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Radiotherapy is the preferred option for early-stage head and neck cancer (HNC), especially in cases where surgery is not feasible or for patients with other co-morbidities. Head and neck radiation therapy is still improving for better management and control of the cancer. The volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) technique ensures precise and accurate treatment delivery. This study presents a clinical comparison between plans with fixed collimator jaws and free collimator jaws generated head-and-neck VMAT plans made for clinical use. The study involved 10 patients with HNC, each receiving a dose prescription of 54.00 Gy and 63.00 Gy, administered in 30 fractions with daily doses of 1.8 Gy delivered to planning target volume (PTV) and 2.1 Gy delivered to boost target volume (BTV), respectively. All patients underwent treatment using the Electa Infinity linear accelerator, with the treatment plan generated using the Monaco treatment planning system. In our study, all cases were treated using two complete arcs, with one arc following a Gantry heading CW-180.1°-180° and the opposite arc following a Gantry heading CCW-180°-180.1°. Our findings indicate that employing the VMAT technique with one side of the collimator jaws fixed and the other side free, and in the opposite order, leads to a reduction of approximately 8-10 Gy in the maximum dose to the spine for all patients, compared to the collimator method, where both collimator jaws are free.

The purpose of this study was to research the level of satisfaction teachers received from communication within their working environment, their sense of the effectiveness of the institution itself, as well as the relationship between these factors. A quantitative method was used in the study. A total of 296 questionnaires were answered by teachers aged 25-64. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using the statistical software SPSS, while for the implementation of the statistical tests we applied the independent-samples T-test parametric, as well as one-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney parametric statistical criteria. According to the results, the teachers showed high levels of satisfaction with the communication related to their feedback and believed that both parents and the local community do not participate actively in the school life. The development of an effective communication system within an educational institution can potentially become the driving force for effective functioning. The study complements the existing research on communication as a factor in the effectiveness of an educational organization. It highlights the dynamics of the teachers' association to the greatest possible extent, attempting to link the communication factor to all aspects of school effectiveness.

Harlequin ichthyosis (HI) is an extremely rare and severe genetic skin disorder characterized by thick, diamond-shaped scales covering the body, often giving the appearance of a harlequin costume. This paper provides an overview of the genetic and dermatological aspects of HI, delving into its etiology, clinical manifestations, and management. The genetic underpinnings of HI involve mutations in the ABCA12 gene, leading to impaired skin barrier function and abnormal keratinization. Understanding the molecular basis of the disorder is crucial for accurate diagnosis and potential therapeutic interventions. Clinically, HI presents challenges related to skin integrity, thermoregulation, and potential complications, such as infections. The management of HI requires a multidisciplinary approach involving dermatologists, geneticists, and other healthcare professionals. Supportive care, including emollients, careful bathing, and prevention of infections, is essential to improve the quality of life for individuals affected by this condition. Despite its rarity and severity, advancements in medical research and genetic therapies offer hope for improved treatments and interventions. This paper aims to contribute to the collective understanding of HI, fostering ongoing research and compassionate care for those living with this unique and challenging dermatological condition. We presented a premature eutrophic harlequin baby, born at 32+ weeks of gestation via emergency C-section. A clinical diagnosis was established minutes after birth, based on the typical features of HI, from scaly skin, marked fissures, and limbs in flexion contractures to prominent eclabium and bilateral ectropion.

Women’s political participation is a prerequisite for women’s empowerment and gender equality in society. To increase the number of women participating in political and decision-making processes and consequently becoming an active voice in governmental institutions, many countries, including North Macedonia, have introduced quota systems as an affirmative measure to. Prior to establishing legislated gender quotas in 2002, only three of North Macedonia’s political parties had introduced voluntary political party gender quotas to support women’s political participation. This paper conducts a analysis of the progress of women’s participation in decision-making, since the 2002 legislated quota system in North Macedonia. Additionally, it explores further steps that should be taken into consideration to help overcome the everlasting gender inequality of women’s political participation. It focuses primarily in the executive branch of the government including not only ministerial positions but also positions of mayors and executive board members. To achieve the above objectives, the paper relies on a systematic literature review that synthesizes and selects all existing papers, reports, official documents, and other relevant data.

Abstract The C1Q complement protein C1QL1 is highly conserved in mammals where it is expressed in various tissues including the brain. This secreted protein interacts with Brain-specific Angiogenesis Inhibitor 3, BAI3/ADGRB3, and controls synapse formation and maintenance. C1ql1 is expressed in the inferior olivary neurons that send projections to cerebellar Purkinje cells, but its expression in the rest of the brain is less documented. To map C1 ql1 expression and enable the specific targeting of C1ql1-expressing cells, we generated a knockin mouse model expressing the Cre recombinase under the control of C1ql1 regulatory sequences. We characterized the capacity for Cre-driven recombination in the brain and mapped Cre expression in various neuron types using reporter mouse lines. Using an intersectional strategy with viral particle injections, we show that this mouse line can be used to target specific afferents of Purkinje cells. As C1ql1 is also expressed in other regions of the brain, as well as in other tissues such as adrenal glands and colon, our mouse model is a useful tool to target C1ql1-expressing cells in a broad variety of tissues.

The need to take sex into account in biomedical research is now recognized and mandated by funding institutions. In laboratory rodents, such as mice, sexing is usually performed anatomically or by genotyping using multiplex or simplex PCR techniques on genomic DNA. Here we present a simple RT-PCR-based method targeting Kdm5c and Kdm5d to determine genetic sex in mouse cDNA samples, allowing for retrospective sex determination.

The application of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in clinical practice has grown due to technological advancements and expanded clinical indications, highlighting its superior capabilities when compared to echocardiography for the assessment of myocardial tissue. Similarly, the utilization of implantable cardiac electronic devices (CIEDs) has significantly increased in cardiac arrhythmia management, and the requirements of CMR examinations in patients with CIEDs has become more common. However, this type of exam often presents challenges due to safety concerns and image artifacts. Until a few years ago, the presence of CIED was considered an absolute contraindication to CMR. To address these challenges, various technical improvements in CIED technology, like the reduction of the ferromagnetic components, and in CMR examinations, such as the introduction of new sequences, have been developed. Moreover, a rigorous protocol involving multidisciplinary collaboration is recommended for safe CMR examinations in patients with CIEDs, emphasizing risk assessment, careful monitoring during CMR, and post-scan device evaluation. Alternative methods to CMR, such as computed tomography coronary angiography with tissue characterization techniques like dual-energy and photon-counting, offer alternative potential solutions, although their diagnostic accuracy and availability do limit their use. Despite technological advancements, close collaboration and specialized staff training remain crucial for obtaining safe diagnostic CMR images in patients with CIEDs, thus justifying the presence of specialized centers that are equipped to handle these type of exams.

Study-research deals with younger students of both sexes aged 13-14, who, besides attending classes of physical education and sports, also practice in basketball schools in the city of Pristina. The experiment contains a total of 7 morphological variables, while four tests of basic motion skills and seven variables are from specific motion skills. In this study, the verification and analysis of the correlation of morphological characteristics and basic and situational motor skills in both groups of both sexes (boys and girls) were treated. Based on the results obtained between several variables, valid correlations with high coefficients are presented, whereas among the variables are presented correlations with optimal values. The experimentation in question includes the number of 80 entities of both sexes; the group of 40 boys and the other group consisting of 40 girls who have undergone the tests for this study-experiment.

Rugova cheese is an endogenous dairy product in the Republic of Kosovo, which originates from the region of Peja, where it is traditionally produced from the raw milk of cows, sheep and goats. This research determined physicochemical characteristics such as dry matter, protein, fat, titratable acidity, pH and sensory attributes such as colour, taste, aroma, consistency and appearance. These parameters were determined in traditional and industrial cheeses from the Rugova region with an altitude of about 997.14 meters. These cheeses were analyzed on the first day, the 30th day and the 60th day of storage. The highest pH value was in traditional cheese. Traditional cheese had the highest value of dry matter on the end of ripening while the highest salt concentration was in industrial cheese. The significantly (P

Much has been written about the Albanian community living in Germany and Switzerland for three generations, but little research has been done on this topic. Little is known about their language situation, even though they represent one of the largest migrant groups in Switzerland. This article provides insights into the language competence of three generations (G1–G3). Approximately twenty people per generation and country (n=120) were asked how they assess their oral and written language competence. The data collected by means of questionnaires and analysed by contrast show that the spoken dialect of origin shapes the everyday life of respondents in Germany and Switzerland and that they rate their oral language competence in dialect and in standard higher than their written competence while the distance between oral and written competence is more pronounced in G3 of both countries than in G2 and G1. As expected, the data values of G1s who have been linguistically socialised in their country of origin are higher than those of G2s and G3s who grew up in Germany and Switzerland. The respondents in Germany’s G2 and G3 rate their oral competence in Standard Albanian significantly higher than the Swiss G2 and G3. This is surprising because it was assumed that the range of Albanian on offer in Switzerland is greater than in Germany and that Swiss respondents in G2 and G3 have better access to standard Albanian.

Abstract (Deutsch) Über das Codeswitching der drei Generationen (G1-G3) umfassenden albanischen Sprachgruppe in Deutschland (D) und der Schweiz (CH) ist wenig bekannt, was die letzten fünfzehn Jahre betrifft. Der vorliegende Beitrag ermöglicht Einblicke in die bilinguale Praxis und das damit zusammenhängende Codeswitching. Hierzu wurden Personen aller drei Generationen (N=120) befragt. Die quantitativ erhobenen und kontrastiv diskutierten Daten dokumentieren, dass alle drei Generationen der albanischen und Community in Deutschland und der Schweiz Codeswitching verwenden und dass sich die beiden Ländergruppen diesbezüglich nicht wesentlich unterscheiden. Erwartungsgemäß verzeichnet die G1 tiefere Werte als die G2 und G3. Die Daten weisen darauf hin, dass unsere Befragten sowohl die funktional bzw. palliativ-pragmatischen und lexikalisch-kompensatorischen als auch die demonstrativ-sprachidentitätsstiftenden Facetten des Codeswitching verwenden und dass gewisse Merkmale dieses Phänomens in mehreren Formen zu finden sind. Eine kontrastive Gegenüberstellung unserer Daten mit jenen von Schader (2006) zeigt, dass die G3 heute Codeswitching im öffentlichen Raum deutlich bewusster verwendet als dies zu Beginn dieses Millenniums der Fall war. Abstract (English) Code-switching in the Albanian community in Germany and Switzerland, which has existed for more than five decades and now comprises three generations (G1-G3), has not been explored sufficiently. This article provides insights into bilingual practice and the code-switching associated with it. For this purpose, representatives of all three generations (N=120) were interviewed. The quantitatively collected and contrastively discussed data document that all three generations of the Albanian community in Germany and Switzerland used code-switching and that the groups in both countries did not differ in this respect. As expected, G1 recorded lower values than G2 and G3. The data indicate that our respondents used both the functional-pragmatic and lexical-compensatory and the demonstrative language-identity facets of code-switching. Moreover, certain features of code-switching were found in several of these forms. A contrastive comparison of our data with those of Schader (2006) shows that the G3 clearly uses code-switching in the public sphere much more consciously today than was the case at the beginning of this millennium.

Our purpose was to monitor the environmental pollution with heavy metals, such as Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd, and their accumulation in Roman snails (Helix pomatia L.) and the possibility of Roman using snail as a bioindicator of heavy metal pollution. For analyses, we were taken 22 specimens of roman snails in the Mitrovica town (area with the heavy metal pollution derived from the “Trepça” smelter) and 22 specimens in the Vernica village (control area), in which case is analyzed the concentration of heavy metals: Lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), Zinc (Zn) and Copper (Cu) in the hepatopancreas, foot, and shell of snails. Our results show the high concentration of Pb, Zn, and Cd in the hepatopancreas compared to the other tissues (foot and shell), whereas Cu concentration was higher in the foot of snails from Mitrovica compared to the control group in a significant degree (P < 0.001). We have found a significant (P Cd>Pb>Cu; in the foot: Cu>Zn>Cd>Pb, whereas in the shell: Zn>Cu>Pb>Cd. The Mitrovica town is the area with heavy metals pollution, whereas the Roman snail accumulates relatively high values of these heavy metals and can serve as an indicator organism for pollution with the metals such as Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu.

The article provides insights into the language situation of the three-generation (G1-G3) Albanian language group (n=120) in Germany and Switzerland and presents their attitudes towards varieties of both languages (Albanian-German). According to the results, the respondents are positively disposed towards both languages and attach a high value to them. Standard German achieves the highest values, while dialects of this language come last in the ranking. The results also show that respondents in Switzerland deal with diglossia more openly and are thus better anchored in Swiss society than the Albanian group in Germany. Finally, our data show that most respondents see their future in Germany and Switzerland and that there is no significant correlation between language attitudes and future career prospects.

Introduction: This study examined self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, and stress and the correlation with social stigma in a sample of sexual minority people in Kosovo. Methods: One hundred and three Kosovo sexual minority people (aged 18 to 50) completed questionnaires about social stigma (HHRDS), depression, stress, and anxiety (DASS-21). Descriptive statistics were calculated, a multivariate ANOVA examined differences between sexual minority people, and the bivariate association between HHRDS and DASS-21 scores was examined. Results: Most participants reported moderate to high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress with positive associations with social stigma. Conclusion: Sexual minority people in Kosovo are experiencing a mental health crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]