How the War in Ukraine Affects Food Security

The war in Ukraine has caused severe disruption to national and worldwide food supplies. Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat, maize, and oilseeds, staples that are now suffering a war-triggered supply risk. This paper describes the background of the problem and illustrates current trends by outlining some of the measures that may be deployed to mitigate the conflict’s impacts on achieving SDG 2 (Zero hunger), especially focusing on ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. In order to understand the main research strands in the literature that are related to food security in the context of wars, the authors adopted a bibliometric literature review based on the co-occurrence of terms technique, conducted with 631 peer-reviewed documents extracted from the Scopus database. To complement the bibliometric assessment, ten case studies were selected to narrow down the food insecurity aspects caused by the war in Ukraine. The co-occurrence analysis indicated four different thematic clusters. In the next stage, an assessment of the current situation on how war affects food security was carried out for each one of the clusters, and the reasons and possible solutions to food security were identified. Policy recommendations and theoretical implications for food security in the conflict context in Ukraine were also addressed

Assessing the levels of awareness among european citizens about the direct and indirect impacts of plastics on human health

There is an urgent need to assess European citizens' perspective regarding their plastic consumption and to evaluate their awareness of the direct and indirect effect of plastics on human health in order to influence current behavior trends. In this study, the evaluation has been cross-related with scientific facts, with the final aim of detecting the most recommendable paths in increasing human awareness, reducing plastic consumption, and consequently impacting human health. A statistical analysis of quantitative data, gathered from 1000 European citizens via an online survey in the period from May to June 2020, showed that a general awareness about the direct impact of plastic consumption and contamination (waste) on human health is high in Europe. However, only a few participants (from a higher educational group) were aware of the indirect negative effects that oil extraction and industrial production of plastic can have on human health. This finding calls for improved availability of this information to general public. Despite the participants' positive attitude toward active plastic reduction (61%), plastic consumption on a daily basis is still very high (86%). The most common current actions toward plastic reduction are plastic bag usage, reusage, or replacement with sustainable alternatives (e.g., textile bags) and selecting products with less plastic packaging. The participants showed important criticism toward the information available to the general public about plastics and health. This awareness is important since significant relation has been found between the available information and the participants' decisions on the actions they might undertake to reduce plastic consumption. The study clearly showed the willingness of the participants to take action, but they also requested to be strongly supported with joint efforts from government, policies, and marketing, defining it as the most successful way toward implementing these changes

Fate and transformation of silver nanoparticles in different biological conditions

The exploitation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in biomedicine represents more than one third of their overall application. Despite their wide use and significant amount of scientific data on their effects on biological systems, detailed insight into their in vivo fate is still lacking. This study aimed to elucidate the biotransformation patterns of AgNPs following oral administration. Colloidal stability, biochemical transformation, dissolution, and degradation behaviour of different types of AgNPs were evaluated in systems modelled to represent biological environments relevant for oral administration, as well as in cell culture media and tissue compartments obtained from animal models. A multimethod approach was employed by implementing light scattering (dynamic and electrophoretic) techniques, spectroscopy (UV-vis, atomic absorption, nuclear magnetic resonance) and transmission electron microscopy. The obtained results demonstrated that AgNPs may transform very quickly during their journey through different biological conditions. They are able to degrade to an ionic form and again reconstruct to a nanoparticulate form, depending on the biological environment determined by specific body compartments. As suggested for other inorganic nanoparticles by other research groups, AgNPs fail to preserve their specific integrity in in vivo settings

An assessment of attitudes towards plastics and bioplastics in Europe

Over the last 50 years, conventional fossil-based plastics have become an integral part of our everyday lives. Apart from their low production costs, this is due to a number of their unique properties, including durability, strength, lightness, electrical and thermal insulation, resistance to chemicals and corrosion. The production of plastics has increased from 1.5 million metric tons in 1950 to 359 million metric tons in 2018. Of this total, 61.8 million metric tons were produced in Europe. There are various problems associated with plastic use and disposal that pose a serious threat to both the physical environment and human health. Since public behaviour plays a key role when it comes to the use of plastic, this paper reports on a study that focused on an assessment of attitudes towards plastics and bioplastics in Europe. The results showed that packaging is the most frequent modality of plastic used among participants. In addition, majority of participants are aware that plastic waste can affect environment and human health and therefore segregate and properly dispose plastics. Also, even though most respondents were aware of the environmental problems related to plastic use and showed a positive inclination towards using bioplastic materials, their limited availability and lack of relevant information about bioplastics pose a problem for wider use. Departing from the assumption that the public attitude is a determining factor in the consumption of plastics as a whole and bioplastics in particular, this paper also sheds some light on the current situation, identifying some trends and information gaps which should be addressed in order to encourage a more rational use of plastics in Europe

Apheresis as novel treatment for refractory angina with raised lipoprotein(a): a randomised controlled trial

Aims To determine the clinical impact of lipoprotein apheresis in patients with refractory angina and raised lipoprotein(a) > 500 mg/L on the primary end point of quantitative myocardial perfusion, as well as secondary end points including atheroma burden, exercise capacity, symptoms, and quality of life. Methods We conducted a single-blinded randomized controlled trial in 20 patients with refractory angina and raised lipoprotein(a) > 500 mg/L, with 3 months of blinded weekly lipoprotein apheresis or sham, followed by crossover. The primary endpoint was change in quantitative myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR) assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance. Secondary endpoints included measures of atheroma burden, exercise capacity, symptoms and quality of life. Results The primary endpoint, namely MPR, increased following apheresis (0.47; 95% CI 0.31–0.63) compared with sham (−0.16; 95% CI − 0.33–0.02) yielding a net treatment increase of 0.63 (95% CI 0.37–0.89; P < 0.001 between groups). Improvements with apheresis compared with sham also occurred in atherosclerotic burden as assessed by total carotid wall volume (P < 0.001), exercise capacity by the 6 min walk test (P = 0.001), 4 of 5 domains of the Seattle angina questionnaire (all P < 0.02) and quality of life physical component summary by the short form 36 survey (P = 0.001). Conclusion Lipoprotein apheresis may represent an effective novel treatment for patients with refractory angina and raised lipoprotein(a) improving myocardial perfusion, atheroma burden, exercise capacity and symptoms

Archaeological Excavation in the Lim Channel in 2016. Sites: Romuald’s Cave, Abri Kontija 002, Lim 001, Cave Near Rovinjsko Selo

Rad donosi rezultate arheoloških istraživanja na četiri lokaliteta na području Limskog kanala provedenih tijekom 2016. godine. Terenska istraživanja dio su projekta “Arheološka istraživanja kasnog pleistocena i ranog holocena na prostoru Limskog kanala (ARCHAEOLIM)” financiranog od Hrvatske zaklade za znanost i provedena su na četiri lokaliteta: Romualdovoj pećini, Abri Kontija 002, Pećini kod Rovinjskog Sela i Lim 001.This paper presents the results of archaeological excavation conducted in the course of 2016 at four sites in the Lim Channel area. The field excavations were conducted in the frame of the Archaeological Investigations into the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene of the Lim Channel (ARCHAEOLIM) project, financed by the Croatian Science Foundation and conducted at four sites: Romuald’s Cave, Abri Kontija 002, Cave near Rovinjsko Selo and Lim 001

The effects of the composition of microporous layers on the permeability of gas diffusion layers used in polymer electrolyte fuel cells

The effects of the composition of the microporous layer (MPL) on the through-plane permeability of the gas diffusion layers (GDLs) used in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) have been thoroughly experimentally investigated in this paper. For a given PTFE loading in the MPL, the GDL permeability was found to decrease with increasing carbon loading and this is due to the increase in the thickness of the MPL. For all the investigated carbon loadings of the MPL, the permeability values of the GDLs were found to have common trends for the PTFE loadings ranging from 10 to 50% (by weight): the GDL permeability increases when the PTFE loading in the MPL is increased from 20 to 50%; the GDL permeability decreases when the PTFE loading in the MPL is increased from 10 to 20%; and the GDL permeability is a minimum at 20% PTFE loading present in the MPL. On the other hand, the permeability of the GDL was found to depend on the carbon loading of the MPL in the PTFE range 0–10%. The effects of the MPL composition on the MPL permeability were found to be similar to those on the GDL permeability. However, the permeability values of the MPLs of the same composition, which were supposed to be ideally the same, were found to significantly vary. This was attributed to the MPL penetration into the body of the carbon substrates

Fate and transformation of silver nanoparticles in different biological conditions

The exploitation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in biomedicine represents more than one third of their overall application. Despite their wide use and significant amount of scientific data on their effects on biological systems, detailed insight into their in vivo fate is still lacking. This study aimed to elucidate the biotransformation patterns of AgNPs following oral administration. Colloidal stability, biochemical transformation, dissolution, and degradation behaviour of different types of AgNPs were evaluated in systems modelled to represent biological environments relevant for oral administration, as well as in cell culture media and tissue compartments obtained from animal models. A multimethod approach was employed by implementing light scattering (dynamic and electrophoretic) techniques, spectroscopy (UV–vis, atomic absorption, nuclear magnetic resonance) and transmission electron microscopy. The obtained results demonstrated that AgNPs may transform very quickly during their journey through different biological conditions. They are able to degrade to an ionic form and again reconstruct to a nanoparticulate form, depending on the biological environment determined by specific body compartments. As suggested for other inorganic nanoparticles by other research groups, AgNPs fail to preserve their specific integrity in in vivo settings

Project Late Mousterian in the eastern Adriatic – towards understanding of late Neanderthals’ identity and Their Demise: Summary of the 2nd and 3rd years of research

Članak donosi pregled aktivnosti i preliminarne rezultate arheoloških istraživanja srednjopaleolitičkih nalazišta u Dalmaciji te geoloških istraživanja u okviru kojih su provedena bušenja potencijalnih nalazišta. Aktivnosti su ostvarene provedbom druge i treće godine projekta Kasni musterijen na istočnom Jadranu – temelj za razumijevanje identiteta kasnih neandertalaca i njihovog nestanka Hrvatske zaklade za znanost. Terenski je rad najvećim dijelom bio usmjeren na nastavak istraživanja Velike pećine u Kličevici i podvodnoga paleolitičkog nalazišta Kaštel Štafilić – Resnik. Provedeno je također probno istraživanje jednog nalazišta u zaleđu Kaštela (Giljanovići/Karanušići) i geološka bušenja.The paper reports on the activities and preliminary results of archaeological research of Middle Palaeolithic sites in Dalmatia and geological research consisting of drilling at potential sites. The activities were carried out within the framework of the second and third years of the research project Late Mousterian in the Eastern Adriatic – towards understanding of late Neanderthals’ identity and their demise, funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. The fieldwork mostly focused on the continuation of excavation at Velika pećina in Kličevica and research at underwater Palaeolithic site of Kaštel Štafilić – Resnik, in addition to the test excavation of a site in the hinterland of Kaštela (Giljanovići/Karanušići) and geological drillings