Preservation and presentation of cultural heritage within the Nature park Biokovo

Cilj ovoga rada je ispitati i prikazati način očuvanja kulturne baštine i njene prezentacije unutar Parka prirode Biokovo. Pritom se pažnja usmjerava na sam pogled Javne ustanove Park prirode Biokovo na kulturnu baštinu, dosadašnja postignuća u očuvanju i prezentaciji nasljeđa te njene daljnje projekte i ciljeve. Zbog otvorenosti Parka za posjetitelje jednu od značajnih tema ovoga rada predstavlja i povezanost njegova djelovanja s turizmom, posebice kulturnim turizmom. Radom se nastoji ukazati na važnost uključivanja stručnjaka u različite projekte očuvanja kulturne baštine dok se, s druge strane, naglašava nužna povezanost s lokalnim stanovništvom.In this paper the example of preservation and presentation of the cultural heritage of the Nature Park Biokovo has been elaborated. It shows the view of the Public institution of the Nature Park Biokovo on cultural heritage, its past achievements in this field and further goals and projects which it intends to set up to preserve and present the heritage. The Nature Park is open for the public and visitors, so the crucial issue has been cultural tourism as one way of preserving cultural heritage, but also as the perspective for the further development of the abandoned and underdeveloped rural areas. This paper points out the importance of the involvement of experts in various projects of preserving cultural heritage and the necessary connection with the local people

Parents’ Reactions at 24–48 Hours after a Preschool Child’s Head Injury

Objectives 1) Compare mothers’ and fathers’ early reactions (stressors, concerns) to the preschool child’s head injury, their perceptions of the child’s injury severity, their social support and mental health; 2) compare families with a child in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) vs. general care unit (GCU) on these variables; 3) describe the relationships between parents’ early reactions and perceived and objective injury severity, their social support and mental health. Design Analysis of data collected in the hospital 24–48 hours after the child’s admission as part of a longitudinal study of parent and family functioning after a preschool child’s head injury. Setting 7 tertiary care centers – 3 free-standing children’s hospitals, 4 comprehensive hospitals. Participants 182 mothers and 64 fathers of 183 preschool children (ages 3–6) hospitalized for head injury, half in a PICU. Measurements and Main Results Outcome variable – parent early reactions (stressors, concerns), influenced by parent mental health, social support, objective and perceived injury severity. Mothers reported more stress than fathers regarding the child’s behavior and emotions, communication with staff, and their parental role. Mothers in the PICU group reported more concern about the child’s future and more stress regarding the child’s appearance, sights and sounds of the unit, and procedures done to the child than mothers in the GCU group. Fathers in the PICU and GCU groups reported similar levels of stress and concern. Mothers’ reactions were influenced by objective and perceived injury severity, social support, and psychological distress. Fathers’ reactions were influenced by objective injury severity and psychological distress. Conclusions Although mother-father couples rated their child’s injury severity similarly, mothers experienced more stress than fathers. Social support decreased the stress for mothers but not for fathers. The experience of pediatric head trauma was more stressful for mothers of children in the PICU than mothers of children in the GCU

Post traumatic brain perfusion SPECT analysis using reconstructed ROI maps of radioactive microsphere derived cerebral blood flow and statistical parametric mapping

Background Assessment of cerebral blood flow (CBF) by SPECT could be important in the management of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) because changes in regional CBF can affect outcome by promoting edema formation and intracranial pressure elevation (with cerebral hyperemia), or by causing secondary ischemic injury including post-traumatic stroke. The purpose of this study was to establish an improved method for evaluating regional CBF changes after TBI in piglets. Methods The focal effects of moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) on cerebral blood flow (CBF) by SPECT cerebral blood perfusion (CBP) imaging in an animal model were investigated by parallelized statistical techniques. Regional CBF was measured by radioactive microspheres and by SPECT 2 hours after injury in sham-operated piglets versus those receiving severe TBI by fluid-percussion injury to the left parietal lobe. Qualitative SPECT CBP accuracy was assessed against reference radioactive microsphere regional CBF measurements by map reconstruction, registration and smoothing. Cerebral hypoperfusion in the test group was identified at the voxel level using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Results A significant area of hypoperfusion (P \u3c 0.01) was found as a response to the TBI. Statistical mapping of the reference microsphere CBF data confirms a focal decrease found with SPECT and SPM. Conclusion The suitability of SPM for application to the experimental model and ability to provide insight into CBF changes in response to traumatic injury was validated by the SPECT SPM result of a decrease in CBP at the left parietal region injury area of the test group. Further study and correlation of this characteristic lesion with long-term outcomes and auxiliary diagnostic modalities is critical to developing more effective critical care treatment guidelines and automated medical imaging processing techniques

Metabolomics of Oxidative Stress in Recent Studies of Endogenous and Exogenously Administered Intermediate Metabolites

Aerobic metabolism occurs in a background of oxygen radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that originate from the incomplete reduction of molecular oxygen in electron transfer reactions. The essential role of aerobic metabolism, the generation and consumption of ATP and other high energy phosphates, sustains a balance of approximately 3000 essential human metabolites that serve not only as nutrients, but also as antioxidants, neurotransmitters, osmolytes, and participants in ligand-based and other cellular signaling. In hypoxia, ischemia, and oxidative stress, where pathological circumstances cause oxygen radicals to form at a rate greater than is possible for their consumption, changes in the composition of metabolite ensembles, or metabolomes, can be associated with physiological changes. Metabolomics and metabonomics are a scientific disciplines that focuse on quantifying dynamic metabolome responses, using multivariate analytical approaches derived from methods within genomics, a discipline that consolidated innovative analysis techniques for situations where the number of biomarkers (metabolites in our case) greatly exceeds the number of subjects. This review focuses on the behavior of cytosolic, mitochondrial, and redox metabolites in ameliorating or exacerbating oxidative stress. After reviewing work regarding a small number of metabolites—pyruvate, ethyl pyruvate, and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate—whose exogenous administration was found to ameliorate oxidative stress, a subsequent section reviews basic multivariate statistical methods common in metabolomics research, and their application in human and preclinical studies emphasizing oxidative stress. Particular attention is paid to new NMR spectroscopy methods in metabolomics and metabonomics. Because complex relationships connect oxidative stress to so many physiological processes, studies from different disciplines were reviewed. All, however, shared the common goal of ultimately developing “omics”-based, diagnostic tests to help influence therapies