The correlation between cultural tastes and values of students at the University of Zadar

Rad se bavi kulturnim ukusima i potrošnjom gdje se usporedno razmatra njihova povezanost s vrijednosnim orijentacijama. U skladu s navedenim, provedeno je istraživanje na studentima/cama Sveučilišta u Zadru (N=162). Prvi dio rada obuhvaća teorijski pregled, pri čemu se razmatraju vrijednosti u terminima Inglehartove dihotomije vrijednosti (materijalističke i postmaterijalističke) te u sklopu perioda tranzicije u Hrvatskoj kao i procesa retradicionalizacije. U sklopu kulturnih ukusa i potrošnje, razmotrit će se kulturne preferencije preko Bourdieuovog kulturnog kapitala. Povezujući kulturnu konzumaciju i vrijednosti pokušala se utvrditi povezanost između ove dvije varijable. Pri tome se, u skladu s prethodnim istraživanjima, krenulo od pretpostavke da će tradicionalno-popularna kulturna potrošnja biti pozitivno povezana s konzervativnim vrijednostima, dok će se klasično-moderni kulturni ukus povezivati s liberalnim svjetonazorima. Istraživanje je provedeno anketnim upitnikom preko prigodnog uzorkovanja. Dobiveni rezultati upućuju na povezanost kulturnih ukusa i vrijednosti, gdje su se vrijednosti poput religioznosti i tolerancije prema homoseksualnim zajednicama pokazali kao glavni prediktori povezanosti kulturnih ukusa i potrošnje i vrijednosnih orijentacija. Studenti pokazuju sklop mješovitih materijalističkih i postmaterijalističkih vrijednosti, pri čemu se deklariraju kao rodno liberalni i tolerantni s tendencijom opadanja utjecaja religije.The paper deals with cultural tastes and consumption where their correlation with value orientations is considered. In accordance with the aforementioned, a survey was conducted at the students at the University of Zadar (N = 162). The first part of the paper covers a theoretical review, which deals with the values in the terms Inglehart's dichotomy of values (materialistic and postmatterialistic) and within the period of transition in Croatia as well as the process of retraditionalization. Within cultural tastes and consumption, cultural preferences will be considered through Bourdieu's cultural capital. By linking cultural consumption and value, the correlation between these two variables was attempted. According to previous research, the assumption was that traditionally-popular cultural consumption would be positively associated with conservative values, while classical-modern cultural tastes would be associated with liberal worldview. The survey was conducted by a questionnaire survey using appropriate sampling. The obtained results point to the association of cultural tastes and values, where values such as religiosity and tolerance towards homosexual communities have been shown to be the main predictors of the connection between cultural tastes and consumption and value orientations. Students show a set of mixed materialistic and postmatterialistic values, declaring themselves as gender-liberal and tolerant with the tendency of declining influence of religion

From Synthesis to Functionality: Tailored Ionic Liquid-Based Electrospun Fibers with Superior Antimicrobial Properties

Herein, we report an efficient and facile strategy for the preparation of imidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL) monomers ([CnVIm][Br], n = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12) and their corresponding polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) with potent antimicrobial activities against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and fungi. The electrospinning technique was utilized to tailor the polymers with the highest antimicrobial potency into porous membranes that can be easily implemented into diverse systems and extend their practical bactericidal application. The antimicrobial mechanism of obtained ILs, polymers, and nanomaterials is considered concerning the bearing chain length, polymerization process, and applied processing technique that provides a unique fibrous structure. The structure composition was selected due to the well-established inherent amphiphilicity that 1-alkylimidazolium ILs possess, coupled with proven antimicrobial, antiseptic, and antifungal behavior. The customizable nature of ILs and PILs complemented with electrospinning is exploited for the development of innovative antimicrobial performances born from the intrinsic polymer itself, offering solutions to the increasing challenge of bacterial resistance. This study opens up new prospects toward designer membranes providing a complete route in their designing and revolutionizing the approach of fabricating multi-functional systems with tunable physicochemical, surface properties, and interesting morphology

Genotoxicity of the poly-D,L-lactide microparticles on the human lymphocytes

Particles generated of biodegradable material are extensively investigated as carriers for sustained drug delivery. Studies have been mainly focused on the monitoring of the drug release and of the rate of the particle degradation. However, the influence of the carrier particles on the human immune cells was only rarely addressed. In this work, the influence of the microparticles made of poly-D,L-lactide (PDLLA) on the function of human lymphocytes in a three-day culture was investigated. PDLLA microparticles have been prepared by a modified precipitation method and human lymphocytes were isolated from the blood of healthy volunteers by a Ficoll – density gradient centrifugation. Lymphocyte proliferation test and the cytochalasin B micronucleus test were used to assess the PDLLA particle effect on the lymphocytes. Results showed that PDLLA particles did not influence on the proliferation of the human lymphocytes. On the other hand, changes in the nuclei form, as well as nucleus buddings were observed. Moreover, the appearance of micronuclei could be detected. All together, these results might imply genotoxicity of the PDLLA particles, or some of the chemicals used for the particle preparation/stabilization on the human lymphocytes

Vasić, V. et al. Na+,K+-ATPase as the Target Enzyme for Organic and Inorganic Compounds. Sensors 2008, 8, 8321-8360

n/

Modification of electrodes with N-and S-doped carbon dots. Evaluation of the electrochemical response

Altres ajuts: MdV thanks the support from program ICREA Academia. MBSE thanks to la Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Empreses i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya and to European Social Fund, European Union for a FI fellowship.Nitrogen and sulphur-doped Carbons Dots (N-CDs and S-CDs) were synthesized by a hydrothermal method and incorporated as surface electrode modifiers to evaluate their properties for electrochemical sensing. The first task was to characterize the synthesized materials, for which different spectroscopies, scanning microscopes, mass spectrometry and elementary analysis were performed. Next, a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was surface-modified with the doped CDs and applied to check the electrochemical signal of different organic compounds corresponding to different families. Water solubility of the doped carbon dots forced us to incorporate them in a graphite-polystyrene ink to complete the modification of electrodes. This modification needed a first activation to obtain a properly conductive surface. The organic compounds examined were salicylic acid, cysteine and ascorbic acid. The modified GCEs exhibited an enhanced sensitivity, probably caused by the increase of active surface, but in addition, signals of salicylic acid were shifted ca. 200 mV to lower potentials, what is a proof of the increase of the heterogeneous electron transfer rate, and a demonstration of an enhanced catalytic response

NUTRITIVNI ZBROJ (CONTROLLING NUTRITIONAL STATUS - CONUT) MOŽE PREDVIDJETI PREŽIVLJENJE BOLESNIKA NA HEMODIJALIZI

Malnutrition causes substantial morbidity in maintenance hemodialysis (HD) patients. The Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) has emerged as a simple and an easily obtainable tool to comprehensively assess nutrition as it consists of serum albumin levels, absolute lymphocyte counts, and total cholesterol levels. The CONUT has been shown to predict overall survival (OS) in peritoneal dialysis patients. This study investigated whether CONUT might also predict OS in maintenance HD patients. Clinical and laboratory data were retrospectively collected. Survival time was calculated from the fi rst HD until death or last follow-up; survival analyses were performed using the methods of Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis. Eighty-nine patients were included; mean age was 65.76 years (±14), 35 (39.3%) were female, and the mean CONUT was 3. Higher CONUT score correlated with lower low-density liproprotein, higher serum creatinine, higher serum C-reactive protein and higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, as well as with a higher incidence of nephrotic proteinuria (p<0.050 for all analyses). Univariately, patients with higher CONUT (≥5) had an inferior OS (median 54 vs. 112 months, HR 2.27; p=0.013). In the Cox regression analysis, higher CONUT remained independently associated with inferior OS (HR 9.50; p=0.002) when adjusted to age, sex, diabetes mellitus and nephrotic proteinuria. Therefore, the CONUT score might identify HD patients at an increased risk of death; however, future studies are needed to elucidate whether CONUT score might be able to guide nutritional support in HD patients.Pothranjenost uzrokuje značajan pobol i smrtnost bolesnika na hemodijalizi (HD). Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) je jednostavan nutritivni zbroj koji cjelovito procjenjuje uhranjenost, a sastoji se od serumske koncentracije albumina, apsolutnog broja limfocita i koncentracije serumskog kolesterola. Ova unicentrična retrospektivna studija analizirala je prediktivnu sposobnost zbroja CONUT da procijeni preživljenje bolesnika na HD. Ukupno preživljenje mjereno je kao vrijeme od prve HD do smrti ili posljednjeg pregleda bolesnika, a krivulje preživljenja uspoređene su Kaplan-Meirovom metodom, dok je Coxova regresijska metoda primijenjena u multivarijatnim analizama. Uključeno je 89 bolesnika, od toga 35 (39,3 %) žena; srednja dob bila je 65,76 godina (±14). Srednji zbroj CONUT bio je 3. Viši zbroj CONUT korelirao je s nižim koncentracijama serumskog lipoproteina niske gustoće, višim serumskim kreatininom, višim serumskim C-reaktivnim proteinom i višim omjerom neutrofi la/limfocita, kao i s većom učestalošću nefrotske proteinurije (p<0,050 za sve analize). U univarijatnoj analizi je viši zbroj CONUT (≥5) bio povezan s lošijim preživljenjem (medijan 54 prema 112 mjeseci, HR 2,27; p=0,013). U multivarijatnoj Coxovoj regresijskoj analizi je viši CONUT ostao nezavisno povezan s lošijim preživljenjem (HR 9,50; p=0,002) kada je bio ispravljen za dob, spol, šećernu bolest i nefrotsku proteinuriju. Zaključno, zbroj CONUT može identifi cirati bolesnike na HD s povišenim rizikom od smrti. Potrebne su dodatna istraživanja kako bi se analizirala sposobnost zbroja CONUT da usmjeri nutritivnu potporu u bolesnika na HD

PDLLA Microparticles Containing BSA: Effect of Formulation Variables on Size Distribution

Poster presented at the 9th Conference of the Yugoslav Materials Research Society - YUCOMAT 2007, Herceg Novi, Crna Gora, September 10-14, 2007

Cancer cell death induced by ruthenium complexes

Summary. Cancer is a complex and often fatal disease characterized by uncontrolled cell division. The most commonly used chemotherapeutics target rapidly dividing cancer cells but, at the same time, damage healthy dividing cells. New metal-based complexes, such as ruthenium complexes, that possess cytotoxic properties, have been developed to overcome these challenges. Ruthenium complexes achieve their antitumor effect mainly by inducing apoptosis. In recent years, induction of other types of cell death, such as ferroptosis and autophagy, was also reported. The dual role of autophagy in cancer cells is a major challenge for the application of metallocomplexes in cancer treatment, either as inducers or inhibitors of autophagy. Also, the effect of ruthenium complexes on other cellular processes such as cell cycle, cell migration, and adhesion are promising approaches in cancer treatment. Our results indicated a significant influence of Ru(II) complexes on these processes in melanoma, cervical and pancreatic cancer. The aim of this review is to summarize the latest data on the effect of ruthenium complexes on different types of cell death

The interaction between variously shaped TiO2 nanoparticles with UV laser determines the quality of the mass spectra of carbohydrates

The important factor that determines the process of the laser-induced desorption and ionization of molecules for the mass spectrometric analysis is the interaction between the laser light and the substrate. It is of importance that substrate efficiently absorbs laser energy, which will be further rapidly transferred to the analyte. The overall goal in this process is to obtain good quality mass spectrum with low degree of fragmentation. Whereas the application of organic matrices instead of substrates results in the numerous undesired polymerization reactions, which complicate the spectra, and in some cases, even prevent the detection of the ions of interests, nanoparticles as substrates are convenient due to a lower number of background signals and low onset of fragmentation reactions in the gas phase. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is semiconductor-based and widely used substrate for laser desorption and ionization ((SA)LDI), and when it is in the excited state it transfers an electron or energy into the ground state molecule. This process is called sensitized photoreaction [1]. The desorption/ionization processes on TiO2 nanoparticles are related to the physical properties of the substrate such as ability to absorb and dissipate energy from the irradiating laser light source [2]. TiO2 has a large band gap (bulk anatase: 3.2 eV), and can therefore be used as a SALDI matrix with the N2 laser (337 nm) [3]. The aim of our study is to investigate the influence, which the interaction of the UV laser with TiO2 nanoparticles of various shapes and size has on the quality of the mass spectra of carbohydrates: D-(+)-glucose, D-(+)-maltose, raffinose, arabinose, β-ciclodextrine, substances which are otherwise difficult for mass spectrometric analysis. For this purpose, we used small, nearly spherically shaped colloidal TiO2 nanoparticles (average diameter ~ 5 nm), prolate nanospheroids (length: 40–50 nm, the lateral dimension: 14–16 nm) and nanotubes (length: 100-150 nm, average diameter 11 nm). For comparison, the spectra are acquired also with traditionally used organic matrices. The spectra of carbohydrates with organic matrices are overloaded with matrix signals, in which case the signals arising from the analyte of interest are suppressed, or it is possible to detect only adducts with matrix. Laser-induced ionization on nanostructures offers alternative ionization pathways through the formation of Na+ and K+ adducts with appreciable yield [4]. TiO2 nanotubes showed extraordinary properties for detection of carbohydrates. Arabinose was detectable only with TiO2, and D-(+)-glucose and D-(+)-maltose were detected in negative ion mode, which was not the case with other organic matrices and substrates. Not only the highest intensities of mass peaks but also the smallest coefficient of variation was achieved with TiO2 nanotubes. Taken toghether, TiO2 nanotubes, due to their size and the shape, have the most suitable physical properties for the substrate in the SALDI technique. The laser intensity was kept as low as possible in order to prevent fragmentaion. Higher laser intensity is required for the process of desorption/ionization when TiO2 NPs are used (2400 i.u.), but for TiO2 PNSs and TiO2 nanotubes were lower and nearly the same 1950 and 2000 i.u., respectively. In conclusion, larger, tube-shaped TiO2 substrates more efficiently absorb the laser energy and transfer it to the carbohydrates, enabling their desorption/ionization and preventing their fragmentation.V International School and Conference on Photonics and COST actions: MP1204, BM1205 and MP1205 and the Second international workshop "Control of light and matter waves propagation and localization in photonic lattices" : PHOTONICA2015 : book of abstracts; August 24-28, 2015; Belgrad