Value of Head CT Scan in the Emergency Department in Patients with Vertigo without Focal Neurological Abnormalities

BACKGROUND: Vertigo is a common symptom and reason for admission to the emergency department (ED). AIM: This research aimed to determine the incidence of clinically significant findings on computed tomography (CT) in patients with vertigo without focal neurological abnormalities in the ED. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The results of the native CT scans in the ED were retrospectively analysed. Exclusion criteria included: focal neurological abnormalities, underlying malignancy, brain metastasis, previous brain operation, headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, head trauma, coagulopathy. As a clinically significant finding, we took into an account tumour, haemorrhage and acute ischemic lesion. 72 patients fulfilled the set criteria, present vertigo, without focal neurological abnormalities. Out of 72 patients with a median age of 62 (23-87) years old, 54% of the patients were female, and 46% were male. RESULTS: Normal CT findings were found in 44 patients (61.1%), 28 patients (38.9%) had pathological findings, out of that number 23 (31.9%) findings were clinically irrelevant and 5 (6.9%) were clinically significant. Out of the 5 clinically significant findings, tumour process was found in 3 (4.2%) patients, haemorrhage was found in 1 (1.4%) patient, and the ischemic lesion was found in 1 (1.4%) patient. Additional evaluation of five clinically significant findings showed a change of initial diagnosis in one case, but the significance of the finding remained the same. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates a low diagnostic yield of head CT examination with 6.9% of clinically significant findings in patients with vertigo without focal neurological abnormalities

Therapeutic efficacy of mesenchymal stem cells for cardiovascular diseases

Despite the improvements in pharmacological and surgical treatments, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death worldwide. During the last two decades, the search for new therapies has been revolutionized with the growing knowledge of stem cell biology. Due to their huge differentiation capacity and paracrine effects, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a promising tool for the treatment of CVDs. The encouraging outcomes of preclinical studies using MSCs as a treatment for diseased myocardium have set the scene for worldwide clinical trials. In this review, we overview either complete or ongoing clinical trials using MSCs for the therapy of CVDs. In particular, we analyze the biological properties of MSCs, elucidate recent clinical findings and clinical trial phases of investigation, highlight clinical therapeutic effects of MSCs, and discuss challenges towards the clinical use of these cells in the therapy of CVDs

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

Possibility of Using Wind and Solar Sources for Electric Power Generation on Serbian Opencast Coal Mines

The rapid technology advancement and the significant decline of investment costs in wind and solar energy generation have opened up a significant opportunity to build these facilities on closed opencast mines or mines in the phase of closure around the world, where large available areas are almost ideal for such projects. In that sense, it is necessary to give an analysis of the possible application of wind and/or solar energy production in the Republic of Serbia’s mines, as well as the dynamics of such a generally ambitious and long-term project with conceptual solutions

A practical field study of performances of solar modules at various positions in Serbia

In this paper, results of practical field study of performances of three identical monocrystalline solar modules, single power of 60 W, with different inclinations (horizontal, optimally inclined oriented toward South and vertically oriented toward South) in real meteorological conditions, in Nis, Serbia, in 2013, are presented. On the basis of the measurement results of solar energy intensity and electrical power generated with solar modules, efficiency (η), Performance Ratio (PR) and fill factor (FF) were calculated. In 2013, optimally inclined solar module generated 62.8 kWh, horizontal solar module 58.1 kWh and vertical solar module 43.9 kWh of electrical energy. It was found that annually the vertical solar module had the highest value of efficiency (10.9%), then horizontal solar module (10.6%) and finally, optimally inclined solar module (10.2%). Annually, the vertical solar module had the highest value of Performance Ratio (0.93), then follows horizontal solar module (0.91) and finally, optimally inclined solar module (0.86). Annually, the horizontal solar module had the highest value of Fill Factor (67.7), then follows vertical solar module (66.6) and, finally, optimally inclined solar module (63.3). It was found that embodied energy payback time (EEPBT) for a horizontal, optimally inclined and vertical BIPV system of 1020Wp would be 11.8, 10.9 and 15.6 years, respectively. The results obtained by this study could be used in planning and constructing building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), in Serbia. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 33009

Possibility of Using Wind and Solar Sources for Electric Power Generation on Serbian Opencast Coal Mines

The rapid technology advancement and the significant decline of investment costs in wind and solar energy generation have opened up a significant opportunity to build these facilities on closed opencast mines or mines in the phase of closure around the world, where large available areas are almost ideal for such projects. In that sense, it is necessary to give an analysis of the possible application of wind and/or solar energy production in the Republic of Serbia’s mines, as well as the dynamics of such a generally ambitious and long-term project with conceptual solutions