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Background: The objective of this prospective study was to evaluate whether soluble programmed cell death1/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) and serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) are potential diagnostic, predictive or prognostic biomarkers in lung cancer. Methods: Lung cancer patients (n = 115) with advanced metastatic disease, 101 with non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC (77 EGFR wild-type NSCLC patients on chemotherapy, 15 EGFR mutation positive adenocarcinoma patients, 9 patients with mPD-L1 Expression >50% NSCLC - responders to immunotherapy), and 14 patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were examined. ELISA method was used to determine sPD-L1 and SAA1 concentrations in patients' plasma. Results: Significantly higher blood concentrations of sPDL1 and SAA1 were noted in lung cancer patients compared with a healthy control group. In PD-L1+ NSCLC patients, a significantly higher sPD-L1 level was noticed compared to any other lung cancer subgroup, as well as the highest average SAA1 value compared to other subgroups. Conclusions: It seems that sPD-1/PD-L1 might be a potential biomarker, prognostic and/or predictive, particularly in patients treated with immunotherapy. Serum amyloid A1 has potential to act as a good predictor of patients' survival, as well as a biomarker of a more advanced disease, with possibly good capability to predict the course of disease measured at different time points.

Byline: Dusan. Skiljevic, Damjan. Mirkov, Jelica. Vukicevic Background: Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are implicated in a wide array of infectious diseases in adults and children. Since some species have [...]

Purpose: To present the performance indicators for monitoring the cervical cancer screening process conducted in primary health centres (PHCs) and to identify any shortcomings in the implementation of the Organized Cervical Cancer Screening Programme (OCCSP)., Methods: This study included 16 PHCs participating in the OCCSP in the Republic of Serbia. The data were analysed from the moment the methodology in the PHCs has been accurately and consistently applied in accordance with the European guidelines (earliest from 20th December 2012 until 30th November 2014). We constructed "the standardised" model (adjusted on the number of working months). Performance indicators analysed in this study were: coverage by invitation, coverage by examination, and compliance with invitation., Results: According to "the standardised" model, coverage by invitation was 61.9%, coverage by examination was 35.5% and compliance to invitation was 57.3%., Conclusion: Social mobilization, education, effective promotion strategies and training about cervical cancer screening program-especially in women of target population-as well as better coordination and planning of capacity-building, and staff resources in PHCs, are needed in the future in order to obtain higher values for our performance indicators. Screening registration will provide additional information about demographic characteristics of the tested women.