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

Improving mine recognition through processing and Dempster-Shafer fusion of ground-penetrating radar data

A methodfor modeling andcombination of measures extractedfrom a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in terms of belief functions within the Dempster-Shafer framework is presentedandillustratedon a real GPR data set. A starting point in the analysis is a preprocessed C-scan of a sand-lane containing some mines andfalse alarms. In order to improve the selection of regions of interest on such a preprocessed C-scan, a methodfor detecting suspectedareas is developed, basedon region analysis aroundthe local maxima. Once the regions are selected, a detailedanalysis of the chosen measures is performed for each of them. Two sets of measures are extracted and modeledin terms of belief functions. Finally, for every suspected region, masses assigned by each of the measures are combined, leading to a first guess on whether there is a mine or a non-dangerous object in the region. The region selection methodimproves detection, while the combination methodresults in significant improvements, especially in eliminating most of the false alarms. © 2002 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

A rare case of traumatic chylothorax after blunt thoracic trauma

© 2017, Serbia Medical Society. All rights reserved. Introduction Chylothorax is an accumulation of chyle in the pleural cavity due to a disruption of the thoracic duct. Traumatic chylothoraces are usually a result of a penetrating trauma and disruption of the thoracic duct, but blunt traumatic chylothorax is a rare condition. The aim of this paper is to present a rare case of traumatic chylothorax after blunt thoracic trauma. Case Outline We present a case of traumatic chylothorax after blunt thoracic trauma in a patient injured in a motor vehicle accident. The patient had a right-sided fracture of rib XI, hydropneumothorax, lung contusion, and signs of pneumomediastinum. We performed thoracic drainage, but a few days later, according to the increase of amount of the fluid daily drained, and the confirmation of laboratory findings of the analyzed fluid, we made a diagnosis of chylothorax and the patient underwent a thoracotomy, where we sutured the thoracic duct. Conclusion Chylothorax should be considered in patients after chest trauma if they develop a milky pleural effusion. Analysis of pleural fluid and level of triglycerides is important for the diagnosis and treatment of chylothorax

Control of human and plant fungal pathogens using pentaene macrolide 32, 33-didehydroroflamycoin

AimsThe aim of this study was to address the toxicity of recently described polyene macrolide 32, 33-didehydroroflamycoin (DDHR) on a wide range of fungal pathogens and its potential to control plant fungal diseases. Methods and ResultsThe antifungal activity of DDHR invitro was examined against common human and plant pathogenic fungi using a broth microdilution assay and a disk diffusion assay. Minimum inhibitory concentrations ranged from 125 to 35gml(-1). A radial growth inhibition assay showed that DDHR inhibited mycelia growth, inducing mycelial necrosis and affecting sporulation. During the invivo assay on apple fruits administration of DDHR 1h before fungal inoculation inhibited spreading of the infection. Importantly, DDHR exhibited no phytotoxic effects on the model plant, Capsicum annum, verified by the plant growth rate and chlorophyll content. ConclusionsDDHR inhibits growth of various plant pathogens invitro with the strongest activity against Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum acutatum and Penicillium expansum, and protects apple fruits from decay. Significance and Impact of the StudyThis is the first report of the inhibitory effect of DDHR on important pathogenic fungal isolates. DDHR could be a good scaffold for developing new antifungal agents for fruit and vegetable protection