Morphological and functional characteristics of satellite glial cells in the peripheral nervous system

Satellite glial cells are specialized cells that form a functional perineuronal sheath around sensory ganglion neurons. There are a large number of studies that reveal the morphological and functional characteristics of these cells. Satellite glial cells have been studied both in intact ganglions and in tissue cultures, using light and transmission electron microscopy, immunohistochemical and other methods. Satellite glial cells have polygonal form; they are mononuclear and have developed synthetic organelles, numerous receptors, adhesion molecules and ion channels, which enable them to interact with adjacent neurons, as well as transmit signals in the ganglions of the peripheral nervous system. Based on the literature data, satellite glial cells thanks to their characteristics can receive signals from other cells and react to changes in their surroundings. Previous studies have investigated the potential role of satellite glial cells in the formation of the blood-nervous tissue barrier of the peripheral nervous system, as well as in the neuropathic pain genesis. Some recent discoveries support the fact that satellite glial cells can participate in controlling of local viral infections and protecting pseudounipolar neurons from mentioned infections

Toxic Metals in 3 Fractions (d<63µm, d63-250µm and d250-1000µm) of Dust Collected on Roads of Industrial Town Kostolac, Serbia

Kostolac is a town exposed to several serious sources of toxic metals and other inorganic pollutants. They arrive from sources typical for urban environments such as traffic, but also from various heavy industry sources: coal mining, burning of coal in power plants, ash landfills, and steel factory. Toxic metals in the air are concentrated in particulate matter. Their transport and health risks depend strongly on the size of dust particles. Goals of the research were to estimate: 1. how much does traffic contributes to the total pollution load compared to the natural sources and the industry; 2. how is pollution distributed in different fractions of the dust; 3. are there any spatial trends present and is there any correlation between vicinity of pollution sources and concentrations of toxic elements in different fractions of the dust. Samples of dust were collected from 10 locations in July and in September. Each location had one sampling site on a major road with intensive traffic and the other site on auxiliary road with much less traffic, located 10- 20 m away from the major road. The dust was dried, sieved through sieves with 3 different apertures (d=63µm, 250µm and 1000µm) and pressed into 32 mm diameter pellets. The samples were analysed by WD-XRF standardless method. The results showed that Al, P, K, V, Mn, Fe, Co, Zr, Rb and Ti have the highest concentrations in the smallest fraction (d<63µm) and the lowest concentrations in the most coarse fraction with stat. significant differences among concentrations. Concentrations of: Mg, S, Zn and Cu have the same trend as previous group of elements but no stat. significant differences, wile conc. of Si and Ca have the opposite trend. Neither the time of the year nor the intensity of the traffic have had any significant effect to the concentrations, therefore it can be concluded that industrial sources of pollution have significantly higher attribution to the total pollution load than traffic. The trend that toxic elements are more concentrated in the smallest fraction of the dust indicates that the source of the pollution is rather anthropogenic than natural. Concentrations of elements in dust collected on sites from our research were compared to concentrations of the same elements in the soil collected by SEPA (Serbian Environmental Protection Agency). Although locations from both researches were in close proximity, no significant correlation between concentrations was observed. The lack of correlation can be explained by several hypotheses which should be further investigated in future researches

A Next-Generation Liquid Xenon Observatory for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics

The nature of dark matter and properties of neutrinos are among the mostpressing issues in contemporary particle physics. The dual-phase xenontime-projection chamber is the leading technology to cover the availableparameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), whilefeaturing extensive sensitivity to many alternative dark matter candidates.These detectors can also study neutrinos through neutrinoless double-beta decayand through a variety of astrophysical sources. A next-generation xenon-baseddetector will therefore be a true multi-purpose observatory to significantlyadvance particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, solar physics, andcosmology. This review article presents the science cases for such a detector.<br

Variation in postoperative outcomes of patients with intracranial tumors: insights from a prospective international cohort study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: This study assessed the international variation in surgical neuro-oncology practice and 30-day outcomes of patients who had surgery for an intracranial tumor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We prospectively included adults aged ≥18 years who underwent surgery for a malignant or benign intracranial tumor across 55 international hospitals from 26 countries. Each participating hospital recorded cases for 3 consecutive months from the start of the pandemic. We categorized patients’ location by World Bank income groups (high [HIC], upper-middle [UMIC], and low- and lower-middle [LLMIC]). Main outcomes were a change from routine management, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and 30-day mortality. We used a Bayesian multilevel logistic regression stratified by hospitals and adjusted for key confounders to estimate the association between income groups and mortality. Results: Among 1016 patients, the number of patients in each income group was 765 (75.3%) in HIC, 142 (14.0%) in UMIC, and 109 (10.7%) in LLMIC. The management of 200 (19.8%) patients changed from usual care, most commonly delayed surgery. Within 30 days after surgery, 14 (1.4%) patients had a COVID-19 diagnosis and 39 (3.8%) patients died. In the multivariable model, LLMIC was associated with increased mortality (odds ratio 2.83, 95% credible interval 1.37–5.74) compared to HIC. Conclusions: The first wave of the pandemic had a significant impact on surgical decision-making. While the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection within 30 days after surgery was low, there was a disparity in mortality between countries and this warrants further examination to identify any modifiable factors