Patient-controlled intravenous morphine analgesia combined with transcranial direct current stimulation for post-thoracotomy pain: A cost-effectiveness study and a feasibility for its future implementation

This prospective randomized study aims to evaluate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of combining transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with patient controlled intravenous morphine analgesia (PCA-IV) as part of multimodal analgesia after thoracotomy. Patients assigned to the active treatment group (a-tDCS

Quality of Honey Bee Bread Collected in Spring

Pollen is the only source of protein that honey bees collect from nature. It is very important for the development of brood, and consequently, for the development of the colony. Honey bee bread is the pollen which the bees collect from flowers and store in honeycomb cells. Honey bee bread has a modified structure due to the fermentation process under the influence of enzymes it passes through. For this study, ten honey bee colonies were selected. Honey bee bread was sampled from the combs. The quality of pollen and honey bee bread was determined by the chemical composition, using standard methods used in food analysis. Total nitrogen was determined by Kjeldahl method. Micro- and macroelements were determined by spectrophotometric method. The pollen collected from two sites had rich protein content (29.93 % and 27.63 % on average)

A MOS-based Dynamic Memetic Differential Evolution Algorithm for Continuous Optimization: A Scalability Test

Continuous optimization is one of the areas with more activity in the field of heuristic optimization. Many algorithms have been proposed and compared on several benchmarks of functions, with different performance depending on the problems. For this reason, the combination of different search strategies seems desirable to obtain the best performance of each of these approaches. This contribution explores the use of a hybrid memetic algorithm based on the multiple offspring framework. The proposed algorithm combines the explorative/exploitative strength of two heuristic search methods that separately obtain very competitive results. This algorithm has been tested with the benchmark problems and conditions defined for the special issue of the Soft Computing Journal on Scalability of Evolutionary Algorithms and other Metaheuristics for Large Scale Continuous Optimization Problems. The proposed algorithm obtained the best results compared with both its composing algorithms and a set of reference algorithms that were proposed for the special issue

Quality assessment, antimicrobial activity organic sunflower honey and use of Maldi-tof mass spectrometry for the identification bacteria isolated from honey

The aim of this study was to investigate the physicochemical parameters of quality, microbiological safety and antimicrobial potential of four samples of organic sunflower honey from the Banat area (northeastern Serbia). Humidity, ash, pH, free acidity, electrical conductivity, hydroxymethylfurfural content, sugar content and diastase activity were measured. Microbiological analysis revealed the presence of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, coliforms, aerobic endospores, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and a good number of molds and yeasts. The isolate identification was carried out using Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The antimicrobial effect of organic sunflower honey was investigated on five ATCC strains of bacteria: Staphilococcus aureus ATCC 29213; Escherichia coli ATCC 25922; Salmonella enterica ATCC 10708; Yersinia enterocolitica ATCC 23715; and Bacillus subtilis ATCC 23857. The results of the study showed that all honey samples meet international quality standards for all physicochemical parameters. Microbiological analysis of Sunflower honey confirmed the total bacterial counts for all samples ranged from1.80 to 1.85 x10-2cfu/g-1, whereby no presence Clostridium spp., coliform bacteria, as well as molds was detected. Investigation of the antimicrobial activity of honey samples revealed that all bacteria showed clear zones of inhibition in honey concentrations of 40-100%, which is a satisfactory result for flower honey

Soya Straw Bales Combustion in High-Efficient Boiler

There is a growing need for the use of alternative and renewable energy sources, in terms of sustainable energy development. One of the potentially biggest renewable energy sources in Serbia is agricultural biomass, quite available and cheap at the moment. For many years, the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Laboratory for Thermal Engineering and Energy, has been working on the development of clean technologies for efficient utilization of biomass, and as a result utilities and equipment (boilers and furnaces) with wide range of use have been developed. These devices have complete combustion control and primarily burn baled biomass with no adequate utilization. The results of the development and of the tests of an experimental demonstrativel boiler burning small bales of soya straw have been presented in this paper. In the boiler, the combustion has been organised on the cigarette burning principle, and fuel feeding has been done by gravity The technical scheme of the boiler and the results of preliminary tests carried out in real operation conditions ham been given.4th Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Apr, 2007, Dubrovnik, Croati

Alchemilla Vulgaris L. kao potencijalni izvor prirodnih antioksidanata

The aim of this study was to examine the total phenolic and flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of the methanol extract of Alchemilla vulgaris aerial parts, as a potential source of natural antioxidants. The obtained results showed that extract has high total phenolic content (590,22 mg GAE/g), wheras flavonoid content was lower (12,58 mg RU/g). Antioxidant activity was determined in vitro by DPPH· and ABTS+· reagents. The IC50 values of DPPH (5,40 μg/ml) and ABTS+· scavenging capacities (60,10 μg/ml) of methanol extract showed that tested extract has extremely strong antioxidant activity.Cilj ovog rada je bio ispitivanje antioksidativne aktivnosti, kao i količine ukupnih fenolnih jedinjenja i flavonoida u metanolnom ekstraktu biljke A. vulgaris L., kao potencijalnog izvora prirodnih antioksidanata. Ispitivani ekstrakt poseduje visok sadržaj ukupnih fenola (590,22 mg GA/g), dok je koncentracija flavonoida znatno manja (12,58 mg RU/g). Antioksidativna aktivnost je ispitivana in vitro DPPH i ABTS+· metodom, a IC50 vrednosti ukazuju da ispitivani ekstrakt pokazuje izuzetno visok stepen antioksidativne aktivnosti u poređenju sa referentnim fenolnim jedinjenjima, što ukazuje na mogućnost primene ekstrakta A. vulgaris u prehrambenoj industriji

Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation combined with patient-controlled intravenous morphine analgesia on analgesic use and post-thoracotomy pain. A prospective, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, proof-of-concept clinical trial

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is used for various chronic pain conditions, but experience with tDCS for acute postoperative pain is limited. This study investigated the effect of tDCS vs. sham stimulation on postoperative morphine consumption and pain intensity after thoracotomy. Methods: This is a single-center, prospective, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial in lung cancer patients undergoing thoracotomy under general anesthesia. All patients received patient-controlled (PCA) intravenous morphine and intercostal nerve blocks at the end of surgery. The intervention group (a-tDCS, n = 31) received anodal tDCS over the left primary motor cortex (C3-Fp2) for 20 min at 1.2 mA, on five consecutive days; the control group (n = 31) received sham stimulation. Morphine consumption, number of analgesia demands, and pain intensity at rest, with movement and with cough were recorded at the following intervals: immediately before (T1), immediately after intervention (T2), then every hour for 4 h (Т3-Т6), then every 6 h (Т7-Т31) for 5 days. We recorded outcomes on postoperative days 1 and 5 and conducted a phone interview inquiring about chronic pain 1 year later (NCT03005548). Results: A total of 62 patients enrolled, but tDCS was prematurely stopped in six patients. Fifty-five patients (27 a-tDCS, 28 sham) had three or more tDCS applications and were included in the analysis. Cumulative morphine dose in the first 120 h after surgery was significantly lower in the tDCS [77.00 (54.00-123.00) mg] compared to sham group [112.00 (79.97-173.35) mg, p = 0.043, Cohen\u27s d = 0.42]. On postoperative day 5, maximum visual analog scale (VAS) pain score with cough was significantly lower in the tDCS group [29.00 (20.00-39.00) vs. 44.50 (30.00-61.75) mm, p = 0.018], and pain interference with cough was 80% lower [10.00 (0.00-30.00) vs. 50.00 (0.00-70.00), p = 0.013]. One year after surgery, there was no significant difference between groups with regard to chronic pain and analgesic use. Conclusion: In lung cancer patients undergoing thoracotomy, three to five tDCS sessions significantly reduced cumulative postoperative morphine use, maximum VAS pain scores with cough, and pain interference with cough on postoperative day 5, but there was no obvious long-term benefit from tDCS

Stabilnost ekstrakta korena suručice i efekat na sprečavanje lipidne oksidacije u mesu

Nowadays, consumers are demanding more natural foods, obliging the industry to include natural antioxidants in foods and synthetic antioxidants have been rejected because of their carcinogenicity. Natural antioxidants have been used instead of synthetic to retard lipid oxidation in foods to improve their quality and nutritional value. The aim of this work was to evaluate pH and termal stability, and effect on lipid oxidation in meat-model system of methanolic extract of Filipendula hexapetala Gilib. Results suggest that the stability of the extract is expressed in a variety of pH and thermal conditions. The root extract of F. hexapetala exerted a concentration-dependent antioxidant activity in a meat model system, lower than synthetic antioxidant BHT.Danas je u ishrani zastupljen veliki broj prirodnih proizvoda, tako da prehrambena industrija sve više koristi prirodne antioksidante, a sintetički antioksidanti se izbacuju iz upotrebe zbog njihove kancerogenosti. Prirodni antioksidanti se koriste umesto sintetičkih da uspore oksidaciju lipida, poboljšaju kvalitet i nutritivnu vrednost namirnica. Cilj ovog rada bio je određivanje pH i termalne stabilnosti, kao i efekta na lipidnu oksidaciju u mesu metanolskog ekstrakta korena biljke Filipendula hexapetala Gilib. Rezultati ukazuju da je stabilnost ekstrakta izražena u različitim pH i termalnim uslovima. Ekstrakt korena F. hexapetala pokazao je koncentraciono-zavisnu antioksidativnu aktivnost u meso model-sistemu, nešto nižu u odnosu na sintetički antioksidant BHT

Tumor response and patient outcome after preoperative radiotherapy in locally advanced non-inflammatory breast cancer patients

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis was to assess the tumor response and long-term outcome in patients treated with preoperative radiotherapy (PRT) without systemic therapy. Methods: Between 1997 and 2000, 134 patients with non-inflammatory locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) were treated with PRT. The tumor dose was 45 Gy in 15 fractions to the breast and to regional lymph nodes over 6 weeks. Radical mastectomy was performed 6 weeks after PRT to all patients and adjuvant systemic therapy was administered as per protocol. The measures of disease outcome were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) which estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Median follow-up was 74 months (range 4-216). Objective clinical tumor response after PRT was observed in 77.6% of the patients. Clinical complete tumor response (cCR) was achieved in 21.6% of the patients. Pathological CR in the breast was achieved in 15% of the patients. The 5- and 10-year OS were 55.1 and 37.8%, respectively. The 5- and 10-year DFS were 39.2 and 27%, respectively. Patients who achieved cCR had significantly longer OS in comparison with patients achieving clinical partial response (cPR) and clinical stable disease (cSD). Similarly, DFS of patients in the cCR group was longer compared with patients with cPR and cSD, yet without statistical significance. Conclusions: Our results showed that local control in LABC patients achieved by primary PRT, followed by radical mastectomy was comparable with the results reported in the literature. Complete pathologic response to PRT identified a subgroup of patients with a trend toward better DFS and OS