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Background/Aim. Many recent studies have focused on investigation the differences in personality traits and its role in promoting health and in moderating vulnerability to adversities and illness. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of somatic complaints in moderating the relation-ship between personality traits operationalized in Cybernetic Battery of Conative Tests (KON-6) model and positivity. Methods. The sample consisted of 512 students, 23.83 years old in average, 56.3% were female, 23% reported the presence of somatic complaints. In investigation, the Positivity Scale measuring positivity and the KON-6 measuring the activity of 6 dynamic personality traits ? activity regulation system (?), organic function regulation system (?), defense reactions regulation system (?), attack regulation sys-tem (?), homeostatic system coordination(?) and regulation system integration (?) were used. Results. All of the conative personality traits were significantly correlated with positivity, except for ?. The subsample with somatic complaints reported higher scores in ? and ? traits, suggesting higher levels of anxiety and social reality impairment. The personality traits together with presence of somatic complaints significantly explained 26% of positivity variance, positively predicting positivity with higher activity of ?, and negatively with higher activity of ? and ?. The moderating role of somatic complaints was found in two specific relations. Positivity can be predicted in a reverse manner by homeostatic system coordination (?) but only in students with low somatic complaints, which was also the case for organic function regulation system (?) but only in the presence of high somatic complaints. Conclusion. The positivity represents a good organizational and regulation disposition for regulating the cognitive, dynamic and motoric functions. It is also partially moderated by presence of somatic complaints. Practical benefit of these findings represents a concrete support for developing positivity in people, in order to empower people?s health.

Background/Aim. The neuropathic pain (NP) treatment is a big medical and socioeconomical problem. The new sorts of the NP treatment was developed and are applied in case of a medical treatment failure. The aim of this work was to investigate the efficacy of the ultrasound-assisted treatment of the resistant and chronic peripheral neuropathic pain with the local anesthetic nerve blocks. Due to the inefficacy of conventional treatment, three local anesthetics (shortacting, medium-term and long-acting) were administered in a series of the same minimal dose on a daily basis. Complications, side effects, the execution time of procedure and the onset time of local anesthetic were also investigated. Methods. In this prospective, randomized and doubleblinded study, 108 patients (of which 53 were diagnosed with diabetes and 55 with radiculopathy) with the resistant and chronic peripheral neuropathic pain in the lower extremities were treated with a series of ultra-sound assisted peripheral nerve blocks. The conventional treatment was exhausted. The presence of this neuropathic pain was confirmed by, at least, one of the three scales ? the Leeds Assesment of Neuropathic Simptoms and Signs (LANSS) scale, the Dolour Neuropathic 4 questions (DN4) scale and the pain DETECT(PD-Q) scale. Other therapies were not applied. The nerve blocks were administered on a daily basis until the relief of pain (visual analogue scale ? VAS < 30), and after that, two additional nerve blocks were given. The three local anesthetics of the different duration of therapeutic effect were given at the same minimal dose: the schortacting (1% procaine-chloride solution), medium-term (1% lidocaine-chloride solution) and long-acting (0.25% levobupivacaine-chloride solution) local anesthetics were used. The therapeutic efficacy was measured with the percentage reduction in the pain intensity on the VAS scale before and after the therapy and one month after the treatment: > 50% ? excellent results; 31?49% ? good results; < 30% the therapy did not work. The side effects, complications, the execution duration of procedure, the onset time of numbness, the number of corrections of the needle direction were recorded as well. Results. For all three groups: nerve blocks took 5.4 ? 1.48 minutes to do (withouth difference among the groups), the onset of numbness occured, on average, within 3.75 ? 2.62 minutes (withouth differences among the groups), and the need for corrections of needle direction was minimal (1.03 ? 0.17 corrections). All the patients experienced a loss of pain sensation (VAS < 30); when a long-acting anesthetic was used, the number of required nerve blocks was significant (p < 0.001) smallest (4.33 ? 0.63 blocks), than in other two groups, and the percentage pain reduction was highest (73.13%) (p < 0.001). The pain relief lasted one month after the therapy without the application of any other therapy. Neither complications nor side effects were observed. Conclusion. The procedure dercibed is a safe, efficient and easy-to-perform and does not lead to any complications and side effects. The pain relief is achieved most effectively and rapidly with the longacting local anesthetics, and maintained even for one month without the introduction of any additional therapy.

Physical activity and sport can influence the extent of the presence of the postural disturbances in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of differences in the postural disturbances in female adolescents in relation to team handball training. This investigation involved 150 female adolescents with the average age of 13.4 ± 1.5 years divided into two groups (50 adolescents trained handball and 100 did non train it). The study determined a statistically significant difference in the total number of postural disturbances between the two groups of adolescents (p < 0.001). The presence of the flat foot was statistically significantly higher in untrained adolescents (p < 0.001), but the presence of the scoliosis, kyphosis, lordosis, and pes varus was not found (p > 0.05). Handball adolescents players have less postural disturbances than untrained adolescents. Flat foot is significantly less frequent in female adolescents handball players than in untrained ones. Findings obtained in this investigation can help us in planning continuous prevention, observation and care for untrained and trained team handball female adolescents with postural disturbances.

BACKGROUND/AIM. In (counter)transference relationship therapist's interpersonal style, implying the perceived relation of therapist to a client (patient) in terms of control, autonomy, care and positive feedback, has been shown to be important. The aim of our study was to assess the relationship between therapist's interpersonal style and clients' personality self-reports. Within therapist's interpersonal style, preliminary validation of the Therapist's Interpersonal Style Scale has been conducted, which included double translation method, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, as well as the reliability tests of the derived components. This research was conducted on a group of 206 clients, attending one of the four psychotherapy modalities: psychoanalysis, gestalt therapy, cognitive-behavioral and systemic family therapy. Beside Therapist's Interpersonal Style Scale, Big Five Questionnaire and Therapy Benefit Scale were administered, showing good internal consistency. Principal component analysis of therapist's interpersonal style singled out two components Supportive Autonomy and Ignoring Control, explaining 42% of variance. Two-factor model of the therapist's styles was better fitted in confirmatory factor analysis than the original 4-factor model. Structural model showing indirect and direct effects of therapist's interpersonal styles on self-reports in clients indicates good fitness (χ²(12) = 8.932, p = 0.709; goodness-of-fit index = 0.989), with Ignoring Control having direct effect on Stability, Supportive Autonomy on Therapy Benefit, and Therapy Benefit on Plasticity. The results of this study indicate the importance of further research on therapist's interpersonal style, as well as further validation of the instrument that measures this construct. Besides, a client's perception that the therapy is being helpful could instigate more explorative and approach-oriented behavior, what indirectly might contribute to a client's stability.

This article was retracted by Editor in chief and authors after the paper has already been accepted.

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Flumazenil is benzodiazepine receptor antagonist. It has been studied for a various indications, including reversal of sedation after surgery or diagnostic procedures, awakening of comatose patients in benzodiazepine overdose, or for symptomatic treatment of hepatic encephalopathy. Some drugs, like theophylline, may prolong its elimination half-life. Considering the long half-life of diazepam and its metabolites, concomitant use of theophylline may reduce the need for repeated dosing of flumazenil in patients with acute diazepam poisoning. The aim of this study was to introduce a reliable and accurate method for determining the concentration of flumazenil after therapeutic application in patients with acute poisoning, and using that method to assess whether the kinetics of flumazenil change in the presence of aminophylline (combination of theophylline and ethylenediamine in a 2:1 ratio) applied as concomitant therapy. Blood samples from patients with acute diazepam poisoning that received flumazenil at the dose of 0.5 mg, or the same dose with 3 mg/kg of body weight of aminophylline, were collected 1, 3, 10, 30, 60, 120 and 240 min after its intravenous administration. Samples were prepared by solid-phase extraction on Oasis HLB cartridges with ethylacetate as extracting agens. Flumazenil was determined by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) in single ionmonitoring mode at m/z 304. Separation of flumazenil from matrix compound was performed on Lichrospher RP-8 column usingthe mixture of acidic acetonitrile and 20 mM of ammonium acetatein water (55 : 45) as a mobile phase. The applied analitycal method showed excellent recovery (94.65%). The obtained extracts were much cleaner than the extracts obtained by the sameextractant in the process of liquid-liquid extraction. The limit ofdetection of the LC-MS method described in this paper was 0.5 ng/mL and the limit of quantitation was 1 ng/mL. In the patientstreated with both flumazenil and aminophylline, the eliminationconstant for flumazenil was significantly lower and the elimination half-life was longer (p < 0.05) in comparison with the same parameters in.the patients who received flumazenil alone. The applied LC-MS method for the determination of flumazenil in serum samples of patients with acute diazepam poisoning is rapid, sensitive, precise and specific. Concomitant use with theophylline significantly prolonged elimination of flumazenil during the treatment of acute poisonings with diazepam.

Adolescence is characterized both by a large developmental potential and by an increased risk for emergence of different forms of psychopathology. International classifications of mental disorders recognize the psychopathology of adolescence at the age of 15−18 through the categories of conduct disorders and some forms of addiction: chemical and non-chemical. The aim of this research was to analyse the personality structure among four groups of adolescents manifesting different types of conduct disorder based on Cloninger’s Psychobiological theory of personality. The research sample consisted of 140 respondents at the age of 16−18, divided into five groups: 30 respondents manifesting socialized conduct disorder, 20 adolescents in conflict with the law, 30 respondents manifesting abuse of psychoactive substances, 30 respondents with the problem of the Internet addiction and 30 from general population. The Belgrade Adolescent Personality Inventory (BAPI) questionnaire was used for the purpose of assessment of personality. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), followed by univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine differences between the given groups of adolescents. The results of MANOVA show differences in the personality structure among the groups, both in the dimensions of temperament, F (20,418.84) = 2.71, p < 0.001, Wilks’s lambda 0.67, and in the dimensions of character, F (12,344.24) = 3.27, p < 0.001, Wilks’s lambda is 0.75. Socialized conduct disorder is characterized by low selfdirectedness and average cooperativeness. Adolescents in conflict with the law have the lowest persistence, together with low self-directedness and cooperativeness. Adolescents abusing psychoactive substances have low harm avoidance and self-transcendence. Adolescents with Internet addiction are characterized by high novelty seeking (impulsivity and curiosity), low self-directedness and the lowest cooperativeness. The results show that the dimensions of personality can play an important role in etiopathogenesis of various disorders in adolescents.

Exposed to increasing needs of users for better and faster services, more medications and innovative health technologies, managers of healthcare services in the public sector need motivation, permanent updating of information and constant personal development. The aim of this paper was to evaluate, on the basis of experienced healthcare managers, the impact of their motivation, selected character traits, managerial skills and formal education in management on healthcare facilities performances in the public sector. For the purposes of this study, 97 experienced managers from public hospitals and primary health centers in Serbia answered to 30 questions on the motivation of managers, essential skills for successful management and formal education in management in health facilities. The obtained data about their motivation, governing experience, personal skills and formal education in management were systematized and processed by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Healthcare facilities performances were expressed by the healthcare facilities ranks in the official annual rankings according to the quality improvement, conducted by the Institute of Public Health of Serbia. Pearson's or Spearman's correlation coefficients were used for proving the potential impact of selected factors on performances of healthcare facilities. This study confirmed the association between the healthcare facilities ranks and managers' abilities to organize the working process (t = -2.453; p = 0.018); expressed high managers’ motivation (ρS = 0.206; p = 0.048) and the length of governing experience (r = -0.198; p = 0.043). Within a 3-year follow-up, this study also confirmed a positive correlation between annual ranks of healthcare facilities and managers quality management courses (ρS = -0.238; p = 0.017) and managers education in human resources management (ρS = -0.234; p = 0.027). In addition to management education, permanent personal development and higher motivation of managers have positive influence on healthcare performances.