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First Croatian immigrants came to Australia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and today, they are a significant part of Australian multicultural society. Due to specific information needs, Croats of NSW began publishing newspapers in the Croatian language in the 1920s. The paper presents communication of Croatian immigrants in NSW through serial publications, on the examples of newspapers before WWII, between WWII and 1990 and after 1990. After 1990, in addition to newspapers, communication on social networking sites is analysed. Selected newspapers and presence on social networking sites show publication and editorial models, types of publishers, languages of publication and interactions with readers. The availability of publications in libraries is analysed.

Cilj. Cilj je prikazati rad na testiranju metodologije prikupljanja podataka i izrade retrospektivne bibliografije iseljeničkog tiska na primjeru bibliografije serijskih publikacija Hrvata u Australiji. Pristup/metodologija/dizajn. Na temelju SWOT-analize izrađen je plan rada na prikupljanju podataka i testiranju odgovarajuće metodologije izrade bibliografije. Osmišljena je metodologija za koju se pretpostavilo da će iskoristiti pozitivne strateške čimbenike, a umanjiti ili potpuno ukloniti negativne. Za prikupljanje podataka korištena je metoda analize sadržaja primarnih i sekundarnih izvora te metoda uključivanja zajednice Metodologija izrade retrospektivne bibliografije iseljeničkog tiska osim samih istraživačkih metoda uključuje i metode izrade bibliografskih zapisa te promociju projekta. Za izradu bibliografskih zapisa odabran je softver koji zadovoljava potrebe i kriterije projekta. U svrhu promocije projekta izrađene su mrežne stranice i ostvareni kontakti sa zajednicom Hrvata u Australiji. Rezultati. Rezultati su rada nove spoznaje o naslovima serijskih publikacija te sveobuhvatna bibliografija. Na temelju rezultata moguće je planirati prikupljanje podataka i izradu bibliografija za druge vrste građe i druga geografska područja. Ograničenja. Zbog veličine zajednice moguće je da nisu uključeni svi subjekti koji bi bili relevantan izvor informacija o građi za bibliografiju. Originalnost/vrijednost. Do sada nije testirana metodologija uključivanja zajednice za prikupljanje podataka i izradu sveobuhvatne bibliografije iseljeničkog tiska. Purpose. The aim of the paper is to present the testing of the methodology for data collection and production of the retrospective bibliography of emigrant press on the example of serial publications of Croats in Australia. Approach/methodology/design. Based on the SWOT analysis, a plan for producing a retrospective bibliography of emigrant press was created. A methodology that was designed to take advantage of positive strategic factors (strengths and opportunities) and to reduce or eliminate the negative factors was developed. For data collection, the methods of content analysis of primary and secondary sources and crowdsourcing method were used. The methodology of producing a retrospective bibliography of emigrant press, apart from the research methods themselves, includes the methods for creating bibliographic records and promotion of the project. The software that meets the needs and criteria of the project has been selected for the creation of bibliographic records. For the promotion of the project, the website was created and contacts were made with the Croatian community in Australia. Findings. The results of the project brought the discoveries of new titles and a comprehensive bibliography. The results are applicable in planning the production of bibliographies for other types of material and for other geographic areas. Research limitations. Because of the size of the Croatian community in Australia, it is possible that not all the relevant persons and sources have been consulted. Originality/value. The crowdsourcing method has not been tested before for data collection and the development of a comprehensive bibliography of emigrant press.

Hrvatski iseljenici počeli su odlaziti u Novi Zeland u drugoj polovici 19. stoljeća. Usmena komunikacija koja je prevladavala u to vrijeme bila je ograničena na mali broj sudionika. Prvi iskorak prema pisanoj komunikaciji bilo je pokretanje prvih novina na hrvatskom jeziku 1899. godine. Uslijedili su novi naslovi što ukazuje na izuzetnu potrebu hrvatskih iseljenika za informacijama na hrvatskom jeziku. Na temelju uvida u primjerke pronađene u novozelandskim knjižnicama i arhivima, u radu se opisuju novine koje su izlazile od 19. do 21. stoljeća te primjeri stranica na društvenim mrežama. Zaključuje se o izmjenama komunikacijskih modela i o njihovoj povezanosti s društveno-povijesnim kontekstom. Prilog je bibliografija svih serijskih publikacija koje su objavljivali Hrvati u Novom Zelandu. Croatian emigrants began settling in New Zealand in the second half of the 19th century. Oral communication prevailing at the time was limited to a small number of participants. The launch of the first newspaper in Croatian in 1899 marked the first step towards written communication. The subsequent emergence of new titles indicated that Croatian emigrants wanted information in Croatian. Based on the copies found in New Zealand libraries and archives, the paper describes the newspapers published from the 19th to the 21st century, as well as some social networking sites. The conclusion discusses the change of communication models and its connection with the social and historical context. The appendix contains bibliography which features all newspapers published by Croats in New Zealand.

Toscana virus (TOSV) is an arthropod-borne virus, transmitted to humans by phlebotomine sandflies. Although the majority of infections are asymptomatic, neuroinvasive disease may occur. We report three cases of neuroinvasive TOSV infection detected in Croatia. Two patients aged 21 and 54 years presented with meningitis, while a 22-year old patient presented with meningoencephalitis and right-sided brachial plexitis. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), serum, and urine samples were collected and tested for neuroinvasive arboviruses: tick-borne encephalitis, West Nile, Usutu, TOSV, Tahyna, and Bhanja virus. In addition, CSF and serum samples were tested for the anti-viral cytokine response. High titers of TOSV IgM (1000–3200) and IgG (3200−10,000) antibodies in serum samples confirmed TOSV infection. Antibodies to other phleboviruses (sandfly fever Sicilian/Naples/Cyprus virus) were negative. CSF samples showed high concentrations of interleukin 6 (IL-6; range 162.32−2683.90 pg/mL), interferon gamma (IFN-γ; range 110.12−1568.07 pg/mL), and IL-10 (range 28.08−858.91 pg/mL), while significantly lower cytokine production was observed in serum. Two patients recovered fully. The patient with a brachial plexitis improved significantly at discharge. The presented cases highlight the need of increasing awareness of a TOSV as a possible cause of aseptic meningitis/meningoencephalitis during summer months. Association of TOSV and brachial plexitis with long-term sequelae detected in one patient indicates the possibility of more severe disease, even in young patients.

Approximately 257 million people worldwide live with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, which, if left untreated, can lead to liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. The hepatitis B virus is a DNA virus with a reverse transcriptase that has no exonuclease activity, which results in a high mutation rate. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which interfere with viral replication, are used to treat the infection. Mutations in the A-B reverse transcriptase interdomain can be associated with resistance to antiviral drugs, as well as immune escape. The aim of this study was to analyze HBV genotypes circulating in the Croatian population and analyze resistance as well as immune escape mutations. A selected A-B reverse transcriptase interdomain was sequenced using the Sanger method. HBV genotypes, subtypes, drug resistance as well as immune escape mutations were analyzed using the Geno2Pheno algorithm in 30 patients with chronic hepatitis B. Genotype A (subtype A2) was detected in 20% and genotype D (subtypes D1, D2 and D3) in 80% of viral isolates. Drug resistance mutations rtL180M and rtM204V were detected only in genotype A isolates. Immune escape mutations R122K and sT131N were detected in all genotype A isolates, while mutations sD144E, sM133I, sM133L, sP120S, sQ101H and sR122K were detected in 8 genotype D isolates. Genotype distribution and the prevalence of mutations observed in this study are in accordance with data from the majority of other European countries.

Purpose This paper aims to compare guidelines for authors in Croatian scholarly journals regarding six scientific fields (according to Croatian classification) and to show the representation of technical and ethical issues that are explained in guidelines for authors. Design/methodology/approach The aim of the research is to identify elements that are included in guidelines for authors in Croatian scholarly journals from all scientific fields. Fourteen parameters for 200 journals were analyzed (all the journals that had published at least one 2016 issue by the end of February 2017). Findings The parameter that is explained in the most journals is the length of the manuscript (91.5 per cent). The lowest number of journals explains Open Researcher and Contributor ID (1.5 per cent). The highest percentage of journals that explain plagiarism is in the field of natural sciences (44 per cent). As compared to the results of previous researches, there is an increase in the number of ethical questions mentioned in the guidelines for authors of Croatian scholarly journals. Practical implications This paper provides recommendations and suggestions that could help journal editors make guidelines for authors more informative. That could help in advancing editorial process (e.g. peer review process) and in avoiding misconducts (e.g. plagiarism or false attribution of authorship). Originality/value This paper is the first detailed content analysis of guidelines for authors in all Croatian scholarly journals.

This is the seventh publication in the series of biennial international conferences, The Future of Information Sciences (INFuture) organised by the Department of Information and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Since its beginnings twelve years ago, the INFuture conference has been providing a platform for discussing both theoretical and practical issues in information organization and information integration through the explorations of how developments in information and communication technology influence the future of the field of information sciences. Education and research in information sciences and its interdisciplinary scope and application is of particular interest to this conference which is aimed at researchers and professionals from the broad field of information and communication sciences and related professions. The title of this year's conference is INFuture2019: Knowledge in the Digital Age. The conference explores the influence the information and communication sciences have on the society as a whole.The INFuture2019 conference consists of 26 papers from 58 authors from nine countries -Austria, Croatia, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden and United States.

The backbone of current treatment for chronic Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are direct- acting antivirals targeting viral nonstructural proteins (NS3, NS4A, NS5A, NS5B). To date, there are six NS5A inhibitors approved for treatment of chronic HCV infection. The presence of drug- associated resistance substitutions is mainly due to fast error- prone replication, showing differential frequency between genotypes and subtypes. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of baseline resistance to NS5A protein inhibitors in patients with genotype 1 HCV in Croatia. Resistance-associated substitutions (RAS) were detected by Sanger sequencing of HCV NS5A region amplified from 84 patients followed by phylogenetic analysis and analysis with Geno2Pheno algorithm. The frequency of NS5A RAS was 14.3% and highly dependent on viral subtype. The overall frequency of NS5A RAS was higher in patients infected with HCV subtype 1b (24.2%) than in those infected with HCV subtype 1a (7.8%). Overall, three resistance-conferring mutations were detected (Q30R, M28T and Y93H) along with two mutations (M28V and L31I) that cause reduced susceptibility to NS5A inhibitors. Analysis of the sequences showed two distinct subtype 1a clades with RAS detected in 4.3% (1/23) clade I and 10.7% (3/28) clade II sequences. Only a few distinct NS5A RAS were detected suggesting a high degree of homogeneity of the viral population. High frequency of clinically relevant NS5A RAS in Croatia suggest that the analysis of frequency and patterns of resistance mutations in local populations and evaluation of their possible clinical impact could be beneficial.

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to explore how small immigrant communities in host countries collect, disseminate and present information about their home country and their community, and the role of formal societies and clubs in it. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents the results of a case study of the Croatian community in New Zealand. To illustrate how cultural and technological changes affected information dissemination and communication within the community, the case study presents both historical and current situations. Methods used in this case study included a content analysis of historical newspapers published in New Zealand by the Croatian community, content analysis of current webpages and social networking sites, and interviews with participants who have management roles in Croatian societies and communities in New Zealand. Data were collected from December 2018 to February 2019. Findings Formally established clubs and societies, but also informal groups of immigrants and their descendants can play a significant role in providing their members with information about the culture, social life and events of the home country. They also play a significant role in preserving part of the history and heritage which is relevant, not only for a specific community but also for the history and culture of a home country. Originality/value The methodology used in the research is based on data from community archives and can be used for studying other small immigrant communities in New Zealand or abroad. The case study presented in the paper illustrates how the information environment of small immigrant communities develops and changes over the years under the influence of diverse political, social and technological changes.

Data on the immune response to West Nile virus (WNV) are limited. We analyzed the antiviral cytokine response in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of patients with WNV fever and WNV neuroinvasive disease using a multiplex bead-based assay for the simultaneous quantification of 13 human cytokines. The panel included cytokines associated with innate and early pro-inflammatory immune responses (TNF-α/IL-6), Th1 (IL-2/IFN-γ), Th2 (IL-4/IL-5/IL-9/IL-13), Th17 immune response (IL-17A/IL-17F/IL-21/IL-22) and the key anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Elevated levels of IFN-γ were detected in 71.7% of CSF and 22.7% of serum samples (p = 0.003). Expression of IL-2/IL-4/TNF-α and Th1 17 cytokines (IL-17A/IL-17F/IL-21) was detected in the serum but not in the CSF (except one positive CSF sample for IL-17F/IL-4). While IL-6 levels were markedly higher in the CSF compared to serum (CSF median 2036.71, IQR 213.82–6190.50, serum median 24.48, IQR 11.93–49.81, p &lt, 0.001), no difference in the IL-13/IL-9/IL-10/IFN-γ/IL-22 levels in serum/CSF was found. In conclusion, increased concentrations of the key cytokines associated with innate and early acute phase responses (IL-6) and Th1 type immune responses (IFN-γ) were found in the CNS of patients with WNV infection. In contrast, expression of the key T-cell growth factor IL-2, Th17 cytokines, a Th2 cytokine IL-4 and the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α appear to be concentrated mainly in the periphery.

The aim of this study was to compare cytokine expression on both gene and protein levels in acute and chronic phase of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Thirty four patients were enrolled for cytokine expression analysis on protein level in acute and chronic stage of HIV-1 infection. Using PCR array technology, expression of 84 cytokine genes was measured in 3 patients in acute and 3 patients in chronic stage of HIV-1 infection. Bead-based cytometry was used to quantify levels of Th1/Th2/Th9/Th17/Th22 cytokines. The results showed statistically significant increase of 13 cytokine gene expression (cd40lg, csf2, ifna5, il12b, il1b, il20, lta, osm, spp1, tgfa, tnfsf 11, 14 and 8) and downregulation of the il12a expression in chronic HIV type 1 infection. Concentrations of IL-10, IL-4 and TNF-α were increased in the acute HIV type 1 infection when compared to control group. During chronic HIV type 1 infection there was an increase of IL-10, TNF-α, IL-2, IL-6, IL-13 and IL-22 levels when compared to control group. Comparison of cytokine expression between two stages of infection showed a significant decrease in IL-9 concentration. This study showed changes in cytokine profiles on both gene and protein levels in different stages of HIV-infection.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present results of a survey of Croatian academic libraries’ user education about open access (OA)-related issues. The concept of OA literacy will be explained, and the term will be put in the context of information literacy (IL) and scholarly communication. Design/methodology/approach An anonymous online questionnaire was sent to all the Croatian academic libraries with the aim to find out if libraries are involved in OA and to learn about plans for user education about the aspect of IL that is important for using OA information. Findings Almost all the libraries are involved in OA publishing, either through OA repositories or through OA journals. However, 22 per cent of the libraries do not educate their users about OA. Two most important IL skills in the context of OA are finding OA information and understanding OA citation advantage. Academic libraries in Croatia mostly recognize the questionable publishers as a threat for OA. However, 40 per cent of libraries do not plan any form of education about OA literacy. Practical implications The results of this research can be a basis for creating programmes of user education in academic libraries. Some problems are recognized, some skills are identified and further steps could be undertaken to improve academic library users’ OA literacy skills. Originality/value The research results contribute to understanding the importance of academic libraries in developing OA literacy of their users. The paper gives results of a survey of Croatian academic libraries and some new perspectives for authors, readers and libraries on how to evaluate OA sources using OA literacy skills.

Iako postoji od 1990-ih godina, otvoreni je pristup definiran 2002. godine. Zahvaljujući razvoju novih informacijsko-komunikacijskih tehnologija otvoreni je pristup trebao riješiti krizu dostupnosti znanstvenih informacija. Istraživanja o citatnoj prednosti dokazala su bolju vidljivost i veći utjecaj informacija objavljenih u otvorenom pristupu. Prihvaćaju ga i komercijalni izdavači prilagođavajući modele financiranja, najčešće naplaćujući autorima troškove objavljivanja. Takav način financiranja dovodi do novih problema – slabije vidljivosti rezultata istraživanja znanstvenika koji ne mogu platiti objavljivanje, a pojavljuju se i predatorski izdavači koji objavljuju otvoreno dostupne časopise, ne provodeći pri tome adekvatne načine kontrole kvalitete. Posljednjih se godina sve češće postavljaju pitanja je li otvoreni pristup postigao svoje temeljne ciljeve i razvija li se u pravome smjeru koji će olakšati razmjenu provjerljivih i kvalitetnih znanstvenih informacija. Moguće je rješenje novih problema razvoj novih vještina informacijske pismenosti vezanih uz vrednovanje informacija objavljenih u otvorenom pristupu, pri čemu bi knjižnice i fakulteti trebali imati značajnu ulogu., The article describes the evolution of scholarly communication through scholarly journals. It gives a short overview of the historical development, starting from the first journals in the 17th century to problems in the 20th century (such as increase in the number of journals, problems of accessibility, visibility, and journal access crisis). The open access (OA) movement is described. It arose from the “old tradition” facing new technologies and was supposed to be the solution to the journal crisis that culminated in 1990s. The idea, defined in the Budapest Open Access Initiative, was to assure free and unrestricted online availability of peerreviewed journal literature. The beginnings of formal scholarly communication, back in 1665, had similar ideas of making research results available to the widest possible public. The idea was excellent – removing access barriers would increase visibility, impact and quality of research. Research has shown that OA articles have better impact and visibility (Lawrence, Brody, Harnad, Haajem, etc.). However, publishing scientific information has its costs. New models have been developed, some of them causing new restrictions and barriers. The most popular model is the author-pays model (article processing charges, APC) – if authors can afford to pay the processing charges, their work is published and thus more visible and more citable. However, if they cannot, a new problem arises – some research results, although valuable, are not published in open access and therefore they have lower visibility and impact. Another problem is the phenomenon of the so-called predatory publishers. Those publishers use the APC model but neglect quality control mechanisms in order to make profit. Their criteria for publishing are not positive peer-reviews but payments made by authors or their institutions. Predatory publishers’ practices are not only unethical, but also illegal, and they are a great threat to the development of science. New questions have arisen lately - has OA movement achieved its goal, has it evolved in the way it was supposed to, was it really dues ex machina for publishing scholarly journals, i.e. did it solve the access crisis. In conclusion, it is proposed that the solution to the problem of predatory publishers could be the development of a new set of information literacy skills that are based on finding, evaluating and properly using OA information. Universities and academic libraries should play an important role in developing those skills and competencies.

Semaphorins are a diverse family of immunoregulators recently recognized to play a major role in various phases of immune responses. Their role in chronic viral hepatitis C (CHC) and contribution to the progression of liver disease is unknown. The aim of this study was to analyse the association of secreted semaphorins with the severity of liver disease in patients with CHC. Serum concentrations of semaphorins were measured in 114 treatment-naive CHC patients and 36 healthy controls. Serum concentrations of SEMA3A, SEMA3C, SEMA5A, SEMA6B and SEMA6D were significantly increased in patients with CHC compared to controls. While serum concentrations of SEMA3C and SEMA6D significantly increased with fibrosis stage in both HCV-g1 and HCV-g3 infections, the concentration of SEMA5A inversely correlated with fibrosis stage in both HCV genotypes. ROC analysis showed that serum concentrations of SEMA3C (>4.0ng/mL, AUC 0.88) and SEMA6D (>4.5, AUC 0.82) had higher AUC than widely used APRI (AUC 0.71) and FIB-4 (AUC 0.74) scores. Serum concentrations of SEMA3C and SEMA6D significantly decreased after DAA and PEG IFN- α/ribavirin therapy, while the serum concentration of SEMA5A significantly increased after DAAs therapy. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the expression of SEMA3C and SEMA5A in hepatocytes, endothelial cells and lymphocytes of cirrhotic livers from CHC patients but not in controls. In conclusion, we provide the first evidence that SEMA3C, SEMA5A and SEMA6D can be considered as markers of liver injury in CHC.

Total and cytosolic concentrations of twenty metals/metalloids in the liver of brown trout Salmo trutta (Linnaeus, 1758) were studied in the period from April 2015 to May 2016 at two sampling sites on Croatian river Krka, to establish if river water contamination with metals/metalloids downstream of Knin town has influenced metal bioaccumulation in S. trutta liver. Differences were observed between two sites, with higher concentrations of several elements (Ag, As, Ca, Co, Na, Se, Sr, V) found downstream of Knin town, whereas few others (Cd, Cs, Mo, Tl) were, unexpectedly, increased at the Krka River spring. However, total metal/metalloid concentrations in the liver of S. trutta from both sites of the Krka River were still mainly below previously reported levels for pristine freshwaters worldwide. The analysis of seasonal changes of metal/metalloid concentrations in S. trutta liver and their association with fish sex and size mostly indicated their independence of fish physiology, making them good indicators of water contamination and exposure level. Metal/metalloid concentrations in the metabolically available hepatic cytosolic fractions reported in this study are the first data of that kind for S. trutta liver, and the majority of analyzed elements were present in the cytosol in the quantity higher than 50% of their total concentrations, thus indicating their possible availability for toxic effects. However, the special attention should be directed to As, Cd, Cs, and Tl, which under the conditions of increased exposure tended to accumulate more within the cytosol. Although metal/metalloid concentrations in S. trutta liver were still rather low, monitoring of the Krka River water quality and of the health status of its biota is essential due to a trend of higher metal/metalloid bioaccumulation downstream of Knin town, especially taking into consideration the proximity of National Park Krka and the need for its conservation.

Exceptional natural value of karst rivers, as well as their potential as a source of drinking water supply, contributes to the importance of developing strict environmental protection. Although most of its watercourse is proclaimed national park, Krka River is impacted by technological and municipal wastewaters, which are released without proper purification only 2 km upstream of the park border. In order to assess water ecological status of the Krka River, vulnerability of karst ecosystem and potential threat to the Krka National Park, spatial and temporal variability of physico-chemical and microbiological water parameters, as well as concentrations of 25 total dissolved metals/metalloids were evaluated. All parameters indicated deteriorated water quality near the wastewater influences, which was for certain metals and bacterial counts even comparable to other world rivers of technological/rural catchment. Downstream location pointed to purification processes in karst river, although nutrients and conductivity were still in a range below good water quality and Al, Co, Fe, Li, Mn, Ni, Sr, Ti, and Zn levels remained comparable to their levels in the pollution impacted area, especially in autumn, indicating season-dependent processes. Presented data provided background status and identified pollution influences in the karst riverine system which indicated potential risk for protected area and a need for comprehensive water quality assessment.

Cilj. Cilj je rada opisati ulogu nakladničke djelatnosti Hrvatskoga knjižničarskog društva (HKD) te istražiti navike i interese čitatelja publikacija koje objavljuje HKD. Pristup/metodologija/dizajn. Na temelju dostupne literature i ranijih istraživanja prikazuje se nakladnička djelatnost HKD-a. Metodom analize sadržaja mrežnih stranica i uvidom u publikacije prikupljeni su podaci o znanstvenom, odnosno stručnom karakteru publikacija. Metodom online upitnika ispitani su čitatelji publikacija HKD-a o svojim čitateljskim navikama i interesima. Anketa je distribuirana članovima i nečlanovima HKD-a koji su zaposleni u raznim vrstama hrvatskih knjižnica. Rezultati. Prvi dio istraživanja pokazao je da je udio znanstvenih i stručnih publikacija, odnosno članaka podjednak, ali se posljednjih nekoliko godina zamjećuje tendencija porasta broja znanstvenih publikacija, odnosno članaka. Anketno istraživanje pokazalo je da je interes za publikacije HKD-a velik – ispitanici redovito čitaju i u svakodnevnom radu koriste sve publikacije HKD-a, mnogi su ispitanici i autori priloga ili su zainteresirani to postati. Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske (VBH) povremeno ili redovito čita više od 97 % ispitanika, a HKD Novosti više od 93 % ispitanika. Knjige u izdanju HKD-a u svakodnevnom radu i cjeloživotnom obrazovanju koristi 91 % ispitanika. Nakladnička djelatnost HKD-a jedna je od temeljnih djelatnosti Društva i od velikoga je značaja za razvoj knjižničarske struke, ali i znanstvene grane knjižničarstvo unutar polja informacijskih i komunikacijskih znanosti. Originalnost/vrijednost. Analizom je dokazano da HKD sve češće objavljuje znanstvene publikacije, pa se stoga može smatrati i znanstvenom, a ne samo stručnom, udrugom. Nakladnička djelatnost HKD-a ima dugu tradiciju, ali se s vremenom susreće s problemima pri produkciji publikacija. Rezultati istraživanja mogu pomoći u rješavanju opisanih problema i planiranju nakladničke djelatnosti.

Librarians are expected to be expert searchers, and developing information literacy skills to navigate the vast world of information is a focus of most library and information science (LIS) programs. It is important to understand the information literacy and behaviors of LIS students to see if they are employing the skills they will need to assist and educate their future patrons, yet there is relatively little research into the information literacy and behaviors of librarians and library students. Using a survey on information behaviors, this study addresses this gap in the literature by examining how LIS students in 18 countries search for, evaluate, and use information in various contexts, and on whom they rely for help. The results of this study demonstrate library science students’ information literacy skills within an international context. Faculty in LIS programs will be interested to see how their students approach information problems, and might use this understanding to develop or strengthen courses and inform curricular decisions.

We investigated potential diagnostic usefulness of serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of chemokines CXCL10, CXCL11, and CXCL13 in pediatric patients with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (n = 23), non-polio enterovirus aseptic meningitis (NPEV AM) (n = 20), and neuroborreliosis (NB) (n = 21) and children with acute infectious diseases with neurological symptoms but with excluded neuroinfection/neuroinflammation (controls, n = 20). CSF levels of CXCL10 and CXCL11 were higher in patients with NPEV AM than those in other children, and CXCL10 levels showed a high discriminative potential (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, ROC, 0.982) with high specificity and sensitivity (both 95%). CSF levels of CXCL13 were higher in NB patients than those in other children ; however, discriminative potential (area under ROC curve 0.814) and diagnostic properties were moderate (sensitivity 67%, specificity 97%). Data suggest usefulness of chemokine quantification as a diagnostic aid in children with suspected ADEM, NPEV AM, or NB.

Plagiarism is unethical behaviour that can have negative consequences on the development of science and society. It also ruins the reputation of individuals and institutions. Plagiarism can be intended or unintended. The paper will focus on unintended plagiarism that is a result of absence of that topic in the education curricula. Teaching about plagiarism is part of so-called ethical literacy that is a subcategory of information literacy. A survey was conducted with the aim of finding out about the degree of knowledge about plagiarism among the students of Library and Information Science at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. The analysis is based on an anonymous web questionnaire with 20 questions. The presumption is that the students do not know enough about plagiarism, they have not had any experiences with plagiarism during their education and they do not know what self- plagiarism is. Another presumption is that the students get detailed instructions about how to cite sources, but do not know enough about the concept of authorship. The conclusion will be made about the inclusion of this segment of information literacy in education curricula. New surveys will be proposed (on local and national level).

Background: Therapy for chronic hepatitis C is based on direct-acting antiviral drugs (DAA) that include protease inhibitors, polymerase inhibitors, as well as inhibitors of NS5A protein. Resistance-associated substitutions (RAS) can be associated with inadequate treatment outcomes with DAA. People with HCV subtype 1a infection carrying Q80K polymorphism could have a reduced treatment response to a protease inhibitor simeprevir. The data on the prevalence of Q80K polymorphism and other RAS worldwide are quite variable. Objectives: The study goal was to analyze the frequency of Q80K polymorphism and other substitutions associated with HCV resistance to NS3 inhibitors in patients previously not treated with simeprevir infected with HCV subtype 1a from Croatia. Methods: The study included 136 people with chronic hepatitis C and infected with HCV subtype 1a receiving clinical care at the department of viral hepatitis of the University hospital for infectious diseases, Zagreb and Croatian reference center for viral hepatitis from July 2015 to April 2016. All participants were not previously treated with simeprevir and not co-infected with HIV. Detection of Q80K polymorphism and other substitutions associated with resistance to NS3 inhibitors was performed by population-based sequencing on ABI PRISM® 3100 genetic analyzer. Phylogenetic tree was constructed using the Maximum Likelihood method and supported with a bootstrap test of 1000 replicates. Geno2Pheno algorithm was used for the interpretation of sequences, detection of resistance associated substitutions and determination of the clade of the sequence. Results: The prevalence of Q80K polymorphism was observed in 42.6% of patients while resistance to simeprevir (mediated by other RAS as well) was detected in 46.3% of patients. Phylogenetic analysis of subtype 1a sequences showed the separation into 2 clades and Q80K polymorphism was exclusively present in clade I isolates. Other RAS detected in the patients included V36L, T54S, V55A, S122R, and I170T. Conclusions: In conclusion, the prevalence of Q80K polymorphism was found to be rather high in patients with chronic hepatitis C infected with clade I subtype 1a while other substitutions associated with resistance to protease inhibitors were rarely found in Croatian cohort. The results of this study confirm the need for pre-treatment screening for Q80K in subtype 1a patients considered for simeprevir treatment.

Most of the journals in Croatia adopted the open access (OA) model and their content is freely accessible and available for reuse without restrictions except that attribution be given to the author(s) and journal. There are 444 Croatian scholarly, professional, popular and trade OA journals available in the national repository of OA journals Hrcak, and 217 of them use peer review process as the primary quality assurance system. The goal of our study was to investigate the peer review process used by the Croatian OA journals and the editors’ attitude towards open peer review.An online survey was sent to the Hrcak journal editors with 39 questions grouped in: journal general information, a number of submitted/rejected/accepted manuscripts and timeliness of publishing, peer review process characteristics, instructions for peer reviewers and open peer review. Responses were obtained from 152 editors (141 complete and 11 partial). All journals employ peer review process except one. The data were collected from February to July 2017.The majority of journals come from the humanities (n=50, 33%) and social sciences (n=37, 24%). Less represented are journals from the field of biomedicine (n=22, 14%), technical sciences (n=16, 11%), natural sciences (n=12, 8%), biotechnical sciences (n=10, 7%) and interdisciplinary journals (n=3, 2%). Average journal submission is 54 manuscripts per year, but there are big differences among journals: maximum submission is 550 manuscripts, and minimum just five. In average journal publishes 23 papers after the reviewers’ and editors’ acceptance. In average it takes 16 days for sending the manuscript to the reviewer, 49 days for all the reviewers to send the journal a detailed report on the manuscript, 14 days to the editors’ decision, and another 60 days for the paper to be published.External peer review process where reviewers are not members of the editorial board or employees of the journal’s parent institution was used by 86 journals (60%). Other journals use external peer review process where reviewers are not members of the editorial board but could be employees of the journal’s parent institution (n=40, 28%), and editorial peer review. Remaining 10% journals combine previous three types of the peer review. Only 20% journals use exclusively reviewers from abroad, 44% are combining international and national reviewers, and 36% journals use only reviewers from Croatia.The majority of journals provide two reviews for each manuscript, and the process is double blind. Detailed instructions for peer reviewers are provided by less than half of the journals (n=57, 40%), but ethical issues like plagiarism, conflict of interest, confidentiality etc., are neglected. Usually, a reviewer is not informed of the final decision upon the manuscript, and reviews are not shared among reviewers.Somehow surprising was the opinion of the majority of the editors that reviewers must get credit for their efforts (n=121, 85%). On the other hand, editors are not familiar with the concept of open peer review, which can be easily used for that purpose. Some editors believe that open peer review is related to the identity disclosure: both authors’ and reviewers’ (n=35, 25%), reviewers’ (n=27, 19%), and authors’ identity (n=14, 10%). For many editors open peer review implies publicly available reviews (n=65, 36%) and authors’ responses (n=46, 33%). Open peer review is an unknown concept for some editors (n=32, 23%).In spite of all criticism traditional peer review is predominant in Croatian OA journals. Our findings show that traditional peer review is still the preferred review mechanism for the majority of journals in the study.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide information on handling gifts‐in‐kind in Croatian public and academic libraries. It also recommends what should be done to improve practice with gifts for collections.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the author's research conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire that was sent to Croatian public libraries (n=139) and academic libraries (n=73) in May 2011. After a two‐week period, a total of 84 responses was received (40 public libraries and 44 academic libraries). In statistical analysis, some variables are tested by χ2‐test to show whether differences between public and academic libraries are statistically significant.FindingsThe majority of Croatian libraries do not have gift policy statements. Gifts do have a significant part in collection building, especially in Croatian academic libraries, but are not always handled in the right way (i.e. according to IFLA's guidelines). This paper shows the quantity of gifts in the libraries, librarians' reasons for not accepting some gifts, librarians' methods in dealing with gifts, and their way of communicating with donors or potential donors.Originality/valueThis paper gives results of the first complete study of gift policies in Croatian public and academic libraries. In conclusion, a need for a written gift policy in Croatian libraries is emphasized and some recommendations are given.

Facebook was launched in 2004 and have become the worlds’ most popular social networking site. Libraries have recognized its importance and started to use it in promoting their activities and improving their services. The purpose of the research was to find out about the frequency and means of Croatian public libraries’ presences on Facebook. The paper analyses the nature of their presence, metric indicators, and activities on selected Facebook applications. The results have been compared to previous researches conducted in Croatia and around the world. The conclusion brings a number of fundamental recommendations concerning the presence of libraries on Facebook.

Electronic environment offers new possibilities for publishing research results in scientific journals – linking to other digital documents; connecting documents with their newer (or older) versions; publishing video/audio recordings, high resolution photos or 3D models; publishing in open access; controlling quality by open peer-review, etc. The results of research on Croatian scientific journals (from all scientific fields, all published in open access on Hrčak, the central portal of Croatian scientific journals) show that all journals, except one, publish articles as PDF files. Approximately one fourth of the journals use automated publishing systems. Majority of the journals publish active links to authors’ e-mail addresses and some of them publish active links to online sources in the reference lists. Linking higher resolution photographs, tables or charts is not common practice in Croatian journals. In spite of the significant number of Croatian scientific electronic journals, their content is still static, not enriched by various possibilities offered by new technologies., Elektronička sredina nudi brojne nove mogućnosti u području objavljivanja rezultata znanstvenih istraživanja. Osim što je objavljivanje brže i jednostavnije, moguće je objavljivati, primjerice, poveznice s drugim digitalnim dokumentima, video ili audio zapise, fotografije u visokim rezolucijama, trodimenzionalne modele, moguće je uvoditi nove načine kontrole kvalitete, omogućiti interakciju s čitateljima, automatizaciju izdavačkog procesa itd. Rad daje kratak pregled literature, kao i primjere stranih časopisa koji koriste neke od novih mogućnosti elektroničkog objavljivanja. Prikazuju se rezultati istraživanja hrvatskih znanstvenih časopisa. U uzorku je svih 136 recenziranih časopisa koji su do studenoga 2014. godine na Hrčku, portalu hrvatskih znanstvenih časopisa, imali dostupan najmanje jedan sveščić za tu godinu, s cjelovitim tekstovima radova. Cilj istraživanja bio je ustanoviti koje prednosti elektroničke sredine koriste hrvatski znanstveni časopisi. Na razini članaka prikupljeni su podaci o korištenju poveznica i formata, a na razina časopisa podaci o korištenju automatiziranih sustava za uređivanje, identifikatora i društvenih mreža. Analizom mrežnih stranica časopisa ustanovljeno je da svi časopisi osim jednoga objavljuju članke u PDF formatu. PDF je statičan format i time se elektronički časopisi ne razlikuju bitno od tiskanih, već su samo njihove inačice. Približno dvije trećine časopisa objavljuje uz radove aktivne poveznice na elektroničke adrese barem jednog autora. Polovica časopisa objavljuju aktivne poveznice na reference u popisima literature. Ipak, ovdje treba spomenuti da dio časopisa to ne čini na ispravan način pa poveznice čitatelja ne dovode do dokumenta na koji se referira u tekstu. Oko jedne četvrtine časopisa koristi automatizirane sustave za uređivanje i objavljivanje što je bitno jer značajno olakšava posao urednicima, autorima i recenzentima te ubrzava proces prihvaćanja rukopisa i uređivanja članaka. Jedan časopis iz uzorka i u tekstu, a ne samo u referencama, objavljuje poveznice na mrežne stranice. Isti časopis objavljuje i poveznice na dokumente koji sadrže priloge (tablice ili slike) u većoj rezoluciji. U Hrvatskoj izlazi zadovoljavajući broj znanstvenih časopisa čiji su cjeloviti tekstovi besplatno dostupni, ali njihov sadržaj uglavnom je statičan i imitira tiskanu inačicu časopisa.

Pregledom fonda knjižnice Državnog arhiva u Bjelovaru pronađeni su rukopisi koji okupljaju arhivsko gradivo te su pripremljeni za objavljivanje i umnoženi tehnikom šapirografi ranja. Rij eč je o rukopisima nastalim u razdoblju 1961. – 1972. godine. U nastanku svakog rukopisa, bilo kao autor, bilo kao urednik, sudjelovao je tadašnji ravnatelj Arhiva Savo Velagić. U radu se donosi anotirana bibliografi ja pronađenih rukopisa. Ukupno je pronađen 41 rukopis, od kojih su četiri kasnij e objavljena. Svi su rukopisi potpuno opremljeni nakladničkim podacima – imaju naslovnu stranicu na kojoj su podaci o autorima i/ili urednicima te na dnu stranice podatak o izdavaču i godini. Svrha rada jest prikupiti podatke o pronađenim rukopisima te prikazati dio aktivnosti Državnog arhiva u Bjelovaru vezan uz pokušaje ostvarivanja nakladničke djelatnosti u spomenutom razdoblju., In the Bjelovar State Archive´s library 41 manuscripts prepared for publication were found. The manuscripts were writt en between 1961 and 1972. The author or editor of all the manuscripts is Savo Velagić, director of the Archive in that period. The paper gives annotated bibliography of all the manuscripts. All of them were completely prepared for publication; they have the title page with the data about the author(s), editor(s) and even the publisher (Bjelovar State Archive) as well as a year of publication, (although 37 manuscripts have never been published). The purpose of the paper is to give a bibliography of the manuscripts found in the library, to give a basis for future researches on Bjelovar and Croatian history, publishing and archives.

U knjižnici OŠ Brod Moravice u kolovozu 2014. godine pronađeno je oko 600 jedinica neobrađene građe (knjiga i časopisa) pohranjene u školi u neadekvatnim uvjetima. Građa je do siječnja 2015. godine djelomično pregledana i zaključeno je da postoji veliki broj jedinica vrijedne građe koja je značajna za izučavanje povijesti kraja, povijesti školstva, ali i nacionalne povijesti. Najstarija do sada pronađena knjiga je objavljena je 1866. godine. Rad donosi kratak pregled povijesti mjesta Brod Moravice i školstva te selektivnu bibliografiju 30 najstarijih do sada pronađenih naslova koji bi se mogli koristiti u nastavi povijesti ili bi mogli biti korisni za proučavanje hrvatskog školstva. Svrha rada je predstaviti dio pronađene građe te ukazati na mogućnost pronalaženja ovakvih „skrivenih“ zbirki u drugim hrvatskim školama.

Hrvatsko knjižničarsko društvo (HKD) ima dugu izdavačku tradiciju – Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske izlazi neprekidno od 1950. godine, a prva knjiga objavljena je 1966. godine. Do kraja 2013. godine ukupno su objavljene 143 knjige. Istraživanje je podijeljeno u tri dijela. U prvom se dijelu analizira broj objavljenih monografskih publikacija po godinama, od 1966. do 2013. godine te broj prodanih publikacija od 2008. do 2013. godine. U drugom dijelu rada analiziraju se popisi literature u trenutno važećim programima pojedinih knjižničarskih studija u Hrvatskoj, programi za polaganje stručnih ispita i programi koji nude stalno stručno usavršavanje knjižničara. Zaključuje se kolika je zastupljenost izdanja HKD-a u programima. Treći dio istraživanja obuhvaća analizu izvora korištenih za pisanje diplomskih radova iz područja knjižničarstva, obranjenih na Odsjeku za informacijske i komunikacijske znanosti Filozofskog fakulteta u Zagrebu tijekom 2011. i 2012. godine. Analiza pokazuje koliko studenti koriste izdanja HKD-a pri pisanju diplomskih radova. Na temelju zastupljenosti izdanja HKD-a u popisima literature u obrazovnim programima kao i u popisima korištene literature za diplomske radove, zaključuje se o korištenju izdanja u obrazovanju knjižničara te o važnosti daljnjeg razvijanja nakladničke djelatnosti., Croatian Library Association (CLA) has a long tradition in publishing – the journal Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske (Croatian Librarians Herald) has been published since 1950, and the first monograph was published in 1966. By the end of 2013, the total of 143 books have been published. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part presents the analysis of the total number of publications for each year (from 1966 to 2013), and then the analysis of the number of sold publications (from 2008 to 2013). The second part analyzes the required reading lists of Croatian university programs of library studies (B.A. and M.A. levels), state librarian certification exams, and continuing education programs, in order to investigate the extent to which the CLA publications are included in the required readings lists. The third part analyzes the use of CLA publications in reference lists of graduation thesis of the students of the Department of Information and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, for the years 2011 and 2012. The conclusion discusses the importance of a further development of publishing activities of CLA.

The purpose of the survey is to obtain results that would show citation patterns among Library and Information Science (LIS) students at the Department of Information and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Results will help Faculty library to evaluate its acquisition policy and to harmonize it with the students’ needs. Sources for the survey are diploma theses written by LIS students in 2011 that were deposited in institutional repository of the Faculty until the end of June 2012. The study is based on reference analysis. Results show that the majority of cites is to printed sources (78.5%). Most cited resource type is book, followed by journal articles. Half of the references are less than ten years old. Authorship is analysed as well – out of the total of 681 authors, about two thirds are Croatian authors. The most cited authors and source types are identified. Results show that students are familiar with using sources in English and are aware of the importance of different source types. Analysis gives the insight of the students’ citing practice and could be useful for the Faculty library, for students and also for educators and mentors in guiding their students.

Ethics is an important part of scientific communication. Not only authors, but reviewers, editors and publishers, have to be aware of all the ethical rules and practices, discouraging any attempt of misconduct. One of the most usual misconducts in scientific publishing is plagiarism. It has negative consequences for authors, editors and scholarly journals causing loss of credibility, reputation, and, therefore loss of readers and finances. Information literacy in that context implies knowledge of information evaluation, proper ways of quotation and citation of resources. Avoiding plagiarism has its roots in higher education – students have to be educated about the proper ways of using other persons’ ideas. By using modern technologies, plagiarism is easier than ever – the “copy-paste” practice is easy to use. Students have to be thought that the practice is great threat to proper professional and scientific communication. Plagiarism detection software can diminish the threat, but it is not the only way of controlling producers of scientific information. Academic ethics can be assured by proper education, good codes of ethics and detailed instructions to authors of scientific works. Accurate author’s guidelines in scholarly journals could help all the participants of scientific communication to avoid misconducts. The paper will analyse the content of author’s guidelines in Croatian journals in the field of information science, with the accent on citation guidelines. The sample will include all the journals that cover the field, as listed in the Hrčak portal (portal of Croatian scientific journals). The analysis will try to find out whether the journals (i. e. their publishers and editors) mention and/or explain plagiarism, ethics, authorship, prior publication and reference systems in their instructions to authors. The paper will also analyse content of codes of ethics of Croatian universities, with the accent on the parts concerning plagiarism (universities of Zagreb, Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Zadar and Dubrovnik). We expect to conclude about the use of proper protection mechanisms of Croatian academic community when it comes to misconducts, especially plagiarism, in publishing results of scientific work. In conclusion, a list of the most important steps in avoiding plagiarism in scientific papers will be given.

The rationale underlying information literacy in higher education refers to lifelong learning, critical thinking and problem solving. In addition to these common goals, LIS students have to be fully aware of the importance of IL as a concept, understand its relevance in contemporary societies and have to learn about main aspects of teaching IL. Regardless of whether LIS students have attained information skills and practices by studying library and information science, or whether they have been attending IL courses, the question of transferability of IL to learning situations remains open. This paper presents a sub-study that explores the transferability of IL competencies to the overall research experience of LIS students and the application of IL competencies in fulfilling course assignments. The survey of LIS students was conducted at the Department of Information and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb and is a part of a wider, international survey.

U uvodnom dijelu prikazuju se zakonski i podzakonski akti na temelju kojih djeluju hrvatski arhivi. Slijedi kratak pregled njihove izdavačke djelatnosti iskazan približnim brojčanim podacima o izdanjima. Time je stvoren okvir unutar kojega se proučava bjelovarski arhiv, a posebno njegova izdavačka djelatnost. Najprije se donosi povijesni pregled rada arhiva i objašnjava organizacijski ustroj. Bibliografija publikacija bjelovarskog arhiva od početka svog djelovanja 1961. godine navodi osnovne bibliografske podatke, sadržaj preuzet iz publikacija te fotografije omota., In the introduction, the authors analyse regulations and legislation that relate to, or have an impact on, all of the 18 Croatian archives. An overview of their publishing activities is given. Numbers of published items for all the archives are based on the archives' websites (for those that have one), the data found in some archives’ catalogues and the search of the online catalogue of the National and University Library in Zagreb. There are three groups of publications: serial publications, exhibition catalogues and other publications (mostly books). The overview of publishing activities of all Croatian archives gives the framework for the analysis of the Bjelovar State Archives and its publishing activities. The authors give history of the Archives as well as the explanation of its organisation. Bibliography of all publications published by the Bjelovar State Archives is divided into two periods. The first one starts in the year 1961 when the Archives was founded and lasts until the year 1982. Five books were published in that period. The second period starts in 2002. Until the year 2012, in the second period, eight publications were published. Between the two periods (20 years) there were no publishing activities of the Archives. The bibliography gives the bibliographic data − titles, authors, editors, publication dates, co-publishers and publication years. A short overview of the contents of all publications is given, as well as the photographs of all the covers. In conclusion the authors say that according to the number of publications and comparing to all other Croatian archives, the Bjelovar State Archives is right in the middle. The publication activities of the Archives increased during the last ten years and it is expected that the increase will continue in the future.

The aim of this study was to analyze the predictive value of CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11 concentrations before and after 4 and 12 weeks of treatment with pegylated interferon-α2b and ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis C infected with the hepatitis C virus genotype 1. The study included 46 adult patients (29 women and 17 men). Chemokine quantification in the serum was performed at baseline and after 1, 3, and 6 months of treatment by enzyme immunoassay. Chemokine responses were compared in patients achieving a sustained virological response to treatment (SVR, n=26) and the non-SVR group (n=20). The differences in the CXCL9 and CXCL10 concentrations between the SVR and non-SVR groups were statistically significant. A multivariant analysis showed a significant association between treatment failure and higher concentrations of CXCL10. A higher predictive value of CXCL10 concentrations after 4 weeks of treatment compared to pretreatment values has been found (area under the curve 0.9288 and 0.7942, respectively, P=0.016). CXCL10 concentrations above 250 pg/mL 4 weeks after the start of treatment were independently associated with non-SVR. In conclusion, the results of this study have shown that CXCL10 concentrations at the time of a rapid viral response (4 weeks) are better predictors of achieving SVR compared to baseline levels. Additionally, this study suggests an important role of CXCL9 as a biomarker of SVR in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Objective To determine the prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Zagreb, Croatia, and assess correlates of testing for HIV in the past 12 months. Methods The authors carried out a bio-behavioural survey using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) from September 2010 to February 2011. Participants completed a questionnaire and were asked to provide blood, urine, oropharyngeal and rectal swabs for the detection of infections. Data were analysed using RDS Analysis Tool 6.0.1 and STATA V.8.0. Results A total of 387 MSM were recruited at the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases. The age range of recruited men was 18–57 years. HIV prevalence was 2.8% (95% CI 1.1% to 5.1%) (3.6%, unadjusted), lower than that found in the first RDS survey carried out in 2006 (4.5%, 95% 2.2% to 7.3%) (4.9%, unadjusted). The seroprevalence of herpes virus type 2 was 5.9% (6.9, unadjusted) and that of syphilis measured by Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay was 7.6% (6.7%, unadjusted). The authors found urethral and/or rectal infections with Chlamydia trachomatis in 7.2% (8.5%, unadjusted) of men and gonoccocal in 2.7% (2.1%, unadjusted). HIV testing in the past 12 months was reported by 32.7% (38.9%, unadjusted). In the multivariate analysis, significant correlates of recent HIV testing were having more than three partners in the past 12 months and the knowledge of HIV status of a regular partner. Conclusions The results indicate that there might have not been a progression of an HIV and STI epidemic in the past 5 years among MSM in Croatia. Prevention should expand by providing better uptake of HIV and STI testing services, thus enabling timely treatment.

Background We assessed the feasibility of collecting urine samples for testing on genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection in a population-based survey, and prevalence of this infection among young people aged 18-25 in Croatia. In Croatia, as in the other countries of Eastern Europe, there is a lack of data on prevalence of C trachomatis in the general population, including young adults. Methods We sampled participants using a nationally representative, multi-stage stratified probability sample of young men and women. Detection of C trachomatis DNA in urine samples was performed by using a real-time PCR assay COBAS® TaqMan® CT Test, v2.0. Results Overall, 1005 young adults participated in the behavioural part of the survey, and 27.9% men and 37.5% women who were sexually experienced agreed to provide urine samples for testing on C trachomatis. Using multivariate analysis, women were significantly more likely to provide urine samples than men (aOR = 1.53, 95% CI 1.14-2.06) as were those who reported no condom use at last intercourse (aOR = 1.95, 95% CI 1.44-2.62). Prevalence of C trachomatis infection among those who were sexually experienced was 7.3% in men and 5.3% in women. Conclusions Population-based surveys that use probabilistic sampling are a feasible way to obtain population estimates of C trachomatis prevalence among young adults in Croatia, but it is challenging to obtain an adequate response rate. The prevalence of C trachomatis among young adults in Croatia found in this study was higher than that found in other European countries with similar survey response rates.