Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Pottery in the Upper Thracian Plain, Tundzha Valley and the Burgas Lowland, Bulgaria – Diversity, Technology and Distribution

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Colorectal resections - clinical and immunological results

INTRODUCTION: Surgery induces a generalized state of postoperative immunosuppression responsible for a lot of complications in postoperative period. Magnitude and type of the intraoperative injury depend on the extent and duration of postoperative immune suppression. This study compared clinical outcomes and immune changes after minimally invasive and open colorectal resections in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).MATERIAL AND METHODS: Study included 40 patients with CRC who underwent colorectal resections in our clinic last year. Twenty one of them underwent minimally invasive surgery, with a mean age of 64.8 years (49-86). The rest 19 patients underwent conventional surgery, with a mean age of 66.2 years (56-84). Blood tests were performed 24 hours prior to surgery, 24 hours and 7 days after surgery. Analysis included full blood count, total protein, albumin and markers of inflammation (CRP, ESR, fibrinogen). T- (CD3+), B- (CD19+) and NK-cell lymphocyte populations were studied by means of flow cytometry, as well as activation of leucocytes, according to the expression of HLA-DR, CD38, CD279, CD163 and some clinical parameters. All data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.RESULTS: There was no significant difference in preoperative results between minimally invasive group and conventional group. At 24 hours after surgery there were significant decrease in lymphocyte percentages and increased leucocyte count, granulocyte percentages and CRP levels in conventional group. This ratio maintained at 7 days after surgery. Activated monocyte (CD 163+), total protein and albumin, eosinophiles, percentage of monocytes, lymphocytes and NKT-cells (CD3+ CD16/CD56+) were significant decrease in conventional group compared with minimally invasive group at first postoperative day.CONCLUSIONS: Minimally invasive colorectal cancer resection is a technically feasible option, with comparable results in terms of oncologic clearance, lesser degrees of tissue injury, surgical metabolic stress, and immunosuppressive response to conventional open surgery. Patients undergoing minimally invasive resections demonstrated improved clinical recovery and shorter hospital stay than patients undergoing open surgery. 

RENEB accident simulation exercise

Purpose: The RENEB accident exercise was carried out in order to train the RENEB participants in coordinating and managing potentially large data sets that would be generated in case of a major radiological event. Materials and methods: Each participant was offered the possibility to activate the network by sending an alerting email about a simulated radiation emergency. The same participant had to collect, compile and report capacity, triage categorization and exposure scenario results obtained from all other participants. The exercise was performed over 27 weeks and involved the network consisting of 28 institutes: 21 RENEB members, four candidates and three non-RENEB partners. Results: The duration of a single exercise never exceeded 10 days, while the response from the assisting laboratories never came later than within half a day. During each week of the exercise, around 4500 samples were reported by all service laboratories (SL) to be examined and 54 scenarios were coherently estimated by all laboratories (the standard deviation from the mean of all SL answers for a given scenario category and a set of data was not larger than 3 patient codes). Conclusions: Each participant received training in both the role of a reference laboratory (activating the network) and of a service laboratory (responding to an activation request). The procedures in the case of radiological event were successfully established and tested

Integration of new biological and physical retrospective dosimetry methods into EU emergency response plans : joint RENEB and EURADOS inter-laboratory comparisons

Purpose: RENEB, 'Realising the European Network of Biodosimetry and Physical Retrospective Dosimetry,' is a network for research and emergency response mutual assistance in biodosimetry within the EU. Within this extremely active network, a number of new dosimetry methods have recently been proposed or developed. There is a requirement to test and/or validate these candidate techniques and inter-comparison exercises are a well-established method for such validation. Materials and methods: The authors present details of inter-comparisons of four such new methods: dicentric chromosome analysis including telomere and centromere staining; the gene expression assay carried out in whole blood; Raman spectroscopy on blood lymphocytes, and detection of radiation induced thermoluminescent signals in glass screens taken from mobile phones. Results: In general the results show good agreement between the laboratories and methods within the expected levels of uncertainty, and thus demonstrate that there is a lot of potential for each of the candidate techniques. Conclusions: Further work is required before the new methods can be included within the suite of reliable dosimetry methods for use by RENEB partners and others in routine and emergency response scenarios

Role of the cultural ecosystem services provided by natural heritage in forest territories for sustainable regional development

The paper focuses on the role of the Natural Heritage in Forest Areas (NHFA) as a resource that can generate economic, social and environmental benefits for society through the provision of a wide range of cultural ecosystem services. In the assessment of the role of NHFA, the approach for assessment and mapping of ES in a given territorial scope was applied in a pilot region of Velingrad Municipality, focusing on the capacity of the forest ecosystems to provide cultural ecosystem benefits and services to the people. The study confirms that the identification of NHFA could be a powerful driver for regional development by creating significant positive effects such as improving sustainable cultural tourism in forests, diversifying forestry and supporting sustainable development and management of forest areas. The integration of the cultural services of NHFA into forest-related legislation can encourage job creation in different sectors and for different levels of employment, education and cultural training. Evaluation and mapping of ecosystem services is an appropriate tool to support the development of a concept and methods for assessing and mapping the general knowledge framework for NHFA policy in Bulgaria by applying an interdisciplinary approach

Conceptual basis for studying the fungal biodiversity in organogenic soils in the area of the Bulgarian Antarctic Base ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ on Livingston Island

In 2023, a scientific project for studying the fungal biodiversity in organogenic soils in the area of the Bulgarian Antarctic Base ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ on Livingston Island was funded by the National Center for the Polar Studies at Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, implemented under the National Program for Polar Research ‘From Pole to Pole’, adopted by the Ministry of Education and Science.  In the period February-March 2023, a total of 126 soil samples were collected for analysis. Soil samples were carried out in the upper 0-5 cm soil layer. In places with deeper soil profiles, samples were collected from the deeper layer >5 cm. All samples were stored in sterile polyethylene bags in a freezer at minus 28°C on the Bulgarian ship ‘St. St. Cyril and Methodius’, which arrived in Bulgaria on 2nd May 2023. The present study aims to present the conceptual basis for the study of structure, composition, and bioecological features of fungal species occurring in Antarctic organogenic soils from Livingston Island, to investigate the representatives of separate taxonomic groups of invertebrate organisms interacting with the fungal species in the soil, and to establish the relationships with the soil characteristics in the studied sites. Studies of the biological and ecological features of representatives of the mycota in Antarctic organogenic soils, their physiological and biochemical behavior, and interaction with invertebrate organisms, are essential for a better understanding of the biological processes occurring in them, and the implementation of this project will have substantial contribution to these issues

Conceptual basis for studying the fungal biodiversity in organogenic soils in the area of the Bulgarian Antarctic Base ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ on Livingston Island

In 2023, a scientific project for studying the fungal biodiversity in organogenic soils in the area of the Bulgarian Antarctic Base ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ on Livingston Island was funded by the National Center for the Polar Studies at Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, implemented under the National Program for Polar Research ‘From Pole to Pole’, adopted by the Ministry of Education and Science.  In the period February-March 2023, a total of 126 soil samples were collected for analysis. Soil samples were carried out in the upper 0-5 cm soil layer. In places with deeper soil profiles, samples were collected from the deeper layer >5 cm. All samples were stored in sterile polyethylene bags in a freezer at minus 28°C on the Bulgarian ship ‘St. St. Cyril and Methodius’, which arrived in Bulgaria on 2nd May 2023. The present study aims to present the conceptual basis for the study of structure, composition, and bioecological features of fungal species occurring in Antarctic organogenic soils from Livingston Island, to investigate the representatives of separate taxonomic groups of invertebrate organisms interacting with the fungal species in the soil, and to establish the relationships with the soil characteristics in the studied sites. Studies of the biological and ecological features of representatives of the mycota in Antarctic organogenic soils, their physiological and biochemical behavior, and interaction with invertebrate organisms, are essential for a better understanding of the biological processes occurring in them, and the implementation of this project will have substantial contribution to these issues

RENEB/EURADOS field exercise 2019: robust dose estimation under outdoor conditions based on the dicentric chromosome assay

International audiencePurpose: Biological and/or physical assays for retrospective dosimetry are valuable tools torecover the exposure situation and to aid medical decision making. To further validate andimprove such biological and physical assays, in 2019, EURADOS Working Group 10 and RENEB performeda field exercise in Lund, Sweden, to simulate various real-life exposure scenarios.Materials and methods: For the dicentric chromosome assay (DCA), blood tubes were located atanthropomorphic phantoms positioned in different geometries and were irradiated with a 1.36TBq 192Ir-source. For each exposure condition, dose estimates were provided by at least onelaboratory and for four conditions by 17 participating RENEB laboratories. Three radio-photoluminescenceglass dosimeters were placed at each tube to assess reference doses.Results: The DCA results were homogeneous between participants and matched well with the referencedoses ( 95% of estimates within ±0.5 Gy of the reference). For samples close to the sourcesystematic underestimation could be corrected by accounting for exposure time. Heterogeneitywithin and between tubes was detected for reference doses as well as for DCA doses estimates.Conclusions: The participants were able to successfully estimate the doses and to provide importantinformation on the exposure scenarios under conditions closely resembling a real-life situation

Scientific and Practical Conference "Challenges in the Education of Masters of Pharmacy"

Th conference is organised with the fiancial support of European Social Fund within the Project BG051PO001-3.1.07-0046 `Updating and approbation of the curricula of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Varna according to the needs of the pharmaceutical business and the requirements of the labor market