Croatian Institute of Transfusion Medicine

CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing) technology has become integral to modern dental practice, requiring structured integration into dental education. However, little is known about how well dental students in Croatia understand and engage with these technologies. This study aimed to quantitatively assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practical experience with CAD/CAM among dental students in Osijek, and to explore the influence of academic year, gender and family background in dentistry on these dimensions. A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health in Osijek, including 102 students from the 3rd to 6th year., with 44 (44.88%) in preclinical and 58 (55.12%) in clinical training. A 21-item questionnaire assessed theoretical knowledge, practical exposure and attitudes. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-tests and chi-square tests (p < 0.05). While 88.24% of students had heard of CAD/CAM, only 45.10% had practical experience and just 11.76% had attended extracurricular CAD/CAM training. Nonetheless, 90.20% believed CAD/CAM should be more thoroughly taught, and 85.29% expressed interest in further education. Clinical-year students and those with family in dentistry showed significantly higher knowledge and more positive attitudes (p < 0.001), whereas no significant gender differences were observed (p = 0.222). The findings indicate a gap between theoretical familiarity and practical competence among Croatian dental students regarding CAD/CAM technology. To address this, we recommend the development of a structured undergraduate CAD/CAM module that includes theoretical instruction, digital simulation and supervised clinical training across all study years. Such curriculum development is essential to prepare future dentists for the demands of digital clinical practice.

This paper investigates the applicability and limitations of Granger causality testing in electricity market analysis. Using selected hourly and daily time series from the Croatian power system and European energy markets as illustrative examples, we estimate a set of four-variable VAR models under multiple data transformations: raw, first-differenced, and filtered differences. The models include load, production, wholesale electricity prices, and fuel-related prices. We report Granger test results, full regression coefficient matrices, and significance flags to examine the sensitivity of inference to model specification. The findings generally align with expectations-such as strong bidirectional causality among regional market prices-but also reveal anomalies, including the apparent lack of windprice causality and somewhat counterintuitive firm <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\text{CO}_{2}$</tex>-to-gas causal links. These results highlight the importance of careful model interpretation and the value of testing multiple structural assumptions in data-driven policy analysis.

Quality monitoring is a key component of the quality management system, closely related to the concept of quality improvement. The implementation of quality indicators (QIs), as a valuable quality monitoring tool, contributes to the achievement of quality objectives. During 2010, discussions about the importance and use of QIs in transfusion medicine intensified, and 3 years later, the Quality Management Working Party (QM-WP) of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) published a set of QIs for blood establishments and hospital blood banks. QIs defined by ISBT QM-WP were further developed and revised considering data obtained from an international survey on QIs, targeted consultations with members of the ISBT QM-WP and individual expert opinions. Several revisions of quality indicators proposed by ISBT QM-WP have been published. The latest version from 2023 is presented in this paper and contains data on 50 QIs. Each indicator is defined, its importance is explained and the numerator and denominator required for its calculation are defined. The indicators are divided into seven groups according to areas of activity in the transfusion chain. This paper underlines the importance of QIs and provides resources for their selection, implementation and monitoring.

BackgroundPrevious research on connection between the ABO blood group and bladder cancer has been based on determining the ABO phenotype. This specific research is extended to the molecular level, providing more information about particular ABO alleles. AimTo investigate the impact of the ABO blood group genotype or phenotype as a risk factor for urinary bladder cancer. Material and MethodsIn the case-control study, we included 74 patients who underwent surgery for a urinary bladder tumor at the Urology Clinic, Clinical Hospital Centre Zagreb, in 2021 and 2022. The control group comprised 142 asymptomatic and healthy blood donors. ABO genotyping to five basic alleles was done using a polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP). We compared ABO phenotypes, genotypes and alleles between patients and the healthy controls, and investigated their distribution according to the clinical and histological stage and recurrence rate. ResultsNo statistically significant difference was found among the groups, nor for the observed disease stages in terms of the phenotype and genotype. At the allele level, the results show a significantly lower proportion of malignancy in O1 (P<0.001), A1 (P<0.001) and B (P=0.013), and a lower proportion of metastatic disease in A2 (0%, P=0.024). We also found significantly higher proportions of high-grade tumors in patients with O1 (71.4%, P<0.001), A1 (70.1%, P=0.019), of non-muscle invasive tumors in patients with O1 (55.1%, P<0.001), O2 (100%, P=0.045), and recurrent tumors in patients with O1 (70.2%, P<0.001) and A1 (74.2%, P=0.007) alleles. ConclusionWe did not find an association between the ABO blood group genotype or phenotype as a genetic risk factor for urinary bladder cancer. However, an analysis at the allelic level revealed a statistically significant association between certain alleles of the ABO blood group system and urinary bladder tumors, clinical or histological stage and recurrence rate, respectively.

The phenomenon of aggregates in apheresis-derived platelet concentrates (APCs) has not yet been fully elucidated. Initially, visible aggregates (IVA) usually dissolve within 24 h after collection, but some persist till the end of the shelf life (persistent aggregates, PA). A study conducted at the Croatian Institute of Transfusion Medicine aimed to identify factors that influence the aggregate occurrence in APCs. We conducted a cross-sectional study for the 2018-2022 period and collected data on APCs with IVA. We analysed APCs discarded due to PA separately for two apheresis technologies and compared them to the control group. Significantly more donations were discarded in the IVA group compared with the control group and total number of discarded APCs. A total of 205 APCs were discarded due to PA (14.7% of IVA APCs and 1.27% of all APCs collected). Amicus APCs with PA had a significantly lower platelet count and mean platelet volume. They were obtained by procedures with less anticoagulant used. In contrast to Amicus APCs, Haemonetics APCs with PA had a significantly higher platelet count. None of the donor-related factors examined was predictive of PA. APCs with IVA are more often discarded, not only due to aggregates, but also for impairment of other quality control parameters. Type of apheresis technology, being one of the most common risk factors for IVA, was not confirmed as the main risk factor for PA. There seem to be some donor-related causal factors.

Human exposure to plastic particles has raised great concern among all relevant stakeholders involved in the protection of human health due to the contamination of the food chain, surface waters, and even drinking water as well as due to their persistence and bioaccumulation. Now more than ever, it is critical that we understand the biological fate of plastics and their interaction with different biological systems. Because of the ubiquity of plastic materials in the environment and their toxic potential, it is imperative to gain reliable, regulatory-relevant, science-based data on the effects of plastic micro- and nanoparticles (PMNPs) on human health in order to implement reliable risk assessment and management strategies in the circular economy of plastics. This review presents current knowledge of human-relevant PMNP exposure doses, pathways, and toxic effects. It addresses difficulties in properly assessing plastic exposure and current knowledge gaps and proposes steps that can be taken to underpin health risk perception, assessment, and mitigation through rigorous science-based evidence. Based on the existing scientific data on PMNP adverse health effects, this review brings recommendations on the development of PMNP-specific adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) following the AOP Users' Handbook of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Through an ambitious change management initiative titled "No One Waits (NOW)," Bluewater Health leaders enlisted staff to take ownership of reducing wait times by identifying barriers to transitions within the hospital and to the community. The approach shifted the hospital's culture to overcome those impediments and succeed in reducing wait times dramatically, including compared with peers. Meanwhile, overall patient experience ratings improved and staff trust increased. These changes have been maintained over several years and have resulted in better management of patient volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic and the current health human resources crisis.

Abstract Background Limbal stem cells(LSCs) are crucial for the regeneration of the corneal epithelium in patients with limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD). Thus, LSCs during cultivation in vitro should be in highly homogeneous amounts, while potency and expression of stemness without tumorigenesis would be desirable. Therefore, further characterization and safety evaluation of engineered limbal grafts is required to provide safe and high-quality therapeutic applications. Methods After in vitro expansion, LSCs undergo laboratory characterization in a single-cell suspension, cell culture, and in limbal grafts before transplantation. Through a clinically applicable protocol,the collected data on LSCs at passage 1 were summarized: identity (cell size, morphology); potency (yield, viability, population doubling time, colony-forming efficiency were analyzed by trypan blue staining); expression of putative stem cell markers by flow cytometry, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Then, mitotic chromosome stability and normal mitotic outcomes were explored by using live-cell imaging. Finally, impurities, bacterial endotoxins and sterility were determined. Results Expression of the stemness marker p63 in single-cell suspension and in cell culture showed high values by different methods. Limbal grafts showed p63-positive cells (78.7 ± 9.4%), Ki67 proliferation (41.7 ± 15.9%), while CK3 was negative. Impurity with 3T3 feeder cells and endotoxins was minimized. We presented mitotic spindles with a length of 11.40 ± 0.54 m and a spindle width of 8.05 ± 0.55 m as new characterization in LSC culture. Additionally, live-cell imaging of LSCs (n=873) was performed, and only a small fraction &lt;2.5% of aberrant interphase cells was observed; 2.12 ± 2.10% of mitotic spindles exhibited a multipolar phenotype during metaphase, and 3.84 ± 3.77% of anaphase cells had a DNA signal present within the spindle midzone, indicating a chromosome bridge or lagging chromosome phenotype. Conclusion This manuscript provides, for the first time, detailed characterization of the parameters of fidelity of the mitotic process and mitotic spindle morphologies of LSCs used in a direct clinical application. Our data show that p63-positive CK3-negative LSCs grown in vitro for clinical purposes undergo mitotic processes with extremely high fidelity, suggesting high karyotype stability. This finding confirms LSCs as a high-quality and safe therapy for eye regeneration in humans.