This paper explores the phenomenology of tattoos through the prism of their communicative role in contemporary society, analyzing how tattoos serve as means of expressing identity, personal values, and belonging to various sociocultural groups. Applying a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses anthropology, sociology, semiotics, and aesthetics, the work illuminates how perceptions of tattoos move from subjective impressions to complex neo-scholastic interpretations, highlighting the dialectical relationship between individual and collective meanings. The analysis is based on the "Grounded Theory" methodology theory, semiotic understanding of the relationship between the signifier and the signified, and sociocultural aspects that shape and define the perception of tattoos in various contexts. The paper concludes that tattoos transcend their aesthetic dimension, serving as deeply rooted symbols in human culture that reflect, shape, and challenge sociocultural norms and values, encouraging further research into the dynamics between tattoos, identity, and social perception.
Personal relations with the public as a field of study is increasingly drawing the attention of professional and scientific research. The father of public relations Edward L. Bernays stated already in the 1920s that every individual supports the idea with which they can identify, and that they usually achieve this through the interpretation of symbols. This paper focuses on the strategy of creating a personal image in the time before the Internet on the example of the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. Using the case study method, the paper will offer a detailed presentation of building Dalí's personal relations and describe the key activities he was involved in and communication channels he used. The aim of the paper is to determine whether the communication tools used by influencers today existed even before the advent of social media and to confirm the thesis that Dalí was an influencer and a brand persona.
Evolution of advanced technological development has enabled connection between participants of the communication process at any time, regardless of their distance. This potential has become an integral part of private online activities carried out within the time of professional context (cyberloafing). Establishing communication activities as a distinctive component of online activities at the workplace has not been the subject of academic attention previously. The goal was to create and validate a measurement instrument that would specifically categorize communication activities of cyberloafing. The research was conducted as anonymous online survey of 302 participants and structured in two segments: the participants' sociodemographic characteristics and their engagement in cyberloafing activities. Two confirmatory factor analyzes were conducted to identify the optimal model, resulting with three factors and six items. Based on the accumulated dana, the proposed model meets the appropriateness criteria, and the new measuring instrument was evaluated as valid and reliable for use.
In contemporary international relations, information represents a crucially important geopolitical resource. This scientific work aims to analyze global communication with regard to two aspects. Firstly, it explores whether the technological revolution we are witnessing has threatened the fundamental values of liberal democracies. Exposed to the information interference of authoritarian states, liberal democracies risk evolving into societies characterized by control and surveillance mechanisms. Secondly, it examines the consequences of integrating modern information technologies into the space of geopolitics. Specifically, it investigates how global communications have reshaped the nature of warfare in the 21st century. Technology is not politically neutral; it plays a significant role in the international distribution of power. Despite the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on global business, little is being discussed about its implications for political and security relations which are undergoing irreversible changes.
Dirofilariasis is an infection caused by parasites of the Dirofilaria genus, which are natural parasites of dogs and cats. Humans are accidental hosts who become infected by the bite of an infected mosquito. The most common vectors are female mosquitoes from Aedes, Anopheles, Culex genera. There are more than 40 described species of Dirofilaria, but human infection is most commonly caused by two species: Dirofilaria repens and Dirofilaria immitis. Human infections are most commonly manifested as subcutaneous/ocular Dirofilariasis (Dirofilaria repens) and pulmonary Dirofilariasis (Dirofilaria immitis). We presented a case of subcutaneous dirofilariasis of the right knee in a 52-year-old patient that manifested as a subcutaneous nodule. He described spending a lot of recreational time near the river Sava. Five years ago, he noticed swelling of his right leg. Two years ago, a subcutaneous nodule appeared in the front part of the knee. Excision in local anesthesia was performed. During the operative procedure, a moving filarial worm was found. The worm was identified as Dirofilaria spp. at the Croatian Institute of Public Health Zagreb.
In today’s world, social media is a very important part of our everyday lives. Almost 50% of the world’s population uses social media, spending around 3.5 hours daily. In comparison, only 40% have flush toilets or proper water-related sanitation, and 18% use cars. The impact of social media on personal and interpersonal well-being has been thoroughly studied during the past few decades. However, the association between social media use, cognitive functioning, and underlying brain mechanisms has only recently begun to attract the attention of researchers. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the most recent and relevant research about psychological and neuroscientific determinants of social media use. We seek to introduce the most prominent concepts in this field and to make this review accessible to both experienced researchers and newcomers. We first explore some of the reasons why people use social media in such large numbers and so often. While the primary use of social media is to communicate with others, important motives also include seeking information, passing time, entertainment, and relaxation, as well as gaining knowledge about others and even spying without compromising one’s own anonymity. Next, we focus on findings from neuroscience and cognitive psychology to describe neural systems and cognitive functions that underlie social media use. We give special attention to the prime users of such technologies – children and adolescents – and some fundamental cognitive concepts like mentalizing, task switching, and attention capacities. Since research shows that various types of social media use differentially affect the brain and cognitive functioning, at the end we consider the possible harms and benefits of social networking. Even though the available studies are still scarce and the results we have are conflicting, one thing is very clear – the use of social media changes cognitive systems and the supporting brain networks.
Most women experience pregnancy and childbirth several times in their lives. There is data that such an experience is remembered for a long time. Whether positive or negative, the experience of childbirth can affect the desire for another pregnancy and the relationship between mother and child. With the aim of determining what is related to the mother's satisfaction with childbirth, research was conducted on interventions before, during and after childbirth. The aim of this paper was to present the results of research related to the satisfaction of the mother with childbirth. Methodologically, it is a narrative review article for the creation of which "Standards for reporting qualitative research: a synthesis of recommendations" were used, and the review of published articles had no language barrier. PubMed and Google Scholar databases were reviewed. Relevant articles regardless of the time period of publication were taken into account. Most papers report that certain socio-demographic characteristics and the psychological state of the woman in labor as well as sense of uncontrol of the woman in labor over her own birth, can affect the fear of childbirth or dissatisfaction with it. Research is needed that would more clearly explain the association between individual factors and satisfaction with childbirth, especially variable factors.
The goal of the study was to examine the mental health of prisoners and to examine whether there are differences in the occurrence of anxiety, depression and stress with regard to demographic characteristics, the length of stay of the prisoners in the penitentiary, and whether there is a mutual connection in the occurrence of these mental disorders. A crosssectional survey was conducted among the prisoners of the prison in Požega during May and June 2020. The research included 74 prisoners (51.4% male) The age of the respondents was in the range from 18 to 78 years, the most respondents were from 31 to 40 years old, (35.1% of them). The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21) questionnaire was used to assess the current level of anxiety, depression and stress. The results show that the majority of respondents have moderate depression (p=<0.001), severe (27%) and very severe anxiety (27%, p=0.171), while their stress level is normal (35.1%, p= 0.02). Anxiety is more common in female respondents (p=0.002). There is a moderate correlation between anxiety and the length of deprivation of liberty. The association between depression and anxiety is highly positive (p<0.001), while the association between depression and family relationships is low and positive. Respondents who are not married showed a higher frequency of depression (p=0.01). A higher level of stress was recorded in male respondents (p=0.02), married (p=0.04) and with a higher level of education (p=0.03). Mental health represents a serious public health problem within this population group and requires further attention and the need for more frequent screening and timely treatment.
The aim of this study was to present possibilities and effectiveness of individual conservative treatment of acute low back pain caused by disc herniation. Is it possible to avoid or postpone surgical treatment with conservative methods? Seventeen subjects aged between 21 and 61 years were included in the study. All of them had the acute low back pain caused by disc herniation at the L4–L5 and/or L5–S1 level and all of them were candidates for surgical treatment. The subjects underwent intermittent traction treatment, also known as conservative spinal decompression, for the lumbar spine during two weeks with the addition of heating the paravertebral musculature and electro analgesic procedures. Over the next two weeks all of the subjects underwent individual exercises with a therapist based on the DNS (dynamic neuromuscular stabilization) principle twice a week and on the other six days they performed medical or hydro gymnastics for lumbar spine combined with individually adapted electro procedures. The degree of pain according to NRS (Numerical Rating Scale), Finger-to-floor distance test, Lasègue test and dorsiflexion of the foot on the painful side according to the manual muscle test were measured for each participant before and after two series of physical therapy. The results showed that there is a significant difference in all measured values before and after physical therapy. A significantly higher level of pain (p<0.001), positive Lasègue test on the lower angle (p<0.001), weaker dorsiflexion of foot (p=0.008) and higher distance in Finger-to-floor test (p<0.001) were reported before physical therapy was conducted. According to the results of our study it could be concluded that intermittent traction in combination with an individual approach to the patient, in terms of education and persistence in targeted medical gymnastics, is the key to successful conservative treatment of acute low back pain caused by disc herniation, not only to postpone but also to prevent surgical treatment.
This study analyzes sports reporting in the context of game/competition with or against another in the most widely read daily media over a 20-year period. The purpose of the study is to question whether the preposition "against" just in the description of sports events on contemporary news portals has to a significant extent supplanted the preposition "with" in the context of competition with another, or whether this phenomenon, and to what extent, was also present in the earlier, pre-digital period of sports communication. Using qualitative and quantitative scientific methods, the study analyzes a corpus of 5984 headlines of sports reports from the FIFA World Cups in 1998 and 2018. The research results show that there is a statistically significant difference in the use of attributions "against" and attributions "with" in the description of sports events in 1998 and 2018 and prove the change in the communication paradigm of sports.
Research shows that metabolically impaired intrauterine environment causes mild long-term neuromotor deviations that are more pronounced in younger children. The goal of this study was to examine possible long-term consequences of gestational diabetes on motor development. Maximal strength and the ability of precisely modulate strength and position in the wrist joint as well as visual-motor integration of 10 years old children born to mother with gestational diabetes and matched controls born from regular pregnancies were measured. Ten years ago, fetal behaviour of both, control and experimental group was recorded and general movements, mouth movements, hand movements and movements of fist/ fingers of the experimental group was worse than in the control group. The obtained results showed no intergroup differences in maximal force production and in the ability to precisely modulate force and position in the wrist joint. However, the visual-motor integration of the dominant side resulted significantly better in the control group. The result indicates a possible greater negative impact of gestational diabetes on the graphomotor skills of school-aged children rather than on their maximal strength and ability to precisely modulate force and movement in the wrist joint.
The aim is to examine health literacy and the quality of life of hospitalized patients with arterial hypertension: whether there are differences with regard to the demographic characteristics of the respondents; whether there is a connection between health literacy and the quality of life of the respondents. For the purposes of this research, a cross-sectional survey was conducted. All adult hospitalized patients at the Požega County General Hospital (OGH) in the period from July to October 2020 were included in the research. The analyzed and validated Croatian version of the functional health literacy test SAHLCA-50 was used as a research instrument. The Croatian version of the SF-36 instrument was used to examine the quality of life. Patients with arterial hypertension (AH) had an inadequate level of health literacy compared to those without AH (32 versus 40 points; Mann–Whitney U test, p < 0.001). The subjects without AH had a significantly better quality of life, median 45.6 (IQR 36.4 to 53.4). Domains of health in respondents with AH are significantly and positively related to health literacy.
The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between social support for physical activity and physical activity in different domains among high school students. The sample of respondents consisted of 224 secondary school students (grammar schools, art schools and vocational schools). Of these, there were 144 female students (64.29%) and 80 male students with an average age of 16.07±1.19 and 16.16±1.11 years (M ± SD). The sample of variables consisted of questionnaires on socio-demographic characteristics, physical activity in different domains (IPAQ-A) and social support for physical exercise (SES). The results showed that there is no statistically significant difference between the physical activity variables of females and males in different domains (school – t=–0.91, p=0.37; household – t=0.01, p=0.99; transport – t=–1.83, p=0.07; leisure – t=–0.63, p=0.53), but a significant difference was shown in the social support variables, on the basis of which it can be concluded that males have greater social support from their peers (friends from school – t=–2.66, p=0.008; friends outside school – t=–3.17, p=0.001). For females, a significant positive relationship between support for physical activity (in all variables) and physical activity is only in the domain of leisure time. The results of support from family and friends from school in males showed a positive significant relationship in the domains of school, transport and leisure time, while the results of support from friends outside of school showed only a positive significant relationship in the domain of leisure time. It could be concluded that this study revealed gender differences in the support of parents and peers in physical activities in different domains, and revealed that in all students there is no significant relationship between social support (in all variables) and the domain household. Results of this study is contribution to knowledge about association of social support for physical activity and physical activity in the domains of school, household, transportation, and leisure time. The results of the research can serve as a basis for the design of quality interventions for the promotion of physical activity among high school students, which represents a very important practical contribution of this research.
This study delves into assessing user satisfaction regarding political actors' communication on social network sites (SNS) through the lenses of the Uses and Gratifications Theory and the Two-Step Flow Model. We further scrutinize the extent to which users engage in political communication and their preferred modes of participation on SNS. Additionally, we compare user engagement on SNS with voter turnout. A questionnaire was administered to a random sample comprising 135 respondents to acquire this data. Our findings reveal the absence of statistically significant differences in user satisfaction levels with political actors' communication on SNS. Moreover, our analysis indicates a preference among SNS users for following the posts of political actors over engaging with other users or initiating direct communication with political actors. At last, we found that user engagement in political communication on SNS is lower than actual voter turnout among the participants of this study.
The aim of this study was to explore health literacy and level of knowledge regarding the administration of inhaled medications of patients with obstructive lung diseases. Additionally, the study aimed to assess the relationship between patients’ health literacy and knowledge of the administration of inhaled medication in relation to patients’ demographic characteristics, experience and education on inhalation therapy administration. A cross-sectional study among patients with obstructive lung diseases treated in the Pulmonology Department of Požega County General Hospital from November 2022 to March 2023 was conducted. The research instrument used was the validated Croatian version of the functional health literacy test SAHLCA-50. A total of one hundred and one respondents, aged 18 to 81 years and older, participated in the study. The results indicated that 65 respondents (64.4%) demonstrated adequate health literacy. Female respondents exhibited significantly higher levels of health literacy (p=0.01) and knowledge on MDI administration (p=0.001). Respondents aged 18 to 40 demonstrated significantly higher levels of health literacy compared to respondents aged 61 to 80 (p = 0.003) and those 81 years and older (p = 0.007). A higher level of knowledge on MDI administration was observed in respondents who had been using MDI for 5 to 10 years and in those who received education from medical professionals prior to MDI self-administration (p = 0.03). The study highlights the importance of health literacy and patient education in individuals suffering from obstructive lung diseases, as these factors represent crucial prerequisites for the correct self-administration of inhalation therapy.
The goal of this study was to investigate how the communication within the family influences the shopping behavior of young respondents, i.e., consumers. To achieve this goal, a survey was conducted on a purposive sample of 120 young respondents aged 18 to 28 years. The research results showed that there is a statistically significant correlation between communication about purchasing within the family and young respondents' shopping with their family members, as well as between communication within the family before purchasing and the respect for the opinions of family members during the purchase process of young respondents. Additional analysis of respondents by gender revealed a statistically significant difference in shopping with family members between female and male respondents. Female respondents much more frequently go shopping with their family members.
Color is associated with electromagnetic radiation of a certain range of wavelengths visible to the human eye. This natural phenomenon has outgrown its technical surroundings and sparked interest of humans for a long time, eventually dispersing its influence across every aspect of human life. Colors convey meaning and it can be observed that they are widely researched in practically all scientific fields, from social and natural sciences to humanities. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the semiotics of color is universal or it differs across countries. Additionally, an analysis of the overview of idioms will try to prove that the cultural symbolism of colors is reflected in linguistic expressions of particular cultures (Croatian, English, German, Italian). The mixed-methods approach proved that colors communicate abstract and concrete concepts, emotions and perceived characteristic traits, and that some meanings are universal, while others are culture-specific
The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation of anthropometric variables and motor abilities in change of direction speed and reactive agility performance in young tennis players. 50 tennis players (age 12.3 ± 1.2 years, height 156.7 ± 12.8 cm, body mass 45.9 ± 8.9 kg), who were ranked within the top 50 ranking places of the National Tennis Association, as well as within the top 300 on the international "Tennis Europe" rankings, participated in the study. The sample of anthropometric variables in this study comprised the measurement of participant height, body mass, body mass index and percentage of body fat. Also, participants performed tests assessing speed (5, 10, and 20 m sprints), agility (20 yards, 4x10 yards, T–test, TENCODS, and TENRAG), and explosive power (countermovement jump, single-leg countermovement jump, squat jump, standing long jump and single-leg triple jump). The results showed that there is a statistically significant correlation of agility with anthropometric characteristics, running speed tests and horizontal explosive power variables, whereas there was no significant correlation with vertical explosive power variables. In conclusion, the results of this research confirmed the hypothesis that there is a significant correlation in almost all anthropometric variables and motor abilities in change of direction speed and reactive agility performance in young tennis players. Thus, our findings provide useful information for coaches to create a wide range of tennis-specific exercises to develop performance, especially in a players neuromuscular fitness.
Obesity and low cardiorespiratory fitness are major risk factors for numerous non-communicable diseases and mortality, and efficient treatment protocols to counteract these conditions are highly warranted. We evaluated the effect of high-intensity circuit training (CIT) on body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness of sedentary overweight individuals. Cardiorespiratory and body composition were assessed before and after a 8-week circuit training (CIT; four sessions of full-body CIT per week; age, 38 ± 9 years old; height, 174 ± 10 cm; body mass, 93.1 ± 22.2 kg; n = 32), and 8-week inactiv-ity (CON; neither training nor lifestyle changes from week; 0–8 age, 39 ± 7 years old, height, 168 ± 8 cm, body mass, 89.5 ± 17.5 kg; n = 33). The two-way repeated-measures ANOVA revealed moderate to large reductions were observed in body mass, BMI, and fat percentage after CIT (d=0.43–0.81; P<0.05). In contrast, all body composition parameters remained stable after 8-week inactivity (P<0.05). A small to moderate group x moment interaction was found for body mass, BMI and % fat (d=0.10–0.60; P<0.05). Small improvements in VO2max were observed after CIT (d=0.48 [0.11–0.85]; P=0.010), while small to moderate reductions were observed in VO2max and PV were observed after inactivity (d=0.47 [0.11–0.83] and 0.64 [0.26–1.01], respectively; P<0.05). A small moment x group interaction was observed for VO2max (d= 0.19 [0.13–0.26]; P<0.001). Our findings suggest that 8-week of full-body circuit training may improve cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition in sedentary overweight individuals.
Covid-19 and the restrictive measures it brought with it significantly impacted the daily habits and routines of elderly people. Residential care facilities for the elderly were high-risk environments during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the residents themselves were a vulnerable group with various morbidities and co-morbidities. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the quality of life of older people living in nursing homes. The research included 153 participants who were residents of nursing homes and was conducted from May to August 2021. The study included "Naš dom" in Travnik, "Revitalis" in Bugojno, "Linija života" in Donji Vakuf, "Sentivo 1" and "Sentivo 2" in Ilidža, and "Vitalis" in Ilidža. The research used the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, which is a shortened version of the WHOQOL-100 questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess the quality of life. The results showed that older people did not experience a significant decline in quality of life, but the results varied between institutions. Women had a lower quality of life than men, as did older participants compared to younger ones. Gender, age, educational status, and experience with COVID-19 are significant factors that may influence the quality of life of elderly people living in nursing homes.
