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Background: Vegetarian diets are rich in vegetables. Green leafy vegetables are foods that contain considerable amounts of nitrate, which can have both positive and negative effects on the human body. Their potential carcinogenicity and toxicity have been proven, particularly after the reduction of nitrate to nitrite itself or just serving as a reactant with amines and/or amides in the formation of N-nitroso compounds -N-nitrosamines and other nitrogen compounds which may have high levels of nitrate. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a significant difference, considering the location and seasonal sampling period, in the level of nitrate in certain types of green vegetables, all in order to be able to assess their intake, and possible impact on human health, especially knowing that exposure to nitrate can be potentially higher for vegetarian population group. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, the sampling of 200 different leafy green vegetables was conducted, all of which could be found in free sale in the Republic of Croatia. The sampling was conducted during two seasonal periods -the spring and autumn period. In the springtime, lettuce (sem), spinach (pinacho), kale (kale), chard (mangel) and cabbage (brassica) were sampled, and in autumn lettuce, spinach, kale, chard and arugula. Samples were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection. Results:The results from the spring sampling phase were in the range of 603 mg/kg for cabbage -972 mg/kg for chard, and for autumn phase of 1.024 mg/kg for chard to 4.354 mg/kg for the arugula. The results showed that there were significant differences (p <0.05) for most of the samples analyzed, considering the sampling locations and time period. Conclusion:The results indicate that the analyzed vegetables contain significant amounts of nitrate in their composition, which represents relatively significant, but still acceptable intake into the human body.

Background: Citrinin is a mycotoxin produced by several species of the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium and Monascus and it occurs mainly in stored grain. Citrinin is generally formed after harvest and occurs mainly in stored grains, it also occurs in other plant products. Often, the co-occurrence with other mycotoxins is observed, especially ochratoxin A, which is usually associated with endemic nephropathy. At the European Union level, systematic monitoring of Citrinin in grains began with the aim of determining its highest permissible amount in food. Thus, far the systematic monitoring of the above mentioned mycotoxin in Croatia is yet to begin. Materials and Methods:The main goal of this study was to determine the presence of Citrinin in grains sampled in the area of Međimurje, Osijek-Baranja, Vukovar-Srijem and Brod-Posavina County. For the purpose of identification and quantification of citrinin, high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) with fluorescence was used (Calibration curve k ≥ 0.999; Intra assay CV = 2.1%; Inter assay CV = 4.3%; LOQ < 1 µg/kg). Results: From the area of Međimurje County, 10 samples of corn and 10 samples of wheat were analyzed. None of the samples contained Citrinin (<1 µg/kg). From the area of Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem County, 15 samples from each County were analyzed. The mean value for the samples of Osijek-Baranja County was 19.63 µg/kg (median=15.8 µg/kg), while for Vukovar-Srijem County the mean value of citrinin was 14,6 µg/kg (median=1.23 µg/kg). From 5 analyzed samples from Brod-Posavina County, one of the samples contained citrinin in the amount of 23.8 µg/kg, while the registered amounts in the other samples were <1 µg/kg. Conclusion:The results show that grains from several Counties contain certain amounts of Citrinin possibly indicating a significant intake of citrinin in humans. It must be stated that grains and grain-based products are the basis of everyday diet of all age groups, especially small children, where higher intake of citrinin can occur. Consequently, we emphasize the need for systematic analysis of larger amount of samples, from both large grains and small grains, especially in the area of Brod-Posavina County, in order to obtain more realistic notion of citrinin contamination of grains and to asses the health risk in humans.

SUMMARY – Medical activity is assumed to be service activity the effects of which can be measured. The SERVQUAL scale was used as a starting point for our research, which resulted in a new, adopted scale called MEDQUAL. The MEDQUAL scale aims to measure the quality of healthcare provided by medical staff of one hospital department instead of the overall quality of hospital services or parts of services on which medical staff in one department has no influence. The study was conducted in a clinical hospital department in Croatia and included 300 respondents (169 patients and 131 medical staff members). The MEDQUAL scale, designed and tested in the study, showed high reliability in all established dimensions, i.e. trust in doctors (Cronbach’s Alpha 0.923), nursing professionalism (0.913), medical professionalism (0.938), and departmental organization (0.810). The scale proposed evaluates both patient satisfaction with the quality of healthcare received and medical staff satisfaction with the quality of healthcare provided. The results were comparable to the groups of respondents, departments, and institutions with potential longitudinal studies of this phenomenon. MEDQUAL is a simple, repeatable and cost-effective scale, applicable to almost all departments and used for measuring the quality of healthcare services both provided and received, the aim of which is to contribute to the assessment of healthcare quality and its improvement.

Technology driven changings with consecutive increase in the on-line availability and accessibility of journals and papers rapidly changes patterns of academic communication and publishing. The dissemination of important research findings through the academic and scientific community begins with publication in peer-reviewed journals. Aim of this article is to identify, critically evaluate and integrate the findings of relevant, high-quality individual studies addressing the trends of enhancement of visibility and accessibility of academic publishing in digital era. The number of citations a paper receives is often used as a measure of its impact and by extension, of its quality. Many aberrations of the citation practices have been reported in the attempt to increase impact of someone’s paper through manipulation with self-citation, inter-citation and citation cartels. Authors revenues to legally extend visibility, awareness and accessibility of their research outputs with uprising in citation and amplifying measurable personal scientist impact has strongly been enhanced by on line communication tools like networking (LinkedIn, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Google Scholar), sharing (Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, Google Plus) media sharing (Slide Share), data sharing (Dryad Digital Repository, Mendeley database, PubMed, PubChem), code sharing, impact tracking. Publishing in Open Access journals. Many studies and review articles in last decade have examined whether open access articles receive more citations than equivalent subscription toll access) articles and most of them lead to conclusion that there might be high probability that open access articles have the open access citation advantage over generally equivalent payfor-access articles in many, if not most disciplines. But it is still questionable are those never cited papers indeed “Worth(less) papers” and should journal impact factor and number of citations be considered as only suitable indicators to evaluate quality of scientists? “Publish or perish” phrase usually used to describe the pressure in academia to rapidly and continually publish academic work to sustain or further one’s career can now in 21. Century be reformulate into “Publish, be cited and maybe will not Perish”.

Les quatre pays d’Europe centrale qui constituent la coopération de Visegrad, à savoir la Pologne, la République tchèque, la Slovaquie et la Hongrie, ont un intérêt commun pour tout ce qui concerne les questions de sécurité en rapport avec la Russie. Cependant, ils sont profondément divisés pour ce qui concerne la politique de l’énergie, les ambitions de politique étrangère et aussi de politique intérieure. Bien que des projets de diversification d’approvisionnement en énergie soient en cours, il faudra longtemps avant de faire décroître la dépendance stratégique envers la Russie. La politique intérieure peut également être particulièrement mise en évidence en ce qui concerne la Hongrie, où le premier ministre Viktor Orban considère la Russie comme un modèle idéologique, contrairement aux trois autres États. Cependant, ces divisions ne seront pas à même de remettre en cause la coopération de Visegrad elle-même, car cette organisation n’a jamais été entendue pour résoudre les problèmes à l’intérieur du groupe de Visegrad, mais bien pour représenter les intérêts communs lorsque ceux-ci sont présents. Aussi, la coopération de Visegrad dispose d’une large expérience pour gérer les désaccords internes au groupe.

Pesticides are chemicals used in agriculture to protect crops from pests. In addition to protection during cultivation, they are also used after harvesting to extend the shelf life of products. Postharvest control stands out, especially when it comes to products imported from distant countries, resulting in increased concentration of pesticides and risk to human health consuming such products. In this study, analyses of pesticide residues were performed on 200 samples of fruits and vegetables. Pesticide residues were identified and quantified in 30 out of 200 samples. Study results revealed imazalil to be the most frequently detected pesticide. Risk assessment was performed on the obtained results, and it was carried out separately for adults and for children under 6 years of age. Imazalil showed the highest ARfD percentage for adults (max% ARfD 251%), and these values were especially high on risk assessment for children, where they amounted up to max% ARfD 1087%. The study of imazalil impact was performed on 16 Swiss albino mice divided into two groups and 4 subgroups. Experimental group animals were treated with the corresponding NOAEL dose of imazalil (10 mg/kg) for 28 days. Body weight was measured before each pesticide application on a digital electronic Sartorius scale. Peripheral blood analysis was performed after 28-day animal exposure to pesticides. Animals were anesthetized, blood samples were obtained by cardiac puncture, and red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, and white blood cell (WBC) count were determined by standard hematological methods. The organs for determination of imazalil concentration were extracted immediately upon animal sacrifice and stored in a freezer at -80°C until analysis. Results show difference in gain weight, and an increase in WBC count was recorded in the experimental group as compared with a control group of animals. The highest imazalil levels were recorded in adipose tissue (45.2‰) which proves tendency to accumulate.

Fakultet za menadžment u turizmu i ugostiteljstvu, Opatija 2 Zdravstveno veleučilište, Zagreb SažetakUvod. Koncept kvalitete zdravstvenih usluga istražuje se već više od dva desetljeća, ali u znanstvenoj i struč-noj praksi u RH još uvijek postoji mali broj radova u kojima se istražuje i mjeri razina zadovoljstva korisnika zdravstvenih usluga.Ciljevi rada su bili definirati koncepte kvalitete zdravstvenih usluga, istražiti modele i metode za mjerenje kvalitete zdravstvenih usluga, analizirati dosadaš-nja istraživanja kvalitete zdravstvenih usluga stranih i domaćih autora s naglaskom na istraživanja unutar zdravstvenog sustava, istražiti dosadašnja istraživanja i mjerenja kvalitete zdravstvenih usluga te primjenjivost modela SERVQUAL kao najčešće upotrebljavanog modela za mjerenje kvalitete usluga.Metode. Primijenjen je konceptualni pristup istraživa-nju u kojemu su koncept kvalitete usluga s naglaskom na koncept kvalitete zdravstvenih usluga i zadovoljstva korisnika obrađeni i izneseni usustavljeno s teorijskog stajališta, pri čemu su upotrijebljeni sekundarni izvori podataka.Rezultati. Rad donosi sustavni pregled temeljnih koncepata kvalitete zdravstvenih usluga, kao i modela mjerenja kvalitete zdravstvenih usluga s naglaskom na primjenjivost modela SERVQUAL.Zaključak. Rezultati ovog istraživanja potvrdili su da je koncept zdravstvenih usluga višedimenzionalan te je još jednom potvrđeno da je uz primjenu modela SER-VQUAL moguće na jednostavan i učinkovit način saznati očekivanja, potrebe i želje korisnika zdravstvenih ustanova, kao i njihove stavove o dobivenim uslugama, a zatim ih iskoristiti u svrhu kreiranja kvalitetne ponude.Ključne riječi: kvaliteta zdravstvenih usluga, zadovoljstvo klijenta, lojalnost, model SERVQUAL Datum primitka: 15.02.2018.