IL and Information Ethics: How to Avoid Plagiarism in Scientific Papers?

One of the most usual misconducts in science is plagiarism. It has negative consequences for authors, editors and scholarly journals, causing loss of credibility, reputation, readers and finances. Academic ethics can be assured by proper education, good codes of ethics and detailed instructions to authors of scientific papers. This paper analyses contents of author’s guidelines in Croatian journals in the field of social sciences. The analysis tries to ascertain whether the journals mention and/or explain ethical issues in their instructions to authors. The paper also analyses content of codes of ethics of Croatian universities, with the accent on plagiarism. A conclusion is made about the use of proper protection mechanisms in Croatian academic community when it comes to misconducts in science, especially plagiarism. Recommendations for universities and publishers on what to include in their codes of ethics and instructions to authors are given

Fluidized Hot Melt Granulation: Influence of Process and Formulation Parameters

Introduction: Hot-melt granulation techniques have received increasing attention due to the significant advantages compared to the conventional granulation methods. [...

Comparison of different definitions of the metabolic syndrome in relation to coronary artery disease in high risk Serbian population

While different definitions for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome (MetS) have been proposed, their applicability brings confusion about which criteria should be used in clinical practice. This was an observational cross-sectional study conducted during October 2008. in 3 university hospital centers in the north, midst and south of the Serbia. 1715 patients were recruited from outpatient clinical practice and primary health care offices: 37% males and 63% females, aged 34-80 years. To evaluate the impact of different criteria in discriminating high risk population for coronary artery disease (CAD) we used NCEP-ATP III, AHA/NHLBI and IDF definitions. 21,7% (373) from the patients included in the study sustained CAD. The prevalence of MetS in the CAD group was 84,7%, 86,1% and 82,0%, respectively, compared with 58,3%, 60,6% and 61,2% in the control group (p<0.0001). ROC curves ploted by the probabilities for CAD calculated in the logistic models for each definition (adjusted for age, sex, smoking and educational status) indicated that NCEP-ATP III and NHLBI-AHA definitions had a better predictive accuracy compared with IDF (p=0,006 and p=0,016, respectively). When the waist girth is introduced in NCEP-ATP III and NHLBI-AHA definitions as obligatory, this distinction was lost. The NCEP-ATP III and AHA/NHLBI definition is more suitable for discrimination of MetS diagnosis, than the later proposed IDF definition in the subjects of the given population. Inclusion of waist circumference as obligatory criteria failed to show increase in predictive accuracy for CAD

Silicification of Peptide-Coated Silver Nanoparticles-A Biomimetic Soft Chemistry Approach toward Chiral Hybrid Core-Shell Materials

Silica and silver nanoparticles are relevant materials for new applications in optics, medicine, and analytical chemistry. We have previously reported the synthesis of pH responsive, peptide-templated, chiral silver nanoparticles. The current report shows that peptide-stabilized nanoparticles can easily be coated with a silica shell by exploiting the ability of the peptide coating to hydrolyze silica precursors such as TEOS or TMOS. The resulting silica layer protects the nanoparticles from chemical etching, allows their inclusion in other materials, and renders them biocompatible. Using electron and atomic force microscopy, we show that the silica shell thickness and the particle aggregation can be controlled simply by the reaction time. Small-angle X ray scattering confirms the Ag/peptide@silica core-shell structure. UV-vis and circular dichroism spectroscopy prove the conservation of the silver nanoparticle chirality upon silicification. Biological tests show that the biocompatibility in simple bacterial systems is significantly improved once a silica layer is deposited on the silver particles