Lessons from passive systems of vernacular architecture for contemporary construction

Vernacular architecture (in Serbia) is characterized by a lack of technology, and therefore demands for the use of passive systems that would improve the comfort of the users of the space. The strategies on the basis of which the objects were designed, built and improved were based on several bases: geographical characteristics, the influence of the sun and wind, orientation, the function of the object, the geometry of the form in relation to the local materials and the possibility of execution - that is, the construction technologies available in a given place in the observed time. With reference to the date criteria, it is clear that the strategies directly depend on the construction location. With industrialization come new materials - such as glass, concrete and steel. They affect different ways of execution and design, but they also bring with them higher energy consumption and requirements regarding construction technology. The lack of non-renewable resources, the economic crisis and global warming forced us to take a step back and think about passive systems that would enable the most sustainable possible behavior of buildings in modern architecture with innovative technology, help preserve the environment, use renewable energy sources, and reduce consumption. and the financial dependence of facilities, a lower rate of embedded carbon. This research deals with the review of literature on the subject of vernacular architecture, the knowledge that can be extracted from it and passive systems in construction - in order to establish the basic points of energy saving (maintenance) and passive systems (principles) on the basis of which it is possible to further learn from the historical scope. architecture and construction for a green future

Cost-effectiveness analysis of tocilizumab in combination with methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis: A Markov model based on data from Serbia, country in socioeconomic transition

Background/Aim. Recent studies have shown that biological treatments for rheumatoid arthritis can change the course of rheumatoid arthritis and improve functional ability of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In spite of this fact, use of biological therapy is still limited by high prices of these medicines, especially in countries in socioeconomic transition. The aim of our study was to compare costeffectiveness of a combination of tocilizumab and methotrexate with methotrexate alone for rheumatoid arthritis in Serbia, a country in socioeconomic transition. Methods. For the purpose of our study we designed a Markov model using data on therapy efficacy from the available literature, and data on the costs of health states calculated from records of actual patients treated in the Clinical Center Kragujevac, Serbia. The duration of one cycle in our model was set at one month, and the time horizon was 480 months (40 years). The study was done from the social perspective, and all the costs and outcomes were discounted for 3% per year. Results. Treating rheumatoid arthritis with diseasemodifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) alone was more cost-effective in comparison with a combination of biologic treatment with tocilizumab and DMARDs. The total costs for treating a patient with DMARDs for one year were on average 261,945.42 RSD, or 2,497.70 Euro and the total costs for treatment with tocilizimab plus DMARDs were on average 1,959,217.44 RSD, or 18,659.20 Euro. However, these results are susceptible to changes in costs and treatment effects of tocilizumab in patients with more severe forms of rheumatoid arthritis. Conclusion. Our results show that the use of tocilizumab for rheumatoid arthrits in economic environment of Serbia is not cost-effective. Use of tocilizumab for treating rheumatoid arthritis can become affordable, if costs of its use become lower. In order to start using expensive biologic medicines in patients in transitional countries, special strategy and pricing policy of international pharmaceutical companies are necessary, which would include calculation of prices of biologic medicines on the basis of local pharmacoeconomic studies

Relationships Between Bone Treatment Conditions and Co2+ Sorption Capacities

Co-60 is an important radionuclide in spent nuclear fuel and liquid radioactive wastes. For the purification of water containing Co2+, ions sorption on hydroxyapatite (Ca-10(PO4)(6)(OH)(2)) can be applied. The process is particularly cost-effective if biological apatite from animal bones is utilized. In this study, dependence between bovine bone treatment conditions and Co2+, sorption was investigated as a function of initial metal concentration. Eight sorbents were previously prepared using fractional factorial design, by simultaneous variations of five process variables between two levels: factor A-the type of the chemical reagent (H2O2 or NaOH), factor B-reagent concentration (0.1 mol/L or 2 mol/L), factor C-reaction temperature (20(o)C or 60(o)C), factor D-contact time (1h or 3h) and factor E-sample annealing (without or at 400(o)C). At this point, the effects of treatment factors on Co2+, sorption efficiency were evaluated using statistical analysis. Amounts of Co2+ sorbed, amounts of released Ca2+ ions and final pH values were considered as system responses. The results showed that the impact of various treatment factors was different for different starting concentrations of Co2+. Consequently, no statistically important relations could be established between treatment conditions and Co2+, sorption from 10(-4) and 5*10(-4) mol/L solutions, whereas thermal treatment at 400(o)C was the only statistically significant factor influencing sorption from the most concentrated solution (5*10(-3) mol/L). Depending on initial Co2+, concentration, various factors had statistically significant effect on equilibrium pH values, whereas no relation was found between bone treatment conditions and the amounts of Ca2+, released during the sorption.3rd International Conference on Radiation and Applications in Various Fields of Research (RAD), Jun 08-12, 2015, Budva, Montenegr

Polymorphic expression of glutathione transferases A1, M1, P1 and T1 in epithelial ovarian cancer: a Serbian case-control study

PURPOSE: Since several studies have proposed that epithelial ovarian cancer should not be considered as a single disease entity and that it results from an accumulation of genetic changes, we aimed to assess the polymorphic expression of major cytosolic glutathione S-transferases (GSTM1, T1, A1 and P1) with respect to ovarian cancer susceptibility and aggressiveness. METHODS: This case-control study was conducted on 93 newly diagnosed epithelial ovarian cancer patients and 178 healthy matched controls. The multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect homozygous deletions of GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes. Analysis of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) GSTA1 C69T was performed using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), while for SNP GSTP1 Ile105Val real-time PCR was used. RESULTS: No significant association to ovarian cancer risk was found for individual GSTM1, GSTA1 and GSTP1 genotypes (p>0.05). However, the carriers of GSTT1-active genotype were at 2-fold higher risk of ovarian cancer development (95%CI: 1.00-4.01, p=0.049), which was even more elevated in the subgroup of patients with positive family history of cancer. Moreover, the frequency of all three GST genotypes that might be associated to ovarian cancer risk (GSTT1-active, GSTA1-active and GSTP1-referent) was significantly higher in patients than in the control group (p=0.042). Even more, patients who were carriers of combination of these three genotypes represented over 64% of the total number of patients within any of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages of ovarian cancer. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides supportive evidence that GSTs might affect both susceptibility and progression of ovarian cance

Ni(Ii) Immobilization By Bio-Apatite Materials: Appraisal of Chemical, Thermal and Combined Treatments

Animal bones are a natural and rich source of calcium hydroxyapatite (HAP), which has been found to be a good sorbent material for heavy metals and radionuclides. Various treatments can reduce the content of bone organic phase and improve sorption properties. In this study, sorption capacities of raw bovine bones (B) and samples obtained by chemical treatment with NaOH (B-NaOH), by heating at 400 degrees C (B-400) and by combined chemical and thermal treatment (BNaOH+400), were compared, using Ni(II) ions as sorbates. Maximum sorption capacities increased in the order B LT B-NaOH LT B-400 LT BNaOH+400. Based on different sorption data and FT-IR analyses, the mechanism of Ni(II) sorption was found to be complex, with participation of both HAP and organic phase (when present). Sequential extraction analysis was applied for testing the stability of Ni(II) ions sorbed by BNaOH+400. Majority of Ni(II) was found in residual phase (65%) at lower level of sorbent loading, while with the increase of sorbent saturation carbonate fraction became dominant (39%). According to the results, BNaOH+400 can be utilized in water purification systems. As an apatite based material with low organic content and high efficiency for Ni(II) sorption, it is also a good candidate for in situ soil remediation, particularly at lower contamination levels

Molecular Analysis of Ring Y Chromosome in a 10-Year-Old Boy with Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis and Growth Hormone Deficiency

Ring Y chromosome is a very rare chromosomal aberration. The published mixed gonadal dysgenesis (MGD) patients with a ring Y chromosome are short in stature, but are not growth hormone (GH) deficient. We present the molecular cytogenetic and molecular characterization of ring Y chromosome mosaicism in a 10-year-old boy with MGD whose short stature could be explained by the high percentage of cells monosomic for the X-chromosome, but also by the presence of severe GH deficiency. The ring Y chromosome in our patient is a de novo structural aberration. The fathers karyotype was normal

Geometric De-noising of Protein-Protein Interaction Networks

Understanding complex networks of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) is one of the foremost challenges of the post-genomic era. Due to the recent advances in experimental bio-technology, including yeast-2-hybrid (Y2H), tandem affinity purification (TAP) and other high-throughput methods for protein-protein interaction (PPI) detection, huge amounts of PPI network data are becoming available. Of major concern, however, are the levels of noise and incompleteness. For example, for Y2H screens, it is thought that the false positive rate could be as high as 64%, and the false negative rate may range from 43% to 71%. TAP experiments are believed to have comparable levels of noise

Developmental Consequences of N-methyl-D-aspartate Receptor Hypofunction

NMDA receptor signaling is required for proper synapse formation, maintenance, plasticity and function. Dysregulation of the NMDA receptor has been implicated in pathophysiology of schizophrenia, which has an adult onset of symptoms. NMDA receptor deficient mice were utilized to assess the developmental consequences of NMDA receptor hypofunction. Locomotor activity was elevated throughout development; however, deficits in social interaction and working memory only manifest in adulthood and did not progress with age. Age-dependent deficits in neuron synapse biology were also detected; postsynaptic spine number was normal in juveniles, decreased post-adolescence, and progressively declined in adulthood. To investigate possible molecular mechanisms underlying the observed changes in spine number, protein levels of RhoGTPases and their downstream effectors were examined. Significant changes in Rac1 and downstream effectors were detected at different developmental stages. These studies provide clarification of the temporal sequence of events and mechanisms by which NMDA receptor dysfunction affects neurodevelopment.MAS

An opportunistic activity-sensing approach to save energy in office buildings

In this work, we recognised office worker activities that are relevant for energy-related control of appliances and building systems using sensors that are commonly installed in new or refurbished office buildings. We considered desk-related activities and people count in office rooms, structured into desk- and room-cells. Recognition was performed using finite state machines (FSMs) and probabilistic layered hidden Markov models (LHMMs). We evaluated our approach in a real living-lab office, including three private and multi-person office rooms. As example devices, we used different ceiling-mounted PIR sensors based on the EnOcean platform and plug-in power meters. In at least five days of study data per office room, including reference sensor data and occupant annotations, we confirmed that activities can be recognised using these sensors. For computer and desk work, an overall recognition accuracy of 95% was achieved. People count was estimated at 87% and 78% for the best-performing two office rooms. We furthermore present building simulation results that compare different control strategies. Compared to modern BEMS, our results show that 21.9% and 19.5% of electrical energy can be saved for controls based on recognised desk activity and estimated people count, respectively. These results confirm the relevance of building energy management based on activity sensing

Antimicrobial Activity of Aqueous Extracts of Potentilla Reptans L. Rhizome and Aerial Part

Potentilla reptans is a little studied plant of the genus Potentilla, the family Rosaceae. The aim of this study is to determine antimicrobial effects of aqueous extracts of P. reptans aerial part and rhizome against standardized bacterial strains