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This study aimed to examine the relationship between family communication and the psychological impact of COVID-19 on university students in Kosovo. A total of 765 university students across Kosovo responded to an online survey assessing anxiety, family communication, and mental health impact of COVID-19 through the GAD-7 questionnaire, FACES-IV, and self-rated mental health, respectively. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and regression analyses were conducted. Anxiety was reported by 41.3% of the students, and every fourth student had a perception of poor mental health (25%). Students who reported the most severe levels of anxiety also reported the lowest levels of family communication; severity of anxiety increased with a decrease in family communication. The COVID-19 infection seem to have impacted family communication; however, more in-depth studies, including cultural context factors, are needed to thoroughly examine changes in family communication dynamics and the impact of relevant factors on student's mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2021, Kosovars overthrew the national government, which generated a snap parliamentary election. The pandemic affected the election campaign with the restrictions of movement amid strict lockdowns. The pandemic revealed the significance of media usage for political parties and the impact of the pandemic on the relationship between traditional and social media. This article explores the extent to which new and transitional media shaped the election campaign during the Kosovan pandemic. Drawing on media monitoring and surveying, the article found that media—regardless of the quality and frequency of their use by political parties and candidates—do not have a determining role during the pandemic election campaign. Under the conditions of ever-greater use of social media, the article finds that voting preferences and affinity towards specific political parties and candidates is a long-term process that cannot be changed by the quality of the election campaign. On the other hand, regardless of their use, the potential impact of social media turns out to be conditioned by the usage duration and the ability of political entities to interact with the audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scaphoideus titanus Ball is a major pest of grapevine in Europe, being the main vector of Flavescence dorée phytoplasma (FDp). The North American grapevine leafhopper was identified in neighboring countries, however, the FDp vector was not recorded and there is no available data on its presence in Kosovo. In 2021, initial investigations were conducted and field surveys were carried out in the region of Rahovec in order to evaluate the presence of S. titanus in Kosovarian vineyards. The survey was established in seventeen vineyards in different locations and grapevine varieties. In the middle of June, in each vineyard chosen for investigation were settled yellow sticky traps for surveying and sampling of leafhoppers. All plantations were subjected to fungicide treatment and no insecticide treatment was applied for S. titanus. The captures on the yellow sticky traps indicated that the North American grapevine leafhopper was present in Kosovo. Its population was different in investigated vineyards. Of the seventeen vineyards monitored, in twelve of them was captured the FDp vector, two sticky traps were damaged, and in three vineyards was not captured any specimen of Scaphoideus titanus. An average, of two up to forty-nine specimens of S. titanus per trap were collected over the surveyed period from the beginning of June until the end of September 2021. These results show only the distribution of S. titanus in the surveyed area. Furthermore, the presence of the North American grapevine leafhopper in Kosovo is an alert for urgent phytosanitary control of the quarantine phytoplasma Flavescence dorée (FD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is aimed to evaluate the concentration of certain hormones (testosterone, LH and FSH), in male dogs from different regions of Kosovo and to histopathologically evaluate testicular tissue from these examined dogs. Testosterone, LH and FSH concentrations were determined by ELISA and testicular tissue samples were processed and subsequently stained with haematoxylin and eosin for histological examination with light microscopy. For mixed-breed dogs, higher testosterone levels were found in the Malisheva, while lower testosterone levels were recorded in the Vushtrria. LH levels in mixed-breed dogs were higher in the Malisheva and lower in the Kamenica. Furthermore, FSH levels in mixed-breed dogs were higher in the Malisheva and lower in the Kamenica. Histopathology revealed different histological changes in testicular tissues, ranging from normal tissue structure to mild, moderate and severe structural alterations. It can be concluded that hormone analyses and histopathological examinations could be considered for fertility assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence and anxiety predictors among college students in Kosovo. Participants were 676 randomly sampled college students (M = 21.54, SD = 4.44), selected from three universities (two private) in the 2015/2016 academic year. Pearson chi-square, t-Test, ANOVA, linear and multiple regressions were used. The prevalence of anxiety was 33.6%. The symptoms were significantly related to gender (p =.00), study year (p =.00), family income (p =.00), group age (p =.00) and father's employment (p =.00). Female students, students living in extended family, first-year students, students whose mothers did not work, showed statistically higher levels of anxiety. Anxiety was predicted by gender, study year, previous study academic achievement and family income. Study findings stress the importance of understanding the relationship of psychosocial factors and anxiety, for the purpose of determining the necessary and adequate interventions and programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyse the power and the impact of social media on internal polarization and political mobilization by observing the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. Based on a theoretical framework on polarization, populism, and political mobilization, the article discusses the link between the use of social media and the support or rejection of the normalization of relations between the two countries. The analysis focuses on the most sensitive phase of the dialogue, in order to identify and examine the polarizing messages, populist content, and political mobilization used by institutional and opposition leaders in Kosovo. The results of this research show that Kosovo leaders follow conflicting and contrasting goals, viewpoints and positions, creating deep divisions among the public opinion and society internally, which will significantly undermine the prospects for a sustainable peace with Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to discuss and analyze television in Kosovo together with its socio-cultural and political dimensions, including its constituent elements, structure, functioning and influence. The establishment of independent media was as much the result of external intervention (UN) as it was of determination within society, media makers and private capital in a dual system of public and private broadcasters. However, the optimism which created here a television culture along European model, in order to fulfill its proper function in a new democracy and serve the public, is long gone; there is now a continuous fading of societal trust that television is a balanced public forum. Television in this country faces serious problems: the politicization and underfinancing of public broadcasters, concentration of ownership and non- transparent way of financing private broadcasters - problems that challenge editorial independence, constrain freedom of expression or restrict the possibility of choice. The article also examines the transformation of television from a cultural forum under socialism, through a potentially balanced public forum under democracy, to its new dimension in recent years, entertainment. In order to explain this argument, the article takes a theoretical and methodological multi-disciplinary approach, aiming to fill the gap in the research of television studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]