Primary pericardial mesothelioma presenting as constrictive pericarditis

Primary pericardial mesothelioma is an extremely rare and lethal cardiac tumor. We report an autopsy case of a primary pericardial mesothelioma in a 52-year-old man. He developed dyspnea, cough, low-grade fever and night sweats approximately 3 months before last admission. Initially, he was evaluated at a hospital in another city, without a firm diagnosis. Due to progressive symptoms and the development of lower-extremity edema, he presented at our hospital in September 2005. The physical examination at admission demonstrated signs of pericardial tamponade. Chest radiography revealed marked enlargement of the cardiac silhouette. Specimens of bloody pericardial fluid were positive for pericardial mesothelioma by cytologic examination. The general condition of the patient worsened very rapidly and he was transferred to the intensive care unit where he later died. Postmortem examination confirmed primary pericardial mesothelioma of the mixed/biphasic type with lymphatic metastasis in the right lung. By using immunohistochemical analysis for specific markers of mesothelioma and for differentiation of the mesothelioma from the lung adenocarcinoma, definitive diagnosis was established: primary pericardial mesothelioma

Karadžić’s guilty verdict and forensic evidence from Bosnia’s mass graves

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia’s Karadžić verdict, eagerly awaited, was unsurprising. He was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. One part of the judgment was concerned with the Srebrenica events in which much forensic evidence from mass graves featured. Whilst this was to be expected, forensic evidence from the horrific crime scenes continues to be important in determining aspects of the crime base. This paper discusses the evidence and examines how the Chamber came to the conclusion that systematic killing of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men occurred and attempts had been made to conceal the crimes and human remains in secondary graves thus confirming the actus reus of genocide. In particular, the number of people killed was at issue. Despite the absence of compelling counter-theories on behalf of the accused, this paper demonstrates that contestations over the number of those killed remain and predicts that this is unlikely to change for the ongoing Mladić case

Subatmospheric pressure in a water draining pipeline with an air pocket

[EN] An air pocket's behaviour inside of a pipeline during transient conditions is of great importance due to its effect on the safety of the hydraulic system and the complexity of modeling its behaviour. The emptying process from water pipelines needs more assessment because the generation of troughs of subatmospheric pressure may lead to serious damage. This research studies the air pocket parameters during an emptying process from a water pipeline. A well-equipped experimental facility was used to measure the pressure and the velocity change throughout the water emptying for different air pocket sizes and valve opening times. The phenomenon was simulated using a one-dimensional (1D) developed model based on the rigid formulation with a non-variable friction factor and a constant pipe diameter. The mathematical model shows good ability in predicting the trough of subatmospheric pressure value as the most important parameter which can affect the safety of hydraulic systems.This work was supported by the Fundacion CEIBA - Gobernacion de Bolivar, Colombia which covered the financial support for the doctoral student, Oscar E. Coronado-Hernandez.Coronado-Hernández, OE.; Fuertes-Miquel, VS.; Besharat, M.; Ramos, HM. (2018). Subatmospheric pressure in a water draining pipeline with an air pocket. Urban Water Journal. 15(4):1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2018.1475578S1715

On plexus representation of dissimilarities

Correspondence analysis has found widespread application in analysing vegetation gradients. However, it is not clear how it is robust to situations where structures other than a simple gradient exist. The introduction of instrumental variables in canonical correspondence analysis does not avoid these difficulties. In this paper I propose to examine some simple methods based on the notion of the plexus (sensu McIntosh) where graphs or networks are used to display some of the structure of the data so that an informed choice of models is possible. I showthat two different classes of plexus model are available. These classes are distinguished by the use in one case of a global Euclidean model to obtain well-separated pair decomposition (WSPD) of a set of points which implicitly involves all dissimilarities, while in the other a Riemannian view is taken and emphasis is placed locally, i.e., on small dissimilarities. I showan example of each of these classes applied to vegetation data

Survey of the family Russulaceae (Agaricomycetes, Fungi) in Montenegro

The paper shows that there are 84 known species of the family Russulaceae in Montenegro, 39 of them belonging to the genus Lactarius and 45 to the genus Russula

Valorization of potentials of wind energy in Montenegro

Investments in energy sector are usually long term processes both in construction and exploitation phase, and therefore require many conditions to be satisfied, mostly from legislative and technical sector. While the legislative can change in accordance with economy activities in the country, technical data (on-site measurements) which are the main base for energy facility design, need to be reliable as much as possible. Wind energy has a significant global potential which exceeds the world’s electrical energy consumptions. This paper presents the estimation of wind energy potentials in Montenegro, based on all previous available studies in this field. The wind energy potential in Montenegro is based on a combination of 3-D numerical simulations of wind fields on the entire territory, and comprehensive on-site measurements. The preliminary studies show that there is a potential of areas with high and mean values of a capacity factor about 400 MW, and annual production of 900 GWh of electric energy. The share of wind parks in the total installed power in Montenegro is planned to be about 8%, while an adequate ratio of wind parks in an annual production from renewable sources (large hydro power plants are included here) is estimated to be 11.4%. The paper presents the current state of art in the field of building of wind parks in Montenegro. A particular attention was paid to the legislation framework and strategic documents in the energy area in Montenegro

Analysis of risk factors in obese patients with coronary artery disease, with and without diabetes mellitus type two

Diabetes mellitus type 2 is one of the leading chronic diseases in the world and in our country, which is an important risk factor for development of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Objective. The aim of this research was making the estimation of risk factors in the etiology of coronary heart disease in obese patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. The study included 82 obese patients, of which 52 with diabetes mellitus and 30 without diabetes mellitus, in all of them coronary artery disease proven by coronary angiography. All were examined by clinical examination, laboratory tests and echocardiography. Based on the test results we found that the distribution of risk factors such as hypertension, family burden coronary artery disease, smoking, alcohol intake was the same in the obese patients with diabetes mellitus, and of those without diabetes mellitus. Echocardiography showed significantly larger left ventricle, lower ejection fraction, larger left atrium and significant mitral regurgitation. Also, in a group of patients with diabetes mellitus, there was significantly higher number of patients with multiple vessel coronary disease. Despite the small sample, we can conclude that the present of diabetes mellitus in obese patients is crucial for severe forms of coronary artery disease. Severity is expressed through significant structural and functional changes in the left ventricle and the number of diseased coronary arteries

Thermophilous deciduous forests in Southeastern Europe

This paper deals with the numerical elaboration of the database of 1764 releves of thermophilous deciduous forests assigned by the authors to the order Quercetalia pubescentis in the northwestern part of Southeastern Europe. After elimination of releves which were dominated by mesophilous deciduous and coniferous tree species, the stratification of releves was carried out. The TWINSPAN classification revealed eight ecologically and phytogeographically interpretable groups. Additionally the analysis of Pignatti indicator values passively projected on the PCA diagram of the eight groups, and a chorological analysis of individual groups were made. The analyses revealed that all groups in general match with the traditionally accepted alliances, such as Quercion pubescenti-sessiliflorae, Aceri tatarici-Quercion, Quercion confertae, Quercion petraeae-cerris, Syringo-Carpinion, Pruno tenelle-Syrinion, Carpinion orientalis and Fraxino orni-Ostryion. Finally, a synsystematic classification of the elaborated group is proposed, and the nomenclature is harmonised with the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature. The results are also presented in a synoptic table together with calculation of the diagnostic species.Slovenian Research Agenc

Continuous adsorption of methylene blue dye on the maize stem ground tissue

Continuous adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solutions onto maize stem ground tissue in column mode was investigated. The study encompassed the effects of important parameters such as flow rate, initial concentration of methylene blue, and bed depth on methylene blue removal from model solutions. The maximum adsorption capacity of the maize stem was 45.9 mg/g at the initial methylene blue concentration of 20 mg/L, bed height of 6.5 cm and flow rate of 8 mL/min. It was found that the breakthrough time for reaching saturation increased with a decrease in the flow rate, and also occurred earlier for a higher influent concentration. The breakthrough times increased with the bed depth, thus allowing a larger volume to be treated. The Adams-Bohart, Yoon-Nelson, Clark and artificial neural network models were used to predict the breakthrough curves. These models gave excellent approximations of the experimental behavior.[Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 172025

Allelopathic potential of Allium ursinum L.

Allium ursinum L. (wild garlic) represents a widely distributed plant species in beech and mixed beech-fir forests of Serbia. It forms dense populations in which the other species are either sparsely present or absent. Its allelopathic influences were studied using both the seeds and seedlings of test plants (lettuce, amaranth and wheat) and by analyzing phenolic acids and total phenolics in the leaves, bulbs and soil. Aqueous extract and volatile compounds of the bulbs were stronger inhibitors of seed germination and seedling growth compared to those of the leaves. The soil and phenolic-containing fraction of the soil under Allium ursinum also inhibited seed germination and growth of test plant seedlings. The bulbs and the leaves were found to contain 2.30 mg/g and 3.24 mg/g (dry weight) of total free phenolics, respectively, and the same amount of bound phenol forms (1.0 mg/g). Among allelopathic matter in bulb and leaf extracts, p-coumaric, ferulic, p-hydroxybenzoic and vanillic acids as free and bound forms were identified (25.43-87.93 mug/g). The soil contained 0.16 mg/g free and 1.61 mg/g total bound phenolics and p-coumaric, ferulic, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic and syringic acids as free (1.00-9.65 mug/g) and bound forms (26.45-44.76 mug/g) were found. These results suggest that A. ursinum influences other herbaceous plants in plant community via soil and volatile compounds which inhibit seed germination and plant growth. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.nul