremendous challenge to our modernity that we can say nothing more of it than that it is an irreversible spectacle

Quantitative Evaluation of the 3D Anatomy of the Human Osseous Spiral Lamina Using MicroCT.

PURPOSE The osseous spiral lamina (OSL) is an inner cochlear bony structure that projects from the modiolus from base to apex, separating the cochlear canal into the scala vestibuli and scala tympani. The porosity of the OSL has recently attracted the attention of scientists due to its potential impact on the overall sound transduction. The bony pillars between the vestibular and tympanic plates of the OSL are not always visible in conventional histopathological studies, so imaging of such structures is usually lacking or incomplete. With this pilot study, we aimed, for the first time, to anatomically demonstrate the OSL in great detail and in 3D. METHODS We measured width, thickness, and porosity of the human OSL by microCT using increasing nominal resolutions up to 2.5-µm voxel size. Additionally, 3D models of the individual plates at the basal and middle turns and the apex were created from the CT datasets. RESULTS We found a constant presence of porosity in both tympanic plate and vestibular plate from basal turn to the apex. The tympanic plate appears to be more porous than vestibular plate in the basal and middle turns, while it is less porous in the apex. Furthermore, the 3D reconstruction allowed the bony pillars that lie between the OSL plates to be observed in great detail. CONCLUSION By enhancing our comprehension of the OSL, we can advance our comprehension of hearing mechanisms and enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of cochlear models

Lung ultrasound: Part one

Lung ultrasound - LUS has been underestimated for a long time as a diagnostic method. Ribs, pulmonary parenchyma filled with air and sternum are structures that reject ultrasonic waves. However, many pathological processes inside the chest wall, pleura, and pulmonary parenchyma result in significant changes in tissue structure, resulting in the change of acoustic transmissivity and allow sonographic evaluation. The main pathological substrates of the lung parenchyma (pleural effusions, alveolar syndrome / consolidation, intestinal syndrome and pneumothorax) can be differentiated through ten axial ultrasound signs. The basic signs are: 'bat sign', A lines, 'lung sliding', quad sign, sinusoid sign, tissue-like sign, shred sign, B lines (a sign of the rocket), the sign of the stratosphere (seashore sign) and the 'lung point'. LUS is performed using linear, convex and sector probe, in B and M mode, through 12 fields to topographic lines. Lung ultrasound as a diagnostic method shows significant sensitivity and specificity in comparison with the MDCT examination as a gold standard

Prooxidant-antioxidant balance, hsTnI and hsCRP: mortality prediction in haemodialysis patients, two-year follow-up

Oxidative stress and inflammation are highly intertwined pathophysiological processes. We analyzed the markers of these processes and high-sensitive troponin I (hsTnI) for mortality prediction in patients on haemodialysis. This study enrolled a total of 62 patients on regular haemodialysis. The patients were monitored for two years, and the observed outcomes were all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Blood samples were taken before one dialysis session for analysis of the baseline concentrations of prooxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB), total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidative status (TOS), hsTnI, hsCRP and resistin. The overall all-cause mortality was 37.1% and CVD mortality 16.1%. By univariate and multivariate logistic regression, our findings suggest that good predictors of all-cause mortality include hsCRP and PAB (p lt .05) and of CVD mortality hsCRP (p lt .05) and hsTnI (p lt .001). To evaluate the relationship between the combined parameter measurements and all-cause/CVD mortality risk, patients were divided into three groups according to their PAB, hsCRP and hsTnI concentrations. The cutoffs for hsCRP and hsTnI and the median for PAB were used. Kaplan-Meier survival curves pointed out that the highest mortality risk of all-cause mortality was in the group with hsCRP levels above the cutoff and PAB levels above the median (p lt .001). The highest risk of CVD mortality was found in the group with hsCRP and hsTnI levels above the cutoff levels (p =.001). Our data suggest that hsCRP and PAB are very good predictors of all-cause mortality. For CVD complications and mortality prediction in HD patients, the most sensitive parameters appear to be hsTnI and hsCRP

The NO-modified HIV protease inhibitor as a valuable drug for hematological malignancies: Role of p70S6K

Covalent attachment of NO to the first approved HIV protease inhibitor Saquinavir (Saq-NO) expands the therapeutic potential of the original drug. Apart from retained antiviral activity, the modified drug exerts strong antitumor effects and lower toxicity. In the present study, we have evaluated the sensitivity of different hematological malignancies to Saq-NO. Saq-NO efficiently diminished the viability of Jurkat, Raji, HL-60 and K562 cells. While Jurkat and Raji cells (established from pediatric patients) displayed abrogated proliferative potential, HL-60 and K652 cells (originated from adults) exposed to Saq-NO treatment underwent caspase dependent apoptosis. In addition, similar sensitivity to Saq-NO was observed in mononuclear blood cells obtained from pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Western blot analysis indicated p70S6 kinase as a possible intracellular target of Saq-NO action. Moreover, the addition of a NO moiety to Lopinavir resulted in improved antitumor potential as compared to the parental compound, suggesting that NO-derived HIV protease inhibitors are a potential new source of anticancer drugs with unique mode of action. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The CENDARI Infrastructure

International audienceThe CENDARI infrastructure is a research-supporting platform designed to provide tools for transnational historical research, focusing on two topics: medieval culture and World War I. It exposes to the end users modern Web-based tools relying on a sophisticated infrastructure to collect, enrich, annotate, and search through large document corpora. Supporting researchers in their daily work is a novel concern for infrastructures. We describe how we gathered requirements through multiple methods to understand historians' needs and derive an abstract workflow to support them. We then outline the tools that we have built, tying their technical descriptions to the user requirements. The main tools are the note-taking environment and its faceted search capabilities; the data integration platform including the Data API, supporting semantic enrichment through entity recognition; and the environment supporting the software development processes throughout the project to keep both technical partners and researchers in the loop. The outcomes are technical together with new resources developed and gathered, and the research workflow that has been described and documented

The effect of galacto-oligosaccharides on growth and viability of probiotic bacteria in fermented whey based bevereage

Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) are produced from milk lactose during transgalactosylation reaction using -galactosidase. Depending on reaction condition, -galactosidase can, also, hydrolyse lactose, in order to make beverage more suitable for lactose intolerant individuals. GOAL: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prebiotic effect of the GOS, inulin and lactulose on growth and viability of probiotic bacteria in fermented whey based beverage. METHOD: Mixture of cow’s milk and whey (30%:70%) was subjected to transgalactosylation reaction using commercial β-galactosidase isolated from Aspergillus oryzae (0,5 mg/l). Before fermentation, samples were heat treated 15 minutes at 90 0C and after cooling on fermentation temperature (42 0C), samples were inoculated with lyophilized ABY-6 starter cultures. After fermentation and during refrigerated storage (28 days), samples were analyzed by measuring: pH value, titratable acidity, carbohydrate concentrations, total number of probiotic bacteria cells and syneresis. RESULT: Higher concentration of galacto-oligosaccharides was reached after 1,5h since, in the further course of transgalactosylation reaction, some amount of galacto-oligosaccharides were hydrolyzed to glucose and galactose. Slightly shorter fermentation time and higher viable cell number of probiotic bacteria were noticed in fermented whey based beverages with galacto-oligosaccharides than in beverages with inulin, lactulose and without prebiotics. During 28 days storage, changes in pH value and titratable acidity were not different significantly among beverages. Beverages with galacto-oligosaccharides had less syneresis and curd showed a better water holding capacity than other tested samples. After 28 days of storage, presence of different prebiotics in samples did not significantly influenced total number of probiotic bacteria cells (Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum), but in samples with galacto-oligosaccharides were noticed slightly higher content of Bifidobacterium bifidum. CONCLUSION: Regular use of fermented dairy beverages with galacto-oligosaccharides and probiotic bacteria, could favorably affect human health, modulating the composition of the colonic microflora

Therapeutic potential of Saq-NO in blood cancers

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