Design of Fixed Bed Column for Lead Removal on Natural Zeolite Based on Batch Studies

This paper presents the prediction of breakthrough curves for the fixed bed column based on batch studies. Batch equilibrium studies of lead removal on natural zeolite clinoptilolite have been performed. The obtained experimental data have been tested according to the Langmuir and the Freundlich isotherm, and their parameters have been calculated. These parameters and the Mass Transfer Model have been used to predict theoretical breakthrough curves. Theoretical breakthrough curves have been compared with the experimental ones and good agreement has been observed. This indicates that the Mass Transfer Model is applicable for prediction of breakthrough curves from batch studies. The overall mass transfer coefficient has been calculated from column experiments. This value allows for calculation of the height of the mass transfer zone as a very important parameter necessary for column design

Brachytherapy – Optional Treatment for Choroidal Neovascularization Secondary to Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) presents the main cause of irreversible loss of central vision in older population, due to a progressive neuroretinal damage and damage of retinal pigment epithelium of foveal area. This observation emphasizes the insufficiency of all presently used therapeutic procedures. Therefore, investigation has been conducted at the University Eye Clinic Zagreb for the last three years testing the effects of brachytherapy with direct episcleral application of ruthenium applicators to the posterior pole of the globe. Forty-two patients aged 58–79 were followed for a min. of 12 months. During this period their central visual acuities remained stable. Six patients showed one-line improvement of visual acuity and 8 patients showed no changes. Twenty-one patient lost 1–2 lines of visual acuity and 7 patients lost more than 2 lines. According to this we can conclude that patients treated with brachytherapy showed significantly better results compared to the control subjects, which is very encouraging

First Report of Horseradish Leaf Spot Caused by Alternaria brassicae in Serbia

In July 2014, a foliar spot disease of horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) was observed in the Bačka region of Serbia (45°14′17″ N; 19°42′22″ E). The disease was observed in several small vegetable farms and disease incidence approached 20 to 40%. The symptoms first appeared on the abaxial side of older leaves as light brown concentric spots with dark margins and sometimes haloes. The spots varied in size between 0.5 and 0.9 cm. The necrotic spots gradually enlarged, tore, and dropped out. Under high humidity and temperature in 2014 in that region, development of numerous necrosis spots resulted in a rapid reduction of leaves. Small pieces taken from infected leaf tissue of diseased horseradish were treated with 1% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min, rinsed with sterile distillated water (SDW), and placed on V8 agar. Isolates were grown in pure culture at 24°C for 5 days in 12 h light/dark photoperiod. Morphological characteristics of the colony and sporulation were determined for six representative isolates. Fungal colonies were smooth, color varied from white, off white to light brown with concentric zones and intensive sporulation. Conidia were light brown, obclavate, produced singly or in short chains. Mature conidia were 16 to 38 µm wide and 73 to 158 µm long with a beak cell 79 to 120 µm long with 8 to 11 transverse septa and 0 to 4 longitudinal septa. Based on morphological characteristics, all isolates were identified as Alternaria brassicae (Berk.) Sacc (Simmons 2007). To confirm the pathogen’s identity, DNA was extracted from the fungal isolates and subjected to PCR; the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA was amplified using primers ITS1 and ITS4 (White et al. 1990). The resulting amplicons were sequenced by Macrogen Inc. (Seoul, South Korea) and deposited in NCBI GenBank (Accession Nos. KP115599 to KP115604). BLAST analysis of revealed 100% homology with a sequence of A. brassicae strain ATCC 58169 deposited in GenBank (JX499028). Pathogenicity of six representative isolates was tested on leaves of 2-month-old horseradish seedlings by spraying with aqueous conidial suspensions (105 conidia/ml) prepared from cultures grown on V8 agar at 24°C for 5 days. Negative control plants were sprayed with SDW. Plants were covered with plastic bags and placed for 48 h in a greenhouse at 20 to 22°C. For all isolates within 10 days, inoculated plants developed brown lesions on leaves. Plants treated with SDW were symptomless. To fulfill Koch’s postulates, reisolations from all tested strains were done by streaking margins of necrotic leaf spot tissue onto V8 agar. Reisolated strains showed the same colony morphology as described above. Based on the pathogenicity test accompanied by completion of Koch’s postulates, sequence analysis, and morphological and cultural characteristics, the strains were identified as A. brassicae. According to available literature data, this is the first report of this pathogen as the causal agent of brown leaf spot of horseradish in Serbia

Interactions of ultrashort laser pulses with hemoglobin: Photophysical aspects and potential applications

Hemoglobin (Hb), a life-sustaining and highly abundant erythrocyte protein, is not readily fluorescent. A few studies have already reported Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence (TPEF) of Hb, however, the mechanisms through which Hb becomes fluorescent upon interaction with ultrashort laser pulses are not completely understood. Here, we characterized photophysically this interaction on Hb thin film and erythrocytes using fluorescence spectroscopy upon single-photon/two-photon absorption, and UV-VIS single-photon absorption spectroscopy. A gradual increase of the fluorescence intensity, ending up with saturation, is observed upon prolonged exposure of Hb thin layer and erythrocytes to ultrashort laser pulses at 730 nm. When compared to protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) and oxidized Hb by H2O2, TPEF spectra from a thin Hb film and erythrocytes showed good mutual agreement, broad peaking at 550 nm, supporting hemoglobin undergoes degradation and that same fluorescent specie(s) originating from the heme moiety are generated. The uniform square shaped patterns of the fluorescent photoproduct exhibited the same level of the fluorescence intensity even after 12 weeks from the formation, indicating high photoproduct stability. We finally demonstrated the full potential of the formed Hb photoproduct with TPEF scanning microscopy towards spatiotemporally controlled micropatterning in HTF and single human erythrocyte labelling and tracking in the whole blood

Prolactin Receptor in Primary Hyperparathyroidism – Expression, Functionality and Clinical Correlations

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is an endocrine disorder most commonly affecting women, suggesting a role for female hormones and/or their receptors in parathyroid adenomas. We here investigated the prolactin receptor (PRLr) which is associated with tumours of the breast and other organs.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>PRLr expression was investigated in a panel of 37 patients with sporadic parathyroid tumours and its functionality in cultured parathyroid tumour cells. In comparison with other tissues and breast cancer cells, high levels of prolactin receptor gene (<em>PRLR</em>) transcripts were demonstrated in parathyroid tissues. PRLr products of 60/70 kDa were highly expressed in all parathyroid tumours. In addition varying levels of the 80 kDa PRLr isoform, with known proliferative activity, were demonstrated. In parathyroid tumours, PRLr immunoreactivity was observed in the cytoplasm (in all cases, n = 36), cytoplasmic granulae (n = 16), the plasma membrane (n = 12) or enlarged lysosomes (n = 4). In normal parathyroid rim (n = 28), PRLr was uniformly expressed in the cytoplasm and granulae. In <em>in vitro</em> studies of short-term cultured human parathyroid tumour cells, prolactin stimulation was associated with significant transcriptional changes in JAK/STAT, RIG-I like receptor and type II interferon signalling pathways as documented by gene expression profiling. Moreover, <em>PRLR</em> gene expression in parathyroid tumours was inversely correlated with the patients’ plasma calcium levels.</p> <h3>Conclusions</h3><p>We demonstrate that the prolactin receptor is highly abundant in human parathyroid tissues and that PRLr isoforms expression and PRLr subcellular localisation are altered in parathyroid tumours. Responsiveness of PRLr to physiological levels of prolactin was observed in the form of increased PTH secretion and altered gene transcription with significant increase of RIG-I like receptor, JAK-STAT and Type II interferon signalling pathways. These data suggest a role of the prolactin receptor in parathyroid adenomas.</p> </div

Evidence of truffles in Serbia

This study is the first report on the presence of Tuber macrosporum Vitt. in Serbia (Yugoslavia). Also an early finding of T. melanosporum Vitt., T. aestivum Vitt. and T. magnatum Pico ex Vitt. in this region was confirmed. The identification was made according to size, structure and odour of fruiting bodies, size, shape and scanning microscopy of asci and ascospores. Also the type of soil, ectomycorrhizal associations and season of collecting the fruiting bodies were taken into account.nul

Types of Central Serous Retinopathy, Analysis of Shape, Topographic Distribution and Number of Leakage Sites

The analysis of 212 fluorescein angiograms of the same number of eyes showed that Type I is by far the most prevalent form of central serous retinopathy. Type I appeared in 92.45%, Type II in 6.60% and the Intermediate type in 0.95% of the examined eyes. The patients were mostly male (81.13%) between 30 and 49 years of age (95.28%). The number of leakage sites in Type I central serous retinopathy varied from 1 (83.67%) to 5 (1.02%). Solitary leakage appeared in 83.67%, while uniform spreading of fluorescein into the subretinal blister in Type I central serous retinopathy appeared in 85.71% of eyes. Most leakage sites (32.50%) were located in the upper nasal quadrant, while the lower temporal quadrant was least affected (15.83%). The foveal avascular zone was affected in 4.14% and the papillomacular bundle in 20.83% of the examined eyes

First Report of Leaf Spot Disease on Spathiphyllum sp Caused by Alternaria alternata in Serbia

Peace lily (Spathiphyllum spp.) are considered to be among the most popular ornamental plants grown commercially all over the world (Stamps and Evans 1999). A leaf spot disease of Spathiphyllum sp. was observed in commercial greenhouses (near Belgrade) in June 2015. The symptoms first appeared on lower, older leaves and the infection subsequently progressed to the younger leaves. The infection symptoms were numerous circular, small, dark brown spots on the leaf surface surrounded by intensive chlorotic areas measuring 0.2 to 1.0 cm in diameter. A small piece of leaf tissue was taken from the margin of the spot and the surface was disinfected with 3% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) for 30 s, rinsed with sterile distilled water, and placed onto potato dextrose agar (PDA, Difco, Detroit, MI). The PDA plates were incubated at 24°C in the dark for 5 days. To study morphological characteristics, the mycelium was transferred on V8 juice agar (Simmons 2007) at 24°C for 7 days, under cool white fluorescent bulbs in 10/14-h light/dark photoperiod. The six isolated strains developed cottony, brown olivaceous mycelium with white margins, rounded at the circumference. Sporulation of colonies was intensive and formed clear concentric zonation on the surface of the mycelium. Conidiophores were straight, septate, green to brown, and 43.2 to 58.0 × 4.0 to 4.1 µm in size. The conidia were light olivaceous to dark brown, long ellipsoid to obclavate, and measured 24.3 to 36.4 × 8 to 9.7 µm in size, with 1 to 4 transverse and 0 to 3 longitudinal septa for all isolates. Comparing all above mentioned characteristics with data of Simmons (2007), all isolates obtained from Spathiphyllum sp. were identified as Alternaria alternata. To confirm the pathogen’s identity, DNA was extracted and major allergen precursor (Alt a 1) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd) gene regions were amplified by using primers Alt-for/Alt-rev (Hong et al. 2005) and gpd1/gpd2 (Berbee et al. 1999), respectively. The resulting amplicons were sequenced by Macrogen Inc. (Seoul, South Korea) and deposited in GenBank (accession nos. KP851750 to KP851761). BLAST analysis revealed 100% homology for Alt a 1 and 99% homology for gpd with gene sequences of A. alternata strain EGS 34-016 deposited in GenBank (AY563301 and AY278808). The pathogenicity assays of six isolates were performed by spraying healthy leaves of 2-year-old Spathiphyllum sp. plant with a spore suspension containing 1 × 105 conidia ml–1 prepared from the cultures grown on V8 agar at 24°C for 7 days. Three plants per isolate were used for pathogenicity test. The leaves sprayed with sterile distilled water were used as negative controls. Treated plants were placed in plastic boxes and incubated at 22°C for 30 days under natural daylight conditions. Koch’s postulates were conducted by reisolations from the symptomatic leaves onto V8 agar and the reisolated strains showed the same colony morphology as A. alternata. To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot disease on Spathiphyllum plants caused by A. alternata in the Serbia. Leaf spots caused by A. alternata rarely kill plants, but reduce their aesthetic quality and commercial value. Therefore, further investigation of management practices is required to control this new disease

Wdrażanie metody bioluminescencyjnej w badaniach deterioracji zabytków jedwabnych poprzez działanie grzybów

Two silk artefacts from museum collections in Serbia, a silk icon from Petar Lubarda Legacy and a scroll made with traditional japanese techniques were analyzed for fungal presence. Fungi isolated from both the silk artefacts belonged to the genera Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Penicillium and Rhizopus. Actively growing colonies of Aspergillus and Penicillium species had caused chromatic alterations on the silk icon and their metabolic activity was demonstrated by high relative light unit values. In this research, measurement of the total microbial activity using the ATP bioluminescence method was used for the first time on silk artefacts and on textile in general. Scaning electron microscopy analysis of the scroll indicated that hyphae of Chaetomium globosum are capable of the mechanical deterioration of silk, as shown by the presence of cracks and gaps in silk fibres. This appears to be the first report of silk fibre degradation caused by C. globosum.Badano dwa jedwabne zabytki z kolekcji muzealnej w Serbii. Wyizolowano grzyby należące do rodzajów Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Penicillium i Rhizopus. Rosnące aktywnie kolonie Aspergillus i Penicillium spowodowały zmiany chromatyczne. Z analizy SEM wynika, iż niezależnie od zmian barwnych stwierdzono również uszkodzenia mechaniczne w postaci szczelin i pęknięć. Po raz pierwszy udało się zastosować metodę bioluminescencyjną przy badaniu tekstyliów. Są to pierwsze doniesienia o oddziaływaniu grzybów tego typu na tkaniny jedwabne