Minimalno invazivno (perkutano) liječenje metastatske spinalne i ekstraspinalne bolesti – pregledni članak

Metastatic tumors are the most common malignancy of bone. Many patients with spinal metastases present with pain and pathologic fractures. The advent of interventional radiology resulted in alternative and less invasive treatment of these patients. This article presents minimally invasive (percutaneous) procedures that are currently in use, i.e. vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, osteoplasty, radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, and transarterial embolization. Indications, contraindications, results and complications are also discussed. According to our current knowledge of the results reported in the literature, minimally invasive techniques are successful methods for the treatment of metastatic spinal and extraspinal disease and can be used as alternative treatment to standard surgical or non-surgical procedures.Metastatski tumori su najčešća zloćudna bolest kostiju. Mnogi bolesnici s metastazama kralježnice dolaze s bolovima i patološkim prijelomima. Razvoj intervencijske radiologije omogućio je alternativno i manje invazivno liječenje ovih bolesnika. U članku se prikazuju minimalno invazivni (perkutani) zahvati koji se danas primjenjuju: vertebroplastika, kifoplastika, osteoplastika, radiofrekvencijska ablacija, krioablacija i transarterijska embolizacija. Potom se raspravlja o indikacijama, kontraindikacijama, rezultatima i komplikacijama ovih postupaka. Prema našim saznanjima iz literaturnih podataka, minimalno invazivne tehnike su uspješne u liječenju metastatske spinalne i ekstraspinalne bolesti te se mogu rabiti kao alternativa standardnim kirurškim i ne-kirurškim zahvatima

Domesticated: Migrant Domestic Workers in Jordan and Their Place in Jordan’s Law and Homes

The purpose of this study is to bring attention to the labor conditions for migrant women domestic workers and what agency they have in the workplace (the home of their employers) and the law in Jordan. Jordan is considered as having a model labor law for migrant workers in the region. Officials from the Ministry of Labor have claimed that this makes the Kafala System––a system of labor that puts migrant workers under the care, standards, and control of the employer––non-existent in the country. This study will look further on the extent that this is reflected to the experiences of many migrant domestic workers. It will also cover how Jordan’s laws regarding migrant workers’ rights have been formed and shaped by diplomatic engagement and pressures from migrant worker sending countries

Neural network approach to sea-level modeling case study of a storm surge in the gulf of trieste in early december 2008

Tide tables can be a useful tool for sea-level forecasting in many areas. Slovenian operational\ud service for hydrological forecasts at the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia\ud frequently deploys tide tables alongside least square harmonic analysis to predict maximum sea\ud levels in the Gulf of Trieste. Meteorological influences such as pressure gradient, wind stress and\ud induced basin eigenoscillations (seiches) along the main axis of the Adriatic basin have repeatedly\ud been proven as important factors influencing the sea level in the Gulf of Trieste. They are, however,\ud only indirectly included in the harmonic analysis which in itself requires a large number of\ud carefully tuned model parameters in order to make useful short-range forecasts. A number of recent\ud reports show that an artificial neural network (ANN) can greatly improve sea level forecasts,\ud providing we supply it with suitable input variables (ie. previous water levels, air pressure, wind\ud speed, wind direction, tide charts etc.) We report on an ANN-based analysis of the recent storm\ud surge and flooding events at the Slovenian coast in the beginning of December 2008. The ANN\ud model compares favourably with the currently used conventional forecasting methods.\u

Antimicrobial activity of aloe vera and its determination

Namen magistrske naloge je bil proučiti antimikrobne lastnosti Aloe barbadensis in Aloe arborescens na rast različnih mikroorganizmov. Izvedli smo študijo antimikrobne učinkovitosti sveže ter liofilizirane A. barbadensis in A. arborescens, etanolnega ekstrakta A. barbadensis in A. arborescens ter antimikrobne učinkovitosti nekaterih komercialnih produktov iz aloje. Antimikrobne lastnosti izbranih vzorcev A. barbadensis in A. arborescens ter njunih komercialnih produktov smo testirali na različnih mikrobnih celicah kot so Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans ter Aspergillus brasiliensis. Inhibitorno lastnost posameznega vzorca smo kvalitativno določevali z disk difuzijsko metodo na hranilnih agarjih. Kadar je vzorec izkazoval inhibitorne lastnosti, se je pri vzorcu pokazala cona inhibicije oziroma zaviralna cona rasti mikroorganizma. S kvantitativno dilucijsko metodo v bujonu smo želeli ugotoviti stopnjo inhibicije rasti mikroorganizma pri različnih koncentracijah dodanega vzorca ter tako skonstruirati rastno krivuljo mikroorganizma. Ugotovili smo, da aloji zavirata rast vseh testnih mikrobnih celic, razen rasti glive A. brasiliensis. Najboljši zaviralni učinek na rast testnih mikroorganizmov smo zaznali v primeru uporabe 50 % liofiliziranega soka in gela A. barbadensis ter etanolnega ekstrakta A. barbadensis in A. arborescens, najslabše pa je pri večini mikroorganizmov rast zaviral sveži sok aloj. Popolnoma vsi vzorci A. barbadensis in A. arborescens so dobro zavirali rast bakterije P. aeruginosa, saj smo pri vseh vzorcih zaznali visoko stopnjo inhibicije rasti mikroorganizma.The aim of the master thesis was to examine antimicrobial characteristics of Aloe barbadensis and Aloe arborescens on the growth of different microorganisms. We performed a study of antimicrobial effectiveness of fresh and lyophilizated A. barbadensis and A. arborescens, ethanol extract of A. barbadensis and A. arborescens and antimicrobial effectiveness of some commercial products made of aloe. Antimicrobial characteristics of the chosen samples of A. barbadensis and A. arborescens and their commercial products were tested on different microbial cells, such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans and Aspergillus brasiliensis. The inhibitory property of an individual sample was qualitatively determined with disk diffusion method on nutritional agars. When the sample displayed inhibitory properties, a zone of inhibition or a breakpoint for growth of microorganism was shown. With a qualitative method of broth microdilution we wanted to determine the level of inhibition of the growth of a microorganism in different concentrations of added sample and so constructed a growth curve of the microorganism. We found out that both aloes slow down the growth of all tested microbial cells, except for the growth of fungus A. brasiliensis. The best inhibitory effect on the growth of the tested microorganisms was detected in the case of use of 50 % lyophilizated juice and gel of A. barbadensis and ethanol extract of A. barbadensis and A. arborescens, while the least well was in majority of microorganisms the growth slowed down by fresh juice of aloes. Absolutely all samples of A. barbadensis and A. arborescens slowed down the growth of bacteria P. aeruginosa well, since in all samples we detected high level of inhibition of the growth of microorganism

UTJECAJ HLADNE MACERACIJE NA KEMIJSKI SASTAV VINA ŽILAVKA

Controlling skin contact conditions is vital to obtain high quality white wines and it has become a standard procedure in many white wine-production areas. The aim of this work was to investigate the changes in composition and sensory properties of Žilavka wines obtained with different cold skin contact time. Results indicate that cold maceration positively influence the quality of Žilavka wines. The results pointed out significant increase in dry extract, ash, total phenol and decrease in tartaric acid and higher alcohol content in Žilavka wines obtained by 10 or 20 hours cold maceration period. Best organoleptic quality of Žilavka wines was obtained by cold maceration at 10 °C during 20 hours period.Postupak kontrolirane maceracije grožđa uvelike može utjecati na poboljšanje kvalitete bijelog vina te je u nekim zemljama postao standardni tehnološki postupak u procesu proizvodnje. Cilj ovoga rada bio je istražiti utjecaj različite duljine maceracije na kemijski sastav i senzorna svojstva vina Žilavka. Rezultati ukazuju da je hladna maceracija pozitivno utjecala na kvalitetu vina Žilavka. Kod vina dobivenih hladnom maceracijom utvrđeno je signifikantno povećanje sadržaja suhog ekstrakta, pepela i ukupnih fenola te smanjenje vinske kiseline u odnosu na kontrolu. Najbolju senzorno ocjenjeno je vino Žilavka dobiveno hladnom maceracijom na 10 °C u duljini od 20 sati

Selection of Indigenous Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains from Kutjevo Wine Growing Area at the Laboratoy Scale

The use of selected yeasts for winemaking has clear advantages over traditional spontaneous fermentation. Selection of wine yeasts is usually carried out within the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species. Yeast strains produce different amount of secondary compounds that impart specific characteristics to the wines. This suggests that it is necessary to isolate naturally occuring autochthone strains, which exhibit a metabolic profile that corresponds to each wine. Twenty two strains of S.cerevisiae, isolated from the Kutjevo region (Gornji and Donji Hrnjevec, Mitrovac), Graševina grapes, were tested for: fermentation vigor, ethanol resistance, volatile acidity, H2S production and β-glucosidase, polygalacturonase, and killer activity. From the results of this investigation we are able to select two yeast strains (RO 1272 and RO 1284) for more detailed fermentation trials and possible use as a starter culture in production of typical wines

UTJECAJ KONTOROLIRANE MALOLAKTIČNE FERMENTACIJE NA SASTAV HLAPIVIH SPOJEVA U VINIMA KRALJEVINE

The effect of malolactic fermentation (MLF) on the volatile composition of white wines made from autochtonous grape variety Kraljevina was studied by inoculation with selected lactic acid bacteria. At the end of malolactic fermentation, after the decomposition of the malic acid present in wine the non volatile compounds were analyzed by HPLC, while volatile compounds were analyzed by gas chromatography. All wines were also sensory analyzed. Results showed changes in acetaldehyde, some higher alcohols, ethyl esters, free and bound monoterpenes and some organic acids that contribute to enhance the sensory properties and quality of Kraljevina wines that underwent malolactic fermentation.Istraživan je utjecaj malolaktične fermentacije (MLF) na sastav hlapivih spojeva u vinima Kraljevine primjenom selekcioniranih mliječno kiselih bakterija. Malolaktična fermentacija te analiza nehlapivih spojeva provedena je na HPLC-u dok su hlapive komponente analizirane pomoću plinske kromatografi je. Sva vina također su i senzorno ocijenjena. Rezultati su pokazali promjene u koncentracijama acetaldehida, nekih viših alkohola, etil estera, slobodnih i vezanih monoterpena te pojedinih organskih kiselina što je pridonijelo poboljšanju senzornih svojstava i kvalitete vina Kraljevina u kojima je provedena malolaktična fermentacija